CAN’T WAIT

aparrently the electric car bit is hilaarriouusss…

but then it would be wouldnt it, as its a new series of TG…!!

woaah, love the new series already and I’ve only seen the first show
I actually look forward to Sundays all week xD
x

CAN’T WAIT FOR EPISODE 2

First episode was PROPER, waiting for the second one.

can’t wait for episode 2,3,4,5,……..the best show ever. TOP GEAR the best. will top gear ever come to serbia. TOP GEAR LIVE. please answer to me. bigggg hello from serbia

sadly i miss it because my mum wont let me stay up, but i get home from school and watch it on the i-player instead!
was very good!

Sounds like a goood show!!! Can’t wait as always

why your are making as wait!!!!Can’t you show the episode two of series1 14 today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????  ????????????????????

why is it on 9 again? i though they just didi that for the first show cuz of the xfactor and stupid simon cowell. oh well though i’ll still watch it with excitement. such a shame the track will be wet cuz with the audi i dont want the time to be slower that the v8 version. i wan to be closer to the 1.17 mark to be honest. still cant wait for another episode

some of the stuff in last seasons trailer is coming this season

more vans

yahhhhhhh soo happy am 12 and my techer said i am the bigist petrol head ova to known of earth i like it tho :)

well i would be cas am the stig

top gear is the best and im the biggest petrolhead and im 13

finally! the audi r8 v10 wull be on the track. that was supposed to be shown on the last series

The_Monk…fine analisys but you´re missing the whole point of the show… The dynamics between the three of them is very cool, and they give us an hour of pure entertainment. Yeah, they drive lambos, ferraris, bugattis, zondas and Koenisgsgsggsgsgsggegs, and talk trash about every other ordinary car in the ordinary world. But if you´re looking for neutral reviews on a ordinary car better look somewhere else. I like the show and they make me laugh and i find the final editing brilliant… superb camera angles, great music, Clarkson´s comments are sarcastic but funny, May keeps it serious and believable and Hammond ties the bond between them. Its a good show and people love it

i want more pianos falling on shit cars. i would also like a 3 way muscle car war between the mustang, challenger, and camaro. I want top gear to pit the CTS V against the M3. I would also like the F458 chase the new McLaren around the track.

FINALLY! ZR-1 AND R8 V10!!!!

Greyhound: I have to say that you’re incorrect.

Clarkson has reiterated the purpose of Top Gear numerous times on and off the programme itself – Top Gear is a programme all about the pleasure of driving.

It’s not.

It’s just a programme about 4 people enjoying their jobs by doing things none of us in the real world outside television can ever do. The pleasure of driving exists but it exists out there in the real world rather than on a track on some television programme.

As I said in the other blog, the occasional episode of “entertainment” is all fine and great but when EVERY episode is The Three Stooges plus very special guest The Stig, it becomes tiresome.

The people who turn on for the entertainment will turn off when they see that it’s just talking about cars (majority of series 1 and 2), whereas people who want to hear about cars will turn off when they see that it’s nothing but The Three Stooges (series 8 onwards). Occasionally in the last few series’ there has been glimpses of hope and genuine brilliance (Honda FCX film) but it has been overshadowed by the mediocrity of competitive Sunday night entertainment.

Between series 3 and series 8, however, Top Gear was amazing. It met both the demands of the people who wanted entertainment and people who wanted to know about cars (McLaren SLR vs Boat – Bugatti Veyron vs Plane, for exmaple). Now, that’s not me saying that “what we need are more challenges”, that’s me saying that these challenges should be balanced out with genuine consumer advice or actual road tests that don’t involve a race track.

why the hell do you watch it then you idiot and of a mature of fact the first episode was amazing so dont bother watching it if you dont like it and allso if they didnt do all these stunts and road trips in exspensive cars then people wouldnt watch it but many millions of people do and without richared hammoned people would miss him so take that back.

allso more stig the better and carry on with the jokes

and who ever wrote this (The_Monk said…)is a complete idiot and should not write on any top gear blog again and if you start complaining again then i will go insane and will have to write a nother letter like this for and then maybe you will get it into youre head that TOP GEAR IS THE BEST PROGRAM IN THE WORLD.

PS: mr monk im right and youre wrong dont bother writing on here again

oh and TOP GEAR RULES

YOU are the most wrong person in the world nobody can be so wrong and actually its a great show

gidfifgyfguys: Your criticism of what I said isn’t constructive – causally handing out insults only ascertains the inherent idiocy of whatever stupid playground mantra you spew forth from the limited power of your fingers. Consider sterilisation as an option.

To answer your question, however, I watch Top Gear because I love Top Gear. I offer constructive criticism of it because I hate to see it descend into nothing more than average, dumbed down television and hope that those I am directing it at can use it to create a programme that appeals to every demographic and not just the idiots.

The-Monk, how bloody boring do you want TG to become? If you think it is “shit”, it is very simple. DON’T WATCH IT!!!! To help you even more the “off” button is the “on” incase you can’t find it. I find it icnredible that people watch stuff that they saya fterwards is “shit”. It’s like watching stuff for the point of watching stuff when you could be doing something much more useful! I think you’ll find 99% of the people who watch TG are perfectly happy with the way it is at the moment so you can stuff your ideas up your anus and go to 5th gear!

James: I’ve already responded to gidfifgyfguys with regards to your concerns about the “off” and “on” button which has woefully become invisible on my television remote control. Fortunately, I’m pro-active and energetic enough to use a large book that I throw at the television when I am bored. Incidentally, no, it’s not one of Clarkson’s. That would just do too much damage.

To answer your question, however, Top Gear would not be boring with those several carefully planned implamentations. It would just make it more balanced. Believe it or not but you don’t always have to drive an ad-hoc convertible people carrier through the monkey enclosure at Woburn to make people laugh.

dat guy the_monk from above wat a complete dik y dont u just shut up and get a life instead of writing an essay on y top gear(which is the greatest show ever) isnt good anymore …..complete nob LONG LIVE TOP GEAR AND NEVER CHANGE

Guys, stop picking on The_Monk.

I know what he means, and although I personally like the entertainment part of the show very very much, I still love a bit of ‘good quality (passionate?) car stuff’. I agree that a mix of both is perfect.

To be honest, gidfifgyfguys, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were 8 years old…so at least try and make a bit of sense.

Now lets all get on!

Just got back from the taping half an hour ago… not a bad show, but don’t think it was your strongest – not as good as last weeks, in my opinion, although I did like the electric car film.

Rob…what sort of stuff was in the show?

And how long was the electric car film? Thanks

can’t wait till sunday top gear Im your biggest fan and my uncle said could he rais he’s clapped out rover 214 round your track faster than your fastest celebraity he’s fast too

It looks like a very good episode.

the only thing i’d change in actuall tg is studio lights, it’s too bright ;d the one from last series was better

I was in the studio today, brilliant episode!

Expecting the R8 V10 to be in the middle-of-the-range 1:21’s if the track can stay dry. It will beat the Corvette i think. But the Corvette is a magnificent car as well. High 1:21’s or low 1:22’s maybe.
Kepp in mind that I’m talking about a DRY track here people.

hi guys my name is danielle and im 16 i fink your shwo is amazing and im a big fan of you i just fort that you may like what im doin i had to think of a charity event for college so because i am doin motor vehicle i fought of a top gear themed day i have put a lot of time and effort in this i have even found my out stig lol this event will be recorded so if you would like to see my college course do a show like your please reply and after my charity event i will send it to your site obv this one also obv you all have busy schedule but is it possible i could have some signed pictures thank you

I’ll start out by saying that I respect everyone’s opinion and I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, so here is mine. The_Monk, you say that you love top gear and you always watch it, but you also say that the recent seasons are terrible, and you don’t like what the show has become. When I don’t like a TV show, I usually don’t watch it. So why don’t you do the same? In my opinion, I’ve loved every episode that I’ve seen, including the recent seasons.

We live in Geneva, thought I’d hire my husband a present of a luxery sports car for a week-end, can you suggest what one and where were the mountains you drove through on the last series in Switzerland?

PS can i have tickets for any Top Gear show after christmas because I have a crush on James May?!!

Excellent comments page. I love it when condescending folk throw big words around without looking them up first.

A_YID_4_LIFE: You’re kind of proving my point.

Ryan: Fair question…

I don’t do the same because I keep the faith in Top Gear being able to get better. I’m one of these people who will sit through a programme that I love no matter what the facts state.

It’s a programme I grew up watching in the 90’s and watched die because of how monotonous it was. It then subsequently became a programme that I watched ressurect itself from the depths of televisual depression and reinvent itself to become one of the best programmes so far since the dawn of the millenium. It’s a programme I love and the message it used to have about the joy and passion for cars, for engineering and for motoring is something I identify with and wish to see expressed to many, many people for years to come. I also know for a fact that it is a programme the BBC have devoted a staggering amount of time to in developing it and making it work, not just as a programme but as an advertisement for the BBC worldwide.

I don’t turn off because then I become part of the problem — the more who turn off, the less likely the programme is to survive. Simple television mathematics. I keep on watching because I keep the faith.

I criticise it because I love it too much and hate to see it ripped apart and defaced by the complacent twits sitting in BBC Television Centre who have forgotten what it meant to make the programme as amazing as it was, taking for granted the long-suffering yet adoring fans in the process and alienating them in favour of the hoardes of unintelligble, knuckle-dragging, asinine, fatuous morons who are more prone to starting fires in their bedrooms with flint than being able to structure basic coherent sentences together.

great show love that ferrari california, maserati grancabrio isnt as fast but what a car!!. TOPGAR ROCKS!!!!!!

I WENT 2 TOGEAR LIVE IT WAS GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   TOPGEAR IS THE BEST

canyou please stop writing long essay like blogs and stop critising it and if you love why the hell are you doing that

top gear rocks

gidfifgyfguys: if you can’t understand the purpose of constructive criticism or the sharing of opinions that you don’t agree with (or don’t understand), I would urge you strongly never to go outside.

I think ‘The Monk’ is hoping the guys who make Top Gear will read his blog and be so impressed, they ask him to go to TG HQ and write Series 15.

They didn’t need your help to make it the success it has been. If you really believe in your ideas, don’t bore the rest of us with them. Maybe you should pitch them to some TV producers and they might let you make ‘6th’ Gear or other suitably named cheap imitation.

In the mean time, may I suggest; watch it if you enjoy it, watch something else if you don’t.

The_monk how about u shut the hell up u spaz

Simba: I’m not under the illusion that there is some producer in some office somewhere reading what I say, writing it down, passing it on and so forth, and I certainly don’t cling to the hope that I’ll be offered a job. I type what I type because I’m allowed to, and if I manage to throw something out there that is unique or that differs from the monotony of groupthink and it sticks, then great.

I don’t hope for anything more than maybe people to read what I type. As I said on the other blog, hoping that producers as complacent as those who make Top Gear take an interest in what I say is ultimately fruitless – there’s a reason why they are in the BBC and we aren’t; they’re creative professionals. They generally rely on opinions of people and, as Andy Wilman quite rightly pointed out, it is a case of people either saying “Top Gear is Great” or “Top Gear is Shit” – some people being constructive and saying why it is great and why it is shit, and others who do not.

It is up to the producers and writers of Top Gear to be able to generate the ideas since that is their job, that’s why they work for the BBC — all we can do as viewers is supply them with the opinions that will aid them in being able to find the balance between what makes a programme good and what makes a programme shit. What works for one might not work for another, and that is always the fundamental concern of every product that has ever been marketed to the general public right since year zero.

I think what you wrote might have been intended as ‘constructive criticism’ but it turned into a bit of diatribe. Really quite militant and disparaging of the show. That’s why you’ve aggravated people like me so maybe be a bit more concise and a bit less abrasive if you don’t want people to respond defensively.

PS If the beeb came-a-knocking you wouldn’t turn them down.

Loved the 1st episode and so looking forward to this one.

Its really great to have TG back!

Totallly ignore what The_Monk said – Top Gear is as good if not better than ever. If you personally dont like dont watch it!

If the BBC came knocking I probably wouldn’t turn them down but at the same time I would admit to myself and be honest in saying that I wouldn’t be able to offer them anything worthwhile. The formula for a great Top Gear is really quite simple:

a) Cheap/used car challenges
b) Road testing real world cars relative to certain demographics
c) Races using supercars
d) Cool wall
e) The news (car related)
f) Star in a Reasonably Priced Car (actual celebrities)
g) Power laps
h) Relevant articles and segments that address the concerns of the general public

That’s the basic foundation they can use, it’s up to the programmers and producers to build up around it and make it work for a balanced demographic. That’s the hard part that Top Gear struggle with.

There was also nothing disparaging or insulting in what I said – certainly not militant – it’s just a multitude of contrary opinions delivered in slightly oppressive and polemic manner and I’m sorry if you misunderstood the purpose.

The basic point I’m trying to make is this:

Top Gear used to be great before it dumbed down and became an entertainment show rather than a show about the joys of motoring. In the past, Top Gear balanced the two by showing films such as any number of the road tests, the insightful segments that offered real consumer advice, and news on new cars with films such as the races between the McLaren Mercedes SLR and the boat, and the Bugatti Veyron and the plane.

They CAN do it, they just haven’t done it in a while I dislike seeing it. So here’s how I feel it can be changed – dot dot dot.

ShortArse92: It might actually help to read what I said before you engage me. It might open your eyes a bit to differing opinions as well while you’re there.

yeah!

I was there today and in my opinion it was good!! The electric car was funny do tune in an watch them cause mayhem!

I actually agree with some of The Monk’s comments. I do cringe when bits are ‘acted’. We can tell and I find it a bit insulting. Except for the bits that are absolutely, blatently, without a doubt set up i.e. the infamous caravan episode, the scirocco adverts which nearly killed me due to laughing. They were deliberately set up from start to finish and were what they were meant to be.
I don’t like the little things like James pretending to be angry when he’s hit his piano. We know his piano is safe and well in Hammersmith and this is an old one you’ve picked up second hand. There was a few things in the lorry episode. The presenters aren’t actors and we can tell.
The presenters are at their funniest when they’re being themselves. No pretense. Just being real. They are 3 talented guys and Top Gear is at its best when it’s natural.
I do think James May is under-used. A few facts don’t make it boring, they just add another layer.
Top Gear remains, in my humble oppinion, the best thing on TV at the moment and I love every minute of it (except the acted bits).

I live in america, so theres no new top gear here, so how can i watch the new episodes?

#1 the vette was supposed to be on s13e7
#2 jezza has a ZR1

henryesmall go to Youtube.com… there usually posted within a day or 2

I have watched Topgear since series 2 and I have to agree with The_Monk. The last series wasn’t that great and the first episode was the same.
At this rate Topgear will just become another programme that I watch just because there is either nothing on or I because I have fallen into a routine on a Sunday night.

On the subject of favourites one has to be the comparison between the BMW M5 estate and the Merc E63 AMG.
The best driving road in Europe, (which was very similar to last weeks).
The mothers.
The first amphibious car one.
And not to mention the Isle of Man one.
Ect.

The_Monk

I wouldn’t be surprised if you are the one who wrote the VROOM and Vicky comments as another name.

@ The_Monk

You’ve hijacked the first shows thread with your banal repetitive “That weren’t how it were done in my day laddy” posts, whinging about ‘days of yor’.

And now you seem set to take a massive leak over this one even before it’s shown. Please – give us all a break until at least the damn show has aired! You never know, you might be surprised – I highly doubt it – but you might be!

@ The_Monk
you get the points right. the older series are even much more funny when talking about ordinary cars. the news section has become into some kind of freakshow. best example this weeks papertoilet and jc falling into it, afterwards doing a very female gesture…
but still it’s just fun to watch the programme, cuz it’s the last car-show one can watch without vomitting

in fact, it has decreased from supreme greatness to just greatnesss, what a pity..
go on guys, test a normal car.. perhaps even a diesel one

sorry for my bad english.. not a native speaker/writer

@ The_Monk (Quote) “I criticise it because I love it too much and hate to see it ripped apart and defaced by the complacent twits sitting in BBC Television Centre who have forgotten what it meant to make the programme as amazing as it was”

Hmmm, wouldn’t that be Mssr’s Clarkson and Wilman you are calling defacing twits?

Don’t care about the novels being written above me. I just can’t wait for the next show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Top Gear!

Has anyone actually been reading The_Monks comment’s above?
I read the first one and got bored lol. I think you might be the only one who cares about that stuff! If no one wanted to see it, then why is Top Gear BBC 2’s most watched show and why would so many people want to go watch the show being filmed every week? If you look back at the first show there’s only about 20 people there but look at the last show, it’s absolutely packed!

