F1 Television Realism
It’s about time Formula 1 had a dose of reality, or rather a dose of reality television.
You see it everywhere these days, in the UK it seems there’s always some C-list celebrity doing something daft to get themselves TV exposure. Eating bugs, prancing on ice or whatever. Even IndyCar got the jump on F1 when Helio Castroneves recently won a television dance competition.
It’s not just the stars that get a go either, after all Simon Cowell became a household name spotting the planet’s untapped talent and putting them on our screens. A never ending stream of fresh-faced hopefuls paraded in front of a society that appears to have an insatiable appetite for more of the same.
Formula One should take note, a reality show could expose the sport to a much wider audience, specifically targeting armchair viewers which, let’s be honest are the ones FOM are really interested in. So, if F1 could benefit from such a program, what would it be about?
Right now I’m led to believe there’s a program on British TV that has something to do with choosing a singer to appear in a West End musical. Seems like a perfectly reasonable idea, the musical gets promotion, the audience gets to pick the star, the television company make money from phone-in voting.
Cheap content, everybody wins, oh yeah this show is currently being broadcast on the BBC. They just won a big contract to show Formula 1 next year didn’t they?
Okay, so we have a broadcaster, a sport in desperate need of some good press, and a sensible business plan, but what should the viewers vote for?
Well, there’s still that niggling question of commentators that the beeb need to sort out for next year. Everyone has an opinion right? A favourite lineup, a preferred team. It’s the viewer who has to put up with whoever sits in the commentary box for the season, why shouldn’t they get to vote on who that might be?
The BBC have the knowledge and infrastructure to pull off such a programme, okay they recently had some bad experience with phone-in competitions, but they’re over that now, right?
As far as I’m aware no sports show has ever given this kind of control to the armchair fan, but it’s those people who will be directly affected by the choice of commentator. Why not open the auditions to the general public, get the likes of Murray Walker, Martin Brundle and even Bernie himself to pre-select the bunch of hopefuls, Simon Cowell style, and leave us to do the rest?
The show could run during the close season, with the winner picked shortly before the opening race. Each week said hopefuls could be inducted into the art of F1 racing and F1 commentary. No experience necessary and the viewers can learn along with them, providing the twin solutions of training a bunch of fresh commentating wannabes whilst explaining the intricacies of Formula One to the masses.
As far as I can make out there aren’t any downsides.
Okay it’s not great news for the old hands like Brundle, but he could wear his trousers high and reinvent himself as a talent Svengali. C’mon, there’s even room for Tamara, she could be the backstage girl hugging the tearful failures.
What do we think, is it a winner? Is there anyone else who’d fit neatly onto the judging panel, say in the Paula Abdul role? Who have I missed, and would we like to see a brand new, unknown F1 commentating line up?
Oh yeah, and finally, what in the world should such a show be called?
April 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pmJourneyer said:
Since I like Brundle, such a competition would be to select who his partner would be.
The three judges would be:
1. Martin Brundle - of course, he has to have SOME say on what his thinks of his prospective partners
2. Holly Samos - hot chick with credible broadcasting experience (most notably, she’s part of the fivelive F1 team). Why not?
3. Bernie Ecclestone/Jackie Stewart - ideally, this is Bernie’s bit, he fits the ‘tough juror’ personality perfectly. but since he’d probably be too busy to take on such a role, i’d be more than happy if Sir Jackie (who also has F1 broadcasting experience) took it on instead.
The show title is a lot tougher to think of, so I could only think of this cheesy title: “Talk Your Way to F1″. I’m sure a lot of people can do better than that title.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:42 pmJordan Allen said:
You poor people in Sidepodcastland:
The “Great White North” came up with a similiar idea to what you are now peddaling. It was called “Star Racer” on the Discovery Channel, http://www.discovery.ca and had the decent Judges of Paul Tracey, Katherine Legge and Derek Daly. (Decent in the sense that two out of three are still racing open seaters.)
Okay Racing for Formula Mazada may or may not be an excellent top prize but man, the hopefuls where racing in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, which was one of the two tracks used for the Canadian Grand Prix before it was held in Montreal proper. The other track was Mosport. Funny but these two tracks were consider to dangerous to race on back in the lax safety standards of the 1960’s.
I guess for the commentary part of it has to be Martin Brundle and Murray Walker. If he where still alive, it would be hands down James “the shunt” Hunt. That leaves the Paula Abdul Role. Tell me first what do we want from our imaginary “Paula Role” and then I will come up with a idea.
Jordan (Allen) F1.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:48 pmJordan Allen said:
Show title?
