Top Gear

[Ch3tan]

Oh stop your cross thread bollocks already. Leave it to the winehouse thread you absolute fucking cockmunchers.

Those of us that can't be bothered only need to ignore one thread then.

 

[Sydrik]

Sorry to digress from the other bollocks and post something related to the thread but....

If you haven't added "destroy a block of houses with old army vehicles" to your lifetime to do list you bloody well should!!

 

[Lamp]

the new lambo!

 

[old.user4556]

Fuck the Lambo, did anyone see Hammond's Belstaff leather jacket on the final article?

Want that, very Nazi-esque.

(I admire Nazi fashion).

 

[Lamp]

the SS uniforms were very smart

 

[old.user4556]

Hugo Boss you know.

 

[Ch3tan]

Good thing Clarkson didn't end this weeks episode with "and on that bombshell".... ;p

 

[- English -]

Good thing Clarkson didn't end this weeks episode with "and on that bombshell".... ;p

haha yea was thinking that myself lol

 

[cHodAX]

The BBC don't deserve Top Gear with these shitty 6 episode series, the make a fuckload of money off the franchise but don't treat it with any respect at all.

 

[old.user4556]

I still want less daftness.

 

[Ch3tan]

The BBC don't deserve Top Gear with these shitty 6 episode series, the make a fuckload of money off the franchise but don't treat it with any respect at all.

What do you mean exactly? The show's been struggling for originality and been on a decline for a while now, should the beeb pump out more episodes at even lower quality?

 

[cHodAX]

What do you mean exactly? The show's been struggling for originality and been on a decline for a while now, should the beeb pump out more episodes at even lower quality?

Quality decline is somewhat down to budget shrink which has reduced the creative team. Yet the BBC and BBC Worldwide continue to make growing revenue on the TG franchise whilst delivering a lesser product. You can blame Clarkson etc all you want but they are the presenters and the blame does not just lay with them, the production team are having to stick to a very tight budget because BBC lacks any kind of vision, they are not bothered about improving the program, just increasing the revenue.

 

[Tom]

Top Gear has a huge budget Chodax, almost unlimited compared to a lot of other programming.

 

[Calaen]

Quality decline is somewhat down to budget shrink which has reduced the creative team. Yet the BBC and BBC Worldwide continue to make growing revenue on the TG franchise whilst delivering a lesser product. You can blame Clarkson etc all you want but they are the presenters and the blame does not just lay with them, the production team are having to stick to a very tight budget because BBC lacks any kind of vision, they are not bothered about improving the program, just increasing the revenue.

Maybe if they cut down on paying the hosts stupid money, they could invest it on the production team!

 

[cHodAX]

Top Gear has a huge budget Chodax, almost unlimited compared to a lot of other programming.

Tom...

Top Gear budget cuts will be visible, says Jeremy Clarkson's business partner | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk

Since that article the budget has been further reduced, we are all aware the BBC has had to make 25% savings. Now I am not saying that it is being made on a shoestring, far from it, however it is definately lacking the creativity that is had before the recession and I honestly feel that is down to trying to do more with less.

 

[cHodAX]

Maybe if they cut down on paying the hosts stupid money, they could invest it on the production team!

That is tricky for them, the hosts are well established and loved by the audience. Sadly thier growing wages have eaten more of the budget but we have also had large budget cuts from the BBC which have further eaten into the production money. It does seem they are running with less staff, certainly on the creative side and I feel that is why the quality is starting to suffer, to many ideas and jokes repeated, quite a bit of filler too, anything to eat up on-air minutes.

 

[Corran]

Top Gear has a huge budget Chodax, almost unlimited compared to a lot of other programming.

No where near unlimited, im sure they faced a 25% reduction in budget a couple years ago for instance

 

[cHodAX]

Looking for a forum post I read somewhere, it basically went into detail about how much extra they could do with the budget if they moved the production lock stock and barrel to Media City in Salford. The numbers suggested anything up to 30% lower costs which of course could be ploughed into raising production quality and hiring new creative staff. Sadly it seems Clarkson killed that idea off before it got legs, it seems he will take the program to another network before he allows the program to move north.

 

[Tom]

No where near unlimited, im sure they faced a 25% reduction in budget a couple years ago for instance

Really. I've worked on plenty of BBC programming (not new TG though), and also plenty of daytime BBC stuff. Believe me, the TG budget is way, way, way, way higher than most BBC programming. The number of episodes per year I would imagine is more to do with the length of time it takes to produce each one, than any budget restrictions.

 

[cHodAX]

Really. I've worked on plenty of BBC programming (not new TG though), and also plenty of daytime BBC stuff. Believe me, the TG budget is way, way, way, way higher than most BBC programming. The number of episodes per year I would imagine is more to do with the length of time it takes to produce each one, than any budget restrictions.

