Clarkson fired, BBC to attempt continuation of Top Gear anyway, which I expect will be a little like trying to make Three Stooges films without Moe.

--G.
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Yeah pretty much. But that'll happen when you clock one of the producers.

>Yeah pretty much. But that'll happen when you clock one of the
>producers.

Historically it won't, actually, but the BBC is in the process of an old-boy-network backlash right now and is Making an Example. It's Clarkson's hard luck that he happened to commit an offense that would normally be hushed up by the network at a time when the network is under intense scrutiny for its long track record of hushing such things up.

Please note I'm not defending the man's conduct; simply noting that the BBC's longstanding hypocrisy regarding similar matters makes their very public aren't-we-virtuous, watch-us-kill-the-golden-goose-for-a-principle stance is more than a little nauseating. The whole thing is a sad and shabby business. The only person who comes out of it with any real honor is the guy who got hit, and what he's getting for his trouble is death threats on Twitter, proving once more that the Internet really isn't in humanity's best interest after all.

Do excuse me, the whole affair has put me in a bit of a mood.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>Clarkson fired,
>BBC to attempt continuation of Top Gear anyway, which I expect
>will be a little like trying to make Three Stooges films
>without Moe.

Given May's twitter profile now labels him as a "Former TV Presenter", it may be more like the 3 Stooges without Curly and Moe.

-VR
BBC's competition, start your chequebooks!
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."

>Given May's twitter profile now labels him as a "Former TV Presenter",
>it may be more like the 3 Stooges without Curly and Moe.
>
>-VR
>BBC's competition, start your chequebooks!

Hamster's latest tweet seems to make it pretty final:

Gutted at such a sad end to an era. We're all three of us idiots in our different ways but it's been an incredible ride together.

I think it's safe to say that, whatever the Beeb's intentions, there's just no fixing this mess. If they push forward with renewing the show, it's gonna be without most or all of the talent, though there's been no word from The Stig.

LAST EDITED ON Mar-26-15 AT 06:01 PM (EDT)
 
>there's been no word from The Stig.

That raises an interesting point, actually: Who owns the "Stig" character? The natural assumption would be that the BBC owns all the IP involved in Top Gear, but on the other hand, the Stig was specifically created by Clarkson and Wilman, and has appeared in a number of Clarkson's own DTV films.

If in fact the BBC does own the character, one wonders: If the cast does end up going elsewhere to make some form of knockoff, whether we'll see the test-driver equivalent of when David Letterman moved to CBS, and NBC wouldn't let him call the late Calvert DeForest's character "Larry 'Bud' Melman" any more. They couldn't stop DeForest from appearing on The Late Show, or even from playing exactly the same character... they just pressed the point about the name (which frankly accomplished nothing other than to make them look like petty chumps).

Ironically, Top Gear has been knocked off by its own cast on another channel before. When the original, not-funny version of the show was canceled in the late '90s, most everybody who was on it at the time (Clarkson had left it a year or two before, IIRC) packed up and went off to Channel 5, there to start making an identical program inevitably called Fifth Gear. Which, just to make the whole thing even more Ouroborian, altered its format a few years ago to be less of a magazine show about cars (Top Gear Mk I) and more of a wacky car adventure show with a Secret Headquarters for studio segments and bumptious hosts (Top Gear Mk II). I kinda liked Fifth Gear too (if nothing else, it had Vicki Butler-Henderson on it), but this reinvention... didn't work. It was awful. Textbook case study in Trying Too Hard.

Could be a moot point, given that at least one BBC exec is already hedging the corporation's bets about getting Clarkson back once the furore has blown over. Which, with modern society's goldfish memory, wouldn't require much of a time investment. Heck, they only do one Top Gear series a year nowadays and this year's was almost over. By next March, most of the world will have to check the Wayback Machine to even remember what this was about.

