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Have MAINSTREAM TV Motoring Shows had their day?

Gone the way of printed motoring magazines. I suspect,

Despite Amazon & Netflix, the future's more fragmented and low budget, from podcast to youtube.

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Fifth Gear is still around, although now only covering EVs as 'Fifth Gear Recharged' ... and on Discovery+ and Quest rather than Channel 5. The other stuff on TV is more niche e.g. the various restoration/customisation shows, Bangers & Cash, etc. Top Gear had really been more general entertainment than motoring show for a long time.

There are a few good quality motoring channels on YouTube (including Top Gear), which are probably the immediate future.
 
Don’t forget Auto Mundial on a Sunday.
Only 1/2 hour and often American biased but still a decent watch.
 
I think car TV shows probably have had their day. I don’t hesitate in saying that I am obsessed with cars and can’t remember the last time I watched Top Gear apart from watching a couple of very old Christmas specials again.

Whilst I like the three presenters, it’s not enough to make me watch them. Unfortunately I think they’re being held back by an out of date formula - they’re pretty much doing what Clarkson & Co started 20 years ago.

It’s too slow to air to be topical (eg new car releases), real car reviews are almost without exception full, and there’s only so many times you can smash up a caravan, modify a vehicle to make it ridiculous, or race cars in a quarry.

I would say there’s still plenty of potential in Christmas specials, road trips and high quality production features on very significant cars, and Therese like the film which celebrated British manufacturing late in the Clarkson era.
 
Yes from me !
Watch all my motoring content on YouTube - Harrys Garage, Tyrrells Classic Workshop. Legit Street Cars, Throttle House and AMGmeister plus a few more :D
 
Bobby Dazzler said:
I think car TV shows probably have had their day. I don’t hesitate in saying that I am obsessed with cars and can’t remember the last time I watched Top Gear apart from watching a couple of very old Christmas specials again.
Click to expand...
The most recent series of TG was better by far than any other previously but got very little attention let alone praise. It moved beyond the juvenile destruction and pointless 'race around a quarry' challenges and instead had interesting articles absorbing to watch and invariably ending long before my customary ennui intervened. Easily the best series and by some margin.
 
I didn't realise that TG was still perceived as a motoring show, I thought that aspect of it disappeared years ago :).
Having said that I haven't watched it, other than the odd piece, for many years, certainly since Chris Evans appeared. With regard to the current presenter lineup, Harris is okay/good, Flintoff okay(ish) but better than I expected but as for the other chap, a definite 'no thanks' from me.

Fifth gear is still watchable as the presenters seem to have an idea of what they're talking about and the items are generally of car-interest, rather than being 'entertainment-with-a loose-connection-to-cars'.

The problem with most formats is that they run out of ideas, understandably, after a while, and it must be difficult to come up with interesting answers to the 'what do we do next?' question.
 
I think Top Gear is certainly past its prime. As someone else pointed out, the format is practically unchanged from Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May, which has been done to death. Although the current (and when I say current, I now mean 'past') presenters gel well together, it was hard not to tire of the same old formula.

I have no real issue with Flintoff or McGuinness, although Flintoff was more palatable in my opinion. Harris on the other hand, despite his cred in the motoring world, his racing experience etc....was just plain unpleasant to watch. Miserable and up himself on screen more often than not and I'm led to believe, much like that in real life too (particularly when it comes to spirited driving or anything 'less than 100% legal' on public roads).

I wouldn't be sorry to see TG off the screen, likewise the Grand Tour is/was waning for me too - most episodes seem to be 90 minutes of knob gags aimed at 14 year old boys and not much about cars.

My personal favourites on YT are Harry's Garage, Tyrells Classic Workshop as well as anything done by the //Drive channel (although not heard much from them for a while). Also, Rust Valley Restorers is an absolute gem on Netflix and worth the sub alone in my opinion.
 
Yes---- Harry's Garage, Tyrells Classic Workshop I would add Jay Lenos Garage show to those 2
e.g.
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Top Gear is a motoring show?

Why would anyone think that?

William Woollard left three decades ago.

D5F4FD6F-CD7F-4E68-BE82-6AB4EACCBA80.jpeg
 
The original Top Gear was witty informative & entertaining presented by 3 diverse characters who had a natural chemistry. They were replaced by 3 blokes who decided that shouting & forced laughter would hide the complete lack of natural chemistry between them. It was also politic to introduce grating accents & beards. Yet diversity had not been fully addressed lacking a female presenter, a person of colour or somebody in a wheelchair - the latter a shame as real fun motoring for those less able not properly covered ever.
 
sgregory124 said:
I have no real issue with Flintoff or McGuinness, although Flintoff was more palatable in my opinion. Harris on the other hand, despite his cred in the motoring world, his racing experience etc....was just plain unpleasant to watch. Miserable and up himself on screen more often than not and I'm led to believe, much like that in real life too (particularly when it comes to spirited driving or anything 'less than 100% legal' on public roads).
Click to expand...
Interesting that you only have an issue with the sole presenter of a motoring program that could actually drive, the other two are amatuers compared to him.
Maybe that's the problem with these shows now, people want entertainment instead of someone who knows what he's talking about?
 
MEMERC7 said:
The original Top Gear was witty informative & entertaining presented by 3 diverse characters who had a natural chemistry. They were replaced by 3 blokes who decided that shouting & forced laughter would hide the complete lack of natural chemistry between them. It was also politic to introduce grating accents & beards. Yet diversity had not been fully addressed lacking a female presenter, a person of colour or somebody in a wheelchair - the latter a shame as real fun motoring for those less able not properly covered ever.
Click to expand...
Reading your comments about the initial 3 characters. I think I must have been watching another programme.

I’d rather listen to the grating accents than Clarkson fake accent along with Hammonds fake accent.

Regarding you remark about beards, did you miss the bit with Hammond and his dyed black goatee??
 
rf065 said:
Interesting that you only have an issue with the sole presenter of a motoring program that could actually drive, the other two are amatuers compared to him.
Maybe that's the problem with these shows now, people want entertainment instead of someone who knows what he's talking about?
Click to expand...
Harris might know what he’s talking about, but it doesn’t mean he can deliver a convincing performance as a presenter.

Ultimately Top Gear IS a light entertainment program, the last thing the BBC want, is a really dry show about cars. Three Harris clones presenting that show, would be about as popular as Gary Glitter in a children’s home.

Which is the reason they added Flintoff and McGuiness - comedy relief and eye candy for those who like that sort of thing.
 
Darrell said:
Reading your comments about the initial 3 characters. I think I must have been watching another programme.

I’d rather listen to the grating accents than Clarkson fake accent along with Hammonds fake accent.

Regarding you remark about beards, did you miss the bit with Hammond and his dyed black goatee??
Click to expand...
Not sure what your point is here?

Just because Clarkson and Hammond don’t speak in the heavy regional accents from the areas they were born in, doesn’t mean to say they’re fake. It simply means they were educated elsewhere and lost the Yorkshire/West Midlands edge. Nothing fake about that.
 
I'm glad TG happened.
I'm glad it's gone.

When it had no (real) competition or alternative it ruled.
Now it does not.

Release Harris back to his natural YT environment, the others to their skill areas and enjoy the huge variety now available via t'internet.
 
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