Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear contract will not be renewed

[Brezel]

Car shows aren't fun. There's a limit to how entertained I am by someone racing a car I never can afford around a track.

I agree about cars you can never afford.  That to me is problem #2 with that show.  All those super-duper-cars with carbon fiber everything that are made in batches of 10 are utterly boring.  They don't become any less boring if you burn down a set of tires doing stupid stunts on the test track.  It's a lot more interesting when they focus on cars like Golf GTI, which are both fun and affordable to most.

Did you ever try writing them a letter 

[DGuller]

Car shows aren't fun. There's a limit to how entertained I am by someone racing a car I never can afford around a track.

I agree about cars you can never afford.  That to me is problem #2 with that show.  All those super-duper-cars with carbon fiber everything that are made in batches of 10 are utterly boring.  They don't become any less boring if you burn down a set of tires doing stupid stunts on the test track.  It's a lot more interesting when they focus on cars like Golf GTI, which are both fun and affordable to most.

Did you ever try writing them a letter 

No, why do you ask?

[celedhring]

I enjoyed the supercars, personally. Yeah, it would have been annoying if the show was only about those, but they mixed it up well.

[Brezel]

No, why do you ask?

Sometimes they would review a normal car such as Ford Fiesta, supposedly because of letters from viewers complaining about lack of such inputs.

[Habbaku]

[Admiral Yi]

Anyone who lived through the 70s has dork pictures.

[Barrister]

Anyone who lived through the 70s has dork pictures.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I enjoyed the supercars, personally. Yeah, it would have been annoying if the show was only about those, but they mixed it up well.

I watched a number of episodes and enjoyed them, despite a very limited interest in cars. There were the often entertaining travel specials, the celebrity pratting around the circuit, messing about with cars both cheap and expensive. The "bloke" element of the show was hammed up, imo, for comedic effect.........sometimes they overdid it. I think, for a lot of people, it was just a temporary escape into being a kid again instead of fussing over mortgages, job and children.

Doesn't excusing him thumping the producer of course.

[mongers]

I think the BBC are in a bit of a bind here, the show was suck a money spinner for BBC/worldwide, they have to carry on or re-launch it. Wasn't it bringing in tens of millions a year?

It's not impossible that the trio of presenters part company, the two junior ones were doing plenty of their own shows in recent years. Perhaps they might be persuaded to stay if their 'editorial' involvement was increased?

Do they really need to find a 'Clarkson' replacement?  Maybe just keep the two and bring in a woman (unfortunately bound to be young and attractive) ?

[Gups]

Re-launch with Alan Patridge hosting would be amazing.

[celedhring]

I enjoyed the supercars, personally. Yeah, it would have been annoying if the show was only about those, but they mixed it up well.

I watched a number of episodes and enjoyed them, despite a very limited interest in cars. There were the often entertaining travel specials, the celebrity pratting around the circuit, messing about with cars both cheap and expensive. The "bloke" element of the show was hammed up, imo, for comedic effect.........sometimes they overdid it. I think, for a lot of people, it was just a temporary escape into being a kid again instead of fussing over mortgages, job and children.

Doesn't excusing him thumping the producer of course.

Indeed, I have no interest in cars (heck, I don't even have a driving license), but I enjoyed the show a lot. The stunts and contests, the locales, the banter between them. Even the occasional dive into the world of the rich and the glamorous.

[grumbler]

A "young and attractive" woman host is "unfortunate?" 

A classic "mongers moment." 

[lustindarkness]

I wonder if they will have an episode that shows him beating up the producer?

[Valmy]

A "young and attractive" woman host is "unfortunate?" 

A classic "mongers moment." 

I demand a woman at least as attractive as Jeremy Clarkson.

[Warspite]

Indeed, subject to their respective contracts, there is nothing to stop Clarkson, May and Hammond simply going to a new channel and starting a new show, with a different format and branding.

This is an interesting point. I do wonder to what extent any company that takes on these three - if they stay together - could actually reconstitute the format. It is very expensive to put on and there is a large logistical train involved, but the BBC can do it because it already has the rich stream of licencing revenue. If Sky, for example, were to pick it up, would they have the same income to set against the production expenses without the Top Gear brand?

I think that, if Top Gear is very expensive for BBC to put on, it is more to do with BBC and not the format of the show, which is pretty inexpensive on the face of it.  It involves travel and paying "star salaries" but not sets, costumes, special effects, dialogue writing, and the other things that make for an expensive TV show.  I don't think that a new network, especially one already used to practicing fiscal self-discipline in making shows, would have any trouble making the show for a reasonable cost.  I also think that it is the personalities and not the brands that make the show popular, so if you had those, you'd gain a substantial amount of the current show's viewers and thus revenue.

They might not be paying eye-watering rates for special effects, but they do have a dialogue-writing of sorts - there has to be a team of researchers that generate and investigate the feasibility of the stunts they do. And Top Gear do also have to pay for specialist camera crews (including helicopter filming), associated vehicles (including a Eurofighter in one stunt), getting those crews and vehicles where they need to be, all sorts of insurance, filming rights, road closure permissions, The Stig, and the administrative team who have the time and contacts and languages to sort all the boring administrative arrangements for filming and doing stunts all around the world (all the meanwhile complying with the UK's stringent anti-bribery legislation). The health and safety compliance must also be an absolute nightmare.

I can see how a TV show about cars would be cheap. I can't see how Top Gear is cheap because it's more of a concept show that involves some motor vehicles.