and another thing, as its only 10% cars anyway, lets get some bikes in there too, at least 10%, then they can ditch 10% of the crap to accommodate it, now, whos a biking presenter............ I could act like clarkson and annoy most? whats the salary?
Top Gear is an entertainment not petrol head prog, hence its appeal will disappear as will it. Just wondering, would it have been ok if he whacked a bloke in the bar rather than his producer?
Yes. You can't have people beating up other people at work and still employ them. Savile was untouchable due to his profile. I think the Beeb is wary of making the same mistake twice, even if the offence is of an entirely different nature.
May has hinted to reporters that he and Hammond might not present TG without Clarkson. He said the three of them are a package and knob that Clarkson is he would rather work with him than without him. And what if Andy Wilman goes? He and Clarkson write the show between them. Of course all this assumes that Clarkson would want to continue presenting motoring shows. He won't be short of other offers. And he is very good in straight factual programmes. He wrote and presented an excellent episode on Brunel for the Great Britons series.
The BBC put themselves into an inevitable outcome. They should have resolved it behind closed doors and let the show go on (making loads of money). Other TV networks must be laughing. It was reaching the end of it's natural life though and ready for a new team so will they persuade Chris Evans? He could get some fresh ideas introduced and some musical petrolheads.....
Can't help wondering what would have happened if a BBC employee had punched Clarkson. Big license-payer funded internal enquiry, the story pushed to the top of the news agenda as a self-referential Beeb basked in making the news rather than reporting it; or business as usual with sniggers and titters all round and much luvvie-leftie guffawing on QI and Have I Got News For You?
Jeremy is now officially not getting his contract renewed at the end of the month. He has overstepped a line, I am informed, by having an altercation with at least two of the Beeb's operatives, one of whom had to visit a hospital ( whether through necessity or process, we are not told ). Jeremy seems to have been a bit peeved that he wasn't provided with a hot dinner at the end of a day's recording. It seems to me that he did rather overdo his upset as often is the occasion that I too am not provided with a similar service but since nobody gives a fck, it's futile for me to lose my rag. The Beeb has to treat all it's employees and contractors alike these days for pretty obvious reasons if past lessons are to be learnt from, but as a business decision, this is absolutely lunacy. For all his many faults, JC is television gold. Any top management should have had the imagination and conviction to both retain this individual and at the same time ensure he gets the necessary life-skills to carry on without offending so many innocent souls and retaining his composure despite life's many irritations. I strongly suspect there is a sub-plot which non of us are privy to ( home life, love life, health, mental stress etc ) that has pushed the poor chap into a corner. I detested the casual racism he revealed..... thought that was dying out with my parent's generation. I found the lazy use of comedy annexes to categorise minority groups ( truckers, prostitutes et al ) both initially amusing but on reflection, unnecessary and devisive. The man has both natural humour and genuine depth of character, is privately very generous to charity and nature conservation, so not the two dimensional oik he is painted by the press. Nevertheless, he is still just one of the 60+ million people we share this island with and needs to take a step back, possibly, just to get things back into proportion. For all the difference it makes, I truly wish him well. He is both gifted and talented, loved by many for his more attractive qualities and often forgiven for being but human. Good fortune Jezza.
Well all I know is for all the Clarkson haters (and there are many) I think it will be a white wash if the beeb trys to make a revamp vs an alternative show with the previous trio on a new channel, the latter coming out on top by a country mile If you want more factual car programming there's always 5th gear and I think we all know how that stacks up against Top gear with Clarkson, Hammond and May. As has been said, those three are a great package, probably because they're genuine mates having a laugh and thoroughly enjoy what idiocy they get up to with one another, all they need is a funding channel and off they'll go again. I don't think the BBC offered anything specific to make the show as popular as it was, all the talk about the show being bigger than any presenter is delusional frankly. Facts are that although admittedly certain elements had become a little stale, the main vibe of the show was (and still is according to Dave reruns) hugely popular because of the three of them together, not because of the small nod to the BBC in the credits. I'm sure that the BBC will come up with something pretty good, but it won't be top gear, that'll be wherever those three end up and I'm fairly adamant the viewing figures will follow
Clarkson is "talent" and talent often throw hissy fits, I'm sure the BBC is used to it But now he's gone, maybe TopGear will include motorbikes again, as Clarkson hated them and wouldn't cover them.
Comment on Daily Mail website: "They'll be celebrating in Buenos Aires tonight". Wonder if it was meant as a joke?