Tom, no one is disputing that the cost for TG are higher than most BBC programs. My point was about the drop in quality due to budget cuts and the lower number of episodes, there are either less creative people or they are not bringing in new people and so it has become stale. As for the six episode series, again I fear that is largely down to lower budget, less creative staff and so less ideas. This series alone saw a huge amount of ideas re-used, it is a clear indicator of problems on the creative side. Sadly it does seem the X-Factor comments made last night with regards to sheduling two short series of TG a year so as to avoid going head to head with the juggernaut seem to carry some weight, the BBC seem to forget that their remit is not to garner huge ratings but to produce quality programming. They need to forget X-Factor, re-invest in TG which makes them a fortune and give it a fighting chance to regain it's former glory.

 

[ST^]

The drop in quality is because the hosts have become caricatures of their former selves, fuck all to do with budget.

 

[Tom]

Tom, no one is disputing that the cost for TG are higher than most BBC programs. My point was about the drop in quality due to budget cuts and the lower number of episodes, there are either less creative people or they are not bringing in new people and so it has become stale. As for the six episode series, again I fear that is largely down to lower budget, less creative staff and so less ideas. This series alone saw a huge amount of ideas re-used, it is a clear indicator of problems on the creative side. Sadly it does seem the X-Factor comments made last night with regards to sheduling two short series of TG a year so as to avoid going head to head with the juggernaut seem to carry some weight, the BBC seem to forget that their remit is not to garner huge ratings but to produce quality programming. They need to forget X-Factor, re-invest in TG which makes them a fortune and give it a fighting chance to regain it's former glory.

The BBC Licence Fee has been fixed for the next five years. With inflation running at about 5%, that's a real terms cut, every year. So where do you expect them to get the money from? I'm sure the BBC's commercial department would value your years of experience in producing quality content, especially in this area. Perhaps you might go to their office to tell them exactly what it is they're doing wrong.

For the majority of the British public, Top Gear is irrelevant. Remember that.

 

[- English -]

scrap dr who and give it to TG

 

[ford prefect]

Quality decline is somewhat down to budget shrink which has reduced the creative team. Yet the BBC and BBC Worldwide continue to make growing revenue on the TG franchise whilst delivering a lesser product. You can blame Clarkson etc all you want but they are the presenters and the blame does not just lay with them, the production team are having to stick to a very ........improving the program, just increasing the revenue.

To be fair, I would guess top gear burns through a considerable amount of money. Also as I understand it, Clarkson is heavily involved with production - so responsibility has to sit with him on two counts.

Top gear has done really well, but let's be honest here, the formula is getting a bit stale now and Clarkson's particular brand of nonsense isn't as entertaining as it once was. Personally I
would rather they kept the smaller series, perhaps with a bit of a shake-up and invested money elsewhere more wisely instead of making silly descisions.

 

[Ch3tan]

Maybe if they actually did more car reviews, then they'd be able to save money for special features, rather than trying to do nothing but special things?

Also, budget cuts are inevitable, why should one show be an exception? As for the show going stale, it's directly down to Clarkson IMO as it's his baby.

 

[Ormorof]

Their ratings were never higher than when they were doing all the crazy stunts and races and such though so i guess its a tough choice for them

try to appeal to the fikle entertainment junkies or try to appease the people more interested in car reviews than exploding caravans or drive by cow barbeques

 

[old.Tohtori]

scrap dr who and give it to TG

That's the biggest angry face the smilies allow, i'd use a bigger one

 

[Wazzerphuk]

If they stopped doing features on stupid irrelevant 911s they'd probably save half their budget.

 

[Rulke]

I wish hammond would stop reviewing supercars and saying they aren't pantomime enough >.<

 

[cHodAX]

The BBC Licence Fee has been fixed for the next five years. With inflation running at about 5%, that's a real terms cut, every year. So where do you expect them to get the money from? I'm sure the BBC's commercial department would value your years of experience in producing quality content, especially in this area. Perhaps you might go to their office to tell them exactly what it is they're doing wrong.

For the majority of the British public, Top Gear is irrelevant. Remember that.

Ok, he we go again.

First of all inflation drives up production costs annually, yet TG didn't recieve a budget increase, instead they were handed a budget freeze for at least five years which is in effect a budget cut due to the constant rise of inflation, that is in line with all other BBC productions internal or external. On top of that they had to renew the contracts of all three presenters on improved terms which has meant a serious squeeze on budget for other areas of the show, particularly on the creative side if the quality of the last two or three years is anything to go by. Why did they need to improve the contacts? Again, inflation but mainly because TG is a very successful revenue generator for BBC Worldwide and those three presenters are key to that success. TG without them would be a very different beast and to continue production without would most likely hurt international TV sales. Then you have to take into account that all three are also heavily in demand for other TV projects, that drives the price up a bit further because they only have limited working time and it will always go to the highest bidder.

Now you can argue that I have zero experience in television production and you would be completely right, however it doesn't take twenty years experience in that field to spot where the problem areas are. Look at all the criticism of the show in the last three years, the vast majority of it centres on the show becoming stale with the same ideas on a constant cycle of reuse. That is clearly a creativity issue, everyone likes to jump on Clarkson for this problem because they imagine that he is the sole creative person driving the show but that clearly isn't the case or certainly wasn't when TG was in it's prime five years ago. A show like TG needs new ideas if it wants to grow but it is very difficult to come up with new ideas without input from new and varying sources.