--G.
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>>there's been no word from The Stig.
>
>That raises an interesting point, actually: Who owns the "Stig"
>character? The natural assumption would be that the BBC owns all the
>IP involved in Top Gear, but on the other hand, the Stig was
>specifically created by Clarkson and Wilman, and has appeared in a
>number of Clarkson's own DTV films.
>
>If in fact the BBC does own the character, one wonders: If the
>cast does end up going elsewhere to make some form of knockoff,
>whether we'll see the test-driver equivalent of when David Letterman
>moved to CBS, and NBC wouldn't let him call the late Calvert
>DeForest's character "Larry 'Bud' Melman" any more. They couldn't
>stop DeForest from appearing on The Late Show, or even from
>playing exactly the same character... they just pressed the point
>about the name (which frankly accomplished nothing other than to make
>them look like petty chumps).

I imagine that's something that any network/company looking to snap the three blokes up will have to bear in mind. Where exactly is the dividing line between what is BBC IP and what belongs to Clarkson and Wilman. If the Beeb really is serious about continuing the series, then there's going to be a godawful mess trying to transplant the original crew to a new series.

>Ironically, Top Gear has been knocked off by its own cast on
>another channel before. When the original, not-funny version
>of the show was canceled in the late '90s, most everybody who was on
>it at the time (Clarkson had left it a year or two before, IIRC)
>packed up and went off to Channel 5, there to start making an
>identical program inevitably called Fifth Gear. Which, just to
>make the whole thing even more Ouroborian, altered its format a few
>years ago to be less of a magazine show about cars (Top Gear Mk
>I) and more of a wacky car adventure show with a Secret Headquarters
>for studio segments and bumptious hosts (Top Gear Mk II). I
>kinda liked Fifth Gear too (if nothing else, it had Vicki
>Butler-Henderson on it), but this reinvention... didn't work. It was
>awful. Textbook case study in Trying Too Hard.

Much like the US version, which I've seen plenty of advertisements on Hulu for but can't bring myself to watch them. If I ever feel the itch, I just spool up some of the old seasons of the original.

>Could be a moot point, given that
>at least one BBC >exec is already hedging the corporation's bets> about getting Clarkson
>back once the furore has blown over. Which, with modern society's
>goldfish memory, wouldn't require much of a time investment. Heck,
>they only do one Top Gear series a year nowadays and this
>year's was almost over. By next March, most of the world will have to
>check the Wayback Machine to even remember what this was about.

Would not surprise me that we're hearing in a year or so about how, in desperate need of a move to keep the show afloat, the Beeb lets him back in with a "very final warning."

>>Could be a moot point, given that
>>at least one BBC exec is already hedging the corporation's bets
>>about getting Clarkson
>>back once the furore has blown over.
>
>Would not surprise me that we're hearing in a year or so about how, in
>desperate need of a move to keep the show afloat, the Beeb lets him
>back in with a "very final warning."

BBC News reports today that they're planning to show the incomplete episodes later this year. In part, of course, this is perfectly understandable, as the films for the remaining three episodes had probably all been shot already (leaving only the host segments to be filled in on the Wednesdays before they were meant to air), and what the hell, the BBC paid for them. One wonders, however, if it might also be a trial balloon of sorts. I'd expect that a number of people in offices on the higher floors of Broadcasting House will be watching the response to same with great interest.

--G.
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>One wonders, however,
>if it might also be a trial balloon of sorts. I'd expect that a
>number of people in offices on the higher floors of Broadcasting House
>will be watching the response to same with great interest.

Between the way they're already making it clear that he's not been banned, the point of quoting from what is effectively a mea culpa on the part of Clarkson, and now this, I get the feeling the Beeb really is regretting the decision to let him go. At the same time, he's making noises that he's got something cooking for this summer, and there's still the tour dates for what was Top Gear Live, so there's no telling what's going on anymore.

*reads article*

"We'll definitely look at some women but it's not a driving priority."
*SNORK*

...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!

LAST EDITED ON May-02-15 AT 09:29 PM (EDT) by Gryphon (admin)
 
On the subject of female presenters on TG, wanna feel sad? Here is what happened when noted lesbian telly person Sue Perkins was rumoured to have been approached for the job.

Also, here is James May's response to that.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

LAST EDITED ON May-02-15 AT 09:35 PM (EDT)
 
>On the subject of female presenters on TG, wanna feel sad?
>Here is what happened when noted lesbian telly person Sue Perkins was
>rumoured to have been approached for the job.

