Comments on: Top Gear deal includes back catalogue

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:20:43 +0000

Heavy sigh. Nine will do what they always do, dumb it down, bland it up, and run it into the ground. The moment it draws fewer than a million viewers nationally they’ll play schedule ping pong with it until finding it on any given night is matter of good luck rather than good management. As for hosts, well they’ve still got to get some value out of the contract they signed with Daddo to host THIS afternoon. He couldn’t drive a news-talk show, maybe he can drive a car and talk at the same time. And don’t expect any review to say so much as a bad word about any car made by a Nine advertiser, even if it is a piece of Korean crap, rebadged as a Holden, that you wouldn’t accept as a gift.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:57:47 +0000

@scott – why would it be moved after 3-6 months? I doubt the classic eps will be in prime-time but we still don’t know their plans or what contact the have signed, maybe the classic eps will be used on GO!?

As for the new eps there are only a hand full a season so I doubt it would be moved, unless it bombs out.

Good time new eps start Nov 15 in the UK, I’ll be watching them this year and not in March after to winter games… yes I’m predicting they will not air this (or many of their top shows) until after the games which end Feb 28.

By: David S.

David S. — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:48:44 +0000

I lost most of my interest in TG a while back now, and having it on Nine won’t win me back. 13 seasons already? It’s gotta be near the end of it’s rope even in Old Blighty. I agree with other posters that Nlne will likely kill it. Sad but almost inevitable I’m afraid.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:42:39 +0000

Here we go, Nine will most likely do the overkill thing and put reruns on 3-4 times a week.

I love Top Gear and I dont mind re-runs on SBS but wont be watching it on nine.

By: scott

scott — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:44:59 +0000

I for one will not be watching it on the nine network. I give it about 3 to 6 months before we find it on late nite about 11pm and the reason? so many damn ads . bye bye top gear its been fun

By: Geoff Pillans

Geoff Pillans — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:21:58 +0000

Well I for one will not bother watching it on Nine.

I have enjoyed watching it on SBS, but I fear Nine will screw it up just like everything else it.

Get ready for it to be placed in a different time slot each week, eventually being relegated to 11.30 on a mid-week night; packed full of ads; starting 10 minutes later than the EPG says; edits galore; etc. etc.

By: Craig

Craig — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:10:56 +0000

I wouldn’t mind a bunch of classic TG each week, depending how they edit them. I would then be able to record them and not have to watch nine later when they get re0run into the ground.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:01:42 +0000

well i hope 9 don’t put 3 nightly repeats on like they do with 2 1/2 men. I hate how 9 can wreck a perfectly good show by over playing it, just like commercial overplay radio (AKA FOXFM)

By: trent

trent — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:58:01 +0000

looks like it might be on 15 times a week like 2.5 men

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:49:31 +0000

Do 9 really reckon they are going to pull the numbers SBS does, as soon as people get sick of seeing more ads than program watch the numbers drop.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:58:36 +0000

Not what I wrote, Matt….

By: Matt J

Matt J — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:35:42 +0000

Good luck to Nein!

Seeing it go down the drain!

Whats this? They’re going to start from season 1!?

pffttt…

By: Neon Kitten

Neon Kitten — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:25:52 +0000

@Jeremy: actually the current-format UK Top Gear did indeed make a (very wise) cast change after season 1, but the cast has been stable since then.

By: Tex

Tex — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:55:04 +0000

@Crag (& others): There’s at least 4 different versions of Top Gear offered out by the BBC.
* There’s the full version, ~60 minutes long.
* There’s the international version, 52~55 minutes long, which mostly cuts the ‘news’ segment. This is allegedly the version SBS has been showing, though I’m sure on a few occasions they (or someone) has cut more than that.
* There’s the ‘Dave’ version, shown on UKTV’s ‘Dave’ FreeView commercial channel in the UK – this is ~46 minutes long, with the ‘news’ section cut and additional edits here & there to trim a further 8~10 minutes. Often it has bits of the between-segment banter edited out, and sometimes the “Star …” segment.
* Finally, there’s a ~30 minute version edited for BBC World, with huge hacks everywhere. It end up being basically the intro, major stunt / theme / review, and outro, with any other bits left in at random to pad out the 30 minutes.

Given that on commercial TV an hour-long show in prime-time is effectively 41~42 minutes of programme + the maximum allowed 16 minutes of ads + 2~3 minutes of promo/news/other crap, my guess it they’ll show the Dave version. They _may_ show the 50 minute version at first, to lull fans into a false sense of security, but then it’ll eventually be cut back to the Dave version, and probably edited at that.

By: noblet turtle

noblet turtle — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:08:24 +0000

Browne’s just rubbing it in Brown’s face. No fair.

By: David Knox

David Knox — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:37:01 +0000

Clearly there are several questions still unanswered. TG should remain on SBS for the short term. International versions of TG have always been shorter before being distributed to SBS.