[BBC News] Clarkson joke sparks complaints

[Sneak]

Clarkson is one of those people you either love or hate.

 

He has such a good way with words.

[Sneak]

what was the joan rivers 9/11 joke??

 

she's also funny - great sense of humour.

[WTF]

Clarkson is one of those people you either love or hate.

 

He has such a good way with words.

 

his script writer has a good way with words......

[Tugger]

Clarkson is in my view one of the dreariest men on television. I am not sure how he could be more predictable

[Skeddan]

Can anyone explain how Top Gear serves the public interest and meets the objective of promotion of the BBC's Public Purposes?

 

"stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;"

 

That's a pretty broad directive, and one that fits top gear pretty well.

 

Yep, a pretty broad directive, and shouldn't be read narrowly, but even a broad tapestry has limits. From what I've seen of it Top Gear doesn't come into that.

 

It's a lads mag on telly that show, it's got jokes, tomfoolery, flash cars, pretty much everything except tits. He might not be a standup, but he's got plenty of one liners.

 

Can't stand Clarkson personally, I think he's a tosser and frequently wrong. I also think Top Gear is repetitive boring and staged shite..

 

If that's the standard of creativity and cultural excellence, isn't it all but meaningless?

 

You said "not having to pander to a commercial audience makes the BBC creatively unique and the best broadcaster in the world" - which was very well put. But it is not just the fact it doesn't have to pander to a commercial audience that makes it creatively unique.

 

But itls the public service broadcasting objects of the BBC - it's 'Public Purpose' which drives this. (being funded and not having to pander to commercial audience alone could fit with broadcasting the most dire boring unwatchable shit imaginable - or even just a loop of one bit of Muzak with visualisation). If these standards sink so far that a 'lads mag on telly' of this kind fits that, then what's there to set the BBC apart and keep it as 'the best broadcaster in the world'? Pretty much any programme in the free-to-air TV channels in UK would also qualify as 'public service broadcasting' and UK Public Services.

 

That apart from what seems to be encouraging yobbish loutish attitudes towards driving - which isn't in the public interest.

 

Hey - I'm not saying it isn't - creative and great public service broadcasting - I don't know it well enough to judge and just going by that and Slim's comments - but if there is something about it that I'm not getting I'd like to know what it is. (Boston Legal I didn't 'get' at first - thought it was silly-jokey shallow precinct drama, and didn't immediately cotton on to the sometimes very creative and extremely clever political satire).

[P.K.]

At least I responded to the point, which is more than you did then. That tells me even more. You asked for evidence in the other thread, when I'd already posted it here, you having trouble keeping up?

Nice links, but since when have blogs constituted evidence Mr Slim? How about "since never". Must try harder.

 

Basic Project Management Golden Rule # 1 - NEVER NEVER NEVER base decisions on anecdotal evidence.

 

Which is all you've got feller. Tough titty. But by all means try again...

[Slim]

his script writer has a good way with words......

 

Uncredited if true. Clarkson is a journalist after all.

 

PK, stop being a dick and read the whole post. You and sebrof are old gits who don't get it, the rest of us aren't, bosh. I'll take Janet Street Porters advice on media matters over yours too.

 

Skeddan, I'm not a huge fan of top gear, but I know from friends who are that it's basically car porn, and very artfully presented car porn when they get it right. It's also not something that you see on commercial TV in the uk, and has a massive audience, which justifies the BBC producing it in my view.

[Mission]

I can't believe this made 4 pages. Are people really THAT bored?

[P.K.]

I'm not bored as I get a perverse pleasure dragging poor Mr Slim around. Back in the "Sack Them" thread on page one I posted:

 

Maybe it's an age thing then.

It does amuse me the way Mr Slim has latched on to the "age concern" issue. Because basically I couldn't give a toss either way! It's highly possible that "the grey panthers" (how I miss Mrs Merton and how much does she show just what a waste of licence-payers money Ross and Brand are) are responsible for the removal of Bland and the suspension (and hopefully end) of Woss but that's absolutely fine by me. Mr Slim can accuse me of siding with "The Antiques Roadshow" as much as he likes but Bland will still be gone and Woss suspended - win / win.

 

Unfortunately for Mr Slim the poor sap will NEVER be able to produce any real evidence either way - icing on the cake...

[Slim]

Unfortunately for Mr Slim the poor sap will NEVER be able to produce any real evidence either way - icing on the cake...

 

Heh, love this pathetic petulant child 'I don't care' attitude you put on when you've had a good old spanking.

 

How can you judge brand a waste of tax payers money if you've never listened to any of his shows?

