Top Gear ratings continue to drop - Possible end?

[DriftNismo]

It's the news Top Gear fans have been dreading - the show's boss has hinted that the show is coming to an end as ratings continue to slump.

 

Andy Wilman, executive producer of the BBC Two programme, also said that he fears the series is turning into a cartoon because the presenters were playing up their on-screen characters too much.

 

He said: "There is a grumble and a rumble in the air from some of our regulars that we have lost the plot, we've disappeared up our a***s and we're predictable.

 

"It's fair to say that 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."

 

He added: "But that doesn't mean we won't be trying new things to the last, even if they screw up because it means you never stopped trying."

 

Wilman was the man responsible for turning the show from a niche programme for car enthusiasts to a global hit, watched by millions of viewers.

 

His comments come as ratings for the current series fall to 5.5 million from a high of eight million two years ago.

 

While this won't effect me in any way at all, I'm aware that a lot of you lot watch Top Gear, so there's the latest :p. If it does end, I don't expect it to end until at least 3 million views if they still aim to finish Top Gear with dignity.

[KoenigseggBG]

I would have to agree with Mr.Willman. The humour is there but they're just so predictable. Imo, they should either become a "numbers" program (like the Deutsch, that use 8 of their 10 mins for explaining the car figures, the width of the back seat and etc.) or becoming less predictable by creating new jokes (Marina joke is old, Sandero, too). It would be sad seeing such a legendary show being taken off the air cause of the lazyness of some script-writters. :(

[t.]

After last weeks farce of a show this doesn't surprise me. The art gallery segment was a total waste of time, it wasn't even funny. We all know that the whole show is scripted but normally it's produced well enough to cover it and remain entertaining, last week the scripting was plainly obvious and it was awful.

 

I don't want to see it end but it needs to be reigned in and balanced a bit, sure we wanted more of the fun stuff but as is the way with these things once you're getting it every week it no longer stands out.

[GTAMADDOG]

Also just saw this on Yahoo! without seeing this thread.

 

Didn't come as a suprise. A hint or two was dropped in the last series about the show ending.

 

Scripted and dull is all it is at the moment. Nothing about it is funny, nothing about it is remotely factual to the general public. Power sliding around a track in a £100,000+ car may look good but what percentage of the actual Top Gear audience benefits more than eye candy from this. I know it's meant to be more entertainment orientated these days but it needs a balance of that and actual usefulness in my opinion.

 

Hence why I quite liked Fifth Gear, presenters may have been annoying and they may have tried to copy Top Gear on a few occasions but I actually learnt some things about cars which are more within my future price range from that program.

[Pherelas]

Saw this on top gear site, to be honest I think its quite encouraging if you read the whole thing. It said they were going to keep on trying new things to try and keep it fresh, some will fail but some will work, sounds fair enougth to me. He also said that next week is suppose to be brilliant. We'll see.

[DriftNismo]

To be honest, I've found it dull for the past couple of years, which is why I don't even watch the new series' when they come out; I don't find it funny, jokes are made about problems that aren't even problems, and there's not enough there for the car fanatic. People always say to me "I would have thought you would definitely watch it..."; there's not enough there for me and many other motoring fans. If I'm going to watch a review of a supercar, I want to know specifics; benchmarks, years of testing and problems that were found, how they were fixed, why it was made a certain way, why something was included over something else, how well it competes against others. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what a specialist program that is meant to cater for fanatics of this kind of specialist subject is meant to provide. Unfortunately, Top Gear starts off with specifics, and continues with a load of jokes. I'd much rather enjoy a full episode of Fifth Gear or Best Motoring than enjoy a tiny bit of Top Gear. I don't mind if it falls through at all; the presenter's single shows are written much better and are a lot more topical in themselves than Top Gear has shown to be the past few years anyway.

[Eudemon]

Top Gear has become somewhat stale, like I said it's whole arsing about in cars is starting to fly out the window as if you think about it they don't really do any arsing about in cars anymore!

 

Think of the classic showdowns with the GT3RS vs the 360CS, think of the epic cross continental challenges and such. Lately TG has become more about the comedy side rather than cars and comedy. I don't mind the whole normal reviews as long as they throw in something to spice it up and make it less boring.

 

Example of making something less than it is was the whole flying caravan and the LP550, listening to that review was annoying as you weren't really hearing about the car as such, sure he commented it's handling prowess due to the whole RWD layout of the car and the comedic going back and forth between sites was good the first 2 or 3 times but they can certainly drag it on a bit.

 

Basically more fun with cars not fun with bits of cars or looking at cars but actually using cars is what Top Gear should be about and lately it's deviated from that imo.

 

One of the best Top Gear moments I remember is from classic TG where Vicki Butler Henderson and Tiff Needell did a showdown with the Evo VI and a P1 Impreza round the rally circuit of Silverstone.

 

In fact let me see if I can find a video of that one and show you.

 

3:19 beyond is the bit I'm talking about

 

I'm pretty sure this was TG and not FG?

[Andreas¹]

I'm pretty sure this was TG and not FG?

Yeah it has to be, that's Kanal 5, and I doubt FG has ever been on that channel, TG is sometimes though.

 

On topic, I really don't want TG to end. It's the most unique show on TV. :( However, I agree that it's been more and more about the fun and less about the cars.

I still like and watch it though.

[Sponge]

It seems TG has become more about entertainment rather than information. FG has the informatives, but not the giggles to be as entertaining as TG and vice versa. Jazz said to me the other day "Perhaps FG will have a better budget to make better road tests if they didn't have so many presenters" So maybe that could be what is restricting FG.

 

Nevertheless, I still enjoy TG just as much as I did before. The only thing that gets a little annoying is the way they now drag things on. But other than that, I'm not fussed if they're constantly testing supercars rather than everyday cars. I'd very much prefer to see a Noble M600 test rather than a Peugeot 206 test any day of the week!

