It is true that television and its younger audience has become much more fragmented. It is not all bad news though Jeremy. My son is 16 years old and like many of his friends of both genders, thoroughly enjoys Top Gear - not just the cars but the mind set - the action and the verbal sparring. We enjoy our cars. We like to ski the mountains and dive the oceans. For all the people whose mission is to make our existence mind numbingly boring I have a simple message. It's going to be a very long job! After we've worked hard and been out to play, then we may choose to watch TV. We just choose carefully. I don't watch that much but I want to enjoy what I do watch.
There is now much more choice. The audience is more discerning. The Internet gives people yet more choice, as does satellite broadcasting. People won't just obediently consume the schedule makers' decisions like they used to. They don't need to any more! Neither do our children. Keep up the great work with Top Gear by the way!

Richard, Selsey, UK

Well, that's the most extraordinary collection of responses to a JC article I've ever seen. Barely anyone (apart, perhaps, from the obvious childrens tv programme maker Mr Childs) can find it in themselves to disagree with you.

The question is, are you becoming mainstream? Or is it just that you have always actually been right, and the mainstream is coming round to you?

PS For my nominated country, I have today chosen Kyrgyzstan. This is selected from a list sent out this week by my local NHS trust to all local school children, and I feel that it deserves the recognition of being posted here. I, at least, have never heard of it before.

Andrew, Bridgnorth, Kyrgyzstan

My teens watch the likes of Heroes, and before that Buffy: storytelling done well. The Yanks make a lot of good television fare for teenagers....and have done for a while, from "The WOnder Years" to "Malcolm in the Middle". It's expensive stuff to produce, and the UK broadcasters/producers are unwilling to commit those kinds of resources. Hence the imports.
My youngest loves stuff like Tracy Beaker and Raven, and even the Chuckle Brothers. He's 5. His favourite shows are the big budget BBC Natual History unit programmes like the Blue Planet, that he gets in the form of freebie DVDs.
On a positive note. Youtube is not just passive. Many kids are making their own content, daft or otherwise. They learn storytelling and editing skills on the job. Kids never had it so good.

Nick, Halifax, UK

From the US, I've noticed the same pattern in my own children's viewing habits, but I don't lament. The rubbish on regular TV here isn't edifying or defendable. Reality shows can 'suck you in' but when they're over, you're more dumb and you've wasted the time.

But you can only watch a guy falling-off a skateboard just so-many times until you desire more thoughful fare. Children learn this, so when they have free-time, they enjoy a DVD of Star Trek or a racing video game, I'm pleased. Better than 'Big Brother'. BTW, many of our kids-programs have Japanese names in the credits.

I enjoy watching u-tube myself and Top Gear is possibly my favorite view there--it doesn't play here on TV that I know of.

Bob Hrenchir, Paola, USA, Kansas

Jeremy makes the mistake many “celeb” parents fall into – assuming the lifestyle in his home is typical. It’s not. Kids love stories, and though they find them in new places they still turn to TV. If Jeremy had actually read Ofcom’s report, he'd find that kids watch more children's TV than ever before, and the shows they like best are UK made. To say that broadcasters will start chasing the kids’ audience couldn’t be more wrong. The report reveals commercial stations getting out of making kids’ content because it doesn’t pay. ITV hasn’t commissioned a new kids’ TV show for 18 months – they just run repeats. We’re losing the programmes which tell our kids their own stories, in their own voices, and help them grow up. Without a good mixed diet – including home-grown dramas and factual programmes - they’ll be even more likely to be tackling car immobilisers! Think on Mr C. Sign the petition on the Downing Street website to save kids’ TV http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/kidstelevision

Greg Childs, London, UK

Just one more thought...
I wonder how Jeremy would feel if he was told that there was really no need to make any more Top Gear programmes as there are plenty of episodes which the BBC could repeat, and anyway there’s a much cheaper programme we can buy from the States.... Sign that petition Jeremy - it could be you next!

Greg Childs, London, UK

I was really ready to disagree with any of the points you were about to raise in your article, but agree with a good majority of your views especially with regards to how the media has moved on in recent times.

the only problem with utube and the other portal video sites is that there isn't enough depth to the waves of people falling over or the numerious experiments with mentos and coke cola.

the internet and the way people experience tv has changed greatly in the past 10-15 years & trying to get the kids into what we were into probably seems as pedistran as muffin the mule was when I was a child.

I do think there is a short fall with the content that the bbc is producing, as with many other content providers they are still getting to grips with the internet and how to use it as a tool to broadcast. But of all the companies in the world I feel the bbc are the best out there they could do a lot more with the hours of television just siting in store rooms not being utilise

stefan, brigton,

My kids watch Top Gear! By the way, why does Richard Hammond now look like a low rent version of Nigel Havers?