All I can say is I love the show and I make sure I watch it every week! Who wants to see boring road tests of Fiestas or Polo’s? No-one! Go watch 5th Gear if you want that! Top Gear is 5* entertainment and always makes me laff!!

Btw, anyone see that romainian girl in the 1st episode walking with those cows, she was well hot!

http://gamecityonline.co. uk

I am sry The_Monk… What kind of HORSE CRAP are you talking?!?! If they were to get rid of anyone on Top Gear, the show would not be the same. I agree the show has strayed a bit but come on, the show is about entertainment, if you want facts, call the car manufacturer. I think they would love to help.

To the editor, great job. I have been a fan for many years. I don’t see the show but I make sure and download it the same night. I have all the series on my hard drive.

Continue the good work!!!

Nice jumper May!

Hello all from Russia!;)

Qoute from the monk “Top Gear used to be great before it dumbed down and became an entertainment show rather than a show about the joys of motoring.”

While I agree with the monk on a number of points I can’t say I do on this one.

Top gear was and is still about the joy of motoring. But top gear has indeed had a number of shows where this JOY was ACTED and not REAL. Biggest example of it was the mitsubishi being shot at with life amunition… seriously top gear how old do you think we are to believe such things? The hole thing was a 100% scripted and that does not contribute to the JOY. The first episode though of series 13 (the 1950’s car bike train challenge) was a 100% about the JOY and nothing felt acted… I bet nothing was..

This seies 14 1st episode I enjoyed. The roumania item was great but felt unfinished. You didn’t try out eachothers cars, no opinion which one is best, No comments after driving mr chauchesku (spelled right?) best road…

Am i wrong to understand the production team is more under time pressure and suffers from budget reductions?? Enough of this bla bla..

You still make great shows, I’m still hooked.

Oh and Monk. Great to see some constructive critisism.

@ The_Monk…

i do understand ur concern and i know where ur coming from wen u say top gear has been dumbed down, but u shud also put urselves in the shoes of the viewers who may have actually started watching the show recently or say after series 6, 7, 8…

we all live normal and in most cases boring lives, and the cars we drive regularly are more often than not terribly boring too. in all probability its the sub-conscious craving for things about motoring that we dont ourselves get to ever experience in reality, that we look so forward to TG in its new ever increasingly famous avatar.

so spare a thought to all the TG fans who seek an hourly escape every week from their dull n boring motoring lives. and as a result of the new avatar that the BBC has developed TG in, there are bound to b a few fans who liked the original thing and find the newer version dumbed down. the BBC can ofcourse justify it all ‘cos they make loads of money outta the special DVD releases and the Magazine sales, which wud not’ve been the case had TG been just the same in series 14 as it was in series 1.

TOUGH!!!

come on guys!!! these blogs are suppose to be here so you can express your opinions, everyone has one … and just because its not the same as yours doesnt mean its wrong or right in any case, its just that, an opinion.. just respect Monk’s (which i happen to agree with).
i mean dont get me wrong i love the show, yes, its one of the best on tv right now, i just happen to think that it was better before, when the guys werent reading a script…
anyway, did love last week’s show, and hope the ZR1 happily spanks the R8 V10

I’m excited to see TG’s idea of what a great electronic car will be. The first episode was quite refreshing, so I can’t wait to see you guys turn it up a notch with the crazy antics as well as the great information about cars I’ll only dream of owning.

the_monk i have to say…you are absolutely right, top gear has lost some of its magic felling, sometimes it feels that they over-react the script, the past seasons (3 to 7) felt like they were live shows, it doesnt anymore, i love top gear, make no mistake, but i want it to feel like it used to

I think The_Monk is missing the point of Top Gear. Yes it is meant to be entertaining so they do funny things such as ice racing with Olivier Penis and the like but it is meant to be car show so they do proper road tests aswell and features about cars!

and i do think i saw the STIG at the recent British F1 Frand Prix at Silverstone. i wonder if he was there for some kind of a TG filming. hope its shown during this series.

Rulezzz: HELLLO!!!!!!

The_Monk – it’s old grumbler one…
And if you remember 4 series, when TVR was buying by russian – shut up, don’t argue with russian… Even if TVR now in arse…

Top Gear is the best TV programm i even seen. So stop discuss the changes, you silly people! Just enjoy Top Gear, becouse it isn’t enternal!

Sure hope Chris Martin is going to FINALLY be a star in the reasonably priced car this series.

I’m just happy to have TG back on our tv screens. Its a great programme and far better than anything else on tv.

If it stayed in the format it was a few series ago, it probably would have died a death by now because so few people watching. TG had to move on and it has moved on to capture a larger and more wide-ranging audience. It is now one of the most watched programmes in the world and, because of that, it is able to carry on with a much larger budget.

I also believe it is Jeremy, Richard and James that have made the show what it is today. They are now the important ingredience and it will be a very sad day when one or all of them leave.

Brummie: Well, it’s would be a combination of those two and the producers and writers of it.

Daniel Way: I’m not the only one who cares about “that stuff” (lovely and vague there) – just look at the other thread and this one too. There are people who share my opinion.

So many people watch it because there are a lot of idiots out there who find the mass market appeal of Top Gear’s dumbed down format more palatable. Just because there is a large audience doesn’t mean it’s good – look at The X Factor. Millions of viewers every weekend evening and yet about as easy to digest as your highly nutritious and deeply tasty fast food burger.

My criticism is that they shouldn’t really have to break from the formula of series 3 to 8 because it balanced perfectly on the line between entertainment and fact-based programming. You don’t have to sacrifice quality to do that.

KING: I never said that it would be good to get rid of somebody from Top Gear. I said that if Richard Hammond was sacked or quit then nobody would miss him since what he says is mostly forgettable. I also said that it would be a good idea to cut down on the Stig character because he’s irrelevant outside of talking to celebrities and doing power laps.

Been There Done That: I almost agree with you but my point with what I’ve written on this blog is that they can still offer the escapism some people crave from their monotonous lives whilst still being a programme about cars rather than solely a programme for entertainment sake. They did it years ago and there are only a few instances in recent series’ that it was glimpsed.

Ryan Williams: No, I think you’re missing the point of Top Gear.

The point of Top Gear, as Clarkson has stated numerous times, is to show the joys of motoring. That’s it. Now, that’s all fine and great when they do it but they haven’t really done it for about 4 or 5 years now. All they have done in its place is show the presenters enjoying cars that we will never drive outside of an Argos-bought track day on a track that is completely irrelevant because it doesn’t encapsulate the entire 300,000 mile road network of Britain that we all drive on every day, or in a foreign country most of us will never go to.

Top Gear CAN be entertaining, they just need to balance it out with something interesting rather than feel the pressure of having to adjust and appeal to a significantly more fickle audience of knuckle-dragging idiots whose sense of intelligence is titilated by explosions and stunts.

Heidi: you mean the same format that attracted 250 million viewers worldwide?

@ The_Monk

What writers? It’s unscripted remember ;D

Hoping that show 2 can live up to the utter brilliance that was show 1 – it looks like they’ve taken our criticisms of series 13 on board! This series is turning into a classic!

The Monk…I was meaning people would have got bored with the same format.All TV programmes move on …the world has moved on!

And as for no one missing Richard, there was recently a thread on this site about Tina Holby replacing Richard on the show. I suggest you read all the 100s comments there!

Brummie: Yes, of course…

Heidi: If people are so fickle to turn the programme off just because the producers stick with a formula that worked consistently for years, they don’t deserve to watch the programme anyway.

Nobody was getting bored with the format, it was just a case of Top Gear producers finding a way to make the programme fresh and appeal to a larger mass market of people who care more about entertainment than cars. My criticism is based in the idea that they didn’t even need to do that since the audience was 250 million.

TV programmes move on and Top Gear, unfortunately, has moved on for the worse.

Yes you are right, nobody was getting bored with it then and it was doing well with 2m – 4m viewers in the uk. Now it has changed, and ok you say for the worse (you are entitled to your opinion), but the fact is it is now getting 7m -8m viewers now, sales of TG merchandise has rocketed in the past year or so, this year and next year they are doing a sell-out world tour and it has now become the most downloaded programme in the world.

That ain’t bad for a programme that has got “worse”!

Go for it The Monk…..im right behind you. You have followers out there!

soooooooooo looking forward to new series, its just so funny all the presenters are great, but clarksons sexy )))

monk: Think you have had your say now! Thankyou and goodnight can’t wait for your next thrilling installment of ‘where Top Gear went wrong’,don’t get me wrong couple of your comment were well said but you seem to think this is where you should vent all your thoughts…No this is where people like to come and go EEEEEE CAN’T WAIT WOOOHOOO!
I suggest (although suspect you possibly write at least once a day) that you contact Top Gear HQ with your ‘ideas’ and leave this for all the 8 year olds in us that are still excited by loud bangs and flash cars which quite frankly no will never be able to afford therefor not see DUH!
And to be perfectly honest after your they could get rid of Hammond comment well I’ve skipped the the rest of your book!
Now I can’t wait for next episode but am not happy at new time I’m not popular with my mates down the local inn down a pub quiz member but you know it’s Top Gear! x
Long Live Top Gear oh and TG Live was awesome thanks fellers Hammond hope your hand is ok after the burn(NEC sat 1330 show) Xx

Just because the audience figures have increased doesn’t mean the programme is any better. Ratings are not relative to the quality of a programme; they’re just figures to suggest that more idiots watch something that the ‘bright people’ were aware of anyway.

You could have a programme that is watched by 10,000 regular viewers and it could be the greatest television show on earth whereas you could have The X Factor, watched by millions, and yet quite possibly the most vomitous thing to have ever been transmitted.

Ratings are irrelevant. In fact, if anything, ratings make a programme worse because they tend to mean that the producers have less room to breathe and experiment with new (and far better) ideas. Ratings put added pressure on the producers because when the BBC (or any production company) senses that they are on to something big, they come down on the producers and suggest to them to make a programme that sacrifices certain elements in favour of something else.

In Top Gear’s case, the sacrifice is quality and the gain is fickle viewers who treat the programme as nothing more than entertainment than actually spare a moment to care for its value.

Thanks to the 3 boys,we could get fun in it.
THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!

Just to throw in my bit into all this. I enjoy TG as much as anyone else on this board. And I do agree with some of the things The_Monk has to say but then again, it’s called a magazine show for a reason. It does different things every week to keep viewers interested. It’s an entertainment programme featuring 3 presenters doing what they love best.

It is all about playing on human emotion, if they say a car is rubbish, many people will not buy that car. If they say it is great people will dream about it and idolise it. That is why many of the people who have commented on here are being so…unconstructive with their insults and arguments. The show is designed to be entertaining and is no longer about consumer advice. Which is where I’m afraid The_Monk is going to disappointed, where many people such as myself are more than happy to oblige and watch.

The Monk..I suggest you use your ‘off’ button then and let us “idiots” enjoy what is now a very entertaining programme!

Keep the show at 9pm if it means you can get away with more racey humour, the mid-week repeat can always be toned down & shown earlier.

@Vena (quote) Hammond hope your hand is ok after the burn(NEC sat 1330 show)

Okay???? Wha??? usually the blogs are all over any ‘injury’ Hammond has, what have they missed.

Surprisingly enough as a side note, I did see a link to an interview/article with the diminutive dynamo posted on another board today that didn’t ONCE mention THAT crash! My hat goes off to the interviewer who can apparently get past things!

I was there for the filming yesterday. Really funny episode!

RE: jimiboy

I think Monk is probably aware that he’ll be in for a disappointment. Top Gear is after all a million pound generating cash cow that I doubt the BBC will be reluctant in taking to the slaughter. He/she is clearly intelligent enough to know what you’re saying is true and diplomatic.

But…

He/she is bloody right. About everything.

It could probably have been condensed a lot better and, as somebody said, a lot less militant. But he/she is right. It’s great to see somebody like him/her have the fortitude to be able to come out in the face of adversity, stand his/her ground and offer something that other people either don’t have the guts to say or don’t notice because they’re too stupid.

I yearn for a time when TG will revert back to it’s original form. Not the old 70s, 80s, 90s TG mind you but series 1 to 7. It had everything people want now all at the same time as offering anoraks like me and Monk what we want. I’m sick of tuning in to the show to see a few idiots make an electric car or make a people carrying convertible or making aquatic cars to name but a few unnecessary films that we learnt nothing from.

Go back to how it was before it turned **** TG!

Finally……….ZR1 Vs. R8 V10

Monk. What the hell gives you the right to say what they should do, how they should do it?! Do you work for the BBC, or Top Gear? No. Don’t like it, don’t watch it. Stop being such a goddamning douchebag!!! Fair enough, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’ve just gone WAY over the line into cocky bitchiness. You can’t tell them how to run the show, personally I love watching Clarskon doughnut in a £200,000 supercar.
There may be people that share your opinions, but there are more people who don’t and think that you’re just being a douche. If you’d rather watch a show like that, go buy 5th Gear series’ (I’m not sure if its on DVD as I don’t watch it because I can watch a similar but much much more entertaining show, but seeing as its not on TV anymore, because Top Gear is a better show with more viewers, but it might be), it sounds like it would be more your thing, if you don’t like the mass of stunning supercars and the “pointlessness” of Hammond, get over it, because 99% of the viewers love it.
You couldn’t do a better job than them.
Finally, you can’t judge the series on a single episode. Its like judging a book by the font it uses on the front.
So pull your finger out and get over yourself.

the_monk – you not being a bit too anal about this? top gear would be so boring if they just tested “affordable” cars! to me the whole point of the show is entertainment. see the guys driving these cars and do the competitions is hilarious. life can be pretty brutal so its nice to have some escapism in the form of these exotic cars

I Can not wait for that. Topgear saves the world once again!!!!! Also can’t wait for the Corvette v R8 V10 shootout. That’ll be interesting

they should put richard armitage from spooks in the reasonably priced car would love to see that

iahtebuses: i totally agree with you.
if they got rid of the entertainment, got rid of hammond, had one supercar a show, and no hilarious stunts etc it would be a SHIT show. What makes Top Gear so great is that it’s full of pure hilarity, awesome stunts, and is presented by 3 average men, who arent actors, no, but know they’re stuff when it comes to cars.
All the sports/super/hyper cars give people something to aspire to, they like to dream about owning a £5million car, and by all means they should. I do.

need a bit more v12 powered food blenders dont you think jeramy?

ihatebuses: i totally agree.
If they got rid of the entertainment and comedy, and the stunning cars we all love to dream about owning, THEN it would be a shit show. If you want to know about afordable cars in a non-entertaining way, go buy car magazines.
The thing that makes Top Gear so great is that it is full of hilarity, awesome stunts, The Stig, and is presented by 3 average men, who arent actors, they know they arent actors, but they know their stuff when it comes to cars.

(sorry about the repeated comment, my computer decided to spac)

I will admit that I started to watch Top Gear properly after Hammond had his crash. One of my sons was an avid fan long before me.(and yes, I do admit that I have massive crushes on the presenters,mainly Jezza and Slow!Its my mid life crisis!)I find the programme very entertaining and light hearted, just the antedote to a tough week.Mr. Willman, you will never please everyone!its impossible!there will always be those who would like a more serious and in depth appraoch and yet others who like the sheer entertainment factor!The fact is that Top Gear is a global money earning brand for the BBC in its CURRENT format and thats before all the tie-in goods that are now available in the shops.however you look at it,the three presenters do work well together and the viewing figures speak for themsleves.Yes there could be improvements, as with all programmes.Everyone is entitled to their oppinion and I respect their right to do so, even if theirs differs from mine!As for me, I say keep up the good work! Im still enjoying the programme.p.s. Top Gear Live was phenomenal!

can’t wait till the next episode.. the first one was epic!

I feel that TopGear is just not about cars anymore. It has become too much of a gimmick and lost the heart, which was a car driven program. 5th Gear still has managed to retain this and TopGear should perhaps learn from this.

RE: Sarah

I think Monk is a lot like marmite in the sense that if you either love him/her or hate him/her. Regardless of which, he/she will always be there and there will always be a fraction of society that will always agree with his/her opinions. I’m one of them because I think he makes some bloody good points.

For him/her to turn off would be defeating the point of what he/she is saying. He/she in turn, for instance, could easily just turn around to you and say that if you don’t like his/her opinions then don’t respond to them. It’s a necessity for you to do that because you feel you have to defend something you love, just as he/she does with TG.

At least that’s how I see it.

Personally I think the programme on Sunday was fairly mediocre. It was nothing to complain about but it wasn’t anything to give praise to either. It was just same ol’ same ol’. Nothing’s changed, I still love you oh I still love you.

