Quote:
Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
Perhaps if they produced a quality product people would actually watch?
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Then they would have to stop trying to appeal to every single person regardless of race or gender and by association Advertiser's. The bottom line is that a Clarkson esque personality would
never get past testing in the US. I have worked at the BBC and in TV here in the US. I still work in the business and believe me focus groups are full of people who mostly don't work, and don't drive classics. People who commission shows and people who sell products are looking for non offensive but dynamic mass appeal TV.
TG in the UK is produced by BBC which is a state funded enterprise. The BBC create TG as a niche show. However TG is certainly one their most popular exported shows and is watched literally world wide. This sate funding is how a strongly opinionated personality like Clarkson is able to get away with being an offensive euro skeptic, racist, homophobe. In the US if he made it to a shows first episode and said the types of things he says about Mexican Americans , African Americans the LGBT Communities or even Belgian Americans he would be fired and possibly prosecuted. Advertisers would back out and the show would be cancelled.
HBO, Netflix, Hulu. Showtime or Amazon should sit up and take notice, however all of those alternatives are still a subscription service, so while there could be room for better personalities and reporting as long as the TV is not state sponsored the 'personality' quirks and minority jokes that are part of the TG hosts dynamic will not be a part of TV here in the US