Top Gear - General Discussion Thread

Well, I put many people and shows on my list precisely because are (or have been) relatively popular or critically acclaimed in the U.K., challenging the notion that American humor just isn't funny to Britons. In fact, I would even venture to say that American and British humor (or at least the semi-sophisticated forms of American and British humor) have a lot more in common than people think -- especially when compared to humor in many other countries and cultures. I was born in Slovenia, BTW, and I appreciate both American and British humor -- the good stuff, that is. Most Slovenian humor, on the other hand, does nothing for me.

But that's just my two (off-topic) cents... or pence.

There have been quite a few good American sitcoms, recent ones being Scrubs, Family Guy & American Dad (even if the last two are animation)

I can't think of anything of many great British ones of recent, there are some but they're in a current sea of crap at the moment

Anyway what challenges would people like to see the guys in the next series?

One I would like to see (if they haven't done it already) is all three buy a really old clapped out car (Hammond a Ford Fiesta MkI, May a Talbot Tagora & Clarkson a Rover SD1 for example) and the have to go from Lands End to John O'Groats and back and can only refuel, top up water in neccessary and only do minor repairs (replace a puncher or fault window wiper) and see if they can do a round trip.

No highly original but would be interesting to see how far they can get in cars of this age

This is definate Political Correctnes Gone Mad!

How about this ... they get given a battered old 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am, and they're challenged to fully restore the car
to showroom condition. Then, convert it into a replica of KITT from Knight Rider, and put it in a race alongside other
famous TV cars ... maybe the likes of Magnum P.I.'s Ferrari, and/or the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee*.

(*Not the real ones obviously, but replicas!)

I like the sound of that, especially the first part to bring a knacked old car back into showroom condition, like a Ford Capri MkIII, Vauxhall Chevette or Morris Marina... Perhaps not the last one

I imagine a certain TG presenter would take great pleasure in totally wrecking a Morris Marina beyond repair!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5SDYzw60jjg&mode=related&search=

Interesting to see in this month's TG Mag, Clarkson wants to know where you would like TopGear to go next.

He says due to the slot TopGear had to make do with, (IMO it's wrong how BBC2's top-rated show had to 'make do' with a slot; surely things could have been moved about) episodes and material had to be removed as they wasn't enough time to show all the episodes (that's why there were only 6).

Anyway consequently many of the test drive features were removed so the big-money pieces could be aired (basically the c*cking about bits as JC puts it).

But the dilemma now is because they got such good ratings they are a bit stuck on whether or not to do less proper reviews and more c*cking about. I think the comic stuff may have got them the massive ratings last series but Clarkson says he doesn't want the show just to be about viewing figures.

I personally enjoy the car reviews as well as the challenges and I had noticed the lack of test drives last series. I think it should be a 50/50 split and stuff the ratings if they really don't care about viewing figures. I think this would prevent them from running out of ideas and stop the show getting tired.

Opinions?

Definitely agree with you, it should be a mixture. Sure, we all love the funny bits, they're great, and it wouldn't be TG without them. But I also like the reviews as well, and it wouldn't be TG without those .

I sort of agree, I think the special shows, such as the American one, are excellent but they should have done an extra episode in the traditional format to compensate for this. How about extending it for an extra 10 minutes? That way you can get an extra review in without havign to cut the entertainment factor

Also this clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfTRlQot3ZU&NR=1 of one of Clarkson's destructions. Some people don't get the point that the car was modified in a special way on there.

Who cares if the car was modified to be destroyed easier, the point is the Montego was a pile of sh*te and got what it deserved

I find it quite ironic, that when Channel 4's Driven went down the 'entertainment' route with less reviews, their ratings dived, yet the opposite seems to be happening with TG...no bad thing IMO. But I do agree that they need to have at least one review per show. Hows about a half hour spin off...a 'feature' item from the main show repeated (modified in length perhaps) and a couple of car reviews not seen in the main show...this could air in the 6.30 BBC Two slot on a weeknight?