 

I obviously can't produce evidence, I can only say what my perception is. But my thoughts are based on the conflicting interviews on tv with titmarsh and youth audiences, listener responses on radio 1 vs radio 4, posters on here etc. Oh, and the fact that the actual broadcast of this youth oriented show didn't actually generate significant complaints until the daily mail, average age 54, ran the story. This, to me, shows that this is, most likely, boring old twats like you not getting it any more.

[Skeddan]

Skeddan, I'm not a huge fan of top gear, but I know from friends who are that it's basically car porn, and very artfully presented car porn when they get it right. It's also not something that you see on commercial TV in the uk, and has a massive audience, which justifies the BBC producing it in my view.

Hmmm - interesting. Maybe a side to it I've not appreciated - and might if watched regularly. I might watch again to try get better understanding of what it's made of. Often that approach gives more open mind that as personal preferences as viewer.

 

I guess one of the things I have to get over is the cringe factor. Clarkson arsing around - this middle-aged git trying to be a lad and acting like an immature oik to make up for having been a twerpy git when he was young. Maybe part of his appeal is people vicariously recreating having had the teenage kicks and tomfoolery they never had.

 

Comparing Clarkson to Brand? I don't buy that.

 

(And for 100% pure Brand discussion, why not do this in the Ross Brand thread? - this is Clarkson innit?).

[Lost Login]

I will just repeat my and others point and that as far as I can see nowhere does it state that BBC 2 or any other main BBC channel must ONLY produce TV programmes that fall within your narrow definition.

 

According to the Charter as you state in the

 

3. The BBC’s public nature and its objects

(1) The BBC exists to serve the public interest.

(2) The BBC’s main object is the promotion of its Public Purposes

 

Firstly have already accepted that Main does not mean only and therefore it is free to produce TV outside the Public Purposes as quoted. Secondly it has a second main object which is to serve the public interest. Now carefully note that they are two seperate objects.

 

Basically therefore the BBC can produce whatever TV it wishes that lies outside the public purposes as it only has to argue that it is serving a public interest. I presume basically having an audience gets them over that hurdle.

 

So yes again you have misread and misunderstood and it is pretty logical if you stopped to think about is as if the BBC had to stick to your very narrow definition it would be a pretty boring station.

 

Now perhaps take into account points raised above and earlier, and look back at what I said in relation to Top Gear - the BBC Two programme produced as part of the BBC's 'UK Public Services':

 

Maybe I haven't read and understood properly - if you want to point something out that I've missed or misread, or want to question or challenge without ad hominem attacks, no worries - that, like your second sentence, would be a valuable contribution.

[ai_Droid]

Hmmm - interesting. Maybe a side to it I've not appreciated - and might if watched regularly. I might watch again to try get better understanding of what it's made of. Often that approach gives more open mind that as personal preferences as viewer.

 

The sports car reviews are particularly good, the camerawork is frequently copied now, but was innovative when Top Gear first did it. I hate the rest of it though, the 'star in a reasonably priced car' is identical every week, '<clarkson>shall we see the lap? <crowd>yeeeers', it's awful. The staged and heavily scripted dicking around is very hit and miss, and utterly predictable in the main, but the punters love it.

 

I guess one of the things I have to get over is the cringe factor. Clarkson arsing around - this middle-aged git trying to be a lad and acting like an immature oik to make up for having been a twerpy git when he was young. Maybe part of his appeal is people vicariously recreating having had the teenage kicks and tomfoolery they never had.

 

Heh, I actually don't mind that part, in fact I'd prefer it if it were genuine middle aged gits arsing around like lads in the best episodes, for example when they where in the USA rather than 'oh jebus what can we do that's crazy this week' like the trucks crashing into walls.

 

Another point about the BBC remit, while it was showing Top Gear, it was also broadcasting World Service channels, 24 hour news, Youth programming on bbc3, 'intelligent alternatives to mainstream' on BBC4, Kids TV, a live feed from parliament, ten radio stations and providing one of the busiest website in the world that was duplicating much of that content and making it available at your leisure. The BBC rules, it really does, it's like nothing else on earth, and needs support not lambasting.

[Albert Tatlock]

while it was showing Top Gear, it was also broadcasting World Service channels, 24 hour news, Youth programming on bbc3, 'intelligent alternatives to mainstream' on BBC4, Kids TV, a live feed from parliament, ten radio stations and providing one of the busiest website in the world that was duplicating much of that content and making it available at your leisure.

I bet your missus gets really annoyed when you get hold of the remote.

[ai_Droid]

I bet your missus gets really annoyed when you get hold of the remote.

 

Who watches TV on a telly? It's sooo 2007!