Monk’s just a person who offers brute force opinions to people who either don’t want to hear them or are happy in the knowledge that they are ignorant to anything other than convention, and for somebody like him/her to come along and say the things he/she does gets the reaction of “how dare you???”

The difference is he/she doesn’t ask you to shut up. He/she encourages you to make “constructive criticism” and to be fair what you said isn’t.

HalloGallo Imp: I understand what you’re saying, I just think that if he/she has such strong views against it, and seems to have had these opinions for a while, why do they watch it?! I don’t think they have the right to say how it should be done. He/she is undermining the producers, but fair enough he/she can have their opinion, I have mine and feel very strongly about them, but I just feel that he/she has gone a bit too far, and if they don’t like it, they just shouldn’t watch it.

Is it just me or has this whole forum turned into the internet equivalent of getting stuck behind a caravan on a windy road?

@brummie
Regards Hammonds hurt hand,was in part of the live show at the NEC on Sat Hammond got some hot engine oil on his hand,Clarkson+May being the kind souls they are dragged out the chance for him to get it seen to as long as possible(was amusing!),whilst everyone was watching the big screens though did see both ask him if he was ok see they do care really! (as obviously I wasn’t going to be watching the tv screens whilst Hammond right in front of me!got to see the nice side of them)
Glad to report as a true professional though he carried on and I’m sure was only slight injury did have my splint that am currently wearing ready to lend though
Me thinks that boy is just accident prone having read his latest book BE MORE CAREFUL MR HAMMOND! Xx

@Jitesh Patel
Erm see what you are saying but from what I believe 5th gear is not to return so I truely hope TG doesn’t follow suit of them x

LOL – oh god poor lad! Do hospital do frequent shopper cards

I think 5th Gear went because of lack of funds, I doubt Top Gear will follow suit, its a lot more popular, and if it did, my life would surely not be the same.
And i agree, TG Live was beyond incredible!! 6 rows back!!! XD greatest day of life

I’m looking forward to the Audi R8 V10.

People what a row Monk and the other one is causing……in the end they are all wrong! Top Gear is the only program that entertains viewers for the full hour these days….its bloody awesome! I watch it every week and find myself still watching again on iplayer or whenever the repeat is shown on BBC 2. The variety on the show is spot on, the jokes are light hearted and pitched at the right level and more to the point JC, Richard and James are LEGENDS!! Full stop! THE END!

Omg I can’t wait. I just love Top Gear even though I’m a girl and 11. Right now Im in love with F1 and Ferrari’s (Lambos and Porches are nice as well). You guys are so funny and I love the challenges. Keep up the good work I can’t wait.

To the Monk, STOP MOANING. Go and watch a programme you might actually. You must have too much time on your hands to write such a long and pointless email.

To the Monk, STOP MOANING. Go and watch a programme you might actually like. You must have too much time on your hands to write such a long and pointless email.

@Monk

there used to be a car show on channel 5 that would be right up your street its called 5th gear i suggest you piss off and watch that instead……. oh wait no its been axed cos is was shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i completely agree with the last few comments.
I think he has buggered off now to watch some TV show that has no intention of entertainment, humour or interest. It seems he likes that sort of thing.

Mmmmmm…
Michael Sheen, drooool.

everything about this new series is going to be great, so if Simon stupid cowell is on at 8 why not put int it on early,so we can all watch it!!!!!!!

yo The_Monk STFU. Top Gear wouldn’t be top gear without ferraris and luxury expensive cars. Just because you can’t afford one doesn’t mean you have to hate everyone else or ignore tests of expensive cars. Go watch a different show if you wanna watch boprring people test rusty junkies. TOP GEAR RULES!

monk there are some ‘places’ were are people payed to listen guys like u…

and monk if u think TG is so damn rubbish then bugger off and watch 5th gear!

HalloGallo: Thanks for your understanding. Also, for clarification purposes I am male. I hope you can appreciate that it’s easier for you and everybody else type he, his, him, etc. You’ve also hit the nail on the head with regards to the comparison between Sarah’s attitude towards what I say and my attitude towards Top Gear.

Sarah: I’ve repeated to people several times now on here that turning off would make me part of the problem. I love Top Gear and will be a lifelong fan so I have no intention of turning off because if everybody did the same then it wouldn’t exist as a programme anymore. What I feel is important for the lifelong fans to do is meet the problems head on and offer something constructive that Top Gear producers might see.

Not say “Top Gear is shit” and then wait for the storm of idiots who say “no it’s not!” rather than “why do you think it’s shit?” – that’s not constructive, just as your criticism of what I say isn’t constructive.

Rather than conversing WITH people on an intelligent level of understanding, you’re talking AT people; aimlessly barking orders at them with hope that they pay attention and think you offer something more than the asinine opinions of a person who has no tolerance for others who do not share her questionable viewpoint.

At the end of the day, you have what you want to say, I have what I want to say. We’re both entitled to our opinions but the difference is there is nothing constructive in what you say. It’s just a case of you saying ‘you don’t like top gear, shut up and stop coming here’ – how is that purposeful? I’m not asking YOU to shut up, I’m just asking you to contribute something that others can discuss rather than feel intimidated by.

So what you’re basically asking for, Monk, is an open forum for debate?

Stereo MC: Not particularly.

I’m just giving opinions. If people agree with them, great – why? If people disagree, great – why?

If a forum is created over it then it’s always a good thing because then it means the opinion has served its purpose. If the opinions provoke people to the point where they feel offended and casually hand out unhelpful abuse, it hasn’t served its purpose. Although, to be quite honest, as I said, I’m not really optimistic that the opinions will go much further than this board so really I think my intention with them was to just throw them to the wind and see what kind of response they got – which is probably about 50% positive and 50% negative.

To bring this blog back around to the point, however:

As I said at the beginning, I just hope this show from series 14 will not be as shit as the first one, just as I have hoped since maybe series 10 or 11 that the episodes will be great once again.

I never said that it is going to be shit as I have not seen it yet but maybe now that I have mentioned a few things that I feel are a concern to a lot of the longtime fans who can see the same problems as I can, the new fans of the show who view it as flawless entertainment will notice them a lot more prominently.

excellent start 2 the new series.jezza,james and hamster,keep up the good work.p.s.dont let james near a sports car again.

@The_Monk.

Read my name, that is all.

Monk I liked some of you points (But not all TBH) I have also watching TG for years but then I’m only 28.

If fifth gear has given up the ghost then maybe they should get Tiff and Vicky on the show! But then it wouldn’t be the same I suppose…..
But in the reasonably priced car that would be good, but YES I know they are racing drivers so it wouldn’t count, but hay it would still be good to watch right?

Any hoo I still love the show as I always have from the 80’s as a kid right up to now! Keep it up guys

I think it’s funny how the people who agree with Monk are usually the ones who have something interesting to say.

Gunston: See, I’ve noticed how people think the changes I’ve discussed think it’ll turn it into Fifth Gear – ie. the programme Top Gear used to be.

That’s not the case at all. At no point am I asking them to stop showing supercars or to stop driving them around the track, I’m just saying that the programmes shouldn’t be solely about this bland and predictable aspect of the show. It should be more balanced.

Fifth Gear was always great but it was never as good as Top Gear and that’s for one very good reason – entertainment value. Fifth Gear was always about giving people consumer advice whereas Top Gear used to be about giving people consumer advice in an entertaining way.

can we have the cool wall for more than once a series this time?

p.s. this debate about monk vs. rest of world is turning out to be quite funny!

@ Cheesemeister – I find it funny that the people who agree with Monk all write the same.

Cynical by name, cynical by nature.

Cynical: Yeah it doesn’t help being in the company of people who can speak basic English.

MONK STFU

SARAH STFU

GIFIFGYFUS STFU

EVERY1 STFU!!!

START TALKING ABOUT TOP GEAR!!!

I agree with some of the things that The_Monk said. For instance in most of the episodes there are bits that one can point out without any doubt that it is staged, like in the last episode there was the bit when the lambo crashed into another car.
Another thing about topgear that is getting way too annoying is the destruction of unpopular and less appealing cars, when the dacia sandero was given to James in the last episode it was 100% apparent that the car was going to be destroyed. Also, there was another episode in season 10 where the boys head out to find the best driving road in the world, the show has become so accustomed to sticking with fast and expensive cars.
I couldn’t agree less with The_Monk when he says that Richard Hammond would not be missed by anyone if he were to leave the show. In fact, he is the most balanced presenter in the show (according to me) and is liked by many people.

fr33man: …you know what? I’ll concede with that analysis of Hammond, actually. Clarkson being the uptight grandad, May being the nagging wife, Hammond being the little guy in the middle of it all.

Generally I don’t view his opinions of the cars as worthwhile and I tend to forget every review he ever does roughly 3 and a half minutes after he’s actually done it, but as a three piece it’s hard to fault them, really. I’ll scratch the idea of not caring if Hammond goes because you do have a point.

The rest stands though.

I think I’ve sussed out why The Monk uses that nom de plume. He really is a pontificating puritanical person (assuming, of course, that ‘he’ is not a ’she’).

Accept it: not everyone is in agreement with your long list of what should be on the programme each week… thank the gods.

For goodness sake, give it a rest now. You’ve made your point – ad infinitum. I imagine the programme could be improved – nothing is perfect – and perhaps certain aspects of previous series could be resurrected, but don’t keep talking down to us while you make your complaints/demands. Believe me, that is not the way to set about trying to change people’s attitudes and opinions. I did think that you had some interesting points, earlier in the previous blog, but quite frankly, you are beginning to become a bore. Sorry, mate.

Incidentally, in a previous incarnation, I had to watch the original Top Gear. You don’t honestly want a return to that do you? That would be the way to kill it off. (And it’s just occurred to me, when the “new” Top Gear rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the old, I wonder how many of the old guard complained about the new format?)

Actually, come to think of it, when I get Top Gear magazine every month I read the articles written by Clarkson, May and Jon Claydon; completely bypassing Hammond because I don’t really consider him to be much of a writer. I guess I apply that to the programme as well.

Kernow: it’s just a username. It means nothing. There’s no need to look deeper.

I’ll agree with you in saying that I’ve made my point. I made my point in the first message I posted on here. It just so happened that it provoked people to the point where it resulted in a torrent of fairly unhelpful diatribe.

I’ll concede in saying that I feel that the comments now are taking this whole blog off on a tangent that bears no relation to any of the initial points I made that have caused us to get to the point we’re at now. Which is a shame. It IS boring. I’d frankly rather talk about Top Gear than discuss the pro’s and con’s of constructive criticism and what it all means all the time to people who should have been intelligent enough to understand what it all meant in the first place.

To address your last paragraph, though: no, I don’t think anybody wants Top Gear to revert back to the incarnation you have mentioned. We had Fifth Gear for that.

The old format was great for what it was but it died a very natural death when everybody realised it was turning into something truly monotonous and tedious. Every episode started with a disappointed sigh and ended with sigh of relief. Then it became series 1 of the new format, it stretched to series 2 magically, and then series 3 it found its own two feet and started to make more and more sense. Then after series 7 (maybe series 8 at a push) it started to lose its way, and that as they say is history.

Monk:
this is going to be my last point.
Stop referring to everybody who doesn’t agree with your opinions unintelligent. It’s cropped up a few times, you may not mean to come across that way, but you are, and I really do not appreciate my intelligence being undermimed simply because I do not agree with your points. I apologise for speaking “at” you, and if any of my points offended you. I may only be 16 but please do not call me unintelligent, or unobservant, because I’m not. By all means, disagree with what I say, but you can not judge my intelligence on what has been said.

soooooooooooo, why is it on @ 9:00?
i herd it was something 2do with something called’x-fakta’, is that why TG is on @ 9?

kernow & the_monk: stop arguing, cos it is the single most boring argument ive ever seen, i don’t give a toss whos right & whos wrong i have better things to do with my time!

Sarah: I appreciate your honesty and I appreciate your concern. However, my intention here isn’t to undermine the intelligence of anybody but to simply state my opinions on how Top Gear can be improved with the hope that somebody out there will read them; users and Top Gear blog writers alike.

I would not call anybody an idiot unless it was absolutely necessary to call them an idiot, and regardless of whether or not I DO call them an idiot, I still do not ask them to shut up or tell them to leave if they have a contrary opinion to my own. This is where we differ.

Instead, I urge people to say something interesting and constructive rather than offer some senseless generic order or insult that achieves absolutely nothing.

It’d make far more sense for people to just turn around and say ’sorry The_Monk but we cannot respond to what you say so we’ll just insult you’ but then what would be the point of that?

@Jake ham: better things to do with you time eh? oooh! i bet you do, i bet you do! wink wink, nudge nude, eh eh? eh, say no more say no more…

@ Monty: WTF!!???
& username is J4KE H4M u blind deuche bag!

burn more rubber very good program and who will win between THE STIG and wonder woman

in a jelly wrestling match

Just on the comment about Richard being a balanced mix of the three.

Something in my short viewing time I have noticed is that when they do the cheap car challenge with the notable exception of the Alpha Romeos (I Think) Richards choices of vehicles for the budget generally far outstrip the other two for reliability – not necessarily the fastest etc… but in sheer numbers of ‘problems’ or breakdowns, he comes out on top

Not sure if this is because he has a better judge motors, or whether just years of experience of, as he freely admits, chucking his cash into each and every inappropriate vehicle he’s had over the years makes him have a keener eye for a slightly less crap car I don’t know.

Plus… you gotta love a man who wears RM Williams stock boots and is known to wear a Drizabone when it’s a bit damp outside!

Monk….. you are cracked and should shut up. I’m sure if the guys on the show wanted your constructive criticism they would ask for it…. You must be the most boring person on the planet!!!!
I wouldn’t change a thing. The show is perfect the way it is.

Anon: Well, when I want to hear inane comments made by a cretin who is clearly incapable of doing anything besides I’ll ask you for them. Ok? In the meantime, try to find the time to say something worthwhile.

=):

I am not The_Monk or anyone else. I have posted on here a few times before under the name VROOM. I don’t see why you have to get yourself all worked up I was only agreeing with somebody’s opinion.

I think “The Monk” is really a BBC writer trying to get a rise out of the fan base to see how we feel about the show now? Is that it? Top Gear, to me, is like a comedy/somewhat serious auto show which I love myself. Say the Marx Brothers made an auto show back in the day, or Dudley Moore and Peter Cook?…..it would, kind of, be similar to TG today, wouldn’t it? Anyway….Top Gear Rocks…you have my vote!

St001DreamPoliceGirl: If The Marx Brothers or Dudley Moore and Peter Cook did a show similar to Top Gear, the lifelong fans of their comedy would wonder why they were trying to do something that isn’t very funny.

I have that movie “Frost/Nixon…I’m not a crook!” Nixon was a republican….Haaaaaa haaaaaaa! Oh ma gawd! Anyway…..Michael Sheen was superb in it! What kind of reasonably priced car is being driven on the show now? Not that same blue “wuss” car is it? Let me drive that Corvette….best damn American car ever made!

Haaaaa haaaaa haaaaa…..Monk, you’re killing me! What do you mean? Write me another “book” will ya?

St001DreamPoliceGirl: It’s still the Chevrolet Lacetti. When they changed the car from the Suzuki, I noticed a distinct drop in quality of the show.

OOoHHHH! No wonder! Now why can’t they change back to Suzuki but make it a Suzuki SX-4 Sport! I used to have one….they’re so cool!

come te Serbia

Forgoodness sake The-Monk, give it a rest! Get a life already instead of being a sad act and replying to everybody! Don’t you have a job or anything?

The fact of the matter is that nobody gives a shit about your “perfect formula for Top Gear” I find myself yawning on the prospect of what TG would be like with you in charge. I think that TG wouldn’t be any where near as popular as it is now if you were in Wilman’s position.

Who wants to see “affordable cars tested”? NOBODY? Why? Because it is as dull as dishwater! Don’t get me wrong, I’m a car loved, but if they tested a Daihatsu Matiz or whatever, I’d just be falling to sleep!We want to see Ascari’s scream round the hammerhead, we want Ferraris and Astons doing massive powerslides with Jezza shouting “POWWWER!”, we want Zondas racing against Bats with Saturn 5 rockets up their arse. That’s all part of TG, it is what it is about. It’s EXCITING, it’s entertainment!

I had goosebumps from the scene of them racing through the underground tunnels in Romania with those FANTASTIC sounding engines. It’s the 8 year old mentality!

You are just making yourself really boring and old with all this you are coming out with. As I say, nobody gives a damn. We’ve had what? About 8-10 people (maybe more) who disagree with you and only about 2 who agree with you. Speaks volumes don’t you think? If TG was really that bad, it wouldn’t be showing in the many, many countries it is showing in currently, they wouldn’t be off on a world wide show if they just tested affordable cars.

