Generally finding it entertaining, but anyone else feeling just a little uncomfortable with the "banter" aimed at Chris Harris ? Flintoff especially seems to be crossing a line I thought.
Shame really as I think there is a fair bit of potential for these three.
Maybe it's just karma for him getting to do all the interesting stuff with Matt on the previous series' & Rory Reid pretty much having to do all the wonky segments by himself?
For me, last nights "humour" was straight out of an '80's playground. A pastiche of TG's past, no film of the Dallara lap and Flintoff appears to struggle to read an autocue - I'm out.
Yes, I very much felt that too, (bullying) and had a separate thread on this closed.
Before it was someone commented that it wasn't real, only telly, but seeing that behavior on screen being carried out by celebs normalises it, which is very wrong IMHO.
someone commented that it wasn’t real, only telly
In telly land it’s called ‘factual entertainment’ so it’s supposed to be ‘real’ but then it’s also supposed to be entertaining .
Yes, I very much felt that too, (bullying) and had a separate thread on this closed.
Because it was already being discussed here.
Loved last night’s even the staged bit with the water melon.
Generally finding it entertaining, but anyone else feeling just a little uncomfortable with the “banter” aimed at Chris Harris ? Flintoff especially seems to be crossing a line I thought.
Absolutely. Spoiled what was a decent episode, I thought. Flintoff is an arsehole, frankly, and isn't as competent or entertaining as McGuinness. They need to swap him out at the end of the season.
While him rolling over/destroying the hearse was funny, again I reckon there will be plenty of production folk pissed off with him over that. A bit too close to the uncontrolled risk side of things.
I’d have to agree. Watched it twice now and don’t really like the humour/northern bants slant on it. I agree re the way Flintoff and Paddy are behaving with regards Chris Harris doesn’t sit right as I watch it with my 8 year old.
At least old top gear there appeared to be an even level of mickey taking between them even if Clarkson was clearly the ‘boss’
Not sure I will continue as don’t really want the boy watching it.
I will admit that I felt uncomfortable at times last night. McGuiness and Harris seem fine, but Flintoff is obviously finding it hard and is resorting to "sports club banter with the lad"s. Which is looking very dated and makes him to be an idiot. I do realise that some of it is staged, but perhaps a little more thought should go into the staging.
Yep, this isn't just banter, it's got a nasty edge to it. add in the chauvinistic way that it's always 3 blokes (actually 4 because the script clearly denotes the stig as a man*) and sabine is only used whenever there is a 'adversarial' character required. Same tired old scripts. very staged, I keep hoping for a good one but I'm pretty much done with it.
*some say he's....
Have to admit that the bit with the melon was uncomfortable viewing for me.
If it was scripted, Harris is a great actor for conveying the impression of being genuinely upset but trying to hide it for the cameras.
If it wasn't scripted, and Harris was upset by it - don't you think Harris would have dealt with it before it was aired? I can't imagine they have no say in what is broadcast.
It is getting very close to the knuckle for a pre-watershed show that has a big folling with kids.
If it was scripted, Harris is a great actor for conveying the impression of being genuinely upset but trying to hide it for the cameras.
Really he just stood with his head looking down it was more Eastenders than Royal Shakespeare.
Clarkson should have thrown a melon, not a punch...
add in the chauvinistic way that it’s always 3 blokes (actually 4 because the script clearly denotes the stig as a man*)
Is that not OK sometimes. Loose women - not many male presenters. Woman's' hour on R4 - always female presenters. Is a show aimed at men, presented by men sometimes ok too?
Aye, Flintoff is coming across as a reet **** arsehole. What was the carry on with him nutting Harris in the episode a week ago? Looked intentional even though they tried to dress it up as an accident..
McGuinness is genuinely funny and a good presenter. Flintoff is just a big daft dickhead, he talked about his “dickhead phase” when driving the Boxster but he doesn’t seem to realise he is still in it.
Harris is great. Genuinely excited and passionate about cars and motorsport. Loved his comments about being “chassis enthusiast”. Hard to watch him get bullied on prime time telly after following him for many years through Evo and then his YouTube channel. His review of the M135i 6 years ago sealed my decision to get one. He’s a proper road tester journo.
Agree about putting the jag on its lid.. very dodgy indeed. They didn’t really show a proper shot of it which is telling..
