How could one complain to ITV?

Ay Cee

It really is getting SO fnckin' annoying with all the Button talk!!! :mad:

Every time I sit there I'm like "Ah for fnck sake, not again!"

Fair enough they're British and should support him but it's getting really out of hand at this stage! God help us if he ever wins a race!!!

Rant over until 2 weeks time.

aidan_dunne

I agree, it's getting very annoying at this stage. Second on the grid in qualifying last weekend but listening to the way they were going on about it on ITV you'd swear he'd taken pole, won the race, set fastest lap, lapped the entire field and came up with a cure for cancer into the bargain the way they kept banging on about him! I know he's being seen as the best British hope in F1 at the moment but they really need to calm down and stop over-hyping him. Wait until he actually starts winning races on a consistent basis before you start hyping him up as the next British world champion, PLEASE! Because, listening to it right now, it sounds like a massively overblown case of 'Henmania' on steroids and it's really starting to get very annoying, very quickly.

Okay, okay, I know they're a British channel and all and it's only to be expected that they'd be rooting for their own but, considering the ITV feed is also used internationally in a lot of other countries, I think the listeners in those other countries must be getting fairly pissed off with the Button-biased commentary they're hearing as well at the moment. So much for trying to be as impartial as possible to your audience and just doing the job of commentating on the race! :rolleyes:

James Allen seems to be the worst of all for this, he's just one great big Button lick-arse and apologist. Steve Rider also seems to have proven himself to be quite the Button fanboy so far this season as well but he's not quite up there with James Allen's sickening adulation of Button...... yet! Let's face it, Button's driven in over 100 Grand Prix's now and has still yet to win a race and he's had quite a few chances to do so but he still can't string it all together and put in a race winning performance. But all you hear from James Allen is "oh, the car's not right", "the BAR/Honda team messed up in the pitstop", "they couldn't get him turned around in time and he lost out", "the traffic held him up", blah, blah, blah. It's always the car or the team or other cars getting in the way or some other excuse but it's never Button himself who seems to be to blame in Allen's eyes. Has it not occurred to James Allen and the rest of the ITV crew that maybe, just maybe, Button himself is the one who's been underperforming, eh? Ever think about that one, ITV? :rolleyes:

Still, though, the ITV coverage is pretty good and I'll continue to watch it but I really wish they'd calm down a bit over this whole Jenson Button thing because, if they keep it up like this, I can see them starting to loose viewers in droves, not just here and in other countries but even in Britain itself because even the most hardcore F1 viewers in the UK will probably get sick of listening to it just like they have with the likes of Tim Henman.

Ay Cee

Actually scratch that my beef is with James Allen. Brundle is grand.
Is JA related to him or something? Brother? Uncle?

I'm seriously starting to suspect lover at this rate!

Two most biased commentators I've ever heard are Brian Moore(?) on BBC for the rugby! I think it may verge on racism he seems to hate everyone England play against so much.

And James Allen on ITV.

daveirl

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aidan_dunne

daveirl wrote:

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Well, for starters, I don't have Setanta so I can't watch it on that so I'm stuck with ITV anyway. But, still, I think the ITV coverage is quite good anyway (apart from all this Button stuff) and I used to prefer watching it more than RTE when RTE showed F1 back in the day. I used to only switch over to RTE when ITV was on a break. Martin Brundle is way better than David Kennedy ever was and is probably the real jewel in ITV's F1 coverage. Thank God he failed to get a drive for the 1997 season and decided to become a commentator instead because what was F1's loss definitely became the listening public's gain, in my opinion.

Secondly, I do remember how RTE, and Peter Collins in particular, used to go on and on about Jordan but it was never, ever as bad as the current situation with ITV (James Allen, as I said before, especially). And, even if RTE were biased towards Jordan back in the day, at least their commentary feed wasn't being listened to by millions of people in countries other than Ireland. It's funny how James Allen always seems to start his commentaries by saying something like, "Hello and good afternoon from *insert country here* to all our listeners back in the UK and to our millions of other listeners in the many other countries around the world that we broadcast to", but then he seems to instantly forget all that once he's commentating on the race! For those people actually in those other countries listening to him, they must get pretty pissed of with his "Button bias" as well.

Murray Walker was also a proud, British patriot and often sung the praises of the British drivers (Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill, in particular) back when he was commentating but at least he did realise his voice was going out to people not just in Britain but all over the world as well and at least tried to remain as impartial as possible and not let his fondness for a particular driver get too much in the way. James Allen, though, doesn't and he doesn't seem to care either. Just witness his almost sickening, at times, adulation for Montoya and Schumacher as well. There doesn't seem to be any impartiality when it comes to James Allen and, if you're a commentator, especially one that's being listened to all over the world, that's a bad thing. You're supposed to maintain at least some level of impartiality in your commentaries.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ben Edwards always, always should have been the one to get that gig once Murray Walker retired. They should have left James Allen where he was in the pits because, as the main commentator, he is the pits!

endplate

Yeah James Allen is the pits lol. After the Bahrain race ITV cut the press conference after Alonso to go and have a chat with Button and after Malysia Button was third and ITV stayed on the press conference till Button was heard. So bloody obivious what they are doing they are trying to make the rest of the world sick of JB.

