5 ms·

It'd be good if Top Gear was more clearly 'labelled' as fictionalised entertainment. In the UK the brand/programme name still carries the associations of 'old'

It'd be good if Top Gear was more clearly 'labelled' as fictionalised entertainment. In the UK the brand/programme name still carries the associations of 'old' Top Gear, which was a factual motor review programme (which was cancelled, the format - but not name - sold to Channel 5, and then relaunched with the new format). Most of their challenges are staged, and I don't think they'd lose entertainment value by being clearer that it's fiction. It'd also be good if they stopped pandering to Daily-Mail-reading-racists. The Mexican stuff in the last series was horrific. I wish BBC America had had the balls to include it in their version, if only so they'd have to deal with the enraged viewers.

vaksel 16y ago
oh please...the new version of Top Gear has been out since 2002...if you haven't caught on that the new Top Gear is different from the "old Top Gear" after 9 years...then you haven't been watching
- geoffw8 16y ago
  ...or your work at Tesla!
Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
They play conkers with caravans, do you think it really needs pointing out that this is an entertainment show?
- protomyth 16y ago
  and try to make a space shuttle out of a car....
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  >do you think it really needs pointing out that this is an entertainment show? I think the ancestor comment is simply saying that they need to say that they lie about the factual basis of the show. I don't think that playing conkers with caravans or driving cars of ski-jumps or whatever should allow them to make bare-faced lies about basic performance elements of cars that they review.
- semanticist 16y ago
  No, but it needs to be pointed out that it's fictional entertainment. They have races and competitions between each other which are staged and adapted for dramatic results. The few car reviews they do are similarly dramatised. Does the viewer understand that the car didn't break down, that the person on the motorbike didn't coincidentally reach the same point as the person in the car, or whatever? I suspect that most people don't realise that Top Gear is fictional entertainment instead of factual entertainment, because the extremely long-running brand of the show is rooted in factual entertainment. Suing them over a fictional review is foolish, but if you were expecting an honest review of your product and got back a dramatised narrative you'd probably be pissed off too.
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    > If you were expecting an honest review of your product and got back a dramatised narrative you'd probably be pissed off too. We're talking about a car company here. Are you suggesting that a car company are going to not understand what Top Gear is about? The sort of show it is and the significant chance that the review will be dramatised and tongue in cheek? If Tesla sent them a car believing that then they should fire their marketing people who should have made it absolutely clear and then resign themselves for ignoring what 15 seconds thought would have told them.
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    I kind of agree with you but for different reasons and therefore come to a different conclusion. I think that many viewers don't realise that TG is entertainment rather than factual because sadly most viewers have a pretty uncritical view of anything they see on TV. And for this reason I think it could be branded entertainment, documentary, drama or children's and it wouldn't make any difference as it's all soaked up largely without question. If people aren't taking the hints from the tongue in cheek comments and the OTT stunts then I don't think a message at the front of the show or in the TV listings would make any difference.
frou_dh 16y ago
Personally I find the programme tiresome and don't watch it any more. So often they are pretending that events and quips are spontaneous when they are clearly heavily scripted. I'm British for what it's worth.
- ams6110 16y ago
  I have watched most of the series that are on Netflix, I think 2009 is the latest, and I thought it seemed to be on the decline in that series. They seem to be running out of new ideas, as happens with all long-running series.
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    They've public admitted that the show (at least in it's current form) is closer to the end of it's run than the beginning and that they accept that the presenters and opinions are approaching self parody. Personally I think that that's under stating it but to be fair to them it remains a valuable franchise and one that they're really obliged to keep going so long as it remains relatively successful.

vaksel 16y ago

oh please...the new version of Top Gear has been out since 2002...if you haven't caught on that the new Top Gear is different from the "old Top Gear" after 9 years...then you haven't been watching

geoffw8 16y ago
...or your work at Tesla!

Tyrannosaurs 16y ago

They play conkers with caravans, do you think it really needs pointing out that this is an entertainment show?

protomyth 16y ago
and try to make a space shuttle out of a car....
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
>do you think it really needs pointing out that this is an entertainment show? I think the ancestor comment is simply saying that they need to say that they lie about the factual basis of the show. I don't think that playing conkers with caravans or driving cars of ski-jumps or whatever should allow them to make bare-faced lies about basic performance elements of cars that they review.
semanticist 16y ago
No, but it needs to be pointed out that it's fictional entertainment. They have races and competitions between each other which are staged and adapted for dramatic results. The few car reviews they do are similarly dramatised. Does the viewer understand that the car didn't break down, that the person on the motorbike didn't coincidentally reach the same point as the person in the car, or whatever? I suspect that most people don't realise that Top Gear is fictional entertainment instead of factual entertainment, because the extremely long-running brand of the show is rooted in factual entertainment. Suing them over a fictional review is foolish, but if you were expecting an honest review of your product and got back a dramatised narrative you'd probably be pissed off too.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  > If you were expecting an honest review of your product and got back a dramatised narrative you'd probably be pissed off too. We're talking about a car company here. Are you suggesting that a car company are going to not understand what Top Gear is about? The sort of show it is and the significant chance that the review will be dramatised and tongue in cheek? If Tesla sent them a car believing that then they should fire their marketing people who should have made it absolutely clear and then resign themselves for ignoring what 15 seconds thought would have told them.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  I kind of agree with you but for different reasons and therefore come to a different conclusion. I think that many viewers don't realise that TG is entertainment rather than factual because sadly most viewers have a pretty uncritical view of anything they see on TV. And for this reason I think it could be branded entertainment, documentary, drama or children's and it wouldn't make any difference as it's all soaked up largely without question. If people aren't taking the hints from the tongue in cheek comments and the OTT stunts then I don't think a message at the front of the show or in the TV listings would make any difference.

frou_dh 16y ago

Personally I find the programme tiresome and don't watch it any more. So often they are pretending that events and quips are spontaneous when they are clearly heavily scripted. I'm British for what it's worth.

ams6110 16y ago
I have watched most of the series that are on Netflix, I think 2009 is the latest, and I thought it seemed to be on the decline in that series. They seem to be running out of new ideas, as happens with all long-running series.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  They've public admitted that the show (at least in it's current form) is closer to the end of it's run than the beginning and that they accept that the presenters and opinions are approaching self parody. Personally I think that that's under stating it but to be fair to them it remains a valuable franchise and one that they're really obliged to keep going so long as it remains relatively successful.