James Allen

[Spaced Invader]

James Allen is the master of trying to create excitment where there isnt any. a top class clown and Michael Schu worshipper.

[GXH]

Ben Edwards working with Martin AND Eddie Irvine in the pits 4 live interviews when Montoya crashes out....

Picture the questions Eddie would ask on his walk back

[Pitstop]

Gotta' be Brundel and Windsor - hate one, love the other - nice balance!

[Valve Bounce]

I prefer the Michael Schumacher - Martin Brundle combination

[sceptic]

Originally posted by Asp
I hate to say it, but at the end of last season, James did grow on me and reduced my hate level on him.
OK, he's no Muzza - but who is? He can't make a boring race interesting - but it is a difficult art to master. At first, he really was , but now he's getting more practice he's improving at a decent rate. Of course, I'd much rather have Ben or, of course, Martin Haven - his gaffes are very nearly at Murray standard!
But if we do boot him from the box, stick him back in the Pits. He knows his stuff on that side of things, he knows his strategies, and if only to get rid of Ted Kravitz!!! *screams*

I agree that James was better in the pit lane than he is as a commentator, but compare James' performance in Australia with his performance in Japan. Then compare Ted's performance in Australia with his performance in Japan.

Over the course of the season Ted improved, while James actually got worse!

Now I admit he's still not great, but if he keeps improving at that rate, he will be in a couple of seasons.

Remember, unlike James Allen, Simon Taylor or Peter Windsor, Ted hadn't been a motorsport journalist for years before he started working in F1. Perhaps ITV should have got him to work on lower series at the start of his career...

[Adam43]

Originally posted by sceptic
Now I admit he's still not great, but if he keeps improving at that rate, he will be in a couple of seasons.

Improving? Not seen much of that!

And even if he has, at this rate he could be merely adequate by the turn of the century.

[Asp]

I dispute that James got worse. You can't just take one race at each end. Besides, I can't really quantify why I think he can't better; I just have the feeling that he's getting a little more excitable as time goes on.

And as regards Ted, well, yes, I suppose he's gaining more experience and now knows a little bit about what he's on about. Does anyone know where he's come from if he's not been a journalist for years?!

[sceptic]

Don't know what he was doing before he joined ITV, but he started working as a teaboy on their F1 coverage in 1996 and gradually got promoted.

[nameless]

Originally posted by Logrence
...or the dude who does it for talksport and the F3000 on itv...

no..........no............no..........please no!!

i can very nearly fall asleep during a 15min f3000 programme with him commentating

the v8 brutes team would be good, with suzi perry in the pits. anyone else agree?

[pole2pole]

At this time each year I always get excited about the nearly here new F1 season but this time round I havent got the same feeling and I am sure like alot of you folks in this forum i put this down to the coverage that we had from F1 D+ last season. There coverage always made for a fantastic f1 weekend and you never missed any action on the track. Last season myself and some friends would get the beers in from the country hosting the GP and sit back and enjoy the weekends coverage. This season we are back to good old ITV and I cant help but think we will always be missing something so it looks like are F1 weekend is once again back to 3hours long.

[DavidStHubbins]

We need someone funny commentating - someone witty who will make us **** ourselves every now and then.

p.s. Ted was cloned from James Allen's big toe.

[Yoong Montoya]

If you want a good James Allen replacement how about that Robot Wars commentator dude?

[Valve Bounce]

Billy Connoly would be a great replacement, wouldn't he? We'd laugh ourselves silly while watching F1.

[OVERSTEER]

Originally posted by Valve Bounce
Billy Connoly would be a great replacement, wouldn't he? We'd laugh ourselves silly while watching F1.

I could imagine it, "Who's that F**king w**ker who's just spun into the gravel trap?"... I could F**king drive better than that!"


Ted Kravitz isn't too bad considering his level of expereince

[Valve Bounce]

Billy would have Martin in stitches. And how about Billy interviewing the drivers in the post race conference? He'd have them in stitches too.

[pole2pole]

Just think if DC won a race Billy would have the bag pipes out!

[DavidStHubbins]

We should start a petition for Billy to ITV! Bigyun.

[Super Tourer]

I'm with those who think James Allen got worse as the year went on.

Tiresome name dropping and too many 'when I had dinner with ....' anecdotes.

I know he can't cry 'stinking fish', but too much ramping up of tedious races as 'fantastic excitement'.

He def needs to improve his coverage of the actual startas well - which really grated on me as the year went by.

Really, the 'art' of commentary is dying in many respects. Commentary started on radio, where the commentator had to convey to his audience what was happening to people who couldn't actually see it. Therefore the skill in creating the atmosphere and excitement of the event was immense.

James' big problem is that instead of concentrating on telling us what he see's (ie what is happening). He easily drifts off at a tangent and slips into one of his 'anecdotes' or even starts trying to impart more detail about what the cars/drivers are doing, which , as he has never even sat in an F1 car - is something he know's nothing about - he doesn't know what a car feels like on a light fuel load/ cold tyres or whatever.

This is Martin Brundle's role, which he is brilliant at. But this year I thought Martin had to pick up the commentary too often and spot things that were happening , whilst Allen was rambling on.

Really, ITV need to define his role, get him to cut out the name dropping media luvvie bit, and let Martin do the clever bit.

Whilst we are on the subject can we also please biff out Tony 'statin' the bleedin' obvious' Jardine, who IMO adds nothing to the coverage.

As for Mark Blunder....

[DavidStHubbins]

Tony Jardine is a big cog in the machine. He probably paid for his seat there. All he does is talk about his rally exploits though! Get some funny people in there... And lose James Allen.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by DavidStHubbins
Get some funny people in there...

I'd settle for more people who knew about F1 (and motor racing in general).

[pole2pole]

I can remember Clive James doing a bit of commentary a few years back it was very interesting and funny and plenty of imfo as the same time.

[Super Tourer]

Yeah, I remember Clive James narrating some of those 80's F1 year video's. In that reduced timescale he was amusing, however over the course of a two hour race I'm sure the novelty would wear off......

Im almost at the bring Murray back stage......

[Damon]

Damon Hill and Perry McCarthy were great on the alternate commentry feed. It was like listening to two blokes watching the race in the pub. That was funny! They also knew what they were talking about and had some genuinely great insights, which was a bonus.

I think Ben Edwards is the best commentater currently available and Peter Windsor can more than match Brundle for the grid walks. F1D+ had it spot on and we're really gonna miss it .

[kdr]

unfortunately for all we talk about this...there ain't nobody listening.

[daviopolo]

Yeah I really miss Murray and James makes well sure of that there's never a replacement but still there always so far you CAN go to find someone appropriate and I really don't think they made the full journey with JA.