Top Gear presenters: Virtually unknown Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz 'to be Chris Evans' sidekicks' - Telegraph Latest news... A Top Gear insider told The Sun: "Sabine and Chris are virtually unknown to the wider public and David isn't the most charismatic driver." No shit Sherlock... And another one of the production team has quit...
I think he's just buzzing on life, happy to be alive, and so so passionate about cars. good luck to him. He's an honest, and humbling kind of guy when not on centre stage.
Like hamster and james gay when they first toyed up. I will give it a chance. TG needed a shake up. Lets be honest, any of us could smash cars up and play practical jokes on each other, especially when being paid big money.
TG was fully scripted (mostly by Clarkson) and carefully edited to make it look like three mates smashing cars up and having a laugh. I expect there's a lot more skill involved in making it look that seamlessly casual and anarchic than meets the eye and matching that atmosphere and feel of spontaneity, whoever the presenters are, will be a lot harder than it might seem. I reckon the new team will quickly discover why the old team were worth so much money.
Granted Hammond was not exactly a household name when he first arrived on TG. May, on the other hand, was a serious and respected motoring journalist - anyone who can use the words "My good friend Setright told me..." should be taken pretty seriously. From what I've seen of Chris Evans he is passionate about cars - he's passionate about telling people how much he's spent on them... That doesn't mean that he actually knows anything about them - beyond the price-tag. As for his "off screen" persona - pretty much eveyone who's ever worked with him has said he'll use / trample over anyone to get what he wants - hardly a great recommendation. The fact that two producers have already walked out speaks volumes. And I still don't get the "TG needed a shake-up" idea. Why ? Says who ? Why did the biggest, most watched, most profitable programme on the BBC (and indeed one of the biggest programmes in the world) need changing ? Some people didn't like it - well they probably never did like it much : big deal... The "any of us could do it" idea is another one I don't get. If you reckon it's that easy, crack on, do it... Oh you can't. Because you don't have the creativity, the connections, the lifetime of experience, the drive or whatever. As I've said before (and as several other people have said) the Clarkson / Hammond / May version of Top Gear was not actually a car programme. It was three blokes dicking about and having a good time, in an entertaining way, with cars as a backdrop. Any attempt to make it all about the cars will, inevitably, lead to its demise. The same format has been sucessfully used by another programme - The Last Leg - which is basically very similar in that it is three blokes pratting about and having a laugh. It's very similar to Top Gear except that the backdrop is current affairs, not cars. No-one would call it a serious current affairs programme - it's comedy / entertainment. So why insist that Top Gear was a motoring programme ? The new version of Top Gear has a dilema - it can't be the same because it won't have the same amusing interaction between the presenters - that sort of thing takes years to develop. And it can't be different because people will say "it's not like it used to be". The number of people who say "it needed to change" is, I'm willing to bet, a lot less than the number of people who watched regularly and were quite happy to carry on watching. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident the viewing figures will prove me right... Oh - and just in case you missed it - my "no shit Sherlock" remark was an observation on the Sun stating the blatantly obvious, and not in any way a comment on how well known the poor unfortunates are.
And whilst I'm on the subject... I actually am a big fan of Sabine, although I have no idea why she's agreed to do the new programme - I can only assume that the BBC are paying her really well. My prediction is that her brand of dry, sarcastic,Germanic humour will iritate Evans and there will be a falling out before the first series is over. I know absolutely nothing about Chris Harris - I had to use Google to find out who he is. That's not a problem - everyone has to start somewhere, and he may turn out to be a complete star. Interesting, though, that Evans doesn't seem to want anyone who's too well known on the show - could it be that he doesn't like sharing the limelight ? Or is it just because, as has been said before, anyone else who's been asked sees it as the "poisoned challice" job... ?
I agreed with you up to this point, but it doesn't alter your conclusions. If it was scripted, and again I agree with you on this point, for me it was overscripted and lacked spontaneity, then all you need are three talented actors. Easier said than done I agree. What would be difficult to recreate is Clarkson's writing. Would The Last of the Summer Wine still be The Last of the Summer Wine with new script writers and new actors ? I think not.
Interesting observation - up to a point. LOTSW has had a fair few changes of cast over the years, and almost none of the original actors remain. But it is true to say that for over 30 years it has only had one writer - Roy Clarke. Hence a certain continuity... Scripted or not, the three TG presenters worked together extremely well, and obviously all enjoyed what they were doing. As Gimlet said, making it look easiy is actually very difficult. It may be possible to achieve something similar with "three tallented actors" but I would venture to suggest that is something that none of the new presenters are... BBC - Comedy - Last of the Summer Wine
Top gear was/is Clarkson,May and Hammond. Anything else simply is not Top Gear. Gingers show really should be named something else. Yes it was scripted but the things that made me laugh were the funny non scripted additions/comments and cock ups. I am finding myself watching the repeats on Dave now, something I had never done before.
I don’t have a problem with Chris Evans mainly cos hes not a perm headed tory shitehouse who thinks he’s better than everyone else. He also seems like quite a sound fella and does some good work away from his tv/radio commitments. Shame for the other two (Richard hammond and james may) that they had to work with and suck up to such a horrible twat like clarkson (and he is) but if you dance with the devil and all that.. I hope his Amazon thing flops like most of his pathetic excuses after deliberately setting out to offend people. Its not 1990 anymore you tedious dinosaur. Youre neither funny nor relevant so kindly retire with the miniscule bit of dignity you must have left.
So, you'd be prepared to give Clarkson's new effort a go then? Sorry, you haven't made your feelings on this very clear on this.
"Its not 1990 anymore you tedious dinosaur. You're neither funny nor relevant so kindly retire with the miniscule bit of dignity you must have left." Sorry, but who was that comment aimed at ? Clarkson or Evans ? Remind me again why TGI Friday was taken off air... Clarkson may be a buffoon, but at least he hasn't built a career out of surrounding himself with sycophants who are paid to laugh at his “humour”…
@Red899 I do not think that the other so called 2 had to suck anything up, I think they love working together, if they did not they would have seized the chance to carry on working on TG for the BBC, but clearly they did not want to and they made that quite clear. They both have their own lives and shows and are successful.
Love him or loath him Clarkeson was top gear, the Beeb should have let the program go when he was sacked. This new show looks to be a disaster before it even starts
I think the BBC will be regretting not renewing Clarkson's contract and ending Top Gear as we know it. Can you go around cracking your colleages?, of course not. But they bowed to public pressure from the Clarkson haters when the prtagonits at the time could have shook and made up. The Guardianista, the proffesional left and tossers like Frankie Boyle seemed to be the most vocal. Certainly, nobody at the time from the Top Gear team was screaming for Clarkson's head, (yes, I realise he was a powerful figure).The fact that May & Hammond left with him says something. I think the new format will be s**t. Yes i'll watch it to begin with and see how it goes, it's a motoring show and a better option than Downton, or whatever else is on at the time. I think Evans is self obsessed, but he is a talented enyertainer and it'll be interesting to see the direction the show takes. But I'm more looking forward to the new Clarkson / May / Hammond vehicle. A bigger budget and less hand wringing from management when they get close to the line has to be a good thing.
I did when I bumped into him a few months ago at work.......You can nuke this too if you like. :Woot: Next.
"it's like watching your dad try to be funny in front of your mates : utterly toe curling" Once again - are we talking about Clarkson or Evans ?
