(CavemanCircus.com)
Showing posts with label top gear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top gear. Show all posts
Friday, January 13, 2017
Thursday, December 22, 2016
This Sucks
Top Gear's Famous Test Track Is About To Turn Into A Housing Development
In a narrow vote on Wednesday, the BBC reports that a local council in Surrey, England approved plans to redevelop Dunsfold Aerodrome and build 1,800 new homes. That name may sound familiar, because Dunsfold Aerodrome is the site of the test track used by Top Gear.
Waverley Borough Council voted 10-8 in favor of redeveloping the
airfield, with arguments for the redevelopment being the new jobs and
the more affordable homes that would be created on a site that the BBC reports already houses over 100 businesses.
According to the BBC, the airfield will close its runways to be redeveloped as a business park—a plan that’s been whispered about for several years. The Top Gear test track includes the airfield’s main runway and taxiways, meaning that this could be bad news for the show and its leaderboard.
(Jalopnik.com)
In a narrow vote on Wednesday, the BBC reports that a local council in Surrey, England approved plans to redevelop Dunsfold Aerodrome and build 1,800 new homes. That name may sound familiar, because Dunsfold Aerodrome is the site of the test track used by Top Gear.
According to the BBC, the airfield will close its runways to be redeveloped as a business park—a plan that’s been whispered about for several years. The Top Gear test track includes the airfield’s main runway and taxiways, meaning that this could be bad news for the show and its leaderboard.
(Jalopnik.com)
Monday, August 22, 2016
Duh!
Ex-BBC boss says firing Clarkson was a huge mistake
Even if he did punch a guy in the face.
By now, we all know why the BBC fired Jeremy Clarkson.
The man punched producer Oisin Tymon in the face because there wasn't
any hot food ready after a long day of filming. It's unfortunate for
fans of Top Gear, but you can't go around hitting people and
expect it to be OK. Despite the incident, former BBC boss Mark Thompson
feels it was a huge mistake for the BBC to let Clarkson go.
According to The Sunday Times, Thompson believes that Clarkson's talent outweighs his temper. "Clarkson can be a deeply objectionable individual, and I say that as a friend," Thompson said. "I don't think people should punch their colleagues. It's hard to keep them if they do. But I would say his pungent, transgressive, slightly out-of-control talent was something the BBC could ill afford to lose. He spoke to people who didn't find much else in the BBC."
According to The Sunday Times, Thompson believes that Clarkson's talent outweighs his temper. "Clarkson can be a deeply objectionable individual, and I say that as a friend," Thompson said. "I don't think people should punch their colleagues. It's hard to keep them if they do. But I would say his pungent, transgressive, slightly out-of-control talent was something the BBC could ill afford to lose. He spoke to people who didn't find much else in the BBC."
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The U.S. Version Just Doesn't Appeal To Me
Top Gear USA Is Back And Here’s Why You Should Embrace It
The biggest problem with Top Gear USA is that people refuse to separate it from Top Gear UK. When you do that, you see it’s actually good fun
It was designed to appeal to a broader U.S. audience
When Top Gear relaunched in the UK in 2002, it already had the benefit of more than two decades of established history on television. Despite Top Gear’s global success, the only established Top Gear audience in the U.S. was a relatively small number of petrolheads. For Top Gear USA to survive it had to reach new viewers while keeping the traditional Top Gear fans interested.
Could the producers have done better on that last bit? Possibly, but I also believe they faced a no-win scenario with the fans no matter how good the show was. Again, it comes back to the viewers holding the new TG USA to the same standards it took TG UK nearly a decade to build.
It’s a motoring show about having fun with cars
I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but it’s not like our televisions are burning up with all kinds of motoring programs in the States. Never mind that it’s a legitimately entertaining car program done by guys who do actually know and love cars. It’s not Top Gear UK - it has a different feel with different presenters that focus on different cars. That doesn’t make it better or worse, just different. Once you realise that, you understand very quickly just what kind of great, silly, enjoyable fun this show is.
Complete list (CarThrottle.com)
The biggest problem with Top Gear USA is that people refuse to separate it from Top Gear UK. When you do that, you see it’s actually good fun
It was designed to appeal to a broader U.S. audience
When Top Gear relaunched in the UK in 2002, it already had the benefit of more than two decades of established history on television. Despite Top Gear’s global success, the only established Top Gear audience in the U.S. was a relatively small number of petrolheads. For Top Gear USA to survive it had to reach new viewers while keeping the traditional Top Gear fans interested.
