The BBC Coverage Discussion Thread (WIll Contain Spoilers)

Nickv is correct. Lets discuss the UK coverage here.

So. Legard v Allen.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Allen is @#$%& annoying and a smarmy git, and I don't like him. Legard doesn't know what he's doing. It's like trying to pick between eating your sh!t or your friends sh!t...there's a difference, but you're still eating @#$%&.

Sorry for the crudeness, but when I think of these commentators, sh!t is the first thing that comes to mind and I'd rather waste my time playing 90s video games than thinking up more family-friendly ways to express my thoughts on this.

I dont think Legard will be there next year.

Him and Martin do not appear to get on that well, and Legard keeps making the same mistakes.

He seems to get drivers mixed up, and does not always report on what is happening.

Allen knew about F1, just did not come across the right way. I dont miss him at all tbh.

i think legards main problem is he's still trying to adjust to TV commentary. (I remember it took Allen and Martin a good 12 months to get used to each other)

His problem at the start of the year was he talked too much and at times too fast. now he seems to have swung the other way and isn't saying enough. (so at least he is trying to sort himself out)

i can't see the beeb dropping him next season, so i'm hoping he can find some middle ground. there have been occasions during races this year when he has got the balance right, so he is capable of doing it.

Crofty is good. but again, i think he's a radio man. the style of coverage is a bit more laid back on 5live and i think that suits him. + the combination of him and Davidson works very well.

i don't understand the complaints with the Hamilton and Phillips show on friday afternoons. they've been doing it for a couple of years now, I think they're fantastic.

its F1's version of 'test match special'. most of the time, theres so little happening in friday afteroon, that the pair of them talking about pretty much anything other than whats going on on the track is usually really entertaining.

especially given how long the pair of them have been around i find the reminising that goes on brilliant.

for example, i thought Maurice's story from spain about covering the montjuic park race in the seventies where he wound up spending half the race standing in a pool of petrol from an accident fearing for his life as he was surrounded by guys with lit cigarates was hillarious.

Five Live, I think, is awesome. Allen was annoying whereas Legard is crap. I can't make up my mind whether I'd prefer someone who knows what he's talking about and is pretty competent at his job, but is the commentating equivalent of nails on a blackboard, or someone who's just useless. Ideally, I'd prefer neither. It's a pity, because apart from that one quibble, the main man, the Beebs been awesome this year, although they do seem to have cut back on quali coverage a bit...

Legard was fine on the radio... He's amazingly awful on TV.

I always liked Allen, so Allen. He was enthusiastic and him and Brundle worked well together, there was a good flow there. Allen too, though perhaps never showed on his coverage is proberbly alot more knowledgeable than Legard.

Allen it is.

next year though, Croft and Martin, and maybe Ant! Stick Legard back on 5live!

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Brundle is being suffocated at the moment. Legard is always interrupting him and I just feel that Brundle is losing his motivation, which is a shame because he's the one we all wanted to move from ITV to BBC as he was the key figure! The relationship between Croft and Davidson is fantastic, and as I've said many times before, provide excellent commentary. Hamilton and Phillips are definitely entertaining, but I wouldn't put them on race duty. Their laid back style suits friday perfectly as you need the banter and stories to provide some interest

My ideal line up then would be Hamilton and Phillips for Friday. Then Croft and Brundle (and Davidson if he doesnt get a drive next year) for the main BBC TV throughout the rest of the weekend.

---

Circuit Thermalito

Liverpool Waterfront Circuit (WIP)

The thing with everyone bar Brundle and Legard is that you get the feeling they are friend.

With Legard and Brundle it just seems they're there to talk us through, its all very mindless and dull.

Maybe Coulthard?? Good mates with DC and he knows what he's on about.

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

i don't want legard next year tbh. i'd like either ben edwards or the guy who does the FP1 commentary with davidson. tbh having him, davidson and brundle would me immense!

---

[en-gb.facebook.com]

only this worse in OneHD here in Australia.



GPGSL WDC Season 4

Davidson's a cock, I just can't believe the unearnt authority he constantly talks with. I hope he gets a the manor drive just to get him off air.

Legard was a football correspondant for Five Live before this and its thrown him, because that job is 6 minutes of superb soundbite work which he's still good at but my word does he struggle with 90 mins.

The problem with lead commentator is its impossible to please everyone, people even hated murray; he reitred because of a telegraph article criticsing him for mistaking the ferrari in the wall back in Germany 2000.

Anyway Legard doesn't ruin the show, Allen did.

SpaceAce Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> only this worse in OneHD here in Australia.

Its not that bad in Australia any more - only a few years ago we had no qualifying and races delayed by 2 or 3 hours. Now we have every race live with a 1 hour preview, and most qualifying sessions live as well. There are still a few niggling issues, but overall, it is good.

The fact that we have to take ad breaks in the middle of the BBC coverage does make it a bit disjointed though, and the fact that we get our local talking heads chatting for a few minutes after every ad break, and then cutting back to the BBC mid-sentence, or in the middle of a Lee McKenzie interview or something is not ideal.