Well, if we can get the right host (Andrea)
How about “De Crasheris with de Cesaris”….
with like 208 races under his belt, he has to have some insight, right?
Jordan (Allen) F1.
April 19th, 2008 at 7:53 pmme said:
no, no, no. you’re missing the point of the article sir.
not interested in finding new drivers that wouldn’t work at all. mclaren have already perfected that art anyhow. i’m interested in the bbc finding, and auditioning, new commentating talent.
resurrecting james hunt isn’t an option either!
re: ms abdul, i was assuming you’d watched american idol or one of the many derivatives. essentially the role of ‘token girl’, that these channels regularly cast.
journeyer has the concept spot on, that was exactly what i was after.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:16 pmlou said:
Yeah I agree the competition would be best selecting his/ an experienced commenter’s partner. I don’t think I could stand 2 total novices doing the commentary of an entire race, although it would be interesting to hear them grow in confidence and experience! I think it would be brilliant to have 1 novice partnering Martin, or whoever.
For me the judges would have to be;
- Martin Brundle (or whoever was going to do the commentary with the winner)
- Bernie (He needs some say in it)
- Murray Walker
How about Christine? She could be a judge! Since ‘me’ came up with the idea surely he could claim rights to it, and therefore being able to place Christine as a judge
I may not be correct but I believe there has been an F1 reality TV programme, long time back though, where people competed to race an old f1 car in a race of some sort. It started with about 100 or so people. Like I said it was a very long time ago and i can’t remember much about it, apart from the odd appearance from JB as a ‘judge’ and adviser to the hopefuls. And not forgetting the celebrity reality programme ‘the race’ that was on in late 2006, where a team of ‘celebs’ raced each other in different types of racing cars. Not strictly F1 but teams were captained by David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine. The point to this rambling was just to say that I’m sure it’s possible it has been done before, admittedly about the racing rather than the commentary, and as you have already pointed out, there is a gap in the market.
April 19th, 2008 at 8:30 pmme said:
yeah that was bad
the problem with any form of track action, and this is something ‘the race’ suffered from, is that circuits are expensive to rent and that usually means the series has to be short.
i’m thinking this should run the whole of the winter season. get to know people as we ‘discover’ someone new. no need to drive anything or even go outside the studio.
you’re probably right about finding brundle’s co-presenter, so maybe we get to vote for them, plus the anchor man, or a pitlane person?
April 19th, 2008 at 9:01 pmlou said:
That’s a good idea, gives F1 fans something to keep them occupied with during the long and hard winter months!
It may also make people who are new to the sport more inclined to watch the upcoming season.
Agreed, although I do object to Steve Rider being involved as a judge or ‘coach’ the moment he is off our screens is not a moment too soon!
April 19th, 2008 at 9:43 pmNONSENSE said:
Ya need not search no more (you weren’t searching anyway), BBC, the saviour - he lives next door, it’s your humble servant! I can work for free, just arrange something to eat, I also require good wine, French, Spanish or Portuguese and a hotel room! Oh, I could turn the tables, make this world a better place, save the planet from global warming!!! Yeah, I think so.
All in all, interesting suggestion from MR and MRS Me. I’m sure I’d have the edge ‘cos I speak 4 languages, I also swear in 5 languages, which is a definite plus.
Have you heard, Webber lashed out at Mosley, hit out, slammed MM in his/Webber’s column on BBC.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pmNONSENSE said:
By ze way, how are things with my autograph? Might not be the right thread to ask this question but since we’re talking about BBC and celebrities I still want my first internet celebrity autograph.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:05 pmScott Woodwiss said:
I agree, I think an F1-related show would be great to tide us over during the off-season.
I’ve always considered myself quite a good commentator, actually. I tend to break into some while playing F1 06 on the PS2.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:30 pmLadySnowcat said:
Now now me…
We all know you are looking for something to get the missus out from under your feet…
Judges….well now…there is usually an old stager with nothing better to do…
If Michael turns it down it would have to be….
Max….
April 19th, 2008 at 10:44 pmSteven Roy said:
‘me’ says there aren’t any downsides.
What if the lunatics voting on it end up giving us James Allen and Jeremy Clarkson as a commentary team with James May and Richard Hammond presenting?
The trouble with this kind of idea is you almost always end up with people winning who are not the best.
As an example my mother and a load of her friends voted multiple times for the kid who won the X-factor. I can’t remember his name but he always looked like he was going to burst into tears. All these old women voted for him because he was a nice boy. Is it any wonder he has never been heard of since? If you put any kind of F1 reality show on you will probably end up with Terry Wogan introducing the races.