[Car Freak]

That's a good old TG vid there, and I think more similar to what 5th Gear are showing now.

 

I agree with everyone else, i do think TG has been on a decline, what with everything being so scripted and simply not funny anymore. As Andy Wilman said in his blog on the TG website, the trio are now acting up their "cartoon" sides too much, and frankly it comes across to me as being desperate. If you've noticed, the best TG films tended to be the genuine ones, those where it's just the 3 of them having a good time. Films like Bonneville, the North Pole, Africa, America etc etc. Those are great because it's the 3 of them behaving completely naturally, reacting to various situations as they see fit, on the spot, instead of some preposterous slapstick act. It's their spontaneity that makes the show gold, and they (the entire TG team) have rather lost the plot of late.

[CarFreak]

Oh well I guess. I enjoy watching it but they havent aired any new(er) episodes here in the US for close to 6-7 months.

[T0M722]

I'm not happy with the news flying around here. Top Gear is and was my favourite show for many years. I agree with most of everyone on the idea but I don't want it to end. TG are hilarious with their funny antics and cool jokes but it does drag on very much..

 

As Diablo said, it's become more about the comedy than the factual information about the cars. Every segment or section of the show they have at least two funny things to say and then they start to make unfunny comments. JC, RH and JM work very well together when they are not scripted. They're a great team but they've got to know that lots of the things they are saying are poor.

 

If your only go back around a couple of years (8th, 9th, 10th, 11th seasons etc) they're still making great television and are informing people about news in the motoring world that can't be easily accessed. The show was rightly funny then and it was working flawlessly imo.

 

As much of us here do not want it to end, neither do I. TG need to do a serious rethink and sort out what they want their image to be. The show was spectacular and they need to go back in the past and continue on from there.

[Baldy]

Seems like it's run it's course, bringing it back in a few years is probably the best option.

[dmns]

Seems like it's run it's course, bringing it back in a few years is probably the best option.

 

Yup, it is. But as Andy Wilman (Produser of a show) said:

 

...Nobody knew the onscreen chemistry of the trio would be so good, also, none of us saw coming where we could actually go with the films.

Rewatch the Cheap Porsches or the **** Italian Supercars film, and you’ll see what I mean. That was the first time a car show was making tv out of the cars going wrong, and you can see the surprise and delight on the presenters’ faces as it’s dawning on them, right there in the shoot, how much fun there is to be had out of crap car calamity. You, we, shared the innocence. And so it went on. The America Special wasn’t even meant to be an hour long Special – we went there to make 25 minutes, and **** happened around us – the petrol station etc etc – and again, the surprise in our own faces is visible.

 

So i don't think it'll do the same way :(

[StrickenHAWK?]

Personally, I like 5th Gear over Top Gear.

[zo6dude]

Well Top Gear does have its flaws I will say that, but it still remains of my favourite shows of all time to this day, It will be sad to see it go. :( (If It does)

[Nipper]

Personally, I like 5th Gear over Top Gear.

 

That's a lot like going to the xbox forums and proclaiming your love for the PS3.

 

Lmfao!

[T0M722]

You're right ;)

[StrickenHAWK?]

No it isn't, this isn't a Top Gear forum.

[Eudemon]

Technically yes and no, the majority love Top Gear and endured 5th Gear, however people are starting to see the positives of 5G and somewhat want them in TG. TG is about the cars, they seem to be forgetting that. 5G was about cars but did it such a boring way that what should have been exciting and fun to watch just wasn't.

[DriftNismo]

Technically yes and no, the majority love Top Gear and endured 5th Gear, however people are starting to see the positives of 5G and somewhat want them in TG. TG is about the cars, they seem to be forgetting that. 5G was about cars but did it such a boring way that what should have been exciting and fun to watch just wasn't.

 

I wouldn't say 5G did it in a boring way at all, they just stuck to the point. Each show is for a different audience. 5G aimed to be an informative show about motoring, and TG aimed to be an informative, entertainment program. But more on the side of entertainment than informative, at which it failed a lot of the time IMO. But a lot of other people found it funny and entertaining, so they continued to do it the way they were doing it. It's just only recently started to show that it turns out not everybody thinks so.

[T0M722]

I've watched a few episodes of Fifth Gear and it's not all that great. Tiff Needel is high all the time and I'm not fond of the others as well. TG just needs to rethink their image and work out that it should be more about cars.

[RX_37]

I would agree that this latest series has been a bit crap, exept for the 1st episode when they were on that Challenge in Romania.

But, new cars never stop coming so we need someone to test them so we can get some footage and whatnot instead of just youtube.

Most of what they do say on that show is just bullsh.. but its fun to watch. And im not going to stop until they stop making the show.

[TimBud]

Well I still make an effort to watch every new episode of TG as soon as its dl'd from FinalGear.

Fair enough this season hasn't been great, but there has been some good bits:

Romania road trip, Electric car... I've certainly laughed at most shows.

I know TG is a car program and completely agree that there isn't really a great deal of cars in it right now. But I do feel that so many people are being overly critical of it (just goto TopGear.com and you'll see what I mean). It seems many just want a 5thGear style show with the TG crew!

Which for me, kinda sucks because FG bores me to tears. If I want the nuts and bolts info on a car then I'll buy a magazine and read about it!

But that kind of show is not interesting and neither is it entertaining. Ever.

Thats why the last series of Tg got canned... too much info, not enough entertainment.

 

For sure though, TG has too re address the balance between info and entertainment. It is just a tad one sided right now!

[Camel]

The TV ratings may be going down but Top Gear is the most watched programme on the BBC iplayer.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8428096.stm