As I noted on Twitter at the time, this is not only unacceptable behavior, but also, that report was a stupid thing for those users to get angry about. I mean, I'd watch that version.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>On the subject of female presenters on TG, wanna feel sad?
>>Here is what happened when noted lesbian telly person Sue Perkins was
>>rumoured to have been approached for the job.
>
>As I noted on Twitter at the time, this is not only unacceptable
>behavior, but also, that report was a stupid thing for those users to
>get angry about. I mean, I'd watch that version.
>

I don't know if you've noticed, Gryph, but the Internet is full of morons. (I'd watch it too; Sue Perkins is brilliant.)

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

>I don't know if you've noticed, Gryph, but the Internet is full of
>morons.

Even by the Internet's standards, the Perkins fuffle was daft. It's a double shot of dumbspresso - one, for getting all het up about it in the first place, and two, it wasn't even true.

It's moments like that which lean me toward the "sure, destroy the Internet" ending of the original Deus Ex, just to link in with another thread elsewhere.

--G.
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>I don't know if you've noticed, Gryph, but the Internet is full of
>morons. (I'd watch it too; Sue Perkins is brilliant.)

My wife introduced me to the shows she did with Giles Coren, "The Supersizers Do..." and "The Good Life".

Brilliant. And she seems to be quite tolerant of Giles.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>>I don't know if you've noticed, Gryph, but the Internet is full of
>>morons. (I'd watch it too; Sue Perkins is brilliant.)
>
>My wife introduced me to the shows she did with Giles Coren, "The
>Supersizers Do..." and "The Good Life".
>
>Brilliant. And she seems to be quite tolerant of Giles.
>

I got the distinct feeling that she and Giles are pals from way back. Supersizers is brilliant and funny. (Perkins commenting on the amount of alcohol she's consumed during their week in the Jacobean era: "It's nine o'clock at night, and I'm already out of my face!") She was funny during "The Great British Bake-Off" as well. Frankly, I think she'd work well with May and/or Hammond; perhaps the Beeb will team them up on something less prone to attract dumbasses sending death threats.

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

His public comments in recent days about the BBC didn't help things, I'm sure. Man doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the box.

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com 1st Courier of the Heavenly Prophets for Tianxia "Never give up, never surrender!"

>Man doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the box.

Actually, I believe the Private Eye phrase is "tired and emotional".

--G.
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Annoyingly, Clarkson's Sunday Times column is behind a paywall, but BBC News has a meta-article about this week's installment which is... illuminating.

--G.
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LAST EDITED ON Apr-20-15 AT 02:54 PM (EDT) by Mephron (moderator)
 
>Annoyingly, Clarkson's Sunday Times column is behind a paywall,
>but BBC News has a meta-article about this week's installment which is... illuminating.

Indeed, it rather fits the theory that he'd reached burnout or was rapidly approaching it. In the course of a year, he had to deal with the death of his mother, the breakup of his marriage, the whole scare in Argentina, and then being told he might possibly have cancer. You can only put so much pressure on a man before he snaps.

And Captain Slow has now made it official that he and Hamster will not be returning to Top Gear without Jezza. I'm beginning to think one or more execs at the Beeb are having a serious case of heartburn right about now.

>And Captain Slow has now
>made it official that he and Hamster will not be returning to Top
>Gear without Jezza. I'm beginning to think one or more execs at
>the Beeb are having a serious case of heartburn right about now.

Wilman's out too.

Oh dear, Lord Hall. That's not gone well.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>Wilman's out too.

Probably more important a loss than Hamster and Slow. I know Clarkson sold out his interest in the show to the BBC awhile back...not sure about Wilman though. If he didn't, it could get weird.

-VR
That's not a resignation letter...<Brandishes envelope>...THAT's a resignation letter.
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."

>Wilman's out too.
>
>Oh dear, Lord Hall. That's not gone well.

Very not well. Slow just came out with his own Sunday Times op-ed yesterday, revealing that the lads had already planned out the end of their era, preparing to sign three year contracts that would have allowed them time to roll everything up and turn the reins over to a new generation or just allow the show to ride off into the sunset. He'd even gone ahead and special ordered a $317,000 Ferrari 458 Speciale to celebrate.