So just shut the F up for once and go and get a life.

yippppie cant wait i just got my tickets 2 c top gear in middlesbrough on saturday! bring it on here comes the stig n his mum!

I was lucky enough to be at the filming on wednesday and thought the show is a really good one. Certainly well worth the 8 hour round trip from Sheffield.

I wasn’t enormously impressed with the first show of the new series (I mean relatively of course) but thought this one is much better. No spoilers as to whether the ZR1 or R8 won mind! Met Clarkson and he was very friendly, chatted about Dinnington in the interval!

I disagree with most of what the Monk and others said. I don’t want to watch Top Gear to see dull, everyday cars being reviewed. I wouldn’t go out and buy one based on what they think anyway, so what’s the point. I watch it for entertainment, excitement and a laugh.

I do agree on one point though, the staging of some bits is getting more frequent and more obvious. There is no need. The presenters are entertaining enough and it’s not necessary.

Otherwise, top show and keep up the good work. And thanks for a great day on wednesday.

Really enjoyed the show this week, great cars, wonderful landscapes, and very entertaining. TG is my weekend escapism, and it’s nice to see some exotic metal making with the noise as opposed to some whiny little twerp banging on about the credit crunch. More noise, more crazy challenges, more hyper cars, more Stig…and MORE POOOWWWEEERRRRR..please. Oh, and The_Monk, you aren’t the troll formally known as NeoMonk are you?

James: thanks for your response.

Fortunately I do have a life, and a job, it’s just a case of being bored and running dry on inspiration at the minute in my occupation. Coming here to talk about how shit the latest episode of Top Gear is a way to quell the feelings of tiredness.

I think it’s a bit self-righteous to presume to think you speak for everybody in saying nobody gives a shit about the “perfect Top Gear formula” – obviously some do otherwise this whole blog article wouldn’t be about ‘what The_Monk said’. People on this blog clearly do care about the opinions I have and some are fortunate enough to share them – I’d say it was about 50/50.

Who wants to see affordable cars being tested? Well, actually, quite a lot of people according to the two blogs I’ve posted on. In fact, I’d say that these same people want to see cars they cannot afford being tested as well; such is the glory of balance. Also, your opinion of the Top Gear team being able to review Daihatsu is subjective – what you fail to realise is that if it’s done in the right way, it can be made to look interesting. Some people say that comedians can’t make jokes about cancer or paedophiles and yet, actually, you can if it’s done right. It’s a foundation Top gear built itself on for years with cheaps cars and advice-cum-entertainment.

Excitement is relative. What might be exciting to another might not be to somebody else, and whilst I think we can both agree that watching a McLaren Mercedes SLR do 190mph down the Autobahn’s (legally) or a Vauxhall VXR8 going sideways in a cloud of smoke is exciting, it’s not as funny as watching Clarkson and co rip the piss out of something like a Prius or some damn Korean hatchback. Entertainment mixed with motoring reviews – it’s a great balance and worked for years before it became The Three Stooges plus very special guest star, The Stig.

Your powers of observation are seemingly limited as well, which genuinely DOES speak volumes. The majority of this blog has been interaction between the same people but occasionally you’ll get people who come in maybe once or twice to offer what they feel is sufficient (because they’re allowed to) and to be diplomatic I’d say the percentages between positive and negative responses is roundabout equal if not slightly more to the negative, but then if you look at the negative comments you’ll see that they are generally nothing more than “shut the f up” or “you’re an idiot” – and how beneficial is that to the flow of conversation?

Scarrott: To be fair, you’re missing the point of what I initially said. You’ve missed the point of everything I’ve said, actually.

Er… I’d like to see reviews / tests in normal cars. Anyone can make a Ferrari look exciting, the skill the TG guys have is they can make a Ford Focus piece entertaining. Or rather, the used to be able to…

RE: Monk

Thanks for clarifying although I did have an inkling. Not very often you find female monks.

RE: James

To be fair to The_Monk, the guy has serious balls. I think it’s safe to say on this website there’s alot of people who would feel intimidated to say TG is getting much worse when you’re surrounded by a ton of people who think otherwise. Seeing what he has to say offers a fresh take on the show and I welcome it, to be honest. Especially if what he says is true.

It could be condensed a lot better and he has perhaps gone on about it for too long but I’d be more inclined to read what he has to say than any number of the other bloody posts people make on the other blogs.

@ 165 (^ #171) yeah i loved the old focus st review. that was vintage top gear.

can we talk about top gear more? dont wanna hear about monk man anymore. cares about top gear but he goes ooooooooooon and ooooooooooon and oooooooooooooooooon. so boring at 8 o clock to see rants and raves

Alfa169: Would you like a low calorie version of my rants and raves?

@ monk (^ #174) nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

lol

nah i got the jist of what you said earlir. i agree with it to a certain extent. i dont really watch much of new top gear because i love the reviews they used to do of cars like alfas, focuses, golfs, civics etc. dont tend to see many of them these days just bulls**t supercars like in the first episode of this series. im 17 years old and i work in morrisons. i drive a usd renault clio. seeing things like lambos only makes me more depressed lol

@The_Monk

Get a Job you’ve been replying on this thing all F’ing day I’m sick of paying for folk like you!

Jeez, remind me to come and read these comments when I can’t sleep. Are you guys related to Tolstoy?

Mr.Clarkson, if you or any of your TV assistants or directors may read this i do have a challenge for you unless your scared. i know how you just hate bikes. but can a car beat a bike round a track. i challenge you to host a race to see which is faster on a real race track. a bike or a car.

Out of interest what are people classifying as “normal cars”? Is it based on price range or type? I ask because I’m noticing her in my home city that as our state is starting to reassert itself after the GFC and the mining boom is starting up again, that I am seeing a disproportionate number of Mercs and Beemers et al on the roads (and oh God Peugeots) in place of what would have been the up market version of old Toyota Camry’s and Holden Commodores.

What I think makes Top Gear truly great (and by far my favourite set piece of the entire thing) is when they take a sensible car and go insane with the testing (Fiesta road test anyone?) That mix of good advice and lunacy is, I believe a key part of the show. The banter between the three presenters is the other key part. When they’re given a little room to improv, they work well together and scenes don’t feel nearly as stilted.

Also, who let the kids out of their kennels? Own up, we’ll only give you a token mocking.

No time to read the boring novels written above me. Get a life. can;t wait for ep 2! Love Top Gear!

I came to TG late – Christmas last year, in fact – because I thought it was just a boring car show. Oh, how wrong I was. What I love about it is the fact that it is like a box of Quality Street – sometimes you get a green triangle, and sometimes a toffee. Personally, I don’t like toffees, but that doesn’t mean that I want them taken out of the box.

It works because it has a mix of lunacy and fact. The chemistry between the three guys is brilliant. They are very different, and each has what the others lack. Remove any one of them, and the show would lose what makes it special. I have a bit of a thing for Mr Clarkson, because I love a man with intelligence, wit and a mile-wide wicked streak, but I actually know a bit about cars nowadays. I even found myself drooling a bit at a rather lovely Mercedes SLK in the car park at work today.

In short, I love it. Every minute. And I can’t wait for sunday.

my school is doing a top gear play

Was there on Wed, Michael Sheen is quality and so is his lap, got to be the greatest, and i mean greatest day out ever, well done to all crew, the boys and the stig, 1 hell of a day!!!

FINALLY THE ZR-1 vs R8 V10! JIPEEEY!

Whyelle: “What is classed as a “normal” car”?

Glad you asked.

It depends entirely on the demographic which makes the selection process all the more varied.

For instance, somebody young who’s looking at driving a car for the first time will be wanting something cheap so they could do cheap used car challenges OR they could do the same with a cheap NEW car. They could even cover the elderly demographic by doing the same thing.

They could then adjust the types of cars depending on a specific audience.

People with families – hatchback’s like Astras, C4s, 308s, A3s, 1-series, Civics, Focus, etc. Then they can always show sportier, hot-hatch models of the cars.

Reps – Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, Mondeos, Insignias. Jags, etc. Again they can always go for the sportier versions at some point.

People with lots of money – Ferraris, Lambos, Porsches, Maseratis, Rolls Royce, Bentley, R8s, etc.

People who laugh at fuel prices – Dodge, Corvette, Vauxhall VXR8, etc.

The “anoraks” and psychopaths – Lotus, Morgan, Bristol, Ascari, Ariel, Nissan GT-R… just everything else, really.

The key is for Top Gear to actually take these cars and put them on the roads of Britain, not a track (unless doing a power lap). Also, it’s important for them to actually talk about the relevant facts and figures of the cars whilst being entertaining – that’s what Top Gear is all about.

At no point in the course of this whole rant have I said “stop showing supercars”. I say, save the Ferraris (et al) and performance cars for the best bits because that way we don’t take them for granted and can appreciate them when we see them. It doesn’t make sense to show them on a continual basis because we’ll just get bored of them.

*Walks up and thwacks Whyelle across the back of the head Gibbs fashion*

I can see where you would want them to put them out on the road, but I s’pose if driving talking on your phone is a no-no, would the fuzz look any more kindly on people talking into a camera.

Plus don’t they have camera cars and bikes buzzing around, I remember seeing one shot where a dude was all but hanging out the back of a 4×4 with a camera. If I had my own piece of blacktop I would be doing it there too – lot less probs.

cant wait !!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh your making a bit more sense now Monk!

Yeah id go for that. Cant have a Top gear without a supercar.

Lol, it’s still going on. Give it a rest, no-one cares any more. If you don’t like the program then don’t watch it. The reason why all these other people are on this website is because THEY DO like it so stfu and gtfo.

Daniel Way
http://gamecityonline.co. uk

@ daniel way

People do clearly care otherwise nobody would still be talking on this page. I see now why hes frutrated because its a kind of circular argument. Hes saying that hes trying to get across a message to people about how to pgear can be made better and if you dont agree with him thne its usually people telling him to sod off.
If your going to keep telling the guy to sod of it gets nowhere. you just prove his point. Hes told you already about 10 times why he wont turn off and it sounds like a good argument well sai to me.
so instead of saying something stupid why dont you talk about it? Telling people to sod off just because you dont agree witht hem is unfair and dumb.

Daniel……….well said my son!!!

All ill say is if topgear was that bad it wouldnt have a 64 year waiting list and be broadcastable worlwide or hav 8 -10 million viewers each week would it, dont try to fix what isnt broke in my opinion!!

RE: Reedy

The point you make has already been shot down in post number #89. I won’t repeat it because I’m growing tired of having to read long messages that all have the same points and won’t subject anybody else to it but TheMonk basically said that ratings are incidental. If you wish to read the message (which to be fair is quite informative) then you should.

Post #89 scroll up.

Ah well its just turning into politics, just enjoy the show for what it is, why try to pick it apart piece by piece, its funny, informative and for me, and ideal finish to the weekend.Its light hearted, and at times to be honest Jeremy Clarkson speaks his mind, says it as it is regarding this country, and I for one agree with alot he says, Long may it go on and for god sake just enjoy it………

RE: Reedy

I think it’s a bit of a double-edged sword because on one side you have a load of people who are stating the reasons why they think the Monk should leave and yet on the other side you have the Monk repeating the reasons why he won’t. If people took the time to read what he said in the first place he probably wuldn’t feel any need to repeat himself. It’s the repetition and endlessness of the messages that I think annoys people more than the content.

It’s clear he won’t leave and I personally think he has every right to stay because what he says when he doesn’t repeat himself is genuinely interesting and I agree with it. It’s challenging to people who are otherwise too stuck up their own arses and caught up in the zealotry of their belief in TG to find the flaws that others see when they take a step back to observe it. All the power to him if he gets somewhere with his points. You never know they could make TG better if seen by the right people.

Ic can see it from both sides mate, I never said I couldnt, I agree a few new concepts would be great, and in all honesty will prob happen anyway as progression takes place but just at the min whilst the formula still works within the show, does it need it???

RE: Reedy

But that’s what Monk is arguing against. It doesn’t need new concepts. It just needs to stick to the same simple formula TG had to begin with. It was the new concepts and introduction of emphasis on the entertainment that made it problematic for the past regular viewers who feel it has deviated somewhat from the original working formula. Maybe people are arguing against Monk because he didn’t condense his opinions down into something as basic as that explanation. I don’t know.

You said it yourself that if it isn’t broke the there is no need to fix it and yet that’s what TG did after maybe series 9. TG tried to reinvent the wheel. Monk says that, I agree with it and I think you’ll find a lot of people agree with it which is why you have such a varied blog of opinions.

@26 the monk: you just made what you are talking about boring by saying ‘careful’ and ‘implementations’. Stop trying to ruin Top Gear with your boring shit. Nobody wants to here what YOU want, rather what EVERYONE wants. Anyway your ideas are shit. sorry they just are. you are a Tv critic wannabe and stop trying to be one by disagreeing with people and or thinking you are right.

anyway back to series 14: OMFG ZR1 FINALLY ON THE TRACKA DN GOING TO CREAM THE LIVING SHIT OUTTA THE R8 V10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  !!1

that is all

James I was there, unfortunatly it doesnt lol

Really enjoyed the Romania trip. Great first show.

I have just come across this link and I thought of you guys straightaway. If you haven’t already been here, how about road testing this kind of technology?

http://www.technologyshow case.qinetiq.com

Looking forward to Sunday evening.

seriously why do people write bad stuff about top gear? its the best show ever!!! Cant wait for sunday

James 2: Ok, point taken… now, anything intelligent?

Chimp: People can write “bad stuff” about Top Gear because it’s easy to write bad stuff about Top Gear. The only tough part about it is trying to decide which part is so terrible when there are so many terrible moments to choose from.

Old news TPLO. Still funny but we’ve heard about it already. Thanks for turning up!

I like da fings dat go RAAAARRRRRR proper loud like. Big up top gear and shit yeah. CLarkson makes me shit man his jokes are fkin ace. Supercars and blowing shit up wiv pianos is safe man.

As for Monk. Well personally I think he puts across some salient points in a clear and educated way. Insulting someone for having,what amounts to, some fair points just makes me sigh and shake my head ruefully at the state of some people today. Surely there’s a Punto that needs pimping somewhere?

Peace out bredren, brap brap.

What the fork is the monk(ey) on about??
He’s not a producer. He’s a bum.

Monk – listen to me – if you really want proper reviews of everyday cars buy the weekly auto express or something.

I cant belive you posted that rubbish. How stupid. You ladyman.

OK ive scaned though about 60 odd of these comments and heres some thoughts

1: people are entitle to there own opions

2: Forums breed this sort of arguing enviroment where a 8 year old and say a 35 year old seamlessy argue about anything and i gotta say thats just sad

3: is there a need for profanity i scan though thousands of forums as apart of my job so im used to seeing this sort of thing but come on its so childish

4: Who cares about all these the fact of the matter is as with any debating each side is entitle to there own opion and thats that if one side was to berate the other just because they think there right then please go out into the playground an squibble like children

5: the show will not change the current formula works well and thats proven in ratings its a known fact that pleasing the masses is more profitable than pleasing a minority

6: these coments well reach over 500 at this rate and just to point out how sad that it is to squabble over something that is not “in your control” at all

now go ahead flame me like children hounestly tired of this if i wasnt paid to scan forums like this i would never bother replying to you all thank you

Top Gear is at the pinnacle of it’s greatness and if it is, it’s due to what they’re doing, the show is great with the way it is, if you want consumer advice Mr. The_Monk go grab a boring magazine, let top gear roll the way it is!

@The Monk
Top Gear (Pre 2002) is a completely different programme to the current one. Thinking of it, they share 4 things in common; Cars, Jeremy Clarkson, White teeth and the name. Tell me you didnt laugh when Jeremy arrived at the campfire in America with a cow on the roof? Or the time they went to Japan and James got on the wrong train? You may complain, moan about and criticise the programme but the fact of the matter is, there two different programmes. Also, on that point, BBC were cancelling Top Gear in 2002 before Jeremy proposed his idea. BBC agreed and today Top Gear is undoubtably one of the BBC’s highet earning programmes. The BBC agreed to Jeremy’s idea as it was different. Proof of this-In America, did anybody take notice of the old, incredibly informative Top Gear? NO. Does anybody in America notice Top Gear now? Answer that for yourself.

My point is that if you want a Top Gear similar to the old, watch the old Top Gear.

You can’t disagree with that point (from a 14 year old, by the way )
lol

Just watched the new Uncovered DVD and I’m starting to wonder if the boys have somehow cracked the space time continuum? A lot of what has been discussed here is addressed in a very self effacing manner.