April 19th, 2008 at 10:54 pmme said:
apologies sidetracked. it’s on me list, was planning to talk about it on the show, but the new plan is to sort this week, so hopefully you’ll have it by next week.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:12 pmme said:
as professionals, they’re not included… unless i guess they fancy queuing outside birmingham nia for 15hrs like everybody else.
that is a danger, granted. however, i had expected such criticism and have the perfect response…
listening to bbc radio5live during bahrain free practice one, they had autosport’s mark hughes in the box. he sucks, we said he sucked way back last summer and they still employee him. he is the worst kind of commentator, he’s boring, he yawns a lot and he offers little insight. he has no idea what he doing and hasn’t improved in nearly 9 months.
free practice two, 5live had force india’s ian philips playing the same role. totally different person, insightful, witty, open and honest, entertaining etc.
so, given that the bbc appear to have a 50/50 strike rate with current choices how much worse can it be?
we might choose a dud, or we might choose the next muzza, right?
April 20th, 2008 at 12:14 amJordan Allen said:
Well, Me:
Why are we having a judging session when the best is already out there and well known to people. The only trick is to bring Murray Walker out of retirement, and pair him up with Martin Bundle or Mark Blundell, just like the old days of the BBC. Both these guys knew enough of racing and where comfortable enough with themselves to correct Murray’s screw-ups. And let us face it, You have proven to yourself that you are an F1 guru when you know when Murray Walker makes a mistake and why it is a mistake before Martin or Mark explain it.
So that leaves the pit-lane reporter. I would pick Christine but I fear hear Hamilton interviews would last 10 seconds whilw her Button / Bourdais interviews would take forever…
Jordan (Allen) F1.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:22 ambrendan stallard said:
“what in the world should such a show be called?”
The end of narrative entertainment on television.
A decent society would have taken Simon Callow out and have him shot, the shame of having him as a citizen should cause all of us to wish he had another accent. The man is a talentless thief, he sells a karaoke show as real music: and has the temerity to stand up and say he’s giving these poor hopefuls a chance.
Sigh: read the contract luvvies: even the small print. Which one of these poor fools has gone on to make a success in music?
Music is a hard trade, requiring ambition and no little skill, to last. It is, ineluctably: NOT a one evening shot.
Besides: Cowell should be taken out and shot, he is an embarrassment to a once proud nation.
brendan
April 20th, 2008 at 2:31 amSteveintheUK said:
I think ITV have done a couple of ‘find a racer’ type shows before. one was the one Lou said
and the other was based around taking 16 or 20 women drivers and putting them in a special one make series, think there where Mazda MR6’s, for a number of races with the winner getting a for drive in another one make series the following year.
I can’t remember when either one was on, or what they where called but I think both where hosted by Vicki Butler Henderson, from Channel 5’s Fifth Gear, although neither program are listed on her Wiki page, does anybody know what they where called?
April 20th, 2008 at 2:34 amSteveintheUK said:
P.S. isn’t this post just a subtle hint to get us to vote for Christine to be one of the hosts for the BBC next year? Christine will get my vote as i think she would be great at interviewing drivers/engineers/team managers over the race weekend.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:45 amSteveintheUK said:
Then again they may have been RX8, I think the winner also got to take one home with them.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:01 amme said:
lord no, neither of us have the time or inclination to join up and queue alongside thousands of hopefuls. nor could we take that much time away from sidepodcast.
i’m suggesting we follow these people throughout the whole of the off-season. and i’m suggesting it because, as stated above, on don’t think the beeb are very good at making that choice.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:04 amme said:
sadly the costs of producing content such as that are so prohibitive there will always be some reality television on our screens. my point is, if it has to be, wouldn’t it be better if it was f1 releated?
this is different though, the winner would get a year long contract with the beeb and would be on our screens every race.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:33 amlou said:
YES, yes, yes! SOOOOOO much better! ‘Me’ you should suggest this to the beeb!
April 20th, 2008 at 10:58 amLynch said:
Why dont we do a “Sidepodcast Commentary Comp.” ? Get a piece of classic F1, record your own commentary over it and upload it to MeTube ? …. Although they might all get pulled down due to copyright ?!? Hmmm.. its an idea though….
… Or.. Hmmm…..
April 20th, 2008 at 12:32 pmNONSENSE said:
I woke up, it’s a beautiful morning and it appears as if Danica Patrick won her first IRL race! Great news!
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns20252.html
“I think Danica is such a fantastic person and I’m thrilled for her that the monkey is finally off of her back,” said Michael Andretti, co-owner of Andretti Green Racing.