Could the producers have done better on that last bit? Possibly, but I also believe they faced a no-win scenario with the fans no matter how good the show was. Again, it comes back to the viewers holding the new TG USA to the same standards it took TG UK nearly a decade to build.
It’s a motoring show about having fun with cars
I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but it’s not like our televisions are burning up with all kinds of motoring programs in the States. Never mind that it’s a legitimately entertaining car program done by guys who do actually know and love cars. It’s not Top Gear UK - it has a different feel with different presenters that focus on different cars. That doesn’t make it better or worse, just different. Once you realise that, you understand very quickly just what kind of great, silly, enjoyable fun this show is.
Complete list (CarThrottle.com)
Monday, February 22, 2016
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Top Gear 2.0 Is Adding A New Friend
Matt LeBlanc joins Chris Evans on new Top Gear cast
Ever since Top Gear fired the previous hosts and brought Chris Evans in to replace them, we've all been waiting to find out who else would be joining him on the cast. And now we have our next piece of the puzzle: it's Joey from Friends! Today, Matt LeBlanc has been announced as a new co-host of the rebooted BBC car show.
(AutoBlog.com)
Ever since Top Gear fired the previous hosts and brought Chris Evans in to replace them, we've all been waiting to find out who else would be joining him on the cast. And now we have our next piece of the puzzle: it's Joey from Friends! Today, Matt LeBlanc has been announced as a new co-host of the rebooted BBC car show.
(AutoBlog.com)
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Top Gear 2.0 Continues To Experience Some Unwanted Vibrations
Chris Evans loses lunch during Top Gear segment
And A Key Exec Behind New Series Leaves BBC
Poor Chris Evans. Besides having to deal with constant rumors that his version of Top Gear is in turmoil, it seems the new host's stomach wasn't quite up to the task of riding with co-host Sabine Schmitz.
The BBC Radio 2 DJ was riding shotgun alongside Schmitz as she drove the twisting tarmac of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca behind the wheel of an Audi R8 V10 Plus. It seemed the German's vigorous driving didn't agree with Evans, though, as he was captured reintroducing his lunch to the world. Evans was shown hunched over and green around the gills in a series of photos published on The Daily Sun. Additional shots published on The Daily Mirror showed some of the crew on hand found the entire affair rather amusing.
"It would be unfair to expect him to be perfect right from the word 'Go,'" an unnamed source told The Sun. "But how can someone who gets car sick possibly host Top Gear?"
In Evans defense, though, it was rare to see Clarkson, Hammond, or May sharing a car on the track, and none of the former hosts were a match for Schmitz's driving skills. Placed in a similar position, there's no guarantee the former Top Gear trio wouldn't blow chunks either.
In other Top Gear news, there's been yet another high-profile firing related to the show, as The Sun reports that Controller Kim Shillinglaw has left the Beeb. She was a key figure in the reintroduction of TG following Clarkson's firing, but a Sun report from late December claimed that she'd developed a reputation as a meddler and was at odds with the "unpredictable" Evans.
(AutoBlog.com)
And A Key Exec Behind New Series Leaves BBC
Poor Chris Evans. Besides having to deal with constant rumors that his version of Top Gear is in turmoil, it seems the new host's stomach wasn't quite up to the task of riding with co-host Sabine Schmitz.
The BBC Radio 2 DJ was riding shotgun alongside Schmitz as she drove the twisting tarmac of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca behind the wheel of an Audi R8 V10 Plus. It seemed the German's vigorous driving didn't agree with Evans, though, as he was captured reintroducing his lunch to the world. Evans was shown hunched over and green around the gills in a series of photos published on The Daily Sun. Additional shots published on The Daily Mirror showed some of the crew on hand found the entire affair rather amusing.
"It would be unfair to expect him to be perfect right from the word 'Go,'" an unnamed source told The Sun. "But how can someone who gets car sick possibly host Top Gear?"
In Evans defense, though, it was rare to see Clarkson, Hammond, or May sharing a car on the track, and none of the former hosts were a match for Schmitz's driving skills. Placed in a similar position, there's no guarantee the former Top Gear trio wouldn't blow chunks either.
In other Top Gear news, there's been yet another high-profile firing related to the show, as The Sun reports that Controller Kim Shillinglaw has left the Beeb. She was a key figure in the reintroduction of TG following Clarkson's firing, but a Sun report from late December claimed that she'd developed a reputation as a meddler and was at odds with the "unpredictable" Evans.
