“Top Gear series 14: where we’re at”

A weird blog post from the producer of Top Gear, who addresses the growing criticism (I was just googling around because this week’s episode very nearly jumped the shark) by saying that he understands why people feel that way, and he’s kinda sorry about it, but the team doesn’t really care because they’re gonna be doing what they think is fun to do, and people can just stop watching if they don’t like it — yet the same article includes this bit:

I miss the three mates who mooch along – there were flashes of it in the Lancia film, and it’s there in the South American Special, and yes, it’s nice to have it back. I know James definitely feels that way, and Jeremy and I were saying the other morning how the Lancia film was a bit of a wake up reminder that we can actually make good films just enthusing about cars.

An odd contradiction, but overall I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic about the show’s evolution. There’s only so many ways to talk about cars, and clearly they’d rather do something new and stupid and over-the-top than have to repeat themselves. That’s the risk with any long-running series, and maybe there’s just no good way to handle this; it’s always a choice between repetition or caricature.

But it’s so sad to see good television go bad.

P.S. If there’s a show that should end its final episode with a literal re-enactment of “jumping the shark,” it’s Top Gear. Write this down.