|
Beat me to it Dave, I came online after I bothered to look at the TV lisitings and saw it there. Hope its not a repeat. Watched Fifth Gear this tea time (on Discovery)- Tiff driving the Enzo....
|
|
Acording to my listings, it is a new series with some new features.
|
|
Yep, tis a new series. Featuring an attempt to fit an Nitrous Oxide injection kit to a 1985 Jag XJS - according to a tv listings mag I just read.
|
|
Looks like FB has gone for a burton. That'll please 'The King'.
|
|
|
Didn't feature the NO2 kit, but what a show! I laughed all the way through. Loved that indestructible 4x4, and toasting the Sunny and the caravan was pretty hilarious. Reminded me of the time the last-placed car in the JD Power survey got sprayed by a muck-spreader a few years back. Nevertheless, thoroughly wasteful of licence-payers' money, stop the show now, etc etc.
Hope to see more of James May on it as well, he brings a much-needed balance to the show. I especially like the fact that he said he went out of his way to choose a car Clarkson wouldn't want!
|
|
Yes James May seems to have some personality rather than just being a foil for JC. Good program.
|
|
|
A bit better this time around. JC seems to have - how can I say ? - gained some extra tumblehome since the last run.
If I can use their idea.
Loved: The Wilderbeest Landie, I want one !, Murray and the McLaren - was that the Stig driving it ? James May - serious motor journo, cool,sophisticated,articulate with some satorial taste. (what the programme needs).
Hated: The wide eyed "driving god"'s shirt (my grannie has a setee made up in this). The Vinnie Jones thing - got stale in the last series. The car/caravan burning thing....
Did anyone else see FB in the crowd...or was it a ghost ?
|
I used to like JC until he recently appeared as a guest on HIGNFY and said "I ran over a fox last week.........deliberately".
If he did, I think that's deplorable, and if he said it just for effect, then IMO that's pathetic.
|
if he said it just for effect, then IMO that's pathetic.
Everything JC says is just for effect - and usually calculated to hurt someone (in this case the fox) that's what he gets paid for...
Back to Top Gear, I didn't see it but having read the "reviews" so far, I haven't missed anything on cars I'm likely to drive. I just wish these sorts of programmes would cater more for the everyday motorist. The way out stuff has its place too, but IMO it can get a bit tiresome.
Splodgeface
|
|
|
|
Did anyone else see FB in the crowd...or was it a ghost ?
Who is FB?
|
I think they're referring to the rather large gent who co-presented the last series, his name escapes me.
PP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I watched about 5 minutes of it, which was about all I could stand. JC has become a parody of himself, and his sidekick both looked and sounded as if he was on something. Appalling.
|
"and his sidekick both looked and sounded as if he was on something"
A stool, or a box, would have been a good start.
|
I have to say JC is starting to get as bit past his sell by date.
Starting to severely lack street cred.
|
|
|
|
|
That Top Gear piece on that turbo-nutter L Rover last night reminded me of something an Army driver once said to me. He said his ambition was to drive Land Rover "pinkies" and the way he said it made me think these were souped up super vehicles. He was speaking in the company of his CO, so I don't think he was talking nonsense. Anyone shed any light?
|
|
I think a pinky is a desert spec Landy. Painted pink cos it fades into desert haze. The one with the Light machine gun mounted on the back is much favoured by the SAS for desert skirmish.
|
|
A Pinky is also known as a 'Pink Panther' and as Renault Family mentions in the special SAS version of a Land Rover.
|
|
|
|
A note for the diary of BMW E60 (new 5 series) haters & lovers:
Channel 5 - Fifth Gear - Wednesday 14May03, 8.30pm - BMW E60 test
repeat on Sunday 18May at 4.30pm
PS: clariman Q. "who is FB"; A. FB = Fat Bloke in polite language.
|
I must say I find TG horribly contrived and the matey chat very false and cringeworthy.
Can't they just get back to reviews of mainstream cars, sensible features on second hand buys and just the odd exotica thrown in now and again.