Jo, Thame, UK

This is a real shame. I was born in England in 1984 and moved to America (pity me) at age 7. The UK always seemed like the golden land of kid shows with everything from Blue Peter, to The Crystal Maze, to The Dennis the Menace & Gnasher Show, to Knightmare. What happened? Why the change?

By the way, most of the American crap, and that's what it is, kid shows are either stolen from Japan and redubbed or are Americans copying the Japanese style.

This lack of children's programming isn't just a UK problem. Only a few years ago, there were 3-4 US broadcast channels that dedicated all of Saturday morning to children's shows. Now there is only one and their ratings are rubbish.

P.S. I LOVE Top Gear (I get it via BitTorrent). I now steal as many Jeremy Clarkston as I do from Rowan Atkinson. Since most Americans have no idea who either one is, they think I'm being original! Also, The Stig is now my personal hero.

Ian Carter, Gates, Oregon

I think that people are judging things by what was the norm 30 or 40 years ago. the same thing, i feel, can be applied to other topical subjects such as global warming. The point that im trying to make, which is echoed in this article, is that things change with time, and so do people, so deal with it!

matty g, Brighton,

Dam i missed the first top gear lol
i dont really watch too much tv, im too busy with doing college work and going out and if i have nothing to do i read a book, i dont want to just sit there and watch the idiot boz for the rest of the day, i have better things to do
there are very few shows i watch on tv but topgear and a couple of other shows is all i watch

Tone, Essex,

I think the BBC at least should go on with making children's telly, especially if it gets us things like The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is actually better than Torchwood, the supposedly adult spin-off! It hardly seems right to me that the kids get the better telly, but if they're not watching it, hey, I'll happily enjoy it instead.

dtl, Glasgow, Scotland

I wouldn't say 'It's ok with TV and with our kids'. But neither can I disagree with the author that we shouldn't go into hysterics all the days long about the issue.
Still, I guess we'd better try to do at least something to attract the kids not to the horror-films or Simpsons but to something more spiritual. And the broadcasters may play first fiddle: parents can't control their children continually. But even when they can it appears from time to time the only choice we've got is Futurama and the like. Believe me, children still like to watch good cartoons with beautiful characters (not like most of the contemporary ones - I get astounded and scared with them). Or 'Sesame Street'! Isn't Big Bird really popular? Tinies - they just do not know all this ugly stuff, yet. And the longer we guard them from it the better. Why not at least try?

Darya, Voronezh, Russia

An interesting and relevant article. The underlying point is that as technology changes it is the younger generation that adjusts quickest and adopts the tech as its own. There will always be the equivalent of the silver surfer, but children will lead the way. Will we draw children back to TV? Unlikely. There is however one fundamental difference between the internet and the forms of entertainment that have gone before: the absence of state regulation... TV was regulated but the internet is not (barring parental controls). This, for me, is the most concerning factor.

Tony, Orpington,

3 Clarkson articles in one day. The ST is really spoiling us. Just one thing you got wrong Jeremy. My kids don't switch off during the talky bits of Top Gear - just so long as they're funny or rude, or you and the other 2 are arguing. Celeb on the sofa? Usually a snoozefest. Still better than 8 o'clock bed time though, apparently.

Redcliffe, London,

Something has to happen very soon or we will have kids we have never seen the like of before. If you're a grand parent kids are just about recognisable now as to what they get up to but they are so loud in the street, have absolutely no fear of getting killed on their cycles or is that no respect for the driver. Adults used to be able to say "Nothing's new, we did that when we were kids" Not any more.
Children ought to be able to find something on television to entertain them to keep their chilhood but I doubt that will happen now.

Janet, Binstead, UK

No, the kids are not alright. They are outside my house trying to by pass the immobiliser on my car. Parents should be forced to lock their vile offspring inside, with a television if they wish. That will leave sensible, ie. childless, adults like me to enjoy their Sundays in peace.

Harry, Manchester, England

I fondly remember my childhood in the late '50s.We didn't haveTV in those days.A radio was a luxury few could afford.
Every evening I had to do my sums, do history lessons and learn poems. Mother used to tell me bed time stories. Once in a blue moon I used to get a treat watching a Laurel Hardy film,
Chaplin's Gold Rush and Peter Pan. I used to do miserably at the examinations.

My son ,however, religiously watches the TV, plays cricket, spends hours chatting on the internet. Yet, he manages to get first class marks with distinction in his MBA examinations.

a.k.upadhyay, Lucknow, India

wow .. nice article .. i've read that and really impressed of what's written here .. on one side it's true that everything's changing and especially the kids .. i'm 28 now but I still remember how it was when I was a kid .. and need to say that i wouldn't agree that watching a lousy TV is so right .. I also know that it's very hard to stop them watching it cause they're really like it! but watching explosions. horrors. porn films, murderes all day long will hurt their minds, way of looking at what surrounds them! will only help to loose the sense of reality and the most important for me their sensitivity and understanding other people's feelings and problems!
thank you

Sylwia, Radom, Poland