“We have all believed in her and she proved today that she is a winner. Frankly, I think this is the first of many.”
I must urgently start watching these series, not sure if in Europe they broadcast it, Eurosport maybe?
Danica to F1 (with Ferrari)!!!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:53 pmScott Woodwiss said:
I was gonna post that!
Anyway, I think it’s great she finally won, that’s been long overdue for her. Well done Danica!
April 20th, 2008 at 1:06 pmshaun said:
That would make a really good show you know.Think i’d apply if it was open to the public.However i would be the first one to leave the F1 team house, ha ha!.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:13 pmJourneyer said:
Wow! Congratulations to Danica! Hopefully, she wins the title soon.
As for F1, I’ll be realistic. She won’t get to Ferrari right away… but Rubens DOES need a replacement at Honda.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:53 pmme said:
that’s brilliant, the the first major US open-wheel win for a female driver.
now you’re talking!
April 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pmJourneyer said:
Nice rap you got there. :p
Hahaha! If Danica ever ends up in F1, Honda has first dibs on her. So that’s the most plausible scenario. But here’s what I want to happen: I want Marco Andretti to get paired with Button. If Marco is dynamite-quick, Ferrari buys him out of his contract and (like his father) drives for the Scuderia. Then Marco gets replaced by Danica.
You could also swap Danica and Marco’s names, and it would still be a hit.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pmSteven Roy said:
Journeyer, I think you are confusing your Andrettis. Marco’s father is Michael who spent most of the 1993 season being blown away by Senna at McLaren and managed one podium in his last race at Monza before Hakkinen replaced him.
Michael’s father, Marco’s grandfather the legendary Mario Andretti drove for Ferrari early in his career in 1971 and 72 and drove for them in the final two race of 1982 after Pironi’s accident.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:04 pmJourneyer said:
Oops! Brain fade there, but you’re right. Thanks!
Too bad there’s no edit button. Hahaha!
April 20th, 2008 at 4:06 pmbrendan stallard said:
“this is different though”
I think I’ve finally turned into a miserable auld git. I was at BBC shop today, trying to find Anthony Powell’s “A Dance To The Music Of Time”, and you know: people are buying DVD copies of “Strictly Come Dancing”.
Pass me the white jacket, I’ll come voluntarily…..
brendan
April 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pmScott Woodwiss said:
I think Graham Rahal would be pretty quick in F1. In his first unified Indycar race at St. Petersburg in an unfamiliar chassis, he won!
IF Danica was to move to F1 in some way, I think it would certainly boost popularity ratings for F1. Maybe a slightly bigger female audience? Might be able to even persuade our other halfs to watch with us. Not that “Me” has any trouble with that…;)
April 20th, 2008 at 4:43 pmJourneyer said:
Ah yes, Graham Rahal… I forgot about him. I’m sure he has great potential and a good number of the teams should be taking a look at him. But he won’t make it yet for two reasons: one, he has the least experience of the three (Graham is an Indycar rookie, while Marco is on his 2nd season, and Danica on her 3rd) Two, he is the least marketable of the three. Although Rahal is a big name in the US, Andretti is a big name in the US AND Europe, and Danica is Danica.
If he keeps his form up, expect him to start figuring in the 2010 or 2011 F1 Silly Season.
April 20th, 2008 at 4:46 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Of course, I agree with that, he does need mroe experience first. Mind you, that’s nothing a F1 testing role wouldn’t help out with
April 20th, 2008 at 5:58 pmChristine said:
The problem with Danica is, she’s flirting on the edge of being one of those Anna Kournikova types - sporty but also just a little too keen to show off her body.
A lot of women don’t really approve of that.
Personally, I think it’s not a great way to command respect in a man’s world, by putting on your swimsuit. Attention - yes, respect - no.
However, winning races is definitely the right way to go.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Well she recently did a photoshoot for the American magazine Sports Illustrated, which is many ways isn’t actually what it says on the cover. It’s more like a lot of pics of different girls in their bikinis if I’m honest. Although I will admit Danica did look pretty hot in the pics. But then I would say that, because I’m a bloke…:P
But on the other hand,
Agreed. If a female driver can show success in a male-dominated sport, then the percentage of female viewers/fans could go up, me thinks.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:55 pmme said:
in every respect this is a brilliant thing to have happened.
it’s been a long time coming, which has been the biggest problem, but with any luck it’ll be the first of many.
my main criticism of danica, is that because she has been responsible for opening a lot of doors to more women entering the sport, he recent off track actions meant she was teetering on the edge of blowing it for everybody.