I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the banter. I imagine Freddie was like that when he played cricket, he was like that on sky one.
So are we saying the bullying would be OK if Harris could hold his own?
If you let me drive fancy cars, travel the world and paid me you could take all the piss out of me you wanted. But I agree, I think Harris has earned his place now.
I don’t think it’s about holding his own with the banter as such, more the physical stuff. He’s a 40 odd year old professional in his field getting picked up and tossed about by a lanky halfwit.
Gave it a go, but it's just shit, same-old rehashed cobblers.
If you let me drive fancy cars, travel the world and paid me you could take all the piss out of me you wanted.
There was always pisstaking and pranks in the Clarkson/May/Hammond era, but I can't remember anything physical like Harris getting manhandled like that, and even the 'banter' seems to have a slightly nasty edge to it. As others have said, when viewers start getting uncomfortable watching the interplay, it's not working.
McGuinness is great, though. TBH, McGuinness, Harris and Rory would have worked well for me.
This will probably get me flamed, but I'd love to see Flintoff replaced by Olivia Coleman: a proper petrolhead, sharp as a very sharp thing (well able to put & keep "the lads" in their place) and ratings royalty to boot. Would also mean it's 3 very different personas, rather than 2 northern "lads" Vs one techie geek.
Yeah, I know it would be slated by the kind of viewer who'd struggle to accept a woman in more than a token "Sabine" role, but I reckon a couple of episodes would sort that out. And the yanks wouldn't need sub-titles for her pieces to camera.
YMMV of course...
You won't get flamed by me.
Enjoyed that.
First episode was great. Last 2 have gone downhill, agree with everyone, freddy is crap at reading and it was so 80s playground, bullying the geek. Im out!
McGuinness is great, though.
He's enough of a professional to keep his bullying behaviour off camera.
maccruiskeen - tongue in cheek remark or you know something we don't?
Not a fan myself, was always going to be a difficult act to follow the Clarkson, Hammond and May version of the show.
I wasn't the biggest fan of that show either, preffered 5th Gear myself. But at least with Clarkson and co they had a mixture of larking about in expensive cars whilst also being knowledgable, witty and whilst scripted, not wooden.
Even McGuinness to me is too scripted, Freddie is woeful. It would be like having me discuss cricket (I've played it twice at school). Or me presenting a car programme (I know where the petrol goes and passed my driving test)
Not really liking it thus far.
The show was getting tired with Clarkson, Hammond and May, so I might be in a minority when I thought the new cast and format gave it a new lease of life. It became more of a car show again which gave it some genuine substance between the gags and general silliness (which Top Gear once had).
All they've done now is cast 2 new guys who know nothing about cars, creating a parody of Clarkson era shows, less funny, less knowledgeable, and following the same tired format.
Agree with what's been said so far. McGuiness is OK. Flintoff is a bit of a bully and full of himself. Harris is the best thing on there but brought down to the level of the other two with cheap gags and scripted 'banter'. It's a dying show.
maccruiskeen – tongue in cheek remark or you know something we don’t?
Don't talk to him about his hair. Even if its your job to.
Clarkson, May and Hammond were 3 witty friends playing exaggerated versions of themselves. The current lot are 3 men playing exaggerated (diminished?) versions of Clarkson, May and Hammond.
but I’d love to see Flintoff replaced by Olivia Coleman
where do I sign, although Olivia is actually funny rather than having to rely on a script so may be wasted.
Clarkson, May and Hammond were 3 witty friends playing exaggerated versions of themselves. The current lot are 3 men playing exaggerated (diminished?) versions of Clarkson, May and Hammond.
they're all playing the same role - the one that the format demands. Clarkson Clegg and Foggy were just the first people tasked with doing it. We knew it was all scripted when they were doing it but we can't pretend its not scripted when you stand anyone else in their place - Its the Format are what make tv shows marketable so the producers/commissioners can't deviate from it.
"Format, format, format. Repetition, repetition, repetition." as someone said at a BBC conference recently. And thats always the first question - can we turn this thing into a format?
(the second question is "can we put 'My big fat' in the title?")
The format could work and has done recently, to me its about the people.
