Top Gear Hit By Budget Cuts, Jeremy Clarkson's Diarrhea Of The Mouth Intact
The BBC is reporting budget cuts across the board in 2009. Yes, Top Gear will feel the heat and viewers apparently will notice the cuts.
The highest-rated, most-watched automotive show on television is not immune to the impending doom that is the Carpocalypse. The BBC reported yesterday there will be budget cuts across the board in 2009 and Top Gear will feel that budget-cutting heat. We're being told the next season will be cheaper to produce and not only that, it's likely viewers will notice.
According to Andy Wilman, the producer for Top Gear:
No point in moaning about that – all shows are suffering... so no reason why we shouldn't suffer as well.
Our problem, though, is that there is no fat to trim off the show, in that we waste almost nothing behind the scenes and the old cliché of every penny goes on screen is actually true.
So in 2009 the budget cut has to affect what you watch.
Wilman also joked about Clarkson's idea:
Instead of trimming back a little bit on every show – losing a helicopter here or a truck crash there – we'll endeavour to make 13 out of 14 shows as per the usual [Hollywood producer] Jerry Bruckheimer standard, and then the last one, when we only have a tenner left, will be utter, utter *****.
The Stig also spoke his mind about the cuts:
.—. .-.. . .- ... . / -.. —- -. .——. – / —. . – / .-. .. -.. / —- ..-. / — . .-.-.- / .. .——. — / .. -. / .-.. —- ...- . / .— .. – .... / – .... . / .... .- — ... – . .-. / .- -. -.. / .. / -.. .-. .. ...- . / ..-. .- ... – —..— / ...- .-. —- —- —- —- — .-.-.- / — .- -.- . / ... ..- .-. . / -.— —- ..- / -.. .-. .. -. -.- / -.— —- ..- .-. / —- ...- .- .-.. – .. -. . .-.-.-
We don't mind Clarkson's idea so much, but losing content from the show will really affect the impact Top Gear has on enthusiasts. Will this really affect the production quality of the show? Probably, but not as much as you'd think, though they may have to cut down on Clarkson's banter every now and again. We hear he's now being paid by the word.
[via Telegraph.UK]