I’m glad they used Hamster to do it, because he is excellent at taking the mick out of himself and the show while still keeping you laughing. Very nice!

Long message ahead… (if you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it – please don’t feel compelled to tell me to go away)

who cares/#211: Just for the sake of clarification, I’m 25.

Your points 1 to 4 are a given in any blog situation. People comment, people agree with the comments and people disagree with them. At all times, however, it think it’s fair to behave like adults at all times which is why it’s not my intention here to condescend to people whose opinions don’t stretch beyond insults or words that are ultimately beneficial to nobody but rather expose them as idiots.

Your point 5, however, is subjective. I’ll get to this in a minute because 1814 and TopGearer (he’s 14 dontchuknow…)

Your point 6 is also questionable. I don’t think this blog will go to over 500 posts – at least not before tomorrow when a new one will be up for the new episode. Additionally, the viewers are ultimately in control because without their input Top Gear wouldn’t be possible.

It just seems now that Top Gear are so complacent in their ways that they take for granted that what they show now is what the viewing public want; in the process failing to address the concerns of people who have something interesting to say rather than fickle audience of viewers out there who say nothing of worth and just want their fix of entertainment in the forms of pointless stunts and ridiculously fast cars.

I won’t “flame” you like a child either; I’ll try and talk to you on a more normal level and actually have a conversation with you. That’s my intention when I engage with anybody who wishes to talk rather than insult.

1814 & TopGearer: You have missed the point of what I said completely; especially you TopGearer.

Nobody wants to see Top Gear like it used to be. If you read my previous messages it would help you in being able to have a foundation of which to build your criticisms on instead of amalgamating and compositing bits of pieces information that you have taken out of context and misunderstood.

As I have said in previous messages, Top Gear a programme I grew up watching in the 90’s and watched die because of how monotonous it was. It then subsequently became a programme that I watched pull itself out itself from the depths of televisual depression and reinvent itself to become one of the best programmes so far since the dawn of the millenium.

As HalloGallo Imp pointed out earlier on in this blog, look at message number 89 if you want to know how irrelevant the audience figures are.

I’m repeating what I say again but people think the changes I’ve discussed will turn it into Fifth Gear – ie. the programme Top Gear used to be.

Fifth Gear was always great but it was never as good as Top Gear and that’s for one very good reason – entertainment value. Fifth Gear was always about giving people consumer advice whereas Top Gear used to be about giving people consumer advice in an entertaining way.

I don’t think anybody wants Top Gear to revert back to the original format. We had Fifth Gear for that.

The old format was great for what it was but it died a very natural death when everybody realised it was turning into something truly monotonous and tedious. Every episode started with a disappointed sigh and ended with sigh of relief. Then it became series 1 of the new format, it stretched to series 2 magically, and then series 3 it found its own two feet and started to make more and more sense. Then after series 7 (maybe series 8 at a push) it started to lose its way, and that as they say is history.

Monk: “At all times, however, it think it’s fair to behave like adults at all times”…

Great English there, you clot.

Please Top Gear, you are digging yourself into a hole. The same formula every series in order to protect the crown jewels will just result in a plummet of ratings! I know its your image now that “we dont test any cars that arent sporty” but please, its getting old! I always thought I was the biggest Top Gear fan in the world, but now it has turned into a marketing ploy. Just go back to test some normal cars. In enjoy watching old re-runs on Dave now because, for me, THAT is the Topgear I know and this one airing on BBC every Sunday evening is just a marketing campaign.

I think you will find that most of the people commenting saying “keep Tg the same 4eva” are under 15 years of age: an age group that makes up under half your viewers. Those who watched Top Gear around 4 years ago want it back. Please, I dont want to see TG go down but, im sorry to say, it is. Have a rest after this series and come back late 2010, early 2011 when you have thought of some new ideas (c’mon, we KNOW you have ran out of them) and hopefully, when you can finally admit that you can only survive if you start reviewing normal cars again.

Well said, Chris.

Monk just shut it yeah? Top Gear is amazin!

Right, ok…

Obo: If you’re there, tell me why Top Gear is amazing. Why do you think Top Gear is amazing? What about new Top Gear appeals to you?

what do you mean? Top gear is amazing bcaue of the awesome cars and stuff. you dont see em on the roads nemore so its great seeing them on the telly! its funny 2! i lovd the space ship one. cant wait for sunday! TOP GEAR RULES PISS OFF MONK!!!! LOL!!!!!!!11

What? Why was Monks message deleted?

It might have been the swearing, Ed. I’ll edit it for public viewing.

My message to Obo was:

“See, this is exactly what I am talking about. THIS is the audience Top Gear appeals to now. There are no clear explanations, there are no intelligent or interesting points; it’s just a litany of vague answers, almost incomprehensible dialogue and no apparent reasoning power.

A person defends a programme they love and shows support for it. When asked why they support it, why they love it and why it appeals to them – “oh because it had a spaceship LOL.”

What… the…!?

14 series later and you get a core audience who sees a programme as nothing more than a “spaceship” with explosions and “awesome cars and stuff” – isn’t this indicative of how things surely need to change a little? Obo is looking at this message now and I bet he hasn’t even got past the second line without feeling overcome by blind rage and the sudden compulsion to type whatever demented thing first pops into his head.

People with a similar mentality defend the programme and say that nothing needs to change and yet I can’t help but wonder – would it be such a bad thing to lose this audience if it DOES change back to how it used to be in series 3 to 8? You’re an idiot, Obo.

It’s the same with the vast majority of people who disagree with me. They read what they want, they find snippets of negative commentary – none of them have the attention spans, patience or intelligence to actually read or comprehend any of my messages which is why they turn around and simply shoot it down by telling me to shut up without even knowing why they are telling me to shut up.

If there is anybody with intelligence out there who can justify to me why changing Top Gear back to its most consistent form (not perfect, mind you – consistent) is a terrible idea, I’d gladly be interested in hearing it without you ordering me to shut up.”

NOW MY MESSAGE HAS BEEN DELETED AND MONKS IS BACK!

Ok this is getting confusing. What’s going on? All I did was agree with Monk.

I said that what he said was true. I dont think Ive paid as much attention as Monk has but I agree with Chris up at #217 who more or less shortened what Monk said.

Nowadays top gear is made for kids and stupid people and I miss the reviews they do of ordinary cars. Dont get me wrong I love supercars as well which is something even Monk agrees they should show but I prefer the normal cars. Normal cars tend to bring out the funnier side of the top gear presenters because those cars tend to be the ones car manufacturers knacker up more. I would love to see less stunts and more cars to be honest top gear. I wont take anything from the electric car film you’ll be doing in the new episode. It might be funny yeah but its not going to make me want to build my own just to see how hard it can be. You’re getting too predictable now.

AND NOW MY MESSAGE IS BACK!

LOL!

Ed: I’m not exactly sure what the administrators are doing…

They are probably trying to keep awake – I know I am – which is why I haven’t bothered adding to this somewhat protracted discussion. As the proud possessor of a bus pass, I feel time slipping through my fingers at an alarming rate of knots, so wish to spend what is left more wisely. Quite frankly, I’ve been having more fun on Ancestry, trying to trace my feckless ancestors.

In the main, I have preferred the intelligent, reasoned, if somewhat lengthy, posts to the rather inarticulate offerings, especially those written in what I can only describe as “textese”, which to be brutally honest, I neither understand, nor wish to understand.

I cannot see me bothering with these forums again – all this hot air is good only for filling balloons.

Top Gear is not the be all or end all in my life. I would not die of a broken heart when, eventually, it is pensioned off. Unlike The Archers on Radio 4, it will not go on forever.

the monk @ 204: you made your point of being a whining git and no you dont sound like a wannabe journalist, you sound like a bloody school teacher. Anyway you blatantly ignored me when i talked about your ideas being shit, which they are.

oh yea also stop giving people credit when they slag off the show.

also if you dont like it then DONT BLOODY WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its very very simple.

last thing: get off the computer

last last thing: our the idiot here not me.

RE: James 2

To be fair to Monk I think the reason he didn’t respond to your points and what you said up in Post #200 was because you didn’t actually have any new points he hasn’t already addressed.

On a more diplomatic and neutral note I have to say that you’re not really making sense and I can’t really blame anybody if they don’t respond to you. I think most people will see what you have to say as unreasonable and that’s where you and Monk differ because he begs actual conversation and discussion whereas you are so unflinching in your zealotry for TG that you are incapable of being able to see the well articulated and balanced views of people who have different views to you. It’s with reluctance I say this because I fear you’ll take unnecessary offence and misunderstand.

It’s silly for you to order him not to give people credit when they share his opinions on TG. Get out of your own arse and stop being so arrogant.

The_Monk i have one thing to say to you i am 15 years old i love topgear the presenters are hilarious and i dont aspire to having a cheap car when i am older i want a lamboghini or a ferrari or something so watching clarkson hammond and may playing with them makes me happy!

I see, what Jeremy would call, the “Adenoid Brigade” are at it again.

Someone please wake me when common sense does its impersonation of Lazarus!

Brad1064892: Well, I’m glad to see that there are still fractions of the youth of Britain who intend to work hard enough to be able to afford supercars. I don’t think anybody here has questioned your aspirations.

What are your views on the points I have raised in this blog?

i love top gear

“You see the problem is we get a lot of criticisms from viewers who say we spend far too much time talking about Zonda’s and Ferrari’s and Aston Martins and not enough time giving advice, you know sensible buying advice to people in cardigans” ~ Jeremy Clarkson, Season 5 Episode 4.

And apparently these people are still hanging around after another nine seasons ~ there’s a word for you lot ~ Masochists!

I’ve been reading your comments/short stories now and almost every episode there’s only one supercar and I can’t think of anyone that’s been a 10-minute film or more. For me, TG should be as it is now. Between the series I watch and re-watch the old shows. TG is as good as it can be and has always been and will always be!!!!

loved the 1st episode . did u guys notice that james may was much more assertive ( and funny ) than the previous seasons , or was it just me . anyways glad that the gang are back .

The Beeb is being discriminatory. Again. I am British and just happen to live in Russia for the time being – so why cannot see my favourite 3 musketeers having a laugh?

I saw em today in boro and nearly walked right into richard

old news… i know it is as regards to hammond in the high spead crash, he dont want to talk about it but i do, hes response to the blow out was remarkable, ive watched it in slow motion and in 100ths of a second he turned that wheel what a remarkable driver, just a big up to hammond…. you aint to bad clarkson either! lol

just one more thing, i met them not long after the crash, they stayed in the lythe hotel in haslemere witch aint far from the track and they were as genuine as they are on the show… nice to meet good celebs!

I know someone who has been lucky enough to go to a couple of filming days and the same message has come back, how personable the guys are.

They often stand in the audience to watch the the others do a filming spot and wander through the crowds during breaks and are happy to chat to people drinking tea from polystyrene cups like the rest of them.

I think that’s one of the reason I like the show, there doesn’t seem to be any pretense with them and I hope one day to get the chance to witness that first hand.

In Heat magazine 21st-27th november,they have got a couple of pages on weird crushes 2009.Jeremy got no.9.James got no.6.Richard got no.4.The Stig got no.3.

Haha the Sitg.

Some people are really weird!

Did Wilman rate a mention?

watching all star family fortunes at the moment but i just cant wait for top gear……………………………………………………… …………… stuff im a celeb

To be honest i dont think the last episode was great to be honest. I bit samish to the best road in the world episode, just not as good :/ But im sure all will be back on track this episode

Billie Jean is always talking,
But nobody else is talking,
Telling lies and rubbing shoulders,
So they called her mouth a motor!

Jaguar, jaguar, jaguar top three top makers of great cars.

best cars ford

Hey, I’m from Dinnington =/ Besides u can’t talk jeremy, u come from Doncaster!

A good car company could be Alfa Romeo

Look i know that Noble havent made “lots” of great cars but i think all the ones they have made are brilliant

+ Audi R8 rocks

What a shit show. Absolutely pointless.

Ford is definately the best car manufacturer! If you want great cars… They’ve given us the Escort Mexico’s, Escort Cosworth, Sierra Cosworth, GT, GT40, Mustang, RS200, Capri’s, and more!

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

last time i was this bored watching top gear was during series 1 with the fastest faith challnge. loads of bollocks haha!

i think that that the company that has made the greatest cars is ford becuase there really reliable and u even said the mondeo is a good car

Ok then…

So what did the electric car film prove? What did the R8 film prove? Where was the car news?

Where the hell did my last hour go?

Union Jack on Electric car drag race was upside down.

Sort it out chaps.

That was the worst episode of top gear i ahve ever seen!!! What is going on this show is just become a show for morons who know nothing about cars and are only interested in explosions and challenges that “fail”. Please sort it out

Now THAT is the worst episode of Top Gear I have ever seen. Last episode was taking the piss but this was something else.

Electric Car – I waited for ages and ages for something to actually happen. I waited for something to have actually been said that might have been relevant to the general public. It wasn’t even funny. The punchline for the entire feature was seeing a car that looked like a washing machine and yet Volvo have been playing that same joke for years. It was a complete waste of time.

Car news – I didn’t actually see any. I can’t even remember what they talked about.

Audi R8 vs Corvette ZR1 – why not take them out on to the the streets, roads and motorways of Britain so that people could actually get a visual taste of what they are like to drive? Save the less important power lap times for a minimal 2 minutes in between. Review the new Mondeo that’s been out for the last 2 years instead.

Michael Sheen – his interview was like watching paint dry. He said nothing apart from taking the time to promote a shitty new teen film he did for nothing other than a pay cheque and talking briefly about his car history. His interview was tedious but he made up for it with the great lap — good stuff.

Overall, the single worst episode of Top Gear… ever made. I did that in the worst Clarkson impression ever as well.

Most consistent car company of all time?

Bristol. They have changed nothing since day one and have therefore never made any mistakes. Name me one Bristol that doesn’t have a cheeky appeal to every Brit.

That was utter bollocks.

The 1st show was really promising, yes a couple of staged pieces but good overall.

Today’s was shit. Really, really shit.

Yet another supercar driving round the track (which you’ve basically tested before anyway) up against another supercar you’ve done to death on the show already too.

The guest was good, you didn’t plug any rubbish and you talked about cars, so that was a save, but other than that it was terrible.

Loads of people will no doubt get annoyed at me and say ‘well don’t watch it then’. Well, for the first time ever, I didn’t. I switched off.

Oh, and I’m a 23 year old male, so not a 45 year old car bore, and my flatmates also unanimously agreed the second show was ’shit’ and ‘boring’.

My hopes of the return of quality TG were cautiously high after episode 1. Other than a good guest talk, you’ve gone right back to arrogant, self-important, unfunny television.

Sorry to be harsh, no doubt you worked hard, you’ve just forgotten who you are. What a waste.

mint show, better than that celebrity crap.
love watching top gear on a sunday!
been watching it for years now

Really enjoyed the second show. I think that Audi have some of the best cars. I love the handling!! Oh, and the pedals are far enough apart so you don’t hit two at once, on all their cars!! The R8 looks fantastic.

My dad has a saying for Ford’s – “It’s a Fix Or Repair Daily” and from my experience that’s correct.

Without doubt the SHITTEST episode of top gear ever.

biggest load of shite I have ever seen – clarkson – you severely got that all wrong. must be one of the worst shows ever !!!!

RE: Top Gear

I’ve been literally left speechless by episde 2. I… I just can’t say anything. My jaw has dropped at just how bad that was. I am speechless.

Series 15 seems more and more likely to be nothing more than you promoting Stiggy banks in Morrisons, eh Hammond?

Really funny, but a bit too staged. Hope you’ve planned a smasher for next week

total and utter wank!!!

I thought that was one of the funniest show’s i’ve seen in a long time!

I’m usually a fan of Top Gear but TONIGHT… you featured nothing but rubbish. I love the cars and everything but even with the entertainment there was nothing funny.

Poor, poor episode

god how embarrassing would it be to repeat that one on dave? lol!

The most I’ve laughed for a long time. Classic TG, keep it up Guys. And to all the wingers above, get a life !

That episode was funny and hilarious with Geoff I hope they make more episodes that that. It just made me laugh alot.

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Another supercar on the track? You’ve bloody well tested it before!!! And even if you’d picked a new car, it would still be no different from any other ‘test’ you do on track, i.e. bloody boring. None of us have our own tracks, we use r.o.a.d.s.

Crickey, and even more shit jokes and unfunny, scripted, staged ‘comedy’!! It’s crap!! Read the posts for crying out loud. Better yet, reply to some of them and tell us what’s going on in the minds of TG.