Who would have thought a wealthy ex-politician would be interesting to watch doing railway journeys, or watching three men in a boat would be good, or even watching two middle aged men eat in restraunts would be funny (The Trip). For me, its the mix of the format (including scenery) and the people. If the people aren't knowledgable, irksome and bullying, then unless they are aiming squarely at teens/twenty's market, then it won't work.
He’s enough of a professional to keep his bullying behaviour off camera
maccruiskeen – tongue in cheek remark or you know something we don’t?
Bloke at work's son works at Chester Racecourse and was serving drinks etc. to him in one of the posh stands. He didn't have a nice thing to say about his behavior. Thinks rather too much of himself, and too little of other people apparently.
The format could work and has done recently, to me its about the people.
its exhaustible though - and thats not the people thing. A lot of it revolves around reviewing (gushing about) top and cars filmed from a Russian Arm with a stirring sound track. Long before the bants got tiring there seemed to just not be enough cars to gush about. It can seem like they can give quite a lot a screen time to a car they've already talked about but which is now without a radio and so cost more and the result is infinitesimally different and a bit uncomfortable.
Its a shame because for the first time in a long time there are some genuinely interesting topics in motoring but TG would have to evolve quite radically to be the right platform for them. It could make room for an interesting item in the format - but it just seems to be the wrong format now.
its exhaustible though
It was exhausted when Clarkson was there.
Like you say, there's plenty of scope to add genuinely interesting topics, and they can still do all the funny and stupid shit in between.
There was a time it had a decent balance, they obviously seen that the stupid shit sold to the audience, so they gradually over time took out all the fundamental ingredients and left it with little other than a bunch of middle aged men taking the piss out of each other for an hour. Which can be funny enough, but after several dozen episodes of the same jokes, so obviously scripted...
Less "nastyness" from Freddie. I wonder if there had been a spot of re-editting after the negative publicity of recent weeks.
I thought the Matra looked ace and it was a shame to knock it about, but I found an article about the previous owner and it had been crashed previously and patched up, then flogged on for a couple of grand.
Nice to see somebody stick the boot into the vulgar SUV market too. That Roller was terrible, like the Bullingdon Club on wheels.
I felt the way they handled the sensitive situation was great. It would have been easy not to show the piece at all, but the Ghurkas worked hard, and deserved to be shown. The end was especially fitting.
I got tired of Flintoff this week, he's not engaging enough for continual watching in my book.
Yeah, I liked the way that they handled the issue with Brunei & the article about the Rolls Royce was pretty good. You could really feel the disdain that Chris Harris had for it.
The Borneo/Brunei trip was a bit crap & very similar to the other jungle trip they did years ago.
Weirdly, this series seems to have got worse as it' gone on. I was quite optimistic after the first couple of episodes but as mentioned by plenty above, there is a bit too much bullying and awkward bantz.....
Paddy & Freddy are pretty awkward & not very good when having to talk to camera & there were points in yesterday's interview with Bob Mortimer that were painful; with stilted laughter & Freddie looking around like he didn't really want to be there.
It's a shame that Matt le Blanc left. They were all into their stride during the last series & it kinda looks like back to square one now.
I rather enjoyed it. The Borneo trip was entertaining and as precutduck said, the Gurkhas were as much the stars of that segment as Flintoff and McGuinness so it had to be shown. Painting the cars in rainbow colours and airing the episode over pride month was a decent idea too.
It was very refreshing to see Harris being allowed to give his honest opinion on the Rolls. He's absolutely right, it is utterly hideous and clumsily chintzy from the outside. It will be bought by people with immense wealth, but no taste.
I tried to watch last nights episode, but it was beyond pants.
Dear BBC
The international cash cow that was Top Gear is dead. Move on.
We have watched the first two episodes and quite liked them - we were properly laughing at the electric shock race in the second episode.
Its mildly entertaining, but its also bindun before. Theres too much glossing over stuff and overly contrived stuff going on. I want "believe" the presenters fully (although Chris Harris is pretty convincing).
I do wonder if this series is just running the meter to the final "phut" and then the lights go out?
I'm still enjoying it but getting a bit tired of the overseas challenges where the cars are totally inappropriate. Would have enjoyed see the Mantra in some kind of "super-rare cheapo sports cars as everyday runners on our roads" kinda thing much more. Kudos for the way they handled the political stuff though.
I also really liked Chris putting the boot in the the Roller. I can only imagine how Rory Reid would have been spaffing over it.