(AutoBlog.com)
Monday, January 4, 2016
Top Gear 2.0 Is Struggling Even Before Airing
It Sounds Like The New Top Gear Is Completely Falling Apart
We haven't even seen the first episode of Chris Evans' new Top Gear, but according to reports the show is failing after being beset by fallings out, an unqualified production staff and meddling bosses
According to reports in The Sun, the show’s team have struggled to put a show together. The main problem seems to arise from the fact that the BBC want new Top Gear to be as safe as possible and not court controversy in the way the old show did. This has resulted in bosses ‘meddling’ with production and not giving Chris Evans the freedom he desires.
It’s no secret that the show’s rebirth has hit some hurdles. Last month it was reported that executive producer Lisa Clark and script editor Tom Ford had both quit the show following news Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz could take up roles as presenters.
BBC 2 controller Kim Shillinglaw is apparently making life difficult for the teams, as she will not let crews get too carried away with themselves, much to the frustration of “control freak” Evans.
(CarThrottle.com)
We haven't even seen the first episode of Chris Evans' new Top Gear, but according to reports the show is failing after being beset by fallings out, an unqualified production staff and meddling bosses
According to reports in The Sun, the show’s team have struggled to put a show together. The main problem seems to arise from the fact that the BBC want new Top Gear to be as safe as possible and not court controversy in the way the old show did. This has resulted in bosses ‘meddling’ with production and not giving Chris Evans the freedom he desires.
It’s no secret that the show’s rebirth has hit some hurdles. Last month it was reported that executive producer Lisa Clark and script editor Tom Ford had both quit the show following news Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz could take up roles as presenters.
BBC 2 controller Kim Shillinglaw is apparently making life difficult for the teams, as she will not let crews get too carried away with themselves, much to the frustration of “control freak” Evans.
(CarThrottle.com)
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Because We're Bloody Top Gear, That's Why
How Top Gear Was Able To Get Cars Despite Being Top Gear
We had to get hold of many things in order to make Top Gear. White coats, spare tyres, enormous plates of meat for some gag involving The Stig. But most of all, we had to get hold of cars. Despite the shouting and falling over and idiotic attempts to run an art gallery, we were a car show after all.
In theory, this was the easy one. But this being Top Gear before dialling any number you first had to think about how much we might have pissed them off. After a few series we pinned a ‘loves us / hates us’ chart to the office wall with the names of all the car makers on it, stuck to the side that equated to their current attitude towards our shenanigans and the things we’d said about their products.
I’m sure we made their lives utterly miserable as we sent back another demonstrator with bald tyres and a funny noise from the suspension, but I don’t think we were needless oafs about it; this was the collateral damage of making cars look cool on TV. Privately they might have called us rude names and cursed our gearbox-bursting ways. Publicly, car makers were quite grown-up about this stuff. It helped that, as time went on, we could get their car in front of a few hundred million people around the world.
(Jalopnik.com)
We had to get hold of many things in order to make Top Gear. White coats, spare tyres, enormous plates of meat for some gag involving The Stig. But most of all, we had to get hold of cars. Despite the shouting and falling over and idiotic attempts to run an art gallery, we were a car show after all.
In theory, this was the easy one. But this being Top Gear before dialling any number you first had to think about how much we might have pissed them off. After a few series we pinned a ‘loves us / hates us’ chart to the office wall with the names of all the car makers on it, stuck to the side that equated to their current attitude towards our shenanigans and the things we’d said about their products.
I’m sure we made their lives utterly miserable as we sent back another demonstrator with bald tyres and a funny noise from the suspension, but I don’t think we were needless oafs about it; this was the collateral damage of making cars look cool on TV. Privately they might have called us rude names and cursed our gearbox-bursting ways. Publicly, car makers were quite grown-up about this stuff. It helped that, as time went on, we could get their car in front of a few hundred million people around the world.
(Jalopnik.com)
Monday, August 24, 2015
We Need Her Show Aired Here In The US!
Why Jodie Kidd passed on Top Gear
While she says she'd love to be a part of it, Kidd, a single mother, basically tells the interviewer that she is already quite busy and has plenty of projects that she loves and is deeply involved in, leaving very little time to dedicate to Top Gear. And a dedication it would be – Kidd suggests such an endeavor would be "all-consuming." Auto-obsessed fans can still get their Jodie Kidd fix, for what its worth, on The Classic Car Show on Channel 5 in the UK.