It had promise; a great idea (the electric car), but an awful execution. I left mid-way through. Sorry : ( but you’ve forgotten your winning formula. It hasn’t changed, you have.

lmao at the electric car film, absolute genius

baddddd episode…

why o why r all the episodes scripted??

cmon top gear won baftas and emmys when it wasnt scripted why start now??

Well done everyone last weeks TG was fantastic This weeks was even better hilarious Geoff is fun keep up the good work Jezza Hammy James Stig and co xxx

Ha, this was a good one! Plenty of “WTF are they doing” moments, “this is bound to go wrong” laughs and hilarious _unfunny_ jokes!

Episode One was a bit so-so in terms of “funniness” and mishaps, but this one really takes the price home:
The Star, the car, the race (Exclamation Mark).

I laughed SO much at the slow-mo crash test bits. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen on the telly in ages. Excellent (as usual).
Chris
PS Check out my car enthusiast blog http://www.theignitionpoi nt.co.uk

What a terrible show, by far the worst show i have ever seen. The electric car challenge that took up half the show was boring and a complete waste of time, and i am fed up of these challenges failing on purpose, “oh no the car is rolling down a hill and is about to crash into a tree how did that happen” it is not funny. The Audi R8 V10 review was exactly the same as the V8 version and i can’t remember the last time there was a proper road test for a car that people could actually buy.
I have been a top gear fan for a very very long time and i understand that top gear is trying to appeal to a wider audience and not just us petrol heads but the show has become pathetic, it seems to appeal more to small kids who like crashes and explosions and are entertained by the producers stupidity, i know more and more people who watch top gear who know absolutely nothing about cars and only watch it because it makes them laugh, you have to be an idiot with a dry sense of humour if you find these obviously staged challenges funny. Please for the love of God go back to the days where there are at least two car reviews in one show and the challenges don’t take up ¾ of the show bring back classic Top Gear where the pleasures and passion of driving is what the show is based on.

why are people hatin’? I got bad bones from laughing at the slow ‘motion bits’ i havent laughed that much since last week when the stig threw the table over . it was so funny when they showed it ‘at normal speed’ when Hammond said ‘ow my chest’ and it was in a dead squeaky voice. keep it up Lads XD

@The Monk comment 259.
Do you work for 5th Gear? Sorry, DID you work for 5th Gear? Seems like you’re really bitter towards Top Gear for some reason. Or Maybe you’re an Eco-Mentalist?

It also sounds like someone has a case of the Boring Old Fart syndrome. Maybe you should write in to your local paper about this important matter which concerns you so much.
Oh no!! Top Gear still produce the same excellent programme that they’ve produced for years now. Except it gets better with every season.

Have you never taken into account that Top Gear has come of the best camera men (or woman?), producers and writers in the business?
You really obviously don’t get Top Gear at all. It can’t really be as bad as you make out as it’s one of the most viewed programmes around the world today.

Perhaps you should spend your Sunday evenings doing something else apart from whining eh.

P.S. This is obvious I suppose. If you don’t like it DON’T WATCH IT.

see comment 257

Excellent episode!!

p.s the monk is a complete moron

probably one of the worst episodes to date. got maybe one laugh from seeing hammond’s little head poking out in that little box… but that was it.

i can’t believe too many people genuinely find staged accicents and rehearsed jokes funny. hopefully the next episode will be better.

Episode 1 was immense and this episode was also brilliant, looks like it is going to be a cracker of a series.

frank i agree the monk is an idiot

Hmm. We’ve got many haters on here tonight. That’s very unusual. Has there been some sort of planned Eco-Website attack?
I think so some how.

That WAS a truly excellent episode guys. Keep it up.

Don’t listen to the ‘fans’ that said it was boring.

gota say twas crap

when you push a car off a hill and then turn around and act suprised because it rolled down it, it aint funny. We all know your not that stupid. There were many other obvious scripted jokes in it, but i wont write a essay.

Please make the jokes a bit more natural, Please!!! Im really startin not to like it anymore.

See you in Dublin on the 5th

I’m wondering how Jeremy could agree to actually indirectly using a Diesel engine in their own made car!

Jeremy you could at least use that chevy motor you used as blender before! hehe

Nice and funny episode btw

R8 v ZR1 should be R8 v XKR or 997 V XKR come on T/G the NEW 2010 5.0 XKR is a true brit and very up for it jeremy is always going on about the gerys and the brits so come T/G lets have it !!!!

Bloody hell, to those who can’t take the negative comments- it’s nothing to do with ‘eco mentalism’, its to do with the fact that the episode was terrible!

Just cos we think TG is getting worse with every half baked, unfunny ‘challenge’ and boring supercar review doesn’t make us hippies!! I drive a proper sports car (flat out as much as possible) for crying out loud- I’m not from an ‘eco website’!

I understand that some people find the ‘jokes’ funny, but they are so low brow now compared to what the guys are capable of. Read their newspaper columns or magazine reviews if you don’t believe me. -they are seriously funny *and* intelligent.

If I a saw a clip from ‘You’ve been framed’ in the middle of TG I’d probably laugh, but that doesn’t mean I want it in there! The electric car rolling down the hill sat in TG about as well as a slapstick Chuckle Vision moment would in the middle of Apocalypse Now.

Just wanted to echo Austin Bambrook’s comment (#257) above about the Union Flag: IT WAS UPSIDE DOWN / BACK TO FRONT.

I know that due to the laziness and idiocy of a large proportion of the population, standards are slipping and the country’s going to hell. Please don’t expedite this process by succumbing to the same lax standards of those idiots.

Oh, and Austin take note: ’tis only the Union Jack when flown from a ship.

To all the critics, of course some of TG is scripped/staged do you really expect them to just turn up and to just add-lib for an hour? it would be an mess. And of course not everything is going to be perfect, just take it with a pinch of salt when you think something is not funny other people will, they make it for the general viewer not you personally, if you dont like don’t watch it, don’t go on the website and post and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself. TG is immense and so far the two episodes this season have been epically good, at this rate it could be the best season so far. (season 10 being the best at the moment.)

This episode was waaay too staged. Top Gear was funny when they did stuff like the amphibious cars and the American roadtrip… now it just seems like the guys are trying to force it.
Too predictable, too scripted, not funny. What a shocking series this is so far.

no i don’t expect all of it to be ad-lib and hilarious but the things which tend to be funniest are the bits that weren’t scripted (or at least not obviously) – i just wish there was more of it..

i think the reason a lot of people are posting on here is because they feel the show could be so much more than what it’s turned into. i don’t think anyone is here just to have a go for the sake of it.

See comment 294 “the things which tend to be funniest are the bits that weren’t scripted”. Therefore you need scripted bits to inspire the unscripted part which are particually funny.
Top Gear is amazingly well made in all departments, i just wish Richard Hammond would snap out of his mid life crisis

that was a great episode! i dont know wat u guys were watching, and for all those people who say o y cant they review cars that people acutally drive. the reason they dont do that is cuz people found those boring as hell. no one watches topgear for car buying advice. its for laughs, and i am a petrol head, i luv cars and driving cars, and thats y i luv topgear, cuz i get to c them drive cars that i nvr would get to drive. i dont want to c them driving a car at 30 km/hr talking about a honda civic wen i can do that myself

Here’s one to put you to sleep again…

Chris (#281): Chris, I’m 25.

Top Gear haven’t been consistently brilliant since series 8.

I complain because I hate to see something I love destroy itself from the inside with increasingly bemusing films that are all completely staged and offer no insight into the world of motoring outside the minds of script writers, showing the same old similar supercars that we’ll never be able to afford without relent, and deviating from a very simple formula that worked for years.

Not for one second am I turning around and saying that I want them to stop showing supercars. Not for one second am I turning around, putting my foot down and saying in the best German accent I can do, “do not smile – do not joke”. All I ask of Top Gear is for them to bring balance to their episodes; nothing more.

For a decent Top Gear episode, this is all you need:

a) Cheap/used car challenges
b) Testing real world cars relative to certain demographics on the 300,000 mile road network of Britain
c) Races using supercars
d) Cool wall
e) The news (car related)
f) Star in a Reasonably Priced Car (actual celebrities)
g) Power laps
h) Relevant articles and segments that address the concerns of the general public

That’s it.

As I have said before in #89, just because a lot of people view a programme doesn’t mean it’s any good. Ratings are not relative to the quality of a programme; they’re just figures to suggest that more idiots watch something that the ‘bright people’ were aware of anyway.

You could have a programme that is watched by 10,000 regular viewers and it could be the greatest television show on earth whereas you could have The X Factor, watched by millions, and yet quite possibly the most vomitous thing to have ever been transmitted.

Ratings are irrelevant. In fact, if anything, ratings make a programme worse because they tend to mean that the producers have less room to breathe and experiment with new (and far better) ideas. Ratings put added pressure on the producers because when the BBC (or any production company) senses that they are on to something big, they come down on the producers and suggest to them to make a programme that sacrifices certain elements in favour of something else.

In Top Gear’s case, the sacrifice is quality and the gain is fickle viewers who treat the programme as nothing more than entertainment than actually spare a moment to care for its value.

Also, as I have repeated time and time again – I don’t turn it off same because I keep the faith in Top Gear being able to get better. I’m one of these people who will sit through a programme that I love no matter what the facts I see are.

It’s a programme I grew up watching in the 90’s and watched die because of how monotonous it was. It then subsequently became a programme that I watched ressurect itself from the depths of televisual depression and reinvent itself to become one of the best programmes so far since the dawn of the millenium. It’s a programme I love and the message it used to have about the joy and passion for cars, for engineering and for motoring is something I identify with and wish to see expressed to many, many people for years to come. I also know for a fact that it is a programme the BBC have devoted a staggering amount of time to in developing it and making it work, not just as a programme but as an advertisement for the BBC worldwide.

I don’t turn off because then I become part of the problem — the more who turn off, the less likely the programme is to survive. Simple television mathematics. I keep on watching because I keep the faith.

I criticise it because I love it too much and hate to see it ripped apart and defaced by the complacent twits sitting in BBC Television Centre who have forgotten what it meant to make the programme as amazing as it was, taking for granted the long-suffering yet adoring fans in the process and alienating them in favour of the hoardes of unintelligble, knuckle-dragging, asinine, fatuous morons who are more prone to starting fires in their bedrooms with flint than being able to structure basic coherent sentences together.

Birdy (#291): Indeed – V6 driver here without compromise unless it’s a much better engine; why do you think I watch Top Gear?

Not even a hint of eco-mentalism when I put my foot down and get from Bangor to Derby in just under 2 hours in my Nissan Z-car. Couldn’t give a monkeys about the environment – we can’t do anything about global warming so we might as well enjoy what we have to the utmost until those who DO believe the hype get rid of it all for us to enjoy.

What a brilliant episode this was. I haven’t laughed so much since ages. A superb TG episode, this series is becoming a smasher!

Absolute rubbish episode – easily the worst in the history of Top Gear.

Andy Wilman wasn’t in Heat magazine for wierd crushes 2009.

@ Monk

Right, right, right, right and more right with just about everything you’ve said. Couldn’t agree with you more. It’s a breath of fresh air to see some intelligence and well enunciated opinions on this website.

I think it’s safe to say that everybody who uses this website comes here because they love cars and because they love Top Gear. I won’t repeat what you’ve said and I don’t think I can say much more than you have already so I won’t bother but I will add that if these past two episodes of Top Gear are anything to go by then I won’t be watching any future series from here on in. I won’t speak for everybody else but I can’t help but imagine that I’m not the only one who feels this way, which is a shame.

Monk i do agree with what you say but personally feel that the show was at it’s best during the series 10 ish area as that had perfect balance of fast cars doing crazy stuff and my favourite stuff like group testing on beaches in wales or Iceland (man i love when they do that.) BUT I would recommend that you stop blogging as as at the start when i read your first post i agreed by the last i wanted your computer to blow up.
Please do not reply to this as i would be very great full. And i feel we have got the opportunity to see your points of view if we choose to or not. But thank-you for your opinion.

Woke up Drunk: Oh indeed.

I can’t count on my two hands how many people thought last night’s episode was terrible and why, but I just hope Top Gear will actually take the time to read and address our concerns rather than push them into the corner of a room like a white elephant they hope nobody will notice.

It’s easier to negate a problem by saying something like, “the cardigan brigade are out in force” or “the men with adanoids are complaining” than to address it head on as a real concern for people who just love to see the world of real cars being explored in a less than serious way, incidentally, don’t wear cardigans or have problems with their adanoids.

Nobody is having a go at Clarkson’s opinions for a change, nobody cares about the environment, nobody gives a monkeys if a Toyota Hilux has destroyed a tree in Bristol or some used Mercedes is crushing the salt pans of Botswana, and nobody cares about ‘ze Germans. We simply want Top Gear to get better by staying constant rather than evolving.

We’re not arrogant enough to feel as if Top Gear owes it to us as fans, we just love the show and don’t want it to forget the basic formula that made it work when it changed from being a programme that was shown every week with sigh of utter despair from the offices of the BBC into the fact-based entertainment programme that showed a genuine, heart-warming and yet acerbic take on the world of motoring that we grew to love.

Horrified to read above that the Hamster burnt his hand in one of the live shows – not surprised the guys were concerned though.Have been told that James & Jeremy are quite protective of him in ‘real life’. Really enjoyed the second episode but am a bit worried about Richard’s long hair.I do like it long but it looks a bit high maintenance – love Hammond & the other two.Their chemistry (and Richard’s gorgeousness)are why I watch the show…..

Ordinarily I’m TopGear’s biggest fan and I have watched every episode every made.

I’m sorry to say that this was one of the worst episodes ever. That electric car segment was just lame.

There was so much potential to actually make a decent go at it whilst still being funny. Instead it was just stupid. Too much emphasis on rubbish and not enough emphasis on ambitious.

Please don’t insult our intelligence with such an episode again.

Thank you.
Andrew Coom

PS. The R8 vs ZR1 segment was still good (even if I didn’t agree with JC…)

Just watched it on iplayer.

In the words of COmic Book Guy – worst. episode. ever.

rubbish episode, was more like a childrens show that and adult motoring program. I am also fed up of richards over reatching in a high pitch yep at everything that goes wrong… this is not childrens tv…. also what’s up with the clothes they are wearing, it looks like they have been dragged through topman backwards.. :S

I have never felt the need to right any pithy comments on here before but last nights episode made me do something I have NEVER done before in the history of watching TG…..I switched off !!

I am a huge TG fan, even been to see TG Live (although watching cars playing football is becoming increasingly tedious), I love the presenters and the rapport they have.

Show 2 was atrocious and boring, there was nothing spontaneous, you could tell everything was scripted that they were waiting for things to happen. I switched off halfway through testing the electric car at MIRA.

…and ‘the news’ item is becoming a joke, far too much talking about nothing other than willies and humiliating an audience member (albeit he did look ruddy stupid !). I thought TG was a car programme, not one that talks about portable loos (show 1) and a tingle that James has in his groin. There have been some exciting new cars released lately…the new hot Megane, the Merc SLS, the BMW 5 GT (which I was sure would have got a kicking), some exciting stuff like that Merc E63 AMG, the Noble M600. I don’t want to hear about James’s tingly sensation (although I do somehow agree with him). Concentrate on that, it might be anal to some, but this is a car show for all intense and purposes.

I was truly gutted that I felt the need to switch off, but I could see where the item was going….nowhere !.

If Andy Wilman says the episode in January is cack them christ it must be ruddy awful to beat the boredom of show2.

Sorry, that’s just my opinion, i’m not going to open myself up to debate or insult, just take it constructivley, that I love TG, always will but show 2 was appalling.

@ monk(#297), I thought last nights episode was very very funny, yet I agree with most of your comments regarding how childish top gear has become of late.

The electric car plot was hilarious but looking back it was really rather pointless. You mention cheap/used car challenges, but in my view they have done these enough already. The challenge now is to find new material….which seems to be drying up.

This is a great pity as I have very fond memories of wathing epic top gear on cold winter nights…polar special…simply amazing…winter olympics etc…wonderful wonderful stuff.

I am really sorry to say this but i think top gear could be dying in front of our eyes. I sincerely hope I am dreadfully wrong but it just had to be said.

Come on guys, please put in a massive effort for the rest of this series and I hope to God that the big film around christmas is a brilliant one. We in Ireland don’t have much else to look forward to, what with all the flooding and bloody Thierry Henry cheating us out of the world cup!

Guys; I haven’t laughed that much in ages…!

Brilliant

The news was a bit weird, but I think Geoff 2 worked better than Geoff 1. Do you think The Stig would have a face-off (or should that be helmet off?) /drag race with his vegetarian cousin?
Now that I’d love to see. Mac.