Kate Humble and Vicki Butler Henderson would add a certain something as well:)
I like JC, but this new series is not progress and that usually proves fatal.
"Wrong Car Right Car" is tops for me.
|
Not a bad prog, all told; getting increasingly curious about the indentity of The Stig. Perhaps we should start a slate in the BR.
Vinnie Jones was a dead loss - one dimenional and uncharismatic, so JC did his best with poor material there.
James May a nice, reflective counterpoint to JC's overbearing (but still appealingly opinionated) manner and the Jack Russell tendencies of his sidekick. May used to do some wonderfully pithy car assessments for Country Life; don't know whether he still does.
They need to up the pace in this programme a bit. Can't escape the feeling that, at an hour, it's 15 minutes too long.
But NOT half an hour too long. Fifth Gear is still shallow, teenage and obsessed with camerawork which makes you feel like you're watching a washing machine.
TG should keep up the irreverence, the quirkiness, the slightly laddish humour and the off-the-wall segment formats.
But don't bring back anything faintly resembling Kate Humble. Shoving a cloned Polly Presenter in front of a specialist show was the kiss of death for old TG.
|
But don't bring back anything faintly resembling Kate Humble. Shoving a cloned Polly Presenter in front of a specialist show was the kiss of death for old TG.
Agreed.
|
"Vicki Butler Henderson would add a certain something as well"
Not alone in that thought - hubba hubba!
Back to JC - it's classic ego, too much power - too many fawning minions that hang on his every word. Yes he's funny but he should never be in charge, well managed he'd be better.
Bring back The Count. TG circa Clarkson/Wilson/Needell/VBH was still the tops IMO.
|
>Bring back The Count. TG circa Clarkson/Wilson/Needell/VBH was still the tops IMO.
Agreed 100%
|
|
|
|
>> But don't bring back anything faintly resembling Kate Humble. Shoving a >> cloned Polly Presenter in front of a specialist show was the >> kiss of death for old TG. Agreed.
Strongly disagree.
|
Is it really so difficult to prodcue a programme which tells real people all about the cars they're likely to own as opposed to all the cars most are never gonna see, let alone own ?
Far too much time devoted to egomaniac presenters, wisecracks, silly games, pointless competitons (fastest political party? Do we really care?), celebrity test drives etc. and too little on what really matters. Top Gear's becoming a chat show !
|
To say a lot of you hate the programme, you all seem to watch it fairly avidly....
I think it's a good, entertaining programme. To be honest, I watch a car programme to look at and learn about cars I will probably never own - the last thing I want to see is someone pootling around getting excited about the low fuel consumption of the new Nissan Micra, or praising the reliability and practicality of a Toyota Avensis.
As for watching a show about the cars that "real people are likely to own" - most everyday cars are mindlessly, mindlessly dull. TV programmes such as this are meant to be entertaining to as wide an audience as possible - to compare the relative merits of your next prospective car purchases, there are many magazines and websites which will tell you far more than even the most dull and boring TV programme.
|
"To say a lot of you hate the programme, you all seem to watch it fairly avidly...."
Err, hello? Did anyone say it was unwatchable? Just because it could be (and has been?) a lot better doesn't mean it's worse than not watching it.
|
"you all seem to watch it fairly avidly...."
Er, no. I'd just like to watch a well-made, intelligent motoring programme that doesn't confirm everyone else's worst fears about petrol-heads. The original Driven was OK, and I used to enjoy TG in some of its earlier incarnations, when it employed presenters who both knew something about the subject and could articulate it. This used to include JC...
|
|
\"Is it really so difficult to prodcue a programme which tells
real people all about the cars they\'re likely to own as opposed to all the cars most are never gonna see, let alone own ?
Far too much time devoted to egomaniac presenters, wisecracks, silly games, pointless competitons (fastest political party? Do we really care?), celebrity test drives etc. and too little on what really matters. Top Gear\'s becoming a chat show !\"
Surely Top Gear is just representing one wavelength of the spectrum of shows about motors.
