mmarshall

Although it is somewhat out of date now, Clarkson did a video on the decline of the once-vast British auto industry. Here....I'll post it.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Personal commentary deleted. Posters keep the topic on 'Chris Evans and the 'interference' he's facing from the BBC' or don't post at all. Thanks

MattyG

And now the next question will be, will Chris Evans be replaced? What will happen if Amazon Top Gear eats BBC Top Gear like an anaconda?

Lil4X

BBCA is flailing about trying to assemble "new" shows from clips of the old. It's not working. If they wanted to do all that editing, they should have clipped some of Clarkson's monologues over the last couple of seasons when he really started pushing the PC boundaries. I've never blamed Clarkson for his outbursts - he's a stream-of-consciousness talker and he often goes too far afield.

But that's what the rest of the production unit is for. They either can caution Clarkson before the cameras roll or edit him afterwards. The producer is ultimately responsible for the show that is aired, and it is HE, not the stars of the show that keep it on track. If he were doing his job, none of those "incidents" would ever have reached the air. Of course, Clarkson, being ever the curmudgeon, didn't help his own case by going off against his bosses.

Now, if I could offer some advice to the producers of his next show (with Hammond and May, to be sure): Get cooperation first. Slamming the door in the face of "temperamental" talent gets you nowhere. Keep shooting until you have an airworthy product then put it all together in the edit bay. Look at what got Clarkson in trouble before: edit out two or three sentences from the final year's programs and there would have been no problem. You don't have to put a muzzle on him - it's those outbursts that make him funny. Just rein him in a bit when he gets too full of himself.

Stroock639

if the show is on amazon prime i say let clarkson run free. if people are paying to watch it they shouldn't have to deal with network syndication or censorship. i'm thinking an HBO type format here... just have a disclaimer before the show saying how it has adult content and let the three presenters present.

clarkson said it best in the 60 minutes special on top gear. paraphrase here but it was something like "if you make a show that aims to not offend anyone, you end up with something bland and boring that no one will wanna watch." and that's absolutely true, and that's why top gear was so successful.

Lil4X

I think that's reasonable. Clarkson understands the media - it's like the WWE that used to pretend it was wrestling. It's entertainment, and we love Top Gear even if it is more about the antics of the presenters than any real analysis of cars the public will be buying in the foreseeable future. We can leave the number-crunching green eyeshade accountancy to CR. In that way I suppose, TG is like the old Playboy magazine - it isn't practical but it does offer a look at exotic places you and I will never get to visit.

SW17LS

My only concern is this. When you remove the restrictions sometimes it takes some of the thrill out of it. I'm not a huge Howard Stern watcher, but this happened more than a little bit when he left terrestrial radio and went to Sirius. Once you removed the enemy of the FCC and the "drama" of what will he say or do and what will the fallout be, and the artwork of presenting what he wanted to present while beating the censors at their own game a lot of the fun of the show was lost.

Hopefully this won't happen here. I tend to think not because unlike Howard, the point of Clarkson and TopGear was not/is not to shock, it was just their humor running them into trouble from time to time as they presented the show.

Stroock639

i get ya... almost like how legalizing weed would remove the "naughtiness" of breaking the law lol

that's something i'd definitely be prepared to sacrifice though, dealers are annoying af to deal with

MattyG

Amazon will have a much more international audience although most of it will be the traditional TG crowd. The question will be how far will the talent be allowed to go? If you post warnings beforehand about some aspects offending viewers, you might be ok.

Don't forget that the Amazon version will have to match other things that are not about the hosts: the cinematic photography, stunning HD slow-mo shots, beautiful picture-in-motion montages. That all requires massive infrastructure. The BBC has a lot of history and experience behind it and it did that.

Amazon would be great in 4K if they're smart because it's streaming on demand while the BBC will play to a traditional wired audience.

There are behind the scenes dramas. Who gets first crack at the latest greatest car. Things like that. There are more politics than you know in automotive reviewing.

SW17LS

They can do whatever they want, its a subscription service. They don't even need to post a warning, if viewers don't want to watch it they can always suspend their service.

Its like HBO or satellite radio. No need to post warnings...they can show Disney movies and **** movies. No censors at all.

As for the cinematic aspect, seeing that the show was created and run by the people who are running the Amazon show, its not going to be an issue. BBC had no experience doing a show like that until Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman came along, and Amazon has a much higher budget.

Stroock639

i think it's safe to say this new show will be one of the most entertaining shows... in tHE WORRLLLLLDDDDD!!!!

SW17LS

Haha!

I hope so! I'm looking forward to it.

Lil4X

Agreed. No one is forcing you to participate in any program you don't like, but too many people would rather complain than take an active part in the experience. If you don't like what you are viewing or hearing, there are two solutions, usually represented by a pair of ***** on your receiver. One changes the station, the other turns it OFF.

MattyG

No one is "forcing" anyone to watch anything but there is a larger worldwide audience that is at stake. It ain't all about Murica boys. Both shows have to retrieve their audiences and a good portion of that audience is NOT in the US.

The ideal outcome could be that the Amazon version runs right over the BBC version according to some cheerleaders here. But don't just count out younger audiences who couldn't care less about the likes of the aging Clarkson, Hammond, May, who obviously were more exciting and buffoonish in a Donald kind of way. If that's your taste, enjoy.

mmarshall

Here's an actual video of Leno on the show with Clarkson.