Interestingly Top Gear producer Andy Wilman has produced a blog post that seems to amount to something of a mea culpa.
Wilman admits than no-one has been especially happy with the latest series of Top Gear, apparently because it has all been rather rushed.
And he acknowledges viewer and fan complaints that it’s all become rather formulaic and the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond too cartoonish.
To be honest I hardly watch Top Gear any more. It became jaded and self-satisfied at least two series ago. So much so that I stopped watching it, and if don’t tick every demographic box then I don’t know who does.
I dipped a toe back in a few weeks ago and quite enjoyed Clarkson’s Twingo road test and was grateful for some stuff on the big SUVs. There was some other stuff on it but it was so dull I can’t even remember what it was.
Top Gear’s greatest problem has always been its ubiquity. You can’t escape the three presenters or repeats on BBC2 or Dave. And we all know what familiarity breeds.
There are other niggling problems. Clarkson’s casual yet tiresome politicised asides; his predictable bait-and-switch reviews; the spots with the British Army that are vaguely jingoistic; the scripted moments that jump out as exactly that; and the tedious and sycophantic interviews.
But the recurring one is the three presenters themselves. Wilman acknowledges that viewers want their ‘three mates’ back, rather than the tiresome caricatures they’ve become.
‘…Jezza the walking nuclear bomb, Richard the daft Norman Wisdom, and James the bumbling professor,’ as Wilman has it.
From what I saw of it Season 14 of Top Gear was nearer Last of the Summer Wine than anything else.
Just as a tin bath would inevitably end up tumbling down a hill with our three heroes snugly inside, any car on a public road in Top Gear will end up embarrassingly stalled in traffic at rush hour, with all three mugging and ‘cock’ing at the absurdity of it all.
Another annoyance of recent times about Top Gear’s is Clarkson’s repeated insistence that the show won’t return. Wilman offers his own version of that empty threat, although coming from the series producer I expect it carries rather more weight.
It’s fair to say this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning, and our job is to land this plane with its dignity still intact.
So, is that a none-too-subtle suggestion that the end is nigh? It certainly wouldn’t do Top Gear any harm to have a sabbatical, or even exist from now on as an infrequent visitor to TV schedules.
I expect the financial imperatives driving the series make than unlikely in the here-and-now, but it’s a nice idea.
Wilman acknowledges, and fair play to him for doing so, that the threat of over-familiarity is a big problem in these autumn days of the show. But there’s not a lot to suggest that’s going to change.
All of which is probably cold comfort for anyone wanting more stuff that’s actually about cars, rather than about Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow – the presenters’ shagged-out and thoroughly over-exposed alter egos.
Strap yourself in for a couple more years of diminishing returns.
Tags: andy wilman, james may, jeremy clarkson, richard hammond, Top Gear
Although a succinctly put arguement as to why BBC2′s flagship (and sole) motoring show might require a full MOT some time soon, a lacklustre, predictable Top Gear is better than no Top Gear at all in my Haynes manual. Look at the alternatives. Where exactly does a ‘petrol head’ go to get their telivisually-prescribed automotive fix these days? Channel Five’s Fifth Gear flatters to deceive with every new series as it painfully tries not to be a poor imitation of TG, yet fails to generate an identity whatsoever as a result of this obvious remit. And whilst it barely entertains, it doesn’t exactly deliver what these days is considered the polar opposite in car TV; educate or inform.
Clarkson is a buffoon, but a loveable one at that, whilst Hammond still provides a useful foil. It’s James May I feel sorry for. As much a part of this franchise as his cohorts, the awkward stance grows ever more acute as the series’ stack up, and you can’t help but feel as a sum part he’s worth so much more than the total. His constant forays into other broadcasting areas prove his versatility as a performer regardless of intent. Tough one to call this, but sadly I too believe that the whilst the one-time televisual king that was Top Gear is unofficially dead, it’s still a case of long live the king! Just.
Wilman admits that May is the most restless about the show’s direction, which comes as no surprise.
It might become a half decent programme again just as soon as those three stop with the idea that they can “do” comedy. They can’t, and it’s embarrassing.
[...] Producer Andy Wilman’s confessional blog on the subject of the recent series of Top Gear indicated that everyone was aware of the problems of diminishing returns, but also indicated that little was likely to change. [...]