The steering wheel coming off trick was very very good a little overplayed towards the end but none the less highly amusing,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The worst TG series ever - even JC at the end said 'if' or 'maybe' when mentioning new series - although continuity announcer confirmed a new series in the summer .
Imo, the BBC is simply failing to take motoring & motorists seriously. The only programme on virtually the whole plethora of widely available channels to deal with cars etc. , and most of it given over to the equivalent of Jackass stunts in/with cars.
I could understand (maybe even be slighlty amused by) TG if it were an adjunct to, not a replacement of a proper programme about, let's face it, a big part of what we spend our money on & spend our time at - driving a vehicle.
An example last night, the 'discussion' about the Hammond interview with Tony Blair - here's an opportunity for JC to put cogent & lucid arguments against or in place of road -pricing initiatives, c'mon let's hear what you've got to say JC (..and May) - what we got was 3rd form jokes about punching & being sick - well ha,ha. To the resident adorati here - who do you think they're really laughing at?
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The worst TG series ever - Imo, the BBC is simply failing to take motoring & motorists seriously.
As previously mentioned, it's NOW an entertainment show centreing on 3 middle aged men (ok, hampsters slightly younger) going on 15 who all get along with one another, take the mick, and generally have a good laugh together.
I for one would hate to see the show return to the Angela Rippon, Noel Edmonds, William Woolard, Raymond Baxter, style of presenting.
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The total lack of any real examination or testing of the information (which is what good journalists do all the time) was shown when Hammond had the two Mustangs dyno'd. No questions that would have revealed why the power at the rear wheels was down on the 500 or 390, and so the audience was left hanging. It could have been quickly covered, when Hammond would have discovered that his Mustang probably never had 390.
While the limo feature was entertaining, it was also a massive waste of budget, which a more sensible producer would have spent on genuine content, not boarding school japes.
Remember, the BBC really only want ratings, so why let professionalism get in the way of good viewer figures?
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This program is absolute rubbish - somebody compared their clowning around to 'Last Of The Summer Wine' - they were right.
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This program is absolute rubbish
But do you (and others) switch off / change channel during the show or watch it right the way through?
ps, Thinking about it, May does resemble Compo ;o)
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The total lack of any real examination or testing of the information (which is what good journalists do all the time) was shown when Hammond had the two >>Mustangs dyno'd. No questions that would have revealed why the power at the rear wheels was down on the 500 or 390, and so the audience was left hanging. It >>could have been quickly covered, when Hammond would have discovered that his Mustang probably never had 390.
Quite. AFAIK, most manufacturer power figures are taken at crankshaft, rather than back wheel - it might account for up 10% of the gross figure.
Why didn't they know or find out ?
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>>As previously mentioned, it's NOW an entertainment show centreing on 3 middle aged men (ok, hampsters slightly younger) going on 15 who all get along with >>one another, take the mick, and generally have a good laugh together.
Well I find informative , factual items about aspects of cars/driving entertaining as well. Entertainment doesn't just mean guffawing & giggling about sick & naughty bits like c-stream schoolboys. If they want a good laugh, why not go down the pub like everyone else & have a couple of pints?
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Entertainment doesn't just mean guffawing & giggling about sick & naughty bits like c-stream schoolboys.
Obviously people's tastes differ. I myself do not find it at all entertaining listening to someone talking in a monotone voice about run of the mill cars, and how the bonnet stay works.
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>> Entertainment doesn't just mean guffawing & giggling about sick & naughty bits like c-stream schoolboys. Obviously people's tastes differ. I myself do not find it at all entertaining listening to someone talking in a monotone voice about run of the mill cars, and how the bonnet stay works.
Hear hear!
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>Quite. AFAIK, most manufacturer power figures are taken at crankshaft, rather than back wheel - it might account >for up 10% of the gross figure.
>Why didn't they know or find out ?
Frankly who cares.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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How they created the limos' middle sections was completely missed.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Galloping carp again, just like last week. Awful.
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Hillarious! So funny I was in pain from laughing so much.
I have many, many friends who have no interest in cars but watch TG every week without fail.
For those who don't like it: switch off and get over it.
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It was a funny episode for sure, but ive been feeling that this last series has lacked substance - watch the re-runs of older TG on UKG2 and you realise whats missing.
What I would like to see, is a return to the races, but perhaps a little further afield - how about getting the guys to do one of these runs with a cheap car to Russia for instance - the american show was very funny and left the other shows wanting.