Whoops.

And the BBC apparently has a new set of presenters.

Well, Jodie Kidd holds the top spot in the Suzuki Liana's run as Reasonably Priced Car.

Philip Glenister once told Jeremy, who was being needlessly pedantic about cars on "Life on Mars", that he had confused him with "someone who gives a toss".

Guy Martin is a motorcyclist. Not sure about that one.

And on that bombshell...

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>Guy Martin is a motorcyclist. Not sure about that one.

Oh, he's all right. He's done a couple of documentary series about 18th- and 19th-century transportation technology, the titles of which I can't think of right offhand. Impenetrable Northern accent, very enthusiastic about his subject - has a habit of saying things like, "These guys, they - they was the boys, wasn't they?" about Industrial Revolution ironworkers and whatnot. :)

--G.
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Also, I just had time to actually read the linked article, and I'm dubious about it. The Telegraph appears to be basing its report on something they saw in the Express about something their guy says he overheard Wilman (who is also no longer with the show, I believe) say to Jay Kay from Jamiroquai at lunch? That's not exactly Woodward and Bernstein at work, is all I'm saying. :)

--G.
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>And on that bombshell...

Dunno how much of a bombshell it is...I mean, they 'overheard Andy Hillman'.
But, he's left Top Gear, why would he be discussing who will take over? And with Jay Kay of all people? Sure, he's been on, 4 times no less, but the last was in 2008?
Now, they might be entirely right, but the reason for finding this out seems rather...peculiar.

...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!

Well, there's been a bit of news since a month ago, but whether it's a sign that the Beeb is getting desperate or playing the long game, it's up to you.

The Telegraph reported last month that BBC producers had approached Phil Glenister, Jodie Kidd, and Guy Martin (their "dream team") to be the new hosts of a retooled Top Gear. But considering the next bit of news, odds are one or more turned them down for the job.

The latest bit of news is courtesy of The Guardian, who are reporting that Slow and Hamster have been approached with 2-3 year contracts that would pay them $1 million a year, roughly double their previous salaries. But while the show would maintain its old format, it would work a bit like Have I Got News For You with a guest host filling in the third host slot each week.

The reason I say that the Beeb might be playing the long game is that this format pretty much leaves the door open for Clarkson to be brought back to the show. The BBC's execs have said he could be back on the network, and he noted to Chris Evans just the other day that he never was officially sacked, the network just chose not to renew his contract. So the new approach could either yield an opportunity to bring him back again on a permanent basis, or they could find a guest host that the fans approve of. Or I could just be having one of my hopelessly optimistic moments, I can never be quite sure.

From what I've read about what they've said about their plans, Clarkson, Hammond and May intended to wind things down, giving some closure to what they've spent the last 12 years doing, and letting Top Gear Mk.2 ride... drive off into the sunset. The guys wanted to leave things so that anyone making a go at Top Gear Mk.3 could start fresh. Because, frankly, the the Mk.2 version has gotten stale and they know it.

What's really going to happen? I don't know. We'll see.

For the full Chris Evans interview, which at least *I*, being non-Brit, could listen to, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02rw42m
There were some rather amusing bits in there, particularly "what Clarkson sounded like way-back-when".

...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!

Take it with a month's production of the nearest Siberian salt mine, but for the last couple of days I've noticed "coming soon" trailers on the BBC for a new series. Here's a YouTube link, but I'm sure the one I saw a couple of hours ago was different.

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

>Take it with a month's production of the nearest Siberian salt mine,
>but for the last couple of days I've noticed "coming soon" trailers on
>the BBC for a new series.
>Here's a YouTube link, but
>I'm sure the one I saw a couple of hours ago was different.

They've said since this mess started unfolding that they were going to release the films that had already been shot for the unfinished part of Series 22 as soon as they could - which makes sense, since they'd already paid for them - and both BBCTG's official Twitter and BBC News' entertainment & arts webpage teased same a few days ago. I haven't watched the link above, but I suspect that's what you're seeing there.