But in regards to Legard, I agree that he is not living up to his expectations, but I think he is very gradually improving. However, I can't see him staying on for next year. I don't know too much about Croft or the other candidates, but the style of commentary in the practice sessions is quite enjoyable to listen to - albeit not suited to qualifying or the race where there is too much going on.

---

X (@ed24f1)

The Beeb need to look at Croft and introduce an interactive feature - taking texts and emails during the show (as they do with free praccy) and leading discussion off some of those in quieter moment - and perhaps some forum discussion on topics that might have emerged in the time between races. MotorsTV sort of coverage.


Sauber89 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Legard was a football correspondant for Five Live
> before this and its thrown him, because that job
> is 6 minutes of superb soundbite work which he's
> still good at but my word does he struggle with 90
> mins.

Legard was lead commentator on 5 Live a few year back. He should certainly know what it's about, even if he's getting the mix wrong. The problem is, he just doesn't seem to know anything about what he doing (I don't mean the sport, I mean commentating basics).

He was nervous at the start of the year, and fair enough, but he's not actually improved much since. He's started being able to speak in English, rather than mashing random words together, but other than that, he's just so drab.

"up the hill"

"pushing on"

Id have "turn the wick up" over those two

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I personally don't mind Legard, whereas I hated Allen's commentating. Ok, so yes Legard might get a thing or two wrong, both about what's happening on track and history of F1, but he's ok.

One thing (person) I really don't like about the BBC's coverage is Eddie Jordan. I liked him as a team boss, because of his perservance and challenging Williams, Ferrari and McLaren. But as a TV pundit, he just doesn't fit. He's always trying to be too clever and disagrees on just about every point that DC and Humprey put out. He's irritating, and I hope the Beeb get rid of him for 2010.

---

Order a giffgaff SIM from my link and get £5 credit, free!
Season 1 and Season 3 GPGSL World Champion!
Member of CTDP - Cars Tracks Development Program - 3D Carshaper

I've said it before, I like EJ purely for what he is there for: To stir controversy and cause banter. Half of the time he's spot on and half of the time he looks like the world's biggest idiot. However the entertainment value you get from Eddie's blustering, DC's withering looks and Jake Humphries' boyish enthusiasm is excellent, in my view. Wouldn't change it for the world.

What's surprising is the fact that the man who BBC chose as their main F1 commentator simply does not appear to be able to commentate. It isn't that he's not knowledgable on the sport or anything, it just looks like he was missing the day they taught commentary in commentary school. While this is poor from the Beeb's point of view, I couldn't bring myself to say it's annoying in the same sense as Allen was, because at least you don't have to drown Legard out in your head.

I used to hate Allen, but Legard is truely awful. The long silences are getting more and more frequent, and when he does talk he's just plain boring and obliterates any sense of excitement. Brundle seems like he's trying to fill in, but it's not really his job, and then Legard goes and cuts over him. They seem to be getting worse, not better, as the season goes on. Please let us have Croft for next year!

Based on my previous posts in various threads, I'm sure everyone already knows which commentator I prefer. :P


marwood82 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i think legards main problem is he's still trying
> to adjust to TV commentary. (I remember it took
> Allen and Martin a good 12 months to get used to
> each other)

Good point, and it should be remembered too that Allen was gradually phased in as a commentator, by having one race in 2000 and then a handful in 2001 before he did his first full season in 2002. Legard has had a full season straight off, and while that doesn't excuse his various faults, it does mean he's had less of a chance to look back on his early commentaries and iron out the mistakes and facepalm moments than Allen did.
I think a lot of Legard's commentating problems are about him being out of practise going into this season.

---

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2009 06:02PM by EC83.

The thing is, Allen not a commentator, he's a reporter. He was drafted into the commentary mould.

By contrast, Legard is a commentator. He was a commentator 20 years ago and did 8 years of F1 commentating on 5 Live, finishing just 5 years ago. He should beat James Allen into a pulp in commentary terms, but he's technically @#$%&.

I'm with what Fincent said ^.

here's a copy of what i wrote in another forum on the subject:

'Legard is abysmal, i think i actually may have prefered JA if only for his rapport with Martin. Legard and Brundle just isnt working out, during the race (1st lap even!!!) theres criminal levels of dead-air that just sap any momentum or buzz. Should i miss a race and watch it back on the iplayer, i am forced to listen to Legard's sporadic witterings, and constantly cutting off MB to make some 'hilarious quip' that only serves to insult Martin.

Thankfully, as a TV licence payer, i get the choice of commentry. I listen to the 5Live combo of David Croft & Anthony Davidson as a norm now. As a pair, they are so far superior to JL/MB its not even funny. They keep the excitement up for the whole race and have some genuinely funny banter. If you can put up with 'popping to Anfield for an update' every 15mins or so, then i urge you all to make the switch!'

---