I would also like to see more actual roadtests of new cars and esp those special cars you dont often hear about - I loved the bit JC did on the Spyker for instance.
It would be nice to see a little more politics in TG - motoring is very political anyway and these guys have the perfect platform and huge audience to reach people, although of course Im sure they get leaned on from upon high if they go too far.
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>>It would be nice to see a little more politics in TG >>
What about the bit where the Hamster was asked if he'd hit or been sick over a certain T Bliar when he had the perfect opportunity...?
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>>For those who don't like it: switch off and get over it.
Why - I pay a licence fee as do you - why not comment on programmes produced partly from my fee? Do you believe the only reviews should be good ones ?
>>I have many, many friends who have no interest in cars but watch TG every week without fail.
About says it all really.
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I like TG, its an hour of harmless entertainment that has a loose connection with cars. It isn't Question Time. It isn't Panorama.
I personally can't stand Eastenders and therefore don't watch it every week to get annoyed by it!
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>>For those who don't like it: switch off and get over it. Why - I pay a licence fee as do you
You could aways go down the pub woodbines. Oh, I forgot, it's full of people having a good laugh ;o)
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BBC: "You obviously don't like the programme Woodbines so we're going to take it off."
WOODBINES (for it is he): "What, and spoil my weekly moan?"
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IanS
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One way I judge a TV program is how quickly the show passes and invariably for me TG's hour goes quickly. It's not perfect but it's good light entertainment. As has been said before it's primarily about 3 blokes who like cars and have different personalities & who 'appear' to get on well. JC - the bloke's bloke who doesn't give a toss for PC. RH -- Who the ladies like (Well, they do in my office) JM -- Eccentric, captain slow.
It may have it's faults but compared to some/most of the stuff that goes by the name of entertainment I think it's pretty good.
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@Stuartli >> How they created the limos' middle sections was completely missed.
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Totally agree. I was really disappointed they missed it out. I suspect because they were professionally constructed (but made to look botched) which would have gone against the 'clumsy blokes' theme.
Still a great show though.
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Three middle aged males acting like adolescents and doing 'zany things' but with a huge budget and professionals to do the actual work for them. I ignored much of it, then finally turned it off. I suppose it appeals to enough people to make it worthwhile.
Wasn't Mrs Doctor Who (Billie Piper) posh? I though she spoke chav. I reckon she's been on electrocution lessons to posh up her voice.
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Excellent show as always. TG gets a positive vote from me.
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really enjoyed it......mate was around who is not into cars and he laughed so much i thought he was going to have a coronary............SWMBO watched it this morning, ditto
i like my cars and i like good entertainment, so i really like the programme
can understand why some wouldn't like it, but why do they put themselves through it each week if they don't like it?
I think 5th Gear is now total carp, so i've stopped watching it....... others might still like it.... easy enough choice isn't ti, to 'turn over' or 'off'.
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Perhaps introducing VBH alongside Top Gear's presenters might liven it up even more?
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Perhaps introducing VBH alongside Top Gear's presenters might liven it up even more?
Not VBH, that blonde German woman who's done 14,000 laps of the Nurburgring. The Stigette...
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That's the one. Absolutely charming I thought.
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Yes Lud - In fact I suggested ..aherm.. she would be a good addition to TG in a much older thread , but also conjectured she
might show the boys up - both in driving skill & general televisual appeal - she's also bright as a button.
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My labrador is better looking, - mind its driving skills its probably better than the top gear trio as well.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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And here's a nice photo of Sabine and friends just for you Lud
www.maseraticlub.co.uk/racing7/ring-09a.jpg
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Yes, isn't she sweet with those dimples. Goes like stuff off a shovel at the wheel too, with an occasional scream of terror...
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And don't forget her friends Lud ....
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And here's a nice photo of Sabine and friends just for you Lud www.maseraticlub.co.uk/racing7/ring-09a.jpg
Yikes - that confirms my theory that Sabine Schmidt is really Michael Schumacher in a wig!
For Woodbines, an alternative to TG might have been watching the Ipcress File on the big screen at the Little Theatre in Bath. That's what i did anyway, then came home and watched Top Gear on Teleport Replay. Very funny, and I laughed out loud several times.
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an alternative to TG might have been watching theIpcress File on the big screen at the Little Theatre in Bath.
They used to do theatre, not naff old British cold war movies... Bath is the nearest thing I have to a home town although I wasn't born there.
Ghastly traffic A4 east these days I notice...
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Ghastly traffic A4 east these days I notice...