--G.
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>They've said since this mess started unfolding that they were going to
>release the films that had already been shot for the unfinished part
>of Series 22 as soon as they could - which makes sense, since they'd
>already paid for them - and both BBCTG's official Twitter and BBC
>News' entertainment & arts webpage teased same a few days ago. I
>haven't watched the link above, but I suspect that's what you're
>seeing there.

Yeah, that's what I've been hearing for days, that it is basically what they whipped up with the footage shot, sans the typical presenter spots that would be filmed in-studio weeks later.

I just watched it. You're right, it looks like footage from the three as-yet un-aired episodes. Also, it's billed by the announcer as a Top Gear "special" so it's a one-off and not a full series.

Ah, OK, I thought the missing three had already been shown.

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

>since they'd already paid for them

Which, as Clarkson notes in the Chris Evans interview, means that the British public has payed for them. So, not showing them would probably be grounds for a bit of public annoyance.

...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!

>>since they'd already paid for them
>
>Which, as Clarkson notes in the Chris Evans interview, means that the
>British public has payed for them. So, not showing them would probably
>be grounds for a bit of public annoyance.

Having just watched these, they're...well, not very good to be honest.

--
-Pasha
"Don't change the subject"
"Too slow, already did."

>>>since they'd already paid for them
>>
>>Which, as Clarkson notes in the Chris Evans interview, means that the
>>British public has payed for them. So, not showing them would probably
>>be grounds for a bit of public annoyance.
>
>Having just watched these, they're...well, not very good to be honest.

I haven't watched it yet, but Wilman's quoted in a Guardian article about the finale, saying something that rings quite plausibly: "The films are good but they were never designed to carry this burden of being the last thing you’ll ever see from us on Top Gear."

This is especially trenchant considering that, according to I think May, they were designing something that would've been meant to carry that burden, next year. This is just what would've been a couple of mid-season features being repackaged into a grand finale they weren't meant to be. That's almost inevitably going to fall a bit flaw, particularly with the shattering awkwardness of the zombie links sequences such a format requires.

I'm not sure I'm going to watch it. I have a copy, but... I may just file it, so that my series set is properly curated, and... get to it some other time. Maybe even some other year.

--G.
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I thought they were fairly solid for Top Gear for films, but certainly not intended for the capper for the show.

The second part was probably the funnier, that often being the case with races.

It's somewhat ironic that among Clarkson's last words in the second film (not _the_ last words from him) were "I hate working on Top Gear."

Well, with all the comprehensive denying Chris Evans did that he was going to take over Top Gear, the one thing we could be certain of was that he was going to take over Top Gear.

--G.
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And that's me turning over to Netflix to see if the rumors about the Three Amigos working on a new show there are really true.

>And that's me turning over to Netflix to see if the rumors about the
>Three Amigos working on a new show there are really true.

Do let me know, would you?

...!
Gott's Leetle Feesh in Trousers!

My favourite part of that rumour is that the working title is 'House of Cars'.

Not stoked about Evans. My mum listens to his BBC Radio show and every time I'm back home I get to hear his unending stream of baby boomer-pleasing witless twaddle. Fuck he's annoying.

LAST EDITED ON Aug-16-15 AT 04:59 AM (EDT)
 
Nope, looks like the new show is going to be on Amazon instead. No name announced yet, but the same cast is back.

For more, let's go to the BBC: Ex-Top Gear hosts' Amazon show to be 'very expensive'

>Nope, looks like the new show is going to be on Amazon instead. No
>name announced yet, but the same cast is back.
>
>For more, let's go to the BBC:
>Ex-Top Gear >hosts' Amazon show to be 'very expensive'>

"What you have here is an American streaming service."

>>Nope, looks like the new show is going to be on Amazon instead. No
>>name announced yet, but the same cast is back.
>>
>>For more, let's go to the BBC:
>>Ex-Top Gear hosts' Amazon show to be 'very expensive'
>
>"What you have here is an American streaming service."

I wonder if they'll tone down the 'damned americans' rhetoric any.

--
-Pasha
"Don't change the subject"
"Too slow, already did."

>>"What you have here is an American streaming service."
>
>I wonder if they'll tone down the 'damned americans' rhetoric any.
>

I'd take the position of if their smart they wont. First, its not as bad as it could be, and second, to me it wouldn't be the same without their occasional digs.