It would be a dull world indeed if His Holiness @ No10 (or similar plonker) pronounced that all motoring progs should be about bog standard autos like what we all drive. Then we\'d end up with clones of Mike Brewpot\'s show, forget the name now.
What makes life interesting is that we are all different.
For example I like watching the Mark Evans series where he has built and restored a number of motors, kit car, E type restoration etc etc. Fully one third of a programme spent discussing lead loading; found it riveting. Certainly the level of humour present accurately reflects what goes on between a load of mates down the garage.
New series starts on Monday building a Caterham Racing car in case you were interested.
What I\'m saying in essence is if you don\'t like Top Gear magazine, you don\'t buy it. Same with the programme IMHO.
One time I didn\'t like Jezza, but once you\'ve sussed out where he\'s coming from then fair enough. Personally suspect he\'s overpaid in comparison to his true worth to society in general but that is just the little green devil of jealousy speaking.
|
My critics - To be fair I only said that the programme spent too much time on certain issues, not that such topics should be excluded.
The point I was trying to make is that Top Gear seems to have become something that it wasn't intended to be - a vehicle for JC et al to joust with the English language and lark around with their mates as opposed to a serious motoring programme. I've no problem with such a format existing but choose not to watch Top Gear now (only cuaght the last few minutes of the last show by accident).
The question I posed is why doesn't anyone ALSO produce an informative show about the cars the majority of us actually drive ? Surely, given the amount of mindless trash on TV now, there's room in the schedules for both formats !
|
Purely personally, I can look out of the window to see some of the sort of cars the majority of us actually drive - including a Kia!
On the box I want to see the cars I'll never see through that window. Since the producers of TV programmes want to see good viewing figures and have means of researching what attracts viewers, I conclude I am not alone.
If there is in fact a substantial demand for the other thing we will see it in due course.
Tomo.
|
|
I know that not everyone has Cable or BSkyB but no one mentions the reasonable programs on Men & Motors such as:-
MOTORING: Dream Deals
Channel: Men & Motors
Date: Tuesday 13th May 2003
Time: 16:00 to 16:30 (starting in 17 minutes)
Duration: 30 minutes.
Series in which Brendan Coogan shows viewers how to acquire the cars they thought only the mega-rich could afford.
Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from www.digiguide.com. Copyright ©1999-2002 GipsyMedia Ltd. Information copied from DigiGuide cannot be re-distributed, sold or used without prior written consent from GipsyMedia Ltd. All rights reserved.
And quite a few other good shows on cars and bikes.
John R
|
The only trouble with Men & Motors John R is that the missus scrolls through to the programmes shown later on in the evening, gets to the titles such as "Luscious Hooters" and draws her own totally erroneous conclusion why that channel is in my favourites list in the digibox hoofah doofah thingy. :-(
But then I would say that wouldn't I. ;-)
|
Thought TG was quite good, all the better for James May. SWMBO scored an extra 100 points by taping it when I wasn't in, unprompted.
Fifth Gear isn't bad but like the Count's hair, a little thin these days. Tailsliding every car they get their hands on isn't my idea of a good programme, although I accept there are many who'd disagree with this.
I still don't understand why C4 broke and then disposed of Driven, a real shame. More so to see Brewer doing adverts for car warehouses, a real waste.
VBH is still rubbish.
Lee.
Lee
MINI adventure in progress
|
FiF,
I really hadn't noticed those programs... Ah Hem.
Of course I'm always in bed by that time anyway.
Commenting on JC and the latest tabloid comments about him, I would not swerve (well try not to, anyway) to avoid a fox, but do not condone the deliberate running down of any domestic animals or wildlife.
An encounter with a pheasent and a friends Minis grill show just how much damage can be done.
The grill and radiator were ruined... the pheasent got up and ran off.