It was so sad to watch this episode. A great programme reduced to this pile of utter sewage.

And there is worse to come! I read somewhere that the airport vehicle race to is feature in this series, having been pulled last time.

I used to look fwd to TG every sunday. Now, i just hope that can get through it without ballsing it up.

Wilman and Co – you at at the tipping point. Take note please.

Go monk. that show was terrible. fine if your eight years old or not interested in cars in the slightest but otherwise rubbish. somebody mentioned earlier about 90% of the viewers found it brilliant but i wholly dissagree im sure its 90% the other way. almost everybody i know who used to faithfully watch top gear no longer watch it because of the crap its turned into people on this blog just dont see that because those people have lost intrest and dont come on sites like this. why would anybody want to watch a program that insults there intelligence so much by pretending its not all scripted? as if everything that happens in the show was not ment to happen? iv only watched recent series in the faith that it will get back to its old ways and be enjoyable again but i have now lost that faith and hopefully one day you guys will also see this and give up watching so thay are forced to make it a good show again. untill then il stick with a real car show with better drivers and far better information with fifth gear

Throughout this entire blog I have said things that people either agree with or disagree with and after last night’s episode I think there’s starting to be considerably more of the former than the latter.

And can you really blame people, Top Gear?

We started off with a film about The Three Stooges making an electric car. Cue ambitious but hopeless, roll mic on ‘I mean how hard can it be?’, and so on and so forth until we have the same formulaic nonsense that says nothing to anybody about anything. There were the staged elements, the comedy set-ups that went wrong – even the Green Stig didn’t make me laugh. There wasn’t a single interesting scene in that whole electric car film. Not one.

Then we moved into the R8 V10 vs. Corvette ZR1 films – I can’t even remember which one was quickest because I forgot to pay attention. Formulaic, again. Shove a a couple of supercars around a track, say nothing terribly important about them, do a power lap, expect the public to consume – wash, rinse, repeat.

After that we had the “news” that didn’t actually have any news in it, then Michael Sheen, then back to the crap electric car film… and by the time that had finished, it was over. Might pad out another shit ‘Challenges’ DVD, hm?

I’ve already deconstructed the show last night anyway so there’s not much point going over the same ground.

I’ll say this though: it’s only entertainment when it’s good, and when it’s not, it is last night’s Top Gear. What a shit episode.

Last nights show: very disappointing, again.

Come on chaps, sort it out. It really feels like TG is now squeezed in to their busy schedules inbetween doing ‘more important’ (or more lucrative..?) things such as adverts, kids TV, chat shows, pointless programs about toys, and Christmas DVDs of blowing even more stuff up.

TG is getting very complacent and the quality is dropping rapidly.

monk; could you perhaps condense your opinions down into maybe 500 characters or less? it might make it easier for people to read them.

i don’t know what to say
funny episode, yes, but…er i think you tried to do something good, but your faces…

Jeremy – “something not gone well”
Richard – “i wish if it rather made off and i would leave to do…my dull advertising…or…”
James – “hopelessness”

Just Jeremy’s review saved this episode! You mustn’t give to James to do supercar rewiev, only to Jeremy (or even Richard), becouse they khow how to do ones.

Your green car was not interesting, or intellegence, or practical – why you made it?

It would be better, if you try to do FULLSIZE, ‘manytestival’ review existent kinds of green cars! It might to be interesting.

Don’t think your audience people are oafs,trestles, or whatever! we are ‘homo sapiens’, if you notice, and you gonna to lose us…

With love and wish of creative breach,
Maddy

Maddy: the reason why foreigners shouldn’t use Babelfish – a composite of seemingly random words. Lovely stuff!

The show could have been alot funnier – would have been nice to have had each person make their own electric car rather than waste half of the show with them just driving a pointless box around.

The tests were funny, if not completely silly.

Hopefully TopGear will come back up to speed next week after a good 1st episode, and a somewhat bland 2nd.

Ok, I’ll give it a go (minus this bit)…

Top Gear repeatedly states that it exists to show the joys of motoring and yet every time I turn on, I see nothing except the same formulaic drivel completely unrelated to motoring time and time again – there is no joy in watching people do the same old monotonous things on the level of predictability that Top Gear do them; it’s more akin to Chinese water torture. There is no entertainment in what I see, no joy for me in viewing what I’ve been viewing when I’ve seen Top Gear for the last few series; just insipid tediousness. Bring back a balanced Top Gear instead of making a Top Gear that appeals to an audience of imbeciles.

Cheesemeister: Spartan?
Wow, i’m sorry

Sorry Top Gear guys but perhaps it would be good if you could take a year sabbatical or summat. The jokes become too obvious and they aren’t funny any longer. There is too much script and you’re trying too hard too much which is painful to watch. Straight after yesterday’s show I had to go back to my archives and watch S10E01 to make the bad taste go away.

Yesterday was not good at all.

a bit dull .. the second episode .. what happened to you guys ? ..

So there we have. If proof were needed that Top Gear is now running on empty, episode two was it. The electric car piece scaled new heights of tediousness. Utterly painful.

according to MS Word, thats 632 characters. FAIL!

i beg to differ with you though to be honest. anybody with sense would turn a program off if they didn’t like it. You shouldnt feel obliged to watch a program just because its a routine for you. when a programs crap its crap. leave it to the imbeciles like chris (282), frank (284) and steve (286) if they like it so much, etc. see how long it lasts in their capable hands. then you wont have any choice in whether or not to watch it because itll vanish from our screens anyway

i agree with your points but i think itd be far more proactive to just turn off than to go on and on about something you have no power in changing. or at the very least tone down your arguments from what is basically an asault. its just a case of you putting up with it until the bbc realise how crap it is.

^ Chris +1. Well said.

Although my feelings about episode 2 might align somewhat with Monk’s – enough, Monk, we get it!

Keep speaking your mind monk you make more sense than anybody on here and untill somebody puts a limit on how long you posts can be just keep on posting as long as you like. if people think your posts are long boring and pointless then now they know how we feel after watching recent episodes

Chris: fortunately for me this board doesn’t discriminate between who can use the board and who can’t. If, however, it did then I’d fall into the category of ‘fan’ – the difference between you and me is that I’m a fan of Top Gear’s previous series’ rather than the latter, more recent series’/fan of Top Gear ad infinitum. I come here because I’m allowed to and shouldn’t feel intimidated by the presence of people who clearly have differing opinions to my own – opinions, I hasten to add, that I respect and will not result in me telling you to shut up.

This place is an open forum where people can say exactly what they want, how often they want and as many times as they wish to say it. My advice to you would be that if you don’t actually like what I have to say then simply either…

a) Contact Top gear and ask them to change the rules so that people can only post what they have to say once.

Or

b) Ignore what I have to say if you don’t like it.

I dont know if anyone remembers a blog entry by Andy wilman on this site and he said that after seeing a concert by AC/DC he likened Top Gear to them, they dont make anything new anymore but they do what they do and are still rocking hard. If you want stunts, gorgeous supercars having their tyres tortured and 3 middle class blokes complaining about the world then Top Gear is the best. Fifth gear was nice but it they hadnt moved it on from pre-2002 Top gear and that new guy from the last series with the ginger beard was awful.

Also if you watch any episode of Top Gear close enough it isnt as stupid as people think, there are a few subtle points made, like the diesel generator.

The only thing that disappointed me was SIARPC, you could tell Michael Sheen was there to plug a movie. The best SIARPC’s are always the ones where they have an interest in cars or at least are interesting people. Clarkson should follow his philisophy that he used on his short lived chat show.

i think the best car manufactures are the Volkswagen because they make great saloons, great roadsters, and hatchbacks

Good episode…some of you really should look deeper into the point they were trying to make re electric cars..that they are and hopeless and not the long term answer to the world fuel/emission problems.

You’ll all bitch & whine when there gone!!

Cheers

Yoshi

A different Chris: The problem with Top Gear is that it is a great programme written with high aspirations, careful planning and ambition but executed with monumental ineptitude, neolithic incompetence and an almost torturous predictability.

Top Gear worked brilliantly in the past because it varied its content. It offered a multi-faceted, fact-based entertainment programme with so many possibilities and so many dimensions that it catered to a lot of different people from a lot of different demographics.

If you wanted fast cars, you got it
If you wanted cheap, ordinary cars, you got it
If you wanted the news, you got it
If you wanted consumer advice, you got it
If you wanted laughs, you got it
If you wanted top-notch production values, you got it
If you wanted great guests with an interest in cars, you got it (most of the time)

Everything worked in the past series of the current format, and yet somewhere along the line Top Gear deviated from the formula and ended up with series 14.

I agree with the posters who say do away with the scripted ‘comedy’ scenes for 8 year olds.
(the guy who drove a citroen and had a tingling behind his penis couldn’t have been real)
and please stop putting any women who hasn’t a face like a welders bench in the front line of the audience. It doesn’t sex things up ,its patronizing and also embarrassing that they are the best that the BBC and the U.K has to offer.

(…) AC/DC, he likened Top Gear to them, they dont make anything new anymore but they do what they do and are still rocking hard. (…)

Bollocks, if AC/DC shows had same lighting, same explosions, same line up of songs played in the same order each time round nobody would go to see them any more. There has to be a surprise element somewhere and Top Gear doesn’t have it at the moment. I honestly felt like having de ja vu yesterday, some of the bits were recycled from previous seasons.

Weak episode. the electric car film acting as the backbone was flimsy and looked like a collection of outtakes bunged together to fill space.

the final 40 seconds or so was also quite embarrassing really, just seemed so deflated.

somebody said on here earlier in the year and this episode fits perfectly; “Like a crap episode of Brainiac”.

and please, stop with the guest plugging. Bana plugging was almost acceptable because he actually (albeit briefly) talked about those four-wheeled things, the ones made out of chunks of metal and glass, what they called?………. CARS!!

remember what they are top gear?

I actually thought the guest was OK, ‘cos they didn’t show a clip from a film with nothing to do with anything, they only mentioned it briefly. And he talked about cars for a bit too.

The embarrassing thing is the 5 minutes of SIARPC talking about cars was the only part of the show which, well, talked about cars.

Oh, and no, two more supercars (both of which you’ve already tested) going round the track – AGAIN – doesn’t count.

Terrible show. How self important are you guys becoming? If you spent less time making spoilers and additional extras, and 3 new ‘news’ stories on this site about each friggin episode, you might have time to return the programme to what it used to be.

Even this website is going fast downhill, it’s actually difficult to find any car news – on the TopGear website!!! You may attract more plebs who watch the show but that’ll soon fade.

At least the magazine is still respectable and yes, also humorous and intelligent. But that’s not going to last either, as the Stig creeps into more and more stories.

TopGear is selling out big time.

You’ll soon be remembered as the bloated fat Elvis dead on a shitter rather than the stunning performer you once were.

I thought last night’s show was great – it was ENTERTAINING and FUNNY and yeah it made me feel a hell of a lot better about going to work today! Boring as hell car shows for concourse saddos fail and they don’t draw the viewers – car bores are the worst bores and the TG guys recognise that side of themselves and steer away from it or at least lampoon it for the viewers pleasure.

Maybe it’s time all you ‘disgusted of arseville’ and ‘disappointed of missing-the-point’ just switched off, stopped moaning and let the rest of us enjoy the show we love. We want to laugh and be entertained by people who enjoy doing their job – stop lamenting like Barbara bloody Streisand with your ‘way we were’s’ and make your decision to watch or switch.

The constant moaning here is tedious and doesn’t change the fact that some muttering-Malcolms going ‘errr it’s not as good as it was..’ bears no relevance to the huge worldwide popularity of Top Gear as a show and entire franchise. The fact that some of these moaners belittle the people who enjoy it as somehow intellectually inferior is missing the point hugely – everyone needs to switch off and just be entertained sometimes whether professor or litter picker. Top Gear entertains. It does its job and bloody well too.

Insider-Phil: How low is your bar set?

I’m amazed at what i’m reading on here. I’ve seen every episode, several times, and I think last night’s was up with the best – the electric car feature was properly funny.
Those moaning about how it’s not like Top Gear of old….grow up, everything changes, it’s how you evolve with it that will define whether you continue to love it or find yourself disliking it.
If you don’t like it any more, I feel for you. I laughed my head off last night, and think Andy Wilman should be praised for not sticking with the same formula every series.

If people do truly find it amusing then good for them and i hope they enjoy it…must be better than their job in the paint drying factory.
JM has done some good geeky shows during the off season..they must all know it’s time to jump the ship.

Lesia44 – my ‘bar’ is set according to my mood and I am intelligent enough to watch what I enjoy and avoid what I don’t. As the vast majority of television programming is not to my taste I don’t switch on – neither do I waste my life complaining about every show that I don’t enjoy or belittling the intelligence of those who do watch it.

In the current climate there are so many causes that are desperate for vocal campaigners to debate issues and initiate progress – some of them such as the treatment of our troops are issues where lives are at stake. I find it less worrying that some viewers of Top Gear can’t spell or have to communicate in text speak, than I do the fact that intelligent adults spend hours being snide and repetitive about a television programme when they could be making a difference elsewhere.

NB: Any valid points made regarding the Top Gear format become bogged down in repetitive blogged criticism which only serves to reinforce Clarkson et al’s view of ‘cardigan wearing whingers’ as oppose to ‘passionate petrolheads’.

anyone for limbo dancing?

Can anybody here honestly claim to be a proper petrolhead and say they enjoyed the recent shows? im sure there are plenty people here who enjoyed the show the same as there are plenty people who enjoy home and away but anybody who would class themselves as a proper petrol head?

MAKE A COMPLAINT TO THE BBC INSTEAD OF POSTING HEAR…. THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO CHANGE.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/com plaints/forms/

i also liked the old chanllenges because you sometimes learn something (like the buy and old car ones) or you end up rooting for them to win… like the car boat to france or the races or going across the desert. this drivel is children television. it’s awful.

oh, get rid of the stig. it’s an old joke and tiff anyway.

Phil, I’m just wondering how anyone over the age of 10 could find the electric car rolling down the hill (or James’ new car being lorry rammed last week) funny. It’s all so staged and forced. And then the three of them trying to sound surprised “Oh no, tell me it’s not happening…” Top Gear has morphed from the best car program on TV to the worst comedy. And your final comment couldn’t be further from the truth. I think you’ll find those here complaining the most are the ‘passionate petrolheads’.

As for “… belittling the intelligence of those…” Maybe you need to re-read your own posts.

And what’s wrong with saying “errr it’s not as good as it was..” if it isn’t? Personally I’d prefer to have my favourite program made as good as it can be rather than the like it or lump it option of being handed the remote and told “Well, there’s the off button.” And neither do I want to evolve with the program, as someone else suggested, if evolving means I’m supposed to accept crap.

Just to add my two-pence worth, if it’s worth that much at all.

Your televisions have a remote control, if you don’t want to watch, CHANGE THE CHANNEL. Stop coming on here and griping. Leave the guys alone, they work bloody hard and do an incredible job with this show, it is by far and away one of the few decent shows on TV worth watching. If the complainers have no sense of humour, why try to make everyone else sink down to your pathetic level. Grow up.

ha ha (sarah)

keep your two pence worth

Man! What are you guys doing…railing on TG like this? C’mon over to America and see the exciting (Gag!) TV we have to look at. We have a huge choice of PC “reality” shows, PC soap operas, PC news casts, and even PC horror flicks….oooooorrrrraaaaaa hhhhhhh! If you don’t like TG….send it over here to us….Bring it On!

…you’re too serious on this website….drink some spiked eggnog, will ya?

…mellow out! Have some spiked beer, spiked cidar, spiked eggnog…in that order! I am this Thursday, to celebrate our Thanksgiving…..And, to get all political correctness out of my system!….(she says as she salutes: Rule Britannia!)

Err… what is it with people in this thread thinking if someone doesn’t like the show anymore they must wear an anorak or be a hippy?

I’m neither. I love the stunts, my favourite pieces have been the cheap Porsches, the Hi-Lux destruction and the amphibious car challenge

…but

I now think the show is largely shit. No I haven’t lost my sense of humor, it’s just three guys pretending to do crash tests in a silver box isn’t funny.

It had such promise too had they done it properly.

For those who think TG is the ‘funnyest thing eva!!!’, read the presenters’ newspaper columns – they are very very funny. Oh yeah, and they’re un-pc, often offensive and thought provoking too.

What part of the last episode was any of those things?

Why do you keep insisting on writing comedy?
I think that the press that followed Hammond’s crash really screwed up the show. You just became a caricature of what you used to be.

