NBC kills Top Gear America

[Steve Ekstrand]

NBC decided that since Knight Rider failed car shows won't fly so they are pulling Top Gear.
Not only that but it would be wrong to criticize autos while the domestic auto industry is so threatened.

Maybe NBC executives should be threatened.... Really network execs are so incredibly stupid can't we out source their jobs to China or India? Top Gear Bollywood? Would you like a Slurpee with your Enzo???

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[Steve Ekstrand]

Final Gear is reporting that the BBC is going to take Top Gear US to cable and let go more wild than network tv would allow. I love the spin.... NBC didn't cancel... We opted for cable to make it better.... And MUCH MUCH MUCH lower budget.

[Bill Schenker]

...Maybe NBC executives should be threatened.... Really network execs are so incredibly stupid can't we out source their jobs to China or India? ...

Truer words have not been spoken!

[David Avard]

Blame the America TV consumer. How many reality shows are really needed? Your other choices are the 42 versions of CSI. Or Soap operas, which even good shows seem destined to become (ER?).

And the original Knight Rider was campy, but fun (at least the first season or so). The new one was just stupid (or so it seemed... I didn't actually watch it, as the commercials looked to stupid to waste my time on).

[Curt Luther]

We've discussed this ad-nauseum on rr-ax and in talking with Ken the other day at the event, the same conclusion was reached. What makes Top Gear great is not so much that it's a car show, it's the interaction between Clarkson, May and Hammond. I like Adam Carolla, hate Tanner Faust and could care less about the other idiot to remember his name. I haven't seen the filmed episodes, but I'm guessin' the reaction between them is OK at best and nothing like the U.K. version...

...not to mention the fact that Top Gear has zero ties to sponsors since it's on the BBC. You think NBC would let these guys trash a car in review if it meant lost revenue?

[Will Kalman]

You think NBC would let these guys trash a car in review if it meant lost revenue?

Yeah. it's not like they're trashing cars by creating fake incendiary crash tests.

[Kurt Rahn]

LOL. Good one, Will.

[Tom Tanquary]

Hunter Thompson once said, "The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason." And yes, this is his actual quote from the book "Generation of Swine" not the interweb version most often used. You have no idea the level of stupidity within the biz. They've always gotten away with it because TV has been just a license to print money... until now. Today they are confronted with the concept of actual "profit" models. NBC still makes tons of money, it's just that GE is sucking all the dollars out to support all of their failed divisions - which is just about all of them. As the panic sets in, the decisions get worse and worse. The place is run by people that have never been held accountable for anything, let alone making a profit - that was done by just waking up in the morning. They sold the Burbank lot and are renting it back from the new owners. But GE pulled all the money for the new facilities. Jan 2nd the bulldozers come to rip down the back half of the lot. Everything stored there has no place to go - Universal is full up. The rent on the remaining buildings goes up every month and by the end of 09 they have to be out. Add to that the Leno move. I was working with his set designer the week before the announcement scavenging old set pieces for another show. They had laid everyone off but her because Leno was leaving. 2 days later he wasn't. But the studio is headed for the wrecking ball anyway with no place for him to move. The manure has hit the fan in Burbank and everyone is getting covered with it.

So a show like TG is way beyond their intellectual capacity. They say there are only three things the public cares about: murder, catfights, and celeb interviews. They say comedy is dead. After years of trying they managed to kill "Scrubs" (another highly profitable show) because it defied their concept of reality. At least it looks like the show is going to ABC. The interweb is a giant mystery to them still. They told the news division that they want stories to look like they are on Youtube because "that's what people expect to see now." Of course they are wrong. Just like the car industry, they don't have a clue as to what the public wants or what it takes to make a honest profit. As Don Henley said, "Crap is king," as least up till now it has been.

I watched Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" a couple of days ago. It was depressing. Made in 1936 at the height of the Depression, it highlighted all the bad of that era. It ended not on a happy note but one of resigned commitment to trudge on hoping that somehow things will get better. There isn't even that much hope at NBC today. Like the car makers, TV knows its days have come to a close. They're just trying to wring the last couple of bucks out of it before the coroner gets there.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Network, Broadcast News, Idiocracy. Watch them in that order and you'll be surprised at how life imitates art.

[John Coffey]

They say there are only three things the public cares about: murder, catfights, and celeb interviews.

And seeing Marie Osmond dress up like a doll and dance like a robot.

[Rick Brown]

They say there are only three things the public cares about: murder, catfights, and celeb interviews.

And seeing Marie Osmond dress up like a doll and dance like a robot.

Don't worry John, we won't ask how you know she does that.......what you watch on TV or your computer when work is slow is your business.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Blame the America TV consumer. How many reality shows are really needed? Your other choices are the 42 versions of CSI. Or Soap operas, which even good shows seem destined to become (ER?).]

Love "E/R" and that's one the last quality shows going off the air (same with "The Shield", "The Wire")

And the original Knight Rider was campy, but fun (at least the first season or so). The new one was just stupid (or so it seemed... I didn't actually watch it, as the commercials looked to stupid to waste my time on).

Loved the original (wish I could buy the original car), but the new one with it's "transformer"-like qualities stretch the believability to the breaking point. I don't know good acting.....but I know BAD acting and this is it....though I do watch clearly for the 3 hot girls on that show!

[John Coffey]

Don't worry John, we won't ask how you know she does that.......what you watch on TV or your computer when work is slow is your business.

My wife loves Dancing With the Stars and I happened to be in the room when that incident happened. I went blind for a few hours.

[Will Kalman]

My wife loves Dancing With the Stars and I happened to be in the room when that incident happened. I went blind for a few hours.

I guess that proves Rick's point!

Who knew symptoms could be so acute and, luckily for you, temporary! }:)

[Steve Ekstrand]

If Juliane Hough is on the show, I'll watch... Silently, praying to the lord almighty for the miracle of wardrobe malfunction.