Club Arnage

Hugh Grant and his lovely film clip/punt -  "Which was nice" (fastshow style)

But was I watching Top Gear or an episode of  Richard & Judy ?

Simple question - WHY?   

I found myself asking the same question so often that I just gave up on Top Gear.  I conclude it's not aimed at petrolheads so that's me out.

Its run by journalists who don't really understand one end of a car from the other, but they do carry a few of the petrolhead arguements

Why? Hmmm, a fair question but seeing as it only lasted about 20 seconds then I think TG-haters jumping on the bandwagon and damning the whole program is a little churlish.

Termie if maxxing out a Bugatti Veyron at 407kph isn't the ultimate petrolhead experience then I really don't know what qualifies.  :( Maybe you can suggest something else for the team to cover?

Isn't it time we stopped having this ridiculous conversation every time something slightly to our dislike appears on TG?  ::) As has been stated on here so many times it's become boring:- If you don't like it, then don't bloody well watch it.

...Oh and that crash Hammond had, well it was all scripted you know.....

(http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/bird-pictures-breeders-chicks/african-grey-parrot-pictures-breeders-chicks/pictures/african-grey-parrot-0074.jpg)

Jesus wept!  :(

Call me young and naive but I really like the current format of Top Gear. I agree the Hugh Grant film plug looked a bit out of place but hey life ain't pefect.

Three grown men pissing about, don't forget Le Mans is just lots of grown men pissing about.

I agree with Andy / Jay.

I watch it on a Sunday night with a cold beer or three.  It's an hours light hearted car related entertainment without the serious pretence of other car shows.

Look at 5th gear with Tim Lovejoy - its gash in comparison.

Gash - a lovely derogatory Glaswegian term for pish.

Personally, I watch it for the comedy, not the jounalism.

TG is an entertainment programme which happens to be motoring based.  In order to appear on terrestial TV it has to be aimed at more than petrolheads.

Wait a moment,

1st   is this site for discussion and views? so please let me use my orange box to moan every now and then

2nd    I did not say I did not like Top Gear, I find it enjoyable on the whole, big kids playing with big kids toys – what wrong with that. (wish I could get a job like that)

3rd   Hugh Grant plug – Even Clarkson seemed uncomfortable about plugging the film.

4th    What worries me is that is this could be the thin edge of the wedge on making the show safer and more mainstream.

5th    I heared that the Hamster accident was mostly Hollywood C.G.I    ;D

And lastly

Orange box away till next time,  :-X





I agree - who is he anyway?

He is most famous for hosting Soccer AM on Sky Sports on Saturday morning. He seems to be best mates with lots of footballers and pop stars.
He drives a moped, not much more to be said.

Oh and I have seen him presenting some cookery show at the weekend as well.

Also a nautical term for rubbish/garbage.

I love TG and loathe 5th Gear - twitchy Tiff and sqeaky VBH.... arghhhh!

F

Good points and well made, No Panic.

Standing on my own orange box i just want to say that I find repetitive moans about TG on CA have become a bit dull. But not as dull as Tim Lovejoy.

I enjoyed it and remember what a great alternative it is to the regular 'Where heart beat is' pap that is traditionally served up between Corrie and something half worth watching at 9. I also like the show because it makes me feel less of a fool for loving my Alfa Romeo. As for the film clip, any thoughts that I might have had (no matter how fleeting) about going to see Mr Grants latest offering were discarded during the brief but incredibly uninteresting snippet. ;D

I must admit, I missed the Hugh Grant bit.

I saw he was on next and thought

"I must go and stand in the garage and look at the pile of tosh I need to sort out" whilst scratching my ar5e.

When it was safe to look at the tv again, I went back and sat in the lounge.

I put me hands up here and now.

I have started watching TG again after the last round of debate on the subject. It has to beat 5th gear any day (Specially since Lovejoy is a tit)
(More confessions I used to watch that football thing he did/does/?? until the sight of him made me puke)

I wish they had shown the train through a reasonably priced people carrier bit but I can understand why they deferred it for a while, I just hope they remember to show it some day. There IS a real safety aspect about the topic.

I watched it last night and couldn't help being envious of James May, 230mph in the Veyron, ludicrous but oh boy! Me next please TG.

I wonder how fast I could get the Midge up to on that track? Wow outasight, over the curvature of the Earth.
But not 230  >:(


The Hugh Grant movie clip?

Anyone who saw it remember what was in it?

 :)

So I have returned to the TG fold... and it is ALL down to CA!

bill

I find it primarily an entertainment show now. Sometimes the ego massaging gets tedious. If I want technical car content I look else where.

The Veyron feature was good.

Are TG the first people to prove the top speed is achievable? (other than Bugatti of course).

I am very pleased to see TG back on our screens.  It is just about having fun with cars in front of the cameras really.  Quite frankly that seems perfectly reasonable to me.  It does also serve another purpose in the Oldtimer household...

The format of the show is entertaining enough for non-petrolheads (in particular Mrs Oldtimer) to take an interest... She is beginning to see the appeal of, and indeed the artistic/sculptural values, in exotic cars.  Why does this help?  Well it makes the explanation of why me and my son want to go and stand in a hot and dusty part of France every June to watch cars a little easier for her to understand.  Anything that helps to smoothen that particular negotiation about usage of limited holiday allowances has to be a good thing!

Welcome back to the TG team

Well just to add my five eggs worth imo top-gear sucks! its just not like it used to be.........I think they are running out of ideas :(

Deffo Richard and Rudey - although James May is OK in my book.

As entertainment goes - it is fair - as an informative piece of motoring journalism - errr not!