Forget scripts for once. Humour in TG came from the spontaneous interaction of the presenters, not from predictable slapstick gags.

I’ve been a huge fan of Top Gear for some years now, and can hardly remember a good bit on the show since Series 8 finished.

Eppisode 2 was one of the funniest ever TG’s. Well done.

As much as I love every second of Top Geat, I have to agree with what TGArgentino (and possibly somone else has written prior to this) is saying:

“(…) Forget scripts for once. Humour in TG came from the spontaneous interaction of the presenters (…)”

I mean, the show is ofcourse funny and all, and they´re all probably busy with TG-Live and all kinds of stuff, but they don´t really have to work so hard to write and script something funny since they actually can be it even without trying.

A simple example of what I am talking about would be: Give the presenters some money each, and a task (which has to be a bit realistic to begin with)- then see what happens. Throw some basic tests and reviews of the stuff in for good measure and see more strange things happen.

The example above has ofcourse been done a few times now, but I´m quite sure that they could mix it up and do it quite a lot more and still make it funny, as long as the scripting is kept to a minimum. The presenters have their own way of reacting to stuff which is often priceless (America and Arctic episodes anyone?)

If they want ideas, they could allways ask the fans. Since we´re more than willing to help create insane tasks and tests (look at what Mythbusters have been doing – very successfully I might add).

Anyway. Have to say that I still love the TG show, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. And I am sure that they still can get things done without us telling them how to do it.

in answer to clarkson in episode two ford has to be the manufactuer of the most great cars e.g: ford escort cosworth, sierra cosworth, sierra cosworth rs500, ford gt, ford gt40, ford lightning pick up, ford transit, model t, ford escort mk 1, mk 2, mk 4, ford secort siers 1 and 2 rs turbo’s and thats just what i can think of in 2 or 3 minuits FORD HAVE TO BE THE COMPANY who agree’s???? and what are your opinions on the matter???

OH, I totally forgot to answer Jeremy´s question.

Several manufacturers have put out quite a few nice cars, but it has to be either Ford, Mercedes or BMW in my opinion. I´m not the best judge of this though, so I can´t wait to hear Jeremy´s verdict

For all those who are saying we dont haave to watch the show if we dont like it – YOU dont have to read these comments of you dont like them!! We just letting them know what we think, if they didnt want to know there wouldnt be text boxes.

Thought the first part of the Geoff challenge was predictable but the second section had some bits that made me laugh out loud especially the crash test in slow mo and side hit in reverse.

I have to admit that I only watch the show on i-player so I can fast forward through SIRPC. But what can you do – nothing pleases everyone.

I’m enjoying this season so far – much more than S13.

http://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=epPls1dyqy8&feature =related
We have had it with speed cameras… SOmeone did this in Rovaniemi…

I actually don’t know which is more rubbish, the Icelandic bankers or last nights show. It was horrid. I’ve been a huuuuge Top Gear fan since the new format began, I used to wait for the download to finish until about 5:00 am (we didn’t get Top Gear here at the time)…those days are over and some, like the Monk have pointed out why.

There is no balance in the show anymore, now the recipe is always the same; challenge-with-rubbish-co medy-part 1: 20 mins, news-about-how-James-is-w eird+supercar-test+guest: 30 mins,challenge-with-rubbi sh-comedy-part 2: 10 mins. And man oh man how much do I hate staged rubbishness. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP IT.

The talent of the top gear crew is going to waste; the cameramen, the producers, the presenters and everybody can do much much much better than this. Just look at series 4 to ca. 8…they where really epic episodes.

P.S. Come to Iceland and do a cheap-4×4 challenge…the Icelandic currency is worthless and everybody is broke so everybody is trying to sell their huge jeeps. Also, as you know, Iceland is a great country for off-roading. But only come if you’ll do it like the original cheap-car challenges.

well, i lived in france for 20 yrs(i’m welsh) i’ve come home and discovered TG, all big TG fans would understand my happiness, watched every episode, one after the other and couldnt get enough, waiting for “season” 14 was painfull.
mr monk, i agree with a fair amount of what you’re saying, having watched the lot so recently, things have changed YET i still love it sooooooooooooooooooo much. i luv it i luuuv it. i dont agree hammster wouldnt b missed, i believe however that he and james should maybe be put forward anew that slight bit more. the best shows from MY point of view (i stress the my so people dont fly off their handles) are a mix of cheap car/scooter/van challenges and all the supercars and so on. the only negative thing i could hold against the bbc is how short “season”13 was as i really hate going without, i love it so, yet if it allows to have a dose throughout xmas,well,i rather two bits in a year rather than a chunk and nothing for 10 months.
mr monk, u’r abrasiveness is too much, ie people without a life and so on… i have an active one of which tv plays a rather small part,therefore i dont feel concerned but keep in mind that u rub people the wrong way. i find it a shame there’s so much bickering. implicating others in a friendly way to share opinions may help. there’s nothing but TG lovers on here so lets share?! long live the stig,clarkson,hammster n may, YAY!

I believe the main problem is they’ve got too big a budget.

Ever since Hammond’s crash, and the subsequent ratings explosion, the show has been flooded with money, and it looks as if the presenters are no longer involved in any of the actual making of the films. As someone mentioned above, I suspect none of them really did much of Geoff except the bits for the camera.
You can see in the earlier series that they really worked on their task, but now it just seems as if script writers have completely taken over, and the guys are playing caricatures of themselves.

Forget the scripts for once.

Why do you insist on writing comedy sketches, when no one expects you to do so?

Humour in TG used to come from the spontaneous interaction between the presenters: I miss the days when Jeremy and James tested Korean cars, Richard and May went on scooters driving drunkards around, and the three of them bought £1000 Porsches.

I just hope all of us who were huge fans don’t have to look for a new show to replace the ‘Series 1-8 Top Gear’

The electric car bit is ridiculous, though I thought Green Stig was quite funny. Don’t get me wrong, I love Top Gear and I will defend it, if necessary. But I’m not blind to the fact that sometimes there are such rubbish episodes i can’t bear to watch it.

I can’t bear the fact that they got that silly electric car to Oxford and made a fool of themselves. No one is going to take us motorheads seriously if they are going to keep doing that, ending up in the middle of the road, where people are going to laugh at them. The eco-mentalists will have so much more reason to mock them.

I’m not sure the three of them (and the director and the production team) actually thought it was a good idea or did they think it was just a good publicity stunt, because they are wrong on BOTH. Cheap car challenges are great, road trips are okay… but attempts at redesigning cars… NO.

From ‘Swanky’ Post 431 in another thread

Swanky; you’ve got it spot-on.

“My own hunch is that all the main protagonists are getting older (Clarkson and Willman, Clarkson especially with all the writing he does, have made their money, May and Hammo have established themselves as presenters of other types of programmes in their respective fields) and they know the game’s up for tired old TG – no TV show can go on forever with the same presenters. So, they go for as much money as they can before bailing out, hence the show becomes more ‘entertaining’ in order to grab bigger ratings and there’s an explosion in TG ‘goods’ (everything from Stig dolls to T-shirts to kiddy annuals).

I still think the show is essential Sunday night viewing, better than anything else that’s on, but when I think back to the SLR-powerboat and Veyron-Cessna challenges of just a few years ago, it’s certainly now going for a different audience (I thought the Botswana and Deep South USA ‘episodes’ were annoying) and because everyone involved does seem to genuinely love cars the only reason they’d willingly move the show’s focus away from them is ‘money’…”

I couldn’t agree more.

I was in stitches watching the electric car bit! Quality episode, plus the first episode was cracking too!

I have noticed the comments above, I do agree that the spontaneous nature seems to have gone, but it is still one of the best shows about. I can only imagine that, given they’ve (or in particular Clarkson) have had their knuckles rapped for previous statements, that they have told by their paymasters to ‘toe the line’. As for people saying about the challenges ie Cessena vs Bugatti…How can you top that one? Probably the most epic race across one continent! Unfortunately, times have changed and if, IF, their budget has been slashed, there is only realistically so much you can do. We’ve had two great episodes from Botswana and Vietnam and this series seems to be getting back on track after the ‘waywardness’ of S13 (still good, but a little flat).

I just found this… I guess this really does prove that the guys don’t take themselves THAT seriously – it’s the “Official Press Release” for Geoff 2

http://www.autocar.co.uk/ News/NewsArticle/AllCars/ 245241/

There is also a link to the full review by Autocar as well.

I can only image this utter joy the reviewers at Autocar had when the TG production office contacted them and said, here we have one for you… that would be like being invited to be the master of ceremonies at a comedy roast.

Thanks for taking it so “Seriously” guys – had a real good chuckle.

Top Gear has been “blitzkrieged” and buried in this blog! Well….not really! Send TG over here, we’ll look at it 6 months later! I say stick “The Monks” head inside that Hadron Collider and turn the switch on….Haaaaa haaaaaaa haaaaaaa….now that would be hilarious!

How do you know that the BBC and TG didn’t make this last show “not good” on purpose? Maybe they are planning a new “Top Gear Reloaded” show! Who Knows? This must be a PR battle of “old school” of hard knocks vs “new school” of tiny “fender bender” bumps….run amok! Haaaaa haaaaaaaa….who knows, who cares…..it’s a funny show….Get Over It!

what’s interesting is; the Gadget Show has a go at making their own products now and again. They actually try hard and come up with some good ideas and cool results… these clowns at top gear just come off as middle class w**kers who laugh at there own jokes… while spending our (forced) licence fee

lamborghini is the greatest car company!

@ 370…

In my opinion, it USED to be a funny show, now it’s just cringe inducing. I want TG to be funny too, but I laugh less and less with each new season, and the lack of laughs isn’t being offset by decent road tests. TG is now not a car show, and nor is it funny.

The only joke in TopGear is what the show has become – a means for selling Stig Bubble bath.

I am of course a huge huge fan of Top Gear, but seriously, Episode 2 was probably the worst episodes so far.

What the hell happened there?

- too many daft penis jokes

- you could have taken so much more out of the challenge

- everything was waaay to scripted and pointless

- Jezza, Hammond, and May looked way too tired and uninterested during the electric car test

- what happened to “let’s just have fun doing the thing we love (road testing cars) and see what happens” ? This is basically the winning formula of Top Gear!! You can fall over and catch fire as much as you want, but in the end of the day it is all about the cars and the passion about cars!

Whoever said that Wilman should watch the classic Top Gear series was absolutely right.

Please please go back to what Top Gear really is ( Series 4-10) – a MOTORING show.

I feel like TG’s first priority now is comedy and then some coincidental cars get shoved in around that. Rather than previous seasons (pre season 13) when TG’s first priority was cars. When there was comedy, it came naturally and spontaneously. As soon as you start TRYING to be something you cease to be it. It’s like those people at parties who brag about how ‘crazy’ and ‘funny’ they are. They turn out to be the most painfully boring people in the room and you can’t wait for them to leave.
Don’t turn into that person. Please!!!! You’re all too intelligent for that. One of the funniest bits of episode 2 was Jeremy pressing the ‘retard’ button and Hammond walked in. We could tell by the laughter it was genuine.
Put the brains back into Top Gear.

Mr Monk man I see your point, and it is a good one, but you’ve overcomplicated things a bit. The only problems are that it is too staged, especially the last series, and dirty jokes are just not cool.
Yes, proper car stuff can be done in an entertaining way, and the last couple of series have wavered a bit, but I don’t think this warrants your long winded criticisms.

Top Gear may have some fundamental issues right now, but they will get back on track naturally and in due time (not that they are far off as it is)

As for the Geoff bit, remember that they are 3 guys who are TV presenters for Gods sake. They built that thing as a home project. God knows its more interesting that a G-whiz. And my entire head is still swollen from laughing at the fake crash tests

@Stang428.
I agree completely. Well said!

@ The Monk. Comment 328:
‘Contact Top gear and ask them to change the rules so that people can only post what they have to say once.’

Thanks for the suggestion. I just have.

Top Gear as a motoring show has finished. It shold go back to the way old Top Gear was, forget light entertainment type show that is what the cr*p reality show’s are for. Top Gear is a motoring show for the motoring fan. I don’t expect the cast of Eastenders to spend minute’s giving review’s of music that has just played in the cafe’s radio or of their favorite pint in the Vic. The Top Gear magazine hasn’t sold out. Bring back Goffey, Mason, Wilson, Tiff and old Clarkson, the newbie’s to top Gear since the Hamster’s crash will have to Google them last few name’s. Hope Top Gear get’s back to basic’s of what it does best, We will all keep the faith

I don’t know….maybe their over-worked and under-paid now?? Haaaa haaa….all that multi-tasking…it gets old after awhile! I’ve been there and done that…not fun really!

was the lap of the r8 and the vette damp or was it dry?

Well I think we have now seen the writing on the wall, Top Gear is in danger of getting itself cancelled if it makes any more episodes like last Sundays unforgiveably weak attempt.

I’m an V6 Alfa driving petrolhead, long time fan of Clarkson’s tongue in cheek anti PC, unashamed enjoyment of performance cars, but seriously guys what’s happened?

The show, even in Clarkson’s words, has often strayed too far from it’s core strengths, remember a few years ago when you could hardly watch an episode in one series without a caravan being blown up, crushed, dropped or generally abused, amusing at first, but quickly overdone to the point where they received many complaints and forced a bit of a rethink about balance.

But now the originality, freshness and balance is woefully lacking like never before, and the so called humour is so setup and laboured as to be just painful.

I was mildly optimistic after episode 1, in no way a classic Top Gear, but enough to see promise of a return to beter times, at least in the context of the quality of the last few series.

However I can’t see the series surviving if it doesn’t improve in the later episodes, and that makes me vary sad, lets at least hope that it undergoes a mini revamp in format for next series, keep the guys, but look at it a fresh again, after all that’s what made the return of Top Gear great in the first place.

BEST SHOW EVER!!!!

toyota has made a lot of good cars and a few really great cars for a run of the mill company and thats all i have to say in the matter thanks

Will people just leave it out yeah? if you dont want to watch it then all i can say is turn it off and dont make us listen to your patetic coplaints. nobody cares weather you think ‘The old format was better’ or if your ‘fed up of Hammond’s squeaky voice’ if you dont like it complain to the bbc not us. they do a decent job of this and all they get back is complaints. litterally pathetic. trust me. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Not that I want them to be gone..

And, Emma, would you like to explain (or anyone else who shares your point of view) why you get to comment yet anyone who disagrees with you doesn’t. It’s usually only children who can’t stand criticism…

And while we’re on the subject… Christ, it’s getting worse! So we get maybe 2 sentences about the most exciting Lamborghini to come along in quite some time (yes, lots of lovely running shots but hardly anything to actually tell us about the car) and a whole track test about some heap of shît Stratos replica! Seriously guys, W.T.F? And your caravan ‘thing’ got old a long time ago. As a long standing Top Gear fan I never thought I’d hear myself say this but: I may actually not make it to the end of this series…

Ahah i am a child funily enough. fourteen acctually. And for your information, i was stating my opinion, not asking for an argument.

Relax, it’s not an argument, it’s an exchange of differing opinions. And the ‘children’ comment was more aimed at adults who need to grow up rather than actual children. More power to you for being interested (especially as, if your screen name is to be believed, you’re a girl. We need more!).

My point was simply that a lot of the posters here who are happy with the direction that Top Gear is taking have expressed the opinion that anyone who’s not happy should simply switch off and bugger off. I wonder if you, or any of the others who hold that opinion, will feel the same when a program you’ve been devoted to for years starts to look as if it’s lost its way as a result of putting ratings figures above all else?

Hi after seeing Top gear Vietnam Special last night, I have to say it bought back memories of my travels through vietnam and being on a scooter there in the mountains. But I admit I was absolutely appaled at how little to no respect for the locally handmade goods and food was depicted. You were all portrayed as a bunch of consumerist gits who tore through the country with no respect for artistic talent or locally made items or locals for that matter. Disgusting behaviour..clearly portraying the ugly face of typical English colonist zenophobic behaviour. Get a grip!!!!!!!!

I, like many others, preferred Top Gear when it wasn’t made for a generally retarded audience. Yes you still get the odd laugh, and I do still watch it but the appeal is now mainly tailored towards toilet humour and scripted gaffs. Why? Because it’s easier and more profitable.

The irony is the point is proved throughout these comments with the abuse directed at The_Monk and anyone else who airs criticism. Moronic, unintelligible rants by people who simply can’t spell, let alone construct a sentence, seem to be the bedrock of the Top Gear cheerleading section.

I have no problem with there being a Top Gear for the UK’s army of chavs but I just wish there was still one for people with at least half a brain.

I await an illiterate torrent of abuse…