The Grand Tour (from the guys in Top Gear)

Word is that ITV is trying to lure him to their network to do a car show. and ITV is "no fucks given" for the most part

Or what? Does he have money paid in annuity or continued royalties or something?

The show IS Clarkson. Whatever happens, if he ends up somewhere else . . . that's what I will watch

Just some info that's probably relevant that not everyone seems to know here.

TG brings in about 6 million viewers live on BBC. It's not actually crazy highly rated as far as Britain goes, not even. Overall it's still their most watched show by a healthy margin, obviously, but the actual original broadcast is behind multiple other BBC shows. We always hear about the global viewership but the BBC apparently doesn't make insane bank off that. So while they absolutely want the show it's not quite the 50/50 proposition we TG fans seem to think(hope) it is.

A couple years ago Clarkson and Andy Wilman sold their production company, which owned the show, to the BBC. Apparently there was something of a rift between the hosts because of how more money Jeremy was making for doing the same show and they decided it was the best way to resolve that. Now in addition to their salaries, which are supposedly equal, all 3 hosts get a share of the worldwide commercial revenue.

I've seen a few folks say that the hosts have all agreed they won't do the show without all 3 of them. Haven't seen a reference for this though.

Someone gave a list of other HUGE BBC stars who have left to do iTV shows. They have all pretty much bombed. But I don't think any of them have had nearly the crazy long term following of Top Gear.

While looking stuff up I found this little article. Somewhat interesting.

BBC News - Top Gear: How a monster was born

Grimmlokk_sl said:

We always hear about the global viewership but the BBC apparently doesn't make insane bank off that. .

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estimates i have seen put global take at anywhere from $20 to $225 million per year. Don't think any of their other shows come close.

Top Gear is more than Clarkson, the way the show is formatted now probably couldn't be done anyplace else with the winning formula it has without the entire team following - even then I'm not sure it would work. The BBC gives alot of free reign to JC and with advertising on other UK networks I feel he would be toned down considerably.

Seems stupid to row over a meal when you can afford to have Noma fly you in a meal..But that's Jezza I guess..

goatface_sl said:

estimates i have seen put global take at anywhere from $20 to $225 million per year. Don't think any of their other shows come close.

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Absolutely, it's 2-3x as profitable as anything else the BBC produces..

Dizzie_sl said:

Top Gear is more than Clarkson, the way the show is formatted now probably couldn't be done anyplace else with the winning formula it has without the entire team following - even then I'm not sure it would work. The BBC gives alot of free reign to JC and with advertising on other UK networks I feel he would be toned down considerably.

Seems stupid to row over a meal when you can afford to have Noma fly you in a meal..But that's Jezza I guess..

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I totally agree that the show just isn't the presenters. The cinematography and music are fantastic and I think drives a lot of the atmosphere of what makes the show so awesome. They seem to have a talent to take movie music, apply it to what would otherwise be a boring scene and generate a fairly strong emotional response. Couple that with the work the crew must do to make the locations work, setup races and otherwise provide support for their adventures and I really don't think the presenters leaving and starting up again on another network would work.

Unless it was HBO... they'd be fucking awesome on HBO.

Tripamang_sl said:

I totally agree that the show just isn't the presenters. The cinematography and music are fantastic and I think drives a lot of the atmosphere of what makes the show so awesome. They seem to have a talent to take movie music, apply it to what would otherwise be a boring scene and generate a fairly strong emotional response. Couple that with the work the crew must do to make the locations work, setup races and otherwise provide support for their adventures and I really don't think the presenters leaving and starting up again on another network would work.

Unless it was HBO... they'd be fucking awesome on HBO.

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Yeah the location crew, sound, and editing is pretty special - they really are the unsung heroes of the program and pretty much make JC, JM, RH and the cars look fantastic on screen.

Interestingly enough I live close to James May and we pretty much share a local pub - only seen him a few times over the last couple of years though.

Dizzie_sl said:

Yeah the location crew, sound, and editing is pretty special - they really are the unsung heroes of the program and pretty much make JC, JM, RH and the cars look fantastic on screen.

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When they were planning and shooting the pilot for the initial US version with Adam Carolla one of the big selling points was they had the UK production team helping out and picking the crew that would shoot it. They were real determined to keep the production values and visual style the same.

Then they scrapped that because Knight Rider bombed. And we ended up with the goofy scripted mediocre "car show" we have now.


This is some of the test reel footage stuff they shot for it.

It's been forever since I watched Top Gear USA, but I don't remember it looking anything remotely like that.

A lot of the times (as seen with the BBC) I feel like people get in the way of a good thing.

geffe71_sl said:

Word is that ITV is trying to lure him to their network to do a car show. and ITV is "no fucks given" for the most part

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You don't want this, ITV is fucking awful. That is the place where American Idol, America's Got Talent and X Factor started with their UK versions as well as introducing the world to Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan. So they'll change the show to cater to uneducated people.

It'll also be shorter plus ad breaks. Nobody is going to put 1 hour of niche car programming on their main channel, BBC have two major channels and put all of their interesting stuff like this on the second one. ITV doesn't have a main second channel, so Top Gear will be 30 mins long aired later at night.

ITV have a history of buying BBC talent to front a knock off show, they are always bad and the star fades into retirement and is sacked soon after - but they are still on contract so are forced to take part in one of their retarded jungle survivial or ice skating reality shows in a version of celebrity hell. Meanwhile BBC usually replaces them with someone new who ends up being better.

Elurin_sl said:

It's been forever since I watched Top Gear USA, but I don't remember it looking anything remotely like that.

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You should really read a whole post before commenting, don't just skip to the video.

i liked the show better when it had less production. what they have is really well done and all, but that isn't why i watch the show.

July 2010: Burkas and lingerie
During a Top Gear discussion on distractions while driving: ?Honestly, the burka doesn?t work. I was in a cab in Piccadilly the other day when a woman in a full burka crossing the road in front of me tripped over the pavement, went head over heels and up it came, red g-string and stockings.?

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I don't understand where is the problem with this one

Courtesy of Tenjikuronin in the FSR thread. Thought this was hilarious.