That's why we like it!

Big_M, I hope you haven't been struggling under the illusion that TG is supposed to be an informative piece of motoring journalism for too long.  I would have thought that even the most casual observer would be able to determine within a few seconds that this is not the case.  It is an entertainment show through and through!

Surely TG is a motoring based entertainment programme that deviates away from its core subject at times. If it is taken in this context then I think it is  excellent viewing for a Sunday night.

Not a million miles away is a Le Mans 24 hour motor race forum that quite often deviates away from its core subject. Non of us seem to mind that and where would any of us be without it.

But the Hugh Grant bit was mainly about cars, and I thought it was quite good.  Admitedly they had to promote his new film however that will attract women won't it, and women are important to Top Gear.  Hence the need to have a mixed party to get tickets to the show 

I don't watch it Andy.  That's my point.  And I haven't since they turned it into Clarkson's version  of the Parkinson show.  Hence, I do miss - no doubt - gems like the Bugatti. A pity, but I'll live.

I watched the rerun last night, and thought it was okay. The Bugatti run (obviously taped before Hammond's crash) was a nice piece of filming, the golf-arguement wasn't as funny as it was probably supposed to.

Probably better episodes to look forward to, most probably :-\

That's like me saying I'm not going to Le Mans any more because it's not like it used to be. Noses and faces?

Now where was it I read, or did someone read it for me, that a Clarkson version of the Parkinson show has got to be better than a Parkinson version of same.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/295000/images/_298958_parky_attack.jpg)

Female logic I will never understand.  ???

Nothing feminine or logical about it.  Just an irrational hatred of anything JC on the part of both Mr & Mrs Termite.  Bloke just winds us up a treat.  In the interests of the future of our TV screen...

But he's so urbane, witty, intelligent and a dilettante to boot. (I'm assuming they do have dilettantes in France?)

I really enjoyed this weeks "episode" buying cars for under $1000 in Miami and driving them upto New Orleans. I thought the redneck reaction to Hamonds "Manlove rules" and Mays "Hilary for President" graffeti on the side of ther cars was particuarly amusing (being run out town). But then the more serious shock of the continued state of devistation of the New Orleans suberbs bought them back to a humbling sense of reality, shame non of the residents were desperate enough to take Mays Caddy for nothing, Cock.  ;D 
(No not a traditional motoring program format, but good entertainment and not dissimilar mentality to Le Mans really)

I thought they'd had it in that petrol station.

I don't think they're going to put the Hamsters life at risk so soon.  And did you really think they eat barbequed squirrel and rotten cow.  Its all scripted.  Its Corrie with cars

I think it was filmed pre accident, but I know what you mean.

Its all scripted.  Its Corrie with cars
[/quote]

Millions love Corrie...

nowt wrong with top gear in my opinion. In fact its 1 of only 2 shows i will religiously watc each week and am gutted if i miss. t'other being Prison Break.

TG though, very funny, this weeks was great, one of those trips you always fancy doing yourself, in fact it set me mind to thinking of this years LM trip what with me in the Humber (now working except for my dashboard lights!!), my mate in his old lancia, and another in a subaru svx he bought for £100. Don't think i will be writing man love messages on the humber though, but after a few days of Bleu dust our cars are usually adorned with a wide array of cocks so similar i guess.

Yeah, I realy miss William Woolard.




Yeah Right! ::)

Buck

i think its great. TG rip's it out of everyone and the 3 lads on the screen are petrol heads. they love cars, have a laugh, cock around and give us a chance to watch people do what we would love to do ??

5th gear has vbh . . . .  :P

Bring back Tony Mason, I say... ;)

It's only a bit of fun at the end of the day with a few added cars to look at. Who didn't watch used to watch non car programs just to see the cars / car chases however ridiculous they were ie The Sweeney, Starsky and Hutch even The Dukes of Hazzard just for a laugh???

On the current episode with them driving cars to New Orleans, didn't they call in at Sebring on route. I only saw the end credits, but it looked like Sebring to me. Going to try and catch the rerun either tonight or tomorrow. (Need to check the TV guide)

Remind me to get you a white stick Chris.

It was Moroso Motorsports Park http://www.morosomotorsportspark.com/Newsite/Default.asp (http://www.morosomotorsportspark.com/Newsite/Default.asp)

Tomorrow night 7 pm bbc3

Hey Steve , as I said, I only saw a brief second or so during the end credits and saw a curb and a bridge in the back ground and since they were driving from Florida i put 2 and 2 together and came back with 5.

I realised I'd missed this but good old NTL (Virgin Media now) has an on-demand button for stuff you might have missed, and it was there. Very enjoyable.

Have to admit a vested interest: my ticket came up and was at the filming for the Hugh Grant/Veyron episode (which also included filming the top/tail for the USA one as well as Simon Pegg for tomorrow night). Yes it is scripted, yes the recording is part of the performance, yes it can be seen as a JC fan club event. I have to say I admire his balls for a contract that means he lights up on stage between scenes. And while the mixed group thing is a big deal up front, on the day there is no enforcement. Was at the filming with daughter #1 (who could touch Hugh Grant's L shoulder) and whose pic with the Hamster got her a few rounds in the uni pub. The overall interview with Hugh Grant was much longer and in general bloody funny - a perfect example (IMHO) of men behaving badly. Simon Pegg was far less impressive in real life - I am sure the edited version will hide the ums and ahs but will probably not be much longer than the clip they have from hot fuzz.

I thought the safety video with the train was lame: while it may crop up later I figure it needs the voice-over re-done.