Ghastly traffic full stop. Journey to Bristol is an hour along the A4, but 40 minutes if you double the distance and hit the lanes.
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Her name is Sabine.
Yes, curious that.
I wonder if she was given that name by her parents or decided to acquire it?
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More like 20,000 laps now I would think...:-)
Yes, I remember the impressive Sabine well; IIRC, she was going to be a regular but it never materialised.
Perhaps The Stig didn't want to be shown up?
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BBC: "You obviously don't like the programme Woodbines so we're going to take it off."
>.WOODBINES (for it is he): "What, and spoil my weekly moan?"
I can only agree RtB! - TG was becoming an exercise in masochism ;-)
So obviously can't wait for the next series!
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Galloping carp again, just like last week. Awful.
why did you watch it again then? needed something to moan about?
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why did you watch it again then? needed something to moan about?
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no tanvir, just always hope for the best on this subject, with these people.
But you can't win them all whoever you are.
It's all very well for me to carp, I agree. My right (lol) as a consumer however.
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>> why did you watch it again then? needed something to moan >> about? >> no tanvir, just always hope for the best on this subject, with these people.
That has been my argument too, but the good bits have been getting so few and far between that it is not worth it. And I missed the American one and I am told that it was very good. Maybe I should watch the ones I miss and avoid the others.
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But do you (and others) switch off / change channel during the show or watch it right the way through?
Dave,
you're right but one does live in hope of seeing something interesting. If it was a gardening related comedy programme it wouldn't get tv space here. I tend to SKY it and whizz through the dross.............Sometimes there is a pearl amongst the sand (or silicon/silicone) like the Aston Martin fests. I didn't last night and consequently watched it live, by any rational standard it was poor, if you want to watch a programme about cars. It is now a programme that BBC sells to the world together with the likes of Telly Tubbies. That streched limo thing was a right bore especially the celeb thing at the end.
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One man's meat is another's man's poison.
How boring it would be if we all liked exactly the same things.
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I hope they go away and have a long think about any future episodes, if any.
I've learnt to record it and play it back at 12x speed - much better, don't have to put up with the rubbish for so long.
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>>I've learnt to record it and play it back at 12x speed -
Actually if you buy one of those plug sockets with an inbuilt timer you could set it to record the show and then play it back while you were out. Then you wouldn't have to suffer at all.
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As my dad was a farmer for some 41 years before he retired, I saved last weeks espisode (diy petrol + tractors) for him to watch ## . All I could hear from the other room was frequent laughter from both my father and mother as they watched the antics. Now before I delete this weeks episode off the Sky+ box (the limos) they want to also watch that as well ##.
## Not the whole show, I hasten to add, just the challenges.
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ps, Thinking about it, May does resemble Compo ;o)
He may look like Compo, but he's definitely the Foggy Dewhurst of the three. Clarkson's truculent buffoonery is much more like Compo, which means Hammond must be Clegg....
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This program is absolute rubbish - somebody compared their clowning around to 'Last Of The Summer Wine' - they were right.
Gadzooks!! They really were right.
img412.imageshack.us/i/summerwine1.jpg/
{edited as original link didn't work anymore}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 23/11/2009 at 21:51
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Nice one DD.
Where will their future careers go? Perhaps, Jezza providing the voice for Wallace (of "& Gromit" fame)?
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Nice one DD. Where will their future careers go? Perhaps, Jezza providing the voice for Wallace (of "& Gromit" fame)?
I think they will do well. Clarkson was already a 'star' and must make a fortune from his "Clarkson drives around making various noises in a fast car" videos, part 1, part 2 etc, which sell in huge quantities. The others have becomes 'stars', and hence they can front mindless game shows and be panellists on their mates' mindless game shows.
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Does anyone have any info as to how much the three presenters are paid?
I was told that Clarkson and Hammond get a million pounds per show, while May was, until recently, being paid around £40,000 per show. He argued about it and his money was increased.
Any updates or anything more conclusive? It soundds like useful money anyway.
Apologies if this has already been covered.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/11/2007 at 18:35
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I too heard those figures but they were not per show! More likely per series!
Remember JC owns the company that makes it doesn't he?
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Good heavens, a Tog Gear presented saying something insensitive. Now there's a novelty. Errr, isn't that the whole ethos of Clarkson et al?
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I'm no apologist for PC, but I think if you were to take that line then they could say anything they liked and if challenged say "oh, that's just the way we are", which I would think not to be a good thing.