John R
|
|
I reckon that Volvoman hit the nail on the head except that TG ain't a Chat show, it's a comedy show, or a show-offs show. Too much time spent with the presenters/guests trying to score points off each other while the audience laugh sycophantically (damn! sure I spelt that wrong). It's OK as a fantasy show (cars I will never drive and even if I did I wouldn't waste £1000 worth of tyres doing that in them)but as a general interest motoring program it's carp. Hence ratings will never be high?
|
I found it interesting that Murray Walker quoted the McLaren F1 as 11.4 seconds 0-100-0 mph. Last Week MCN magazine had most of the 1000cc sports bikes rated quicker than that and a couple of 600cc ones. So for 3 grand (2nd hand) you too could beat (the/one of the) best performance cars at the traffic light grand prix.
The program may not be the best on cars, but to me it's a lot better than soaps or 'reality' programing.
Martin
|
|
For a Sunday evening its undemanding and often amusing and for 1 hour takes my mind off the realisation that the next day is Monday. I laughed a lot when they torched a caravan. I have read enough JC columns to know not to expect to be enlightened. He aims to shock and amuse and that's about it. (Actually he does have some insightful opinions on cars but then so do my work colleagues.)
|
|
Leif's spot on - it's light entertainment. If you don't like it, why do you all watch it????
|
|
|
|
|
|
Personally, I like JC.
At least he can speak. Have you ever seen VBH's top lip move?
A laddish presenter who can't present would surely be better replaced by a real lad, who can. VBH ruined TopGear for me, and now Fifth Gear too.
And, thank God Berry's off the box.
Only my opinion but I'm happy.
|
Good to see it back and I think it’ll do better this series, ratings wise. I think a lot of us were unsure at first.
Shame to see they’re still flogging the unfunny ‘Stig has easy listening on the stereo when he’s driving’ gag. Other than that, it’s looking good.
|
|
|
|
And, talking of presenters who can't speak (VBH unable to move her top lip) what about that woman on "Dream Deals".
Talk about lock-jaw.
I can see her lips moving but the chin is seized solid.
How do such people think they can present a programme?
|
|
Oh children, leave the school boy comments somewhere else.
|
I take it you are not related to Mark (RLBS) the moderator?
Confused of Slough aka Leif.
|
From yesterday's Guardian diary column....
"Worrying signs that TV motoring show Top Gear is freezing out its star presenter. A quick glance at the June edition of Top Gear magazine reveals no more than 17 pictures of Jeremy Clarkson (pages 5, 7, 37, 62, 63, 64, 89, 91, 93, 108, 109, and 110). There's also a free book of his columns stuck to the cover, but that looks like an empty sop to Mr Clarkson's fragile ego, and you can only fear how a man so riven by self-doubt will take this calculated insult."
|
well with respect to Nsar the Grauniad is takling holleyhocks.
(sp misstakes quite deliberate ;-)
Seem to think Jezza wrote or features in quite a few articles in addition to his column. This includes the start of the worlds greatest car series. Actually thought they had overdone the JC exposure. Or have I missed the point?
Wonder what Jezzas done to upset the diarist?
|
|
I think the clue there might have been in the description of Clarkson as a man "riven by self-doubt". Not with those initials.
|
|
|
|
I take it you are not related to Mark (RLBS) the moderator?
Leif,
It is Mark. Reason why is here.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=12796&...e
|
|
DD: Ah ha. A mobile moderator. Thanks. L.
|
|
|
|
>I take it you are not related to Mark (RLBS) the moderator?
Its still me. Just that this one is me sitting in an Internet Cafe on the beach in 30 degrees of sun with a very large G&T.
|
Mark,
You're not trying to get us to like you are you?????!!!!
Wrong tactics while it's chucking hailstones the size of golf (motoring link!) balls at us and frost is predicted for tonight!!!
Enjoy!
P.S Where (roughly ) are you?
|
Where (roughly ) are you?
At the third PC from the right. The one with two packets of cigarettes, a large G&T and a beer precariously balanced on top of the screen.
|
And I bet the fags and beer were cheaper than in "rip-off" Britain!! And the hotel!!
Sorry! Delete this. Any cheap engine oil where you are??
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