Oh here you go Ay Cee the email address you were looking for. I've used it a few times already lol

dutyoffice@itv.com

Curran

Good call on the Ben Edwards - enjoyed his commentary on Eurosport with what's his name ..... John Watson??

Ben Edwards, John Watson and Martin Brundle should be doing the biz for ITV

Ben permanentally in the commentary box and every 2nd race switch the 2 other lads partnering Ben in the box and the other doing the grid walk and pit lane updates.
Brundle would be a great pit lane update guy - with all his connections he'd have loads of info!!

levy

Unfortunately Ben and John are currently contracted to Sky for their A1GP coverage, though Ben does some work with ITV/MotorsTV for the BTCC. And with BTCC moving to live coverage on ITV for at least one race of each weekend, the chances of seeing Ben at a GP in the near future are slim.

Beekay

Curran wrote:

Good call on the Ben Edwards - enjoyed his commentary on Eurosport with what's his name ..... John Watson??

Ben Edwards, John Watson and Martin Brundle should be doing the biz for ITV

Ben permanentally in the commentary box and every 2nd race switch the 2 other lads partnering Ben in the box and the other doing the grid walk and pit lane updates.
Brundle would be a great pit lane update guy - with all his connections he'd have loads of info!!

I hate that John Watson guy so much,He is nowhere near as good as Brundle IMO

Blaster99

Martin Brundle is God or close to it. Actually, ITV's F1 coverage is very good even if the Button-mania is taken into consideration. Their job is to make their viewers excited about the show, so they have to find some local interest to blab on about. It's similar with Rosberg, it's a good story and poster boy looks. Mind you, he seems fairly talented so he's probably worth the coverage.

I have also wondered about ITV selling their coverage. It must be very annoying if you're in wherever and have to listen to this endless ****e about Button. Incidently, what countries do they sell the coverage to?

They should get rid of that woman they have as well, Louise something rather. Come on this is motorsport, she's not exactly talented, get a girl with big tits to do her job. The other British stations have some nice ones doing motorsport coverage. I would have thought that's basics.

Curran

Beekay wrote:

I hate that John Watson guy so much,He is nowhere near as good as Brundle IMO

Never said he was as good as Brundle. I think Brundle is savage - breath of fresh air cos he knows what he's talking about.
Better than RTE's David Kennedy who was full of hot air - such rubbish he used to talk!! :rolleyes:

aidan_dunne

Blaster99 wrote:

I have also wondered about ITV selling their coverage. It must be very annoying if you're in wherever and have to listen to this endless ****e about Button. Incidently, what countries do they sell the coverage to?

As far as I know, the ITV commentary is also used in South Africa, Australia, Canada, some countries in the Middle East and, I think, India as well.

Blaster99 wrote:

They should get rid of that woman they have as well, Louise something rather. Come on this is motorsport, she's not exactly talented, get a girl with big tits to do her job. The other British stations have some nice ones doing motorsport coverage. I would have thought that's basics.

Well, I don't have a problem with Louise Goodman. I think she's pretty good at what she does, and unlike some of the "all-looks-but-no-clue-what-they're-talking-about" female motorsport reporters and presenters you see in other categories, Louise has been involved in F1 for a long time (she used to be Jordan's PR officer), knows what she's talking about, has a lot of contacts within motorsport and is well respected by a lot of people in the F1 paddock. Personally, I prefer the reporters to actually have experience and know what they're talking about, like Louise, over someone who looks pretty but doesn't know a Ferrari from a Super Aguri! I mean, look back a few years ago with that one ITV brought in, Beverley Turner. Looked great but she didn't have the first clue about motor racing and spent all her time doing "lifestyle" reports with the drivers on things like fashion and cooking for Christ's sakes! The fans didn't want to see that and she was quickly dropped, and rightly so. Louise Goodman might not be a supermodel to look at but at least she knows what she's talking about and does a good job.

