The number of viewers this show has, the number of times it appears in the newspaper due to some international incident, the number of "£" signs the presenters and producers see every time they make an episode - all reasons why Top Gear's not going away any time soon.
I've watched this show since the mid-80's and Clarkson's hair could barely get through a doorway. It was achingly dull and had every stereotypical dodgy rock montage moment you could ever think of along with beardy blokes talking about the height of a boot lip for shopping to be lifted over. I loved it though and watching the older episodes I still do. Cringe worthy of course, but it was informative and no-nonsense. Clarkson changed that. Not at first of course, he played the standard presenter to lull everyone into a false sense of security. But you could always tell he wanted to add some random metaphor or innuendo to the information he was passing on.
When TG died originally at the start of the millennia, Fifth Gear happened. It's been going almost as long as "new" format Top Gear and hasn't changed in any real way since changing the name. Quentin Willson's gone as are a fair few others, but it hasn't changed. You still have Tiff throwing cars around tracks, VBH providing the posh but disturbingly eyebrow lacking feminine side of motoring and then you reach the Plato, who seemingly strikes a happy medium between the two.
The reason I blab on about Fifth Gear so much is that IT IS Top Gear. The Top Gear we have now was just a new show the BBC happened to start with the same name and one of the old presenters. That clean slate worked for years and there have been some fantastic moments over that time, but like any show, it's become a bit stagnant and needing a new take. There's nothing wrong with the presenters, it's the format and producers I feel that should be taking the flack. As I've said in the other thread, I think JC and Co know this, which to an extent is why they deliver their "performances" so badly on occasion.
In all honesty though, I'm glad it's still going in any form. There's not much in the way of car programmes these days unless you go on the thousand channel Sky/Virgin route and even then some of those are of debatable quality...Vroom, Vroom anyone?