if she had gone farther than the SI shoot and still not achieved a win, then women racers would have to spend the next 20-something years fending off the danica stereotype.
tennis is slightly different because women are already an established force in that game, so kournikova can be hopeless and attractive without doing any damage.
in motorsport that’s not the case, so like it or not, patrick is in a position that demands she is a strong role model for all who will follow in her footsteps.
f1 needs her, or the likes of her, it really does. hopefully she’ll make the jump, but f1 doesn’t need no sports illustrated. not yet anyhow.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:13 pmScott Woodwiss said:
^^^^ I second that
April 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pmAlex Andronov said:
Fast Talk
Vox Populi
Being James Allen
I feel what you want is a “Formula Pun” so they could just be honest and go for “cheap talk”.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Who’s for a Sidepodcast Commentary Competition?!?!
April 21st, 2008 at 1:06 pmme said:
we can do that, certainly.
what are you thinking, asking people to skype in some audio commentary. play them on the show and then vote? a ‘find the next david croft‘ radio type thing.
or are you thinking video, like lynch suggested earlier?
video could be more tricky with FOM rights, but we do have the 3D lap preview we do. maybe everyone could try their hand at a circuit of their choice and we’ll make a compilation video?
or maybe christine could step aside one week and we feature a montage of everybody’s best bits for an upcoming grand prix?
we’re open to all of the above, or anything else you can think of
April 21st, 2008 at 1:42 pmJordan Allen said:
Just wondering Stig:
Will you add or subtract points for “Murrayisms?”
Are we supposed to properly translate the corner names? Because I do chuckle at Christine’s wonderful “Acadian” Canadian-English of directly translating “Le Mur des Champions” into “The Wall of the Champions” when “Champions’ Wall” works just as well for the non-Bluenosers of North America….
Do the various tracks have a weighted degree of differcultly? Becasue it is hard for a North American to say “Maggots” with a straight face, as “maggots” in North America have a bad habit into turning into flies, you can see why. Besides te names of the corners, the layout of the tracks makes it easier to memorize the name of the corners, and all the technical data that goes along with each section of track.
Wishing they would do away with Luffield 1 and 2,
Jordan (Allen) F1.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:25 pmme said:
i don’t know, i was assuming it’d be a more democratic process, but we could mark each one.
ummmm… i have no idea. damnit with all the questions
the more i think about it, the more i like the idea of picking a single track. it’s a bit short notice for the spanish gp, but we could get it together in time for next one, and ask anyone / everyone to commentate on a lap of istanbul park.
does that appeal at all? here’s last year’s video of the circuit:
http://www.sidepodcast.com/2007/08/23/video-14-turkey-preview/
the lap starts at 1:21 seconds, drop the volume and see what you think.
we could make a long video of all submissions, take a vote and the winner gets picked to commentate the whole lap during the Inside Track video.
any takers?
April 21st, 2008 at 2:46 pmJourneyer said:
I like it! How would we send our entries in?
April 21st, 2008 at 2:54 pmme said:
phone us on skype, or email an mp3 to christine would be the easiest thing.
i’ll put a post up in bit, if that’s ok.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:25 pmSo, You Want to be an F1 Commentator? | Sidepodcast : Your Weekly F1 Podcast said:
[...] couple of days ago I posted a suggestion that F1 fans should have more say as to who our designated TV commentators should be for the year, [...]
April 21st, 2008 at 5:15 pmLynch said:
Ah I see, I thought my post got swamped in all the Danica Patrick stuff!!… Anyway yeah sounds good, not sure if I will be able to partake, dependent on workload, but yeah the track voice over is a good idea, I thought of (yes I know it is twisting copyright issues) grab a f1 video of a historic/dramatic moment ie. spa 98′ start…or Hakkinnen doing one over on schumi at spa, voice it over and plonk it on youtube……
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:30 amAlenyaa said:
Great idea, go for it!
Although I’m generally very competitive (what with MustBeatSidepodcast :p)I won’t be participating myself due to English not being my native language. Can’t wait to hear what you guys have to say though!
Great to hear about Danica grabbing her first win! This could indeed be the start of something great for her and female racing drivers in general.
I would love to see her in F1 one day, for all the reasons you guys posted here plus because I just want to see how she’d stack up against alledgedly the world’s best. She’s got nothing to lose for as far as that’s concerned.
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:23 amDank said:
Some what related (I guess!), there is a reality TV show about to air in France which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Williams F1 factory and how it operates: http://blogs.iht.com/tribtalk/sports/f1/?p=423