Top Gear Disappointing??

[bodgit]

I have looked forwards to this as the highlight of christmas television but felt it was all too same old same old. Nothing really funny about it apart from May running out of platform chasing the train.
The mini getting its front end ripped off was so staged with hammond pretending not to notice.
All the cars upgraded for the climb up the mountains but the Allegro went up as standard.
Top gear have run out of ideas, it was for me a waste of 90 minutes.

[axeman]

yes with you there!!!!
I just didn't get it!!
the show had no direction and no point....

Can't believe i'm saying this as I love topgear

[paulc]

Yeah agree dissapointing :thumbdown:

[poopers]

That crap made Ice Road Truckers look like an Open University programme.

I gave up after about 20 mins, it’s the same stuff constantly rehashed these days. Been looking forward to it all day too.:cry:

[Pops]

Agreed...I knew it was going to be typical top gear but expected them to get better at being crap not worse..The only bit that looked real was when the lorry hit Clarkson and he being spineless with the driver..Proper reality tv:lol:

[SDARCY118]

i have come to the conclusion..this episode wasn't firing on all cylinders..lets just hope everything sort it self out for the sake of tv lol

[SlowOne]

Been like that for ages, I could write the scripts. Like all entertainment shows, they eventually flog their format to death, and lose viewers. Which, all in all, means that there are no motoring programmes left on TV - somewhat shortchanges the 27m people that drive !

[sparrow.2]

I watched the India special this weekend and was horrified at the awfulness. The one where they went through Africa was great, th one through Vietnam on bikes was brilliant but his was just crap. Bad jokes, the three of them not invested and just plain bad allround.

Very dissapointing and a real shame...

[Spoolio]

Been like that for ages, I could write the scripts. Like all entertainment shows, they eventually flog their format to death, and lose viewers. Which, all in all, means that there are no motoring programmes left on TV - somewhat shortchanges the 27m people that drive !

They're not interested anymore and it comes across in spades. Sadly they've all got complacent and lazy. The format needs another reboot. End of. And anyway, it hasn't really been a motoring programme for years, it's been an entertainment programme with some cars in it.

The current format was quite refreshing (once it found its feet after a couple of shaky years) particularly after the staleness of William Woollard linking segments on radial tyres and the "new" FWD Cavalier whilst reading a script that seemed to be clipped to his shoes*. However, as has been said its now been flogged to death, theres only so many ways you can send an old man down a mountainside in a bath on wheels (oh hang on, that was another BBC program that they took out behind the barn and shot).

* those old enough to remember it go on you know it's true, the bloke was always looking down at his feet before he did his lines. There's probably clips on YouTube to prove it.

[eyeayen]

Someone should send them a link to this thread so they know, especially Slowone, I'd put your writing skills forward mate, you might land yourself a job !

If no one tells them and we just post it on forums they won't know !

http://www.topgear.com/uk/contact-us

[steveproracing]

Blasphemy. Thou shalt love top gear!!!

[nivek]

so predictable.
whot a waste of time..........

[lsdevey]

toooo long in the tooth now needs a good revamp :thumbdown:

[Richard Lowe]

It's so staged now it's not funny at all, the whole 'look how useless we are' thing wasn't funny to begin with and it's only getting worse :(

The part where they wired May's horn to the brake lights was pretty funny though :lol:

[pugboy]

Like many I was looking forward to this but I agree it was the most disappointing of the 'specials' so far. I think they need to get the balance right, it all is so predictable and the fakeness, especially from Hammond, is just annoying. IMO Clarkson and May are both excellent presenters but the whole show needs a revamp as the good episodes (and there have been some great ones in the past) are getting rarer. I think Jonny from Fifth Gear should swap, and maybe get Vicky, or Sabine Schmidt.

Some say... Top Gear is too much same old same old these days, come on Beeb get some new ideas!

[Chequered Flag Racing]

The part where they wired May's horn to the brake lights was pretty funny though :lol:

Best bit for me :thumbsup:, forget the rest :thumbdown:

[colmo]

My 1-2-3 is the Botswana, Polar and Vietnam specials, with the South American one as an honourable mention.

The common factor was that in all of them, the presenters were pushed out of their comfort zone - it got pretty tough at times. If you recall the 24 hour race they competed in with the BMW, that was good for the same reason.

There was none of that in the India special. It all looked a bit half-arsed and lazy.

Some new blood would help.

[cigbunt]

poo!

best thing about it was Hammond's mini! shame it got wrecked

[Robocop]

Yes i too was looking forward to this but to me only funny part was when the train split the banners in half.
Polar one to me was the best,then vietnam out of there comfort zone on bikes,even if the support vehicles are close by.

[pugboy]

poo!

best thing about it was Hammond's mini! shame it got wrecked

My thoughts exactly, I'm not a 'mini man' but it looked an absolute minter and somebody would have loved to have that car. Why not use cars that are at the end of their lives than destroy nice examples...

And agree, some of the other specials were excellent but this was piss poor IMO. It's annoying cause they can make brilliant and informative things too (the 24 hour in the diesel beemer, that article on Senna by Clarkson), both really good, mixed up with a bit of silliness, just getting the balance right.

[bodgit]

The old days Quentin Wilson,s report on VW Golf mk2 . All you need to know and lookout for buying used. You dont get this any more. Its just how fast the latest super car you cant afford will go and how much smoke the tyres can give off sideways.
TWwmdoMO-AI

[Spoolio]

Ah, the memories. Even Fifth Gear doesn't do that sort of thing anymore, it's all "Tiffany Dell squares off between a Perodua Kelisa and a Suzuki Wagon R at Cadwell Park" (very relevant).

Sadly though, that sort of thing just doesn't bring in the punters in the numbers needed these days to justify the production costs. It's a difficult one to address because whilst we can sit here and criticise what Jezza and his little pals get up to with our licence fee how could we improve it or make it sufficiently different that it'd be a refresh and still bring in the viewers. Yep, tricky. Although replacing Hammond with Sabine Schmitz would help :woot:.

[chickentikka25]

The disappointment wasn't just limited to the Xmas special for me. The last couple of series have just been tripe.

Still, it could be worse, we could have the USA version of Top Gear - now that's baaaad telly!

[SlowOne]

Ah, the memories. Even Fifth Gear doesn't do that sort of thing anymore, it's all "Tiffany Dell squares off between a Perodua Kelisa and a Suzuki Wagon R at Cadwell Park" (very relevant).

Sadly though, that sort of thing just doesn't bring in the punters in the numbers needed these days to justify the production costs. It's a difficult one to address because whilst we can sit here and criticise what Jezza and his little pals get up to with our licence fee how could we improve it or make it sufficiently different that it'd be a refresh and still bring in the viewers. Yep, tricky. Although replacing Hammond with Sabine Schmitz would help :woot:.Fair point - the series has made BBC Worldwide a small fortune in fees for the series', DVDs, etc.

It will take a brave person to cut it up and start again, but waiting until the ratings no longer justify the production costs makes it harder to start again. Clarkson is a busted flush all round, but you can't see any spark in the other two to make a new format work.

If it were me, a raid on Fifth Gear to bring VBH across, with Sabine as a visible, vocal Stig and it all held together by Jay Leno might be an alternative. OK, so Leno isn't likely, so can we come up with someone sparky enough to hold it all together? Just my thoughts...