Beekay

Curran wrote:

Never said he was as good as Brundle. I think Brundle is savage - breath of fresh air cos he knows what he's talking about.
Better than RTE's David Kennedy who was full of hot air - such rubbish he used to talk!! :rolleyes:

Oh yeah,he was so so bad,he didn't have a clue about anything

Ay Cee

Her book is actually interesting. A lot of behind the scenes stuff.
One story in it recounted how one of the female caterers had just had a miscarriage or something and one of team principles said it was nature's way. Can't remember exactly what was said but it was pretty ****in' bad I do remember thinking that at the time.

douglasman

Curran wrote:

Never said he was as good as Brundle. I think Brundle is savage - breath of fresh air cos he knows what he's talking about.
Better than RTE's David Kennedy who was full of hot air - such rubbish he used to talk!! :rolleyes:

Actually RTE's David Kennedy is now Setanta Sports David Kennedy and he is still talking his talk. The Setanta Sports team is the same team that RTE had minus Peter Collins.

loveducati

Martin Brundle is fantastic, he picks up on so many little things and constantly has to correct pain allen, why did ITV get rid of tony jardine, he is brill and has amazing knowledge as well. ITV annoys the sh1t out of me with their ads, a new suggestion this year was that the race would be shown in a little screen in the corner over the ads, but alas it will never happen, at least i can turn the channel over to setanta.

pburns

Dream F1 line-up:-
- Ben Edwards
- Brundle
- BBC (no ads!!!)

Allen reminds me of the slightly dumb chubby kid at school who smelled slightly & who you really wanted to PUNCH!

Did anyone know that Coulthard did some presenting in '94 when Mansell took over his car for a few races? They needed a big name - Senna was dead & Prost was retired.
I think DC's a bit of an arse but he mightn't be too bad as a commentator. Probably too rich/successful though...

lost_for_words

I still miss the Murray Walker, Martin Brundle combination, they were fantastic together. Maybe it was the massive enthusiasm Murray had and the technical knowledge of Martin that made them such a good team, I don't think Peter collins or Kennedy would ever compare. I remember over the years only ever switching to RTE when ITV took a break and literally in those two short minutes being bored to tears by them.
Not sure bout Coulthard becoming a commentator, i always got the impression that he was a little bitter that things never really worked out for him and that he really did play second to Hakkinen for those McLaren years.
As for the whole Button thing.....I wish they'd give it a rest! He is not the most fantastic driver out there at the moment even if most Bristish commentators think he is, in my opinion he hasn't overly achieved anything as of yet and there are others that are more deserving of air time during commentary.

aidan_dunne

lost_for_words wrote:

I still miss the Murray Walker, Martin Brundle combination, they were fantastic together.

They sure were. I don't know what it was about that combination but they just seemed to gel so well together and made commentaries a joy to listen to. I thought the partnership between Murray and James Hunt was great (especially in their latter years together when Hunt gave up drinking and actually started talking the job seriously) but the "Murray & Martin" show took it to an even higher level, they were just excellent together.

lost_for_words wrote:

As for the whole Button thing.....I wish they'd give it a rest! He is not the most fantastic driver out there at the moment even if most Bristish commentators think he is, in my opinion he hasn't overly achieved anything as of yet and there are others that are more deserving of air time during commentary.

You said it! You know, I was looking forward to Steve Rider coming on board this year as ITV's F1 presenter but he's actually starting to get on my nerves a bit now with all this Button stuff. It seems that every single race now has him asking the same questions: "Will this be the race where Jenson Button gets that first elusive win?"; "Starting from pole, can Jenson finally do it?"; "After the disappointment of Australia, can Jenson Button finally get that win he so desperately wants?" And, no, no, no, time and again he's proven he can't put it all together to do it. Steve Rider and James Allen seem to be two guys on the ITV crew, in particular, who are constantly hailing Button and building each race up as "the one"...... only for reality to come crashing down and end up dashing all their hopes.

Actually, here's a mad idea, Ted! Maybe, just maybe, if they stopped going on and on about him all the time and shut the f**k up he might finally be able to actually win a race. I get the feeling all the pressure the British media (and the ITV F1 crew, in particular) is putting him under to win could be what's actually holding him back. There's just too much expectation on his shoulders at the moment. What's that old saying about watched pots not boiling? Perhaps if they stopped going on and on about him, emphasizing how he has to win and that the hopes of the whole of Great Britain are resting on his shoulders, then maybe, just maybe he might be able to relax a bit and actually string together a race-winning performance.

lost_for_words

aidan_dunne wrote:

Maybe, just maybe, if they stopped going on and on about him all the time and shut the f**k up he might finally be able to actually win a race.

I think at this stage Button may be at risk of becoming what Tim Henman is to tennis for the British
As for an earlier comment about Louise Goodman further up this thread, what's the point of having a big boobed woman who knows nothing about the world of forumla 1? She might be great to look at (for all ye males out there) but for those of us who are female long term supporters of the sport it is great to have a woman in there who is a professional sports journalist, and gives a break from so many of the male presenters that have been slated here. There are already enough people on the likes of RTE/Setanta/ITV who are full of bull****.
It would also make my job of recruiting more female supporters very difficult

Peter Collins

lost_for_words wrote:

aidan_dunne wrote:

As for an earlier comment about Louise Goodman further up this thread, what's the point of having a big boobed woman who knows nothing about the world of forumla 1? She might be great to look at

Louise Goodman is rotten looking . . .she puts me off me Sunday lunch

Running Bing

lost_for_words wrote:

Louise Goodman... She might be great to look at

:eek: lol believe me shes not!