Quote:
Originally Posted by m@rk
You miss the point.
The reason they continue to make it like it is and then copy the format (almost to the letter) in other countries is because it gets huge ratings.
Many of the people who now watch it are not car enthusiasts. Indeed I think they actually nailed it when they said that the car park was full of Scoobys each week.
The program has passed from being a specialist car fans show to mainstream "light entertainment".
As a car enthusiast you may not like it but ratings = money and as long as BBC are able to keep making shed loads off the spin offs and merchandising, the format will be sacred.
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No, I don't miss the point.
I know exactly what they've done and why they've done it - the Top Gear 'machine' is a huge entity and it earns auntie (and Clarkson) millions in franchise/re-broadcast and merchandising rights and has done for over a decade now.
But that doesn't mean I can't find fault with the format, which
is my point.
I have no issue with the BBC making a light entertainment show, loosely based around cars, but I don't want that delivered at the cost of a decent motoring programme that informs and educates.
Assuming for a second you like football, would you want match of the day absorbed into a programme that twins marginal factual reporting of football with a chatshow and cookery format? Probably not, so why should people interested in cars accept the current Top Gear as the primary motoring show.
By all means, keep the show (allowing the beeb to maintain its revenues and merchandising) but the latest series just further demonstrates there is a (huge) gap to be filled by a proper motoring programme.
The last series of mega-factories (which largely concentrated on motor companies) was more factual and interesting that all of series 18 of TG.....