(AutoBlog.com)
While she says she'd love to be a part of it, Kidd, a single mother, basically tells the interviewer that she is already quite busy and has plenty of projects that she loves and is deeply involved in, leaving very little time to dedicate to Top Gear. And a dedication it would be – Kidd suggests such an endeavor would be "all-consuming." Auto-obsessed fans can still get their Jodie Kidd fix, for what its worth, on The Classic Car Show on Channel 5 in the UK.
(AutoBlog.com)
Monday, July 13, 2015
Friday, June 26, 2015
This Is A Damn Good Read
Getting inside the Top Gear production process
The best way to get an idea of just how big of a task each episode of Top Gear was is to read this story by Sniff Petrol and TG script editor Richard Porter. It essentially breaks down how ideas were formulated for each new segment, and then explains how they were built. The almost day-by-day breakdown reveals a number of fascinating things about the show.
The most obvious tidbit gleaned is the reinforcement of the idea that Jeremy Clarkson is a passionate, meticulous workaholic, a trait that only recently bubbled up following the host's firing. In his writing about the TG process, Porter calls Clarkson the "chief scrutineer," who after a day of brainstorming and script writing would often show up to work the next day with "a dozen new script tweaks, suggestions and jokes" after having "lain awake all night worrying over tiny details and agonizing over the smallest point until he'd got it right."
(AutoBlog.com)
The best way to get an idea of just how big of a task each episode of Top Gear was is to read this story by Sniff Petrol and TG script editor Richard Porter. It essentially breaks down how ideas were formulated for each new segment, and then explains how they were built. The almost day-by-day breakdown reveals a number of fascinating things about the show.
The most obvious tidbit gleaned is the reinforcement of the idea that Jeremy Clarkson is a passionate, meticulous workaholic, a trait that only recently bubbled up following the host's firing. In his writing about the TG process, Porter calls Clarkson the "chief scrutineer," who after a day of brainstorming and script writing would often show up to work the next day with "a dozen new script tweaks, suggestions and jokes" after having "lain awake all night worrying over tiny details and agonizing over the smallest point until he'd got it right."
(AutoBlog.com)
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Will Die Hard Fans Give The New Host A Chance?
Official: Chris Evans Is The New Host Of Top Gear
After swearing up and down that he would never, ever take Jeremy Clarkon’s place on Top Gear, the BBC officially announced today that Ferrari-loving TV presenter Chris Evans will take Jeremy Clarkson’s place on Top Gear.
The BBC says Evans has signed a three-year deal to lead the show, which he called his “favourite programme of all time.”
(Jalopnik.com)
After swearing up and down that he would never, ever take Jeremy Clarkon’s place on Top Gear, the BBC officially announced today that Ferrari-loving TV presenter Chris Evans will take Jeremy Clarkson’s place on Top Gear.
The BBC says Evans has signed a three-year deal to lead the show, which he called his “favourite programme of all time.”
(Jalopnik.com)
Monday, June 8, 2015
The Show Wouldn't Be The Same With Only 2 Of Them
Hammond, May to reject $6.1M BBC offer to return to Top Gear
Prepare your grains of salt. The Daily Mirror is reporting that James May and Richard Hammond will reject a 4-million-pound (about $6.1 million) offer from the BBC to return to Top Gear sans Jeremy Clarkson.
If true, this isn't a particularly shocking development. Since essentially day one of this long-running saga, the hosts have made clear that they're a team, and that a show without one of them would never work.
So where does that leave Clarkson, Hammond, and May? Well, The Mirror is citing an inside source who claims that, along with long-time producer Andy Wilman, the trio are "very close" to signing a huge deal to produce a program for streaming giant Netflix. Maybe House of Cars is more realistic than we thought.
(AutoBlog.com)
Prepare your grains of salt. The Daily Mirror is reporting that James May and Richard Hammond will reject a 4-million-pound (about $6.1 million) offer from the BBC to return to Top Gear sans Jeremy Clarkson.
If true, this isn't a particularly shocking development. Since essentially day one of this long-running saga, the hosts have made clear that they're a team, and that a show without one of them would never work.
So where does that leave Clarkson, Hammond, and May? Well, The Mirror is citing an inside source who claims that, along with long-time producer Andy Wilman, the trio are "very close" to signing a huge deal to produce a program for streaming giant Netflix. Maybe House of Cars is more realistic than we thought.
(AutoBlog.com)
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