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>>Now there's a novelty. Errr, isn't that the whole ethos of Clarkson et al?
I think it is Leif.
[bleeding heart liberal mode]
We all know JC likes his japes & his stooges are generally
able to give as good as etc, but the 'a mental' banter wasn't specific enough. It made a joke of mental incapacity
in a very general way, i.e. it wasn't 'you banged your head & may suffer long-lasting consequences' (not a 'funny'
phrase, but you get my drift) , but came across as an all- encompassing & demeaning put-down for any state/condition/accident
that would cause mental debility. Hence, I think, the exception expressed by Headway. I imagine all the
kids watching, without question or challenge from their parents might now think that the term is ok to use & maybe even 'kewl'
[/bleeding heart liberal mode]
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didn't Tiger Woods have a similar problem when he called someone a 'spas'.....(pronounced spazz)
i don't think for one minute Tiger Woods or JC are inherently unpleasant people or would go out of their way to deeply upset anyone
and neither do i think the majority of people with some form of disability would be the slightest bit concerned about it.........seeing it for what it is
humour
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well, in defence of Top Gear, heres my tu'ppence worth.
As Gf is an avid Emmerdale fan, and I like Corrie, we have never watched T.G, but somehow tonight we ended up with it on BBC2.
To be honest it turned out to be the last in the series, (was that lucky? me thinks not!) I was glad when 8.00pm came because we were in agony from laughing so much!.
Well worth my licence fee, hurry back in the summer T.G, you've got at least two fans!
Billy
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Emmerdale ? Corrie? Que? Code words for something perhaps? Obscure Allied naval actions in 1943? The latest prototype from that well known Korean motor manufacturer Sowhoflungdung? Slang terms for brain rotting drugs? I think we should be told.
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I'm ambivalent towards TG now. This last series was certainly very funny in places but I am wondering, again, if they've lost the plot. What can further series achieve, if they don't move on with a different format or part, thereof.
When I read through some of the Saturday papers' motoring sections and see all the lovely new cars that are around or about to be introduced, I wonder, again, why a programme like TG couldn't feature 'sensible' reports on at least some of them and in a manner that did not just mean that they were tearing around an aerodrome with the rear hanging out. I don't want appear to be too sober-sides but surely some part of their programme could be devoted to this aspect of motoring as it affects all our lives (at least those of us who drive).
Just showing staged, silly stunts every week, to my thinking is just crass, despite some of them being hilarious.
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"and neither do i think the majority of people with some form of disability would be the slightest bit concerned about it"
Spaz, Ironside, that sort of thing were all pet names I had for my wheelchair-bound sister. She had a wicked sense of humour and gave better than she got. What she loved was people who noticed her, involved her, took the mick, asked her to pass something from the top shelf, invited her to Jiu Jitzu classes, etc. What she absolutely hated was people who averted their gaze or ignored her.
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>>i don't think for one minute Tiger Woods or JC are inherently unpleasant people or would go out of their way to deeply upset anyone
>>and neither do i think the majority of people with some form of disability would be the slightest bit concerned about it.........seeing it for what it is
>.humour
I don't think you have to be an inherently unpleasant person to use such names, labels or epithets in a thoughtless or 'humourous' way, just as I hadn't noticed people with disabilities finding it inherently funny to have themselves referred to via their disability. Just because people don't break down and cry when they hear judgemental or discriminatory remarks doesn't mean they're unaffected by it . What some regard as the 'sporting' manner in which people with disabilities apparently accept this kind of thing, is often their coping mechanism.
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I don't think you have to be an inherently unpleasant person to use such names, labels or epithets in a thoughtless or 'humourous' way, just as I hadn't noticed people with disabilities finding it inherently funny to have themselves referred to via their disability. Just because people don't break down and cry when they hear judgemental or discriminatory remarks doesn't mean they're unaffected by it . What some regard as the 'sporting' manner in which people with disabilities apparently accept this kind of thing, is often their coping mechanism.
but equally so, it is usually the 'non affected' who dive in to support this poor maligned person, through their own misplaced outrage........when in reality this person would far rather be treated just like everyone else.......which would include 'black humour' etc..... and indeed why shouldn't they be treated 'just like everyone else'?
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>>but equally so, it is usually the 'non affected' who dive in to support this poor maligned person, through their own misplaced outrage..
If this refers to me or my family as being ' non affected' - it presumes too much. It's also instructive to understand, that karma has an unerring way of teaching us the lessons we need to learn.
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