Top Gear Reboot Appreciation Society

[DigDog]

Have you caught the new & improved Top Gear?

I expected to be disappointed, instead i found it rather entertaining.

 

[SolMiester]

OMG, Evan's is utter shite....Trying too hard to be Clarkson FFS...MLB was better and thats saying something!
I give the show 1 season!

 

[DigDog]

wow, that's harsh. i give them 4 seasons before the next reshuffle.

 

[Crono]

I hadn't realized the BBC was continuing with the show, thought only the Amazon series would be. Interesting, I'll check it out. I remember Sabine Schmitz, Matt LeBlanc, and Chris Evans all having appearances on prior seasons.

 

[master_shake_]

haven't seen it but without clarkson may and hammond it's probably the worst show....

in the world.

 

[Crono]

haven't seen it but without clarkson may and hammond it's probably the worst show....

in the world.

 

[master_shake_]

:thumbsup:

 

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

Have you caught the new & improved Top Gear?

I expected to be disappointed, instead i found it rather entertaining.

It's a little bit early/unfair to judge the relaunch based on JUST the first episode.

But although I liked it to a modest/small extent, overall I think it is missing the mark by a huge way.

He partially succeeds in replacing Clarkson, but I found it striking that Richard (Hammond), and May were missing.

tl;dr
The show seems to have largely lost it without the original main three characters in it.

I wish that they had done something more like suspending Clarkson for 12 months as a penalty, rather than effectively (potentially) destroying what was one of the BBC's best shows, with a significant world wide audience.

 

[Fritzo]

People, it's only the first show. While I'm sure all of you were awesome your 1st day on the job, they're not as incredible as you are. They'll probably need about 6-7 episodes to get comfortable.

Seems like I have to say this every time a new show comes out

 

[DigDog]

because hammond and may stuck with their colleague despite the possibility of losing a shitton of money; they did not even consider the possibility of going on without clarkson.

i am not condoning the fact that clarkson slapped some random guy at work. he's a dick and he should have been punished; but firing him seems more a punishment for the BBC itself rather than for clarkson, who i suspect will be having even more fun in the amazon series.

as for the new episode, i though matt leblanc was going to go full Joey, which thank god he didn't do, because it would have been pathetic. looks like he might be the new hammond of the show - the guy the others make fun of.

 

[SolMiester]

I think the show will crash and burn, MLB cant do anything unless its scripted and ginga Evan's will just infuriate everyone because he isn't funny, and looks like a dork!
Especially when the real presenters start another show later this year.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Great show! Much better than I remembered it!

Wait, are we comparing it to the US version or the Clarkson/May/Hammond version? If it's the latter, then...

Wow, that was brutal. Ok, it's still way better than Top Gear US, but it's not anywhere near as entertaining as it used to be. Matt is boring, and the the dude with his pants tucked into his boots tries way too hard to sound just like JC while constantly reminding us that he isn't. That whole Gordon Ramsay/skinny-American-who-doesn't-drive 2 stars in a rally car bit dragged on about 10 minutes too long, and what's with Matt bumping Boots (I'ma call him Boots) from behind?

 

[Childs]

They would have been better off airing Chris Harris's youtube videos. Kinda annoying he stopped doing his videos for this, and he wasn't even in this episode. And WTF... Matt LeBlanc is a legit host on the show? I thought it was some opening bit or something. lol Almost seems like he's playing a milder version of himself that he does in Episodes. Anyways, I'll reserve judgement until I see Harris do some presenting, but the silly bits they do don't work as well with the new presenter.

 

[JulesMaximus]

People, it's only the first show. While I'm sure all of you were awesome your 1st day on the job, they're not as incredible as you are. They'll probably need about 6-7 episodes to get comfortable.

Seems like I have to say this every time a new show comes out

Like the TG USA cast has? I can't believe that show is still on the air quite frankly.

 

[Fritzo]

Like the TG USA cast has? I can't believe that show is still on the air quite frankly.

TG USA got pretty good after the 2nd season.

The main reason that TG can't work to it's full potential in the US is TV is advertiser driven. If they say or do any of the controversial things that shows a car brand in a bad light, the sponsors will get pissed and pull out. That's why there's so many "We bought these 30 year old cars for today's challenge..." episodes.

 

[Skel]

People, it's only the first show. While I'm sure all of you were awesome your 1st day on the job, they're not as incredible as you are. They'll probably need about 6-7 episodes to get comfortable.

Seems like I have to say this every time a new show comes out

That's a lot of time being asked to commit in hopes of something getting better. Most shows either work or don't by episode 2-3. I personally think that Top Gear worked because the hosts had a great chemistry. I'm just not sure this group has, or will ever have that. It's also worse for them as the original line up also grew even closer over the years (as people who travel that much together always do) making them even tighter, so this new group has a lot of work to fill those shoes. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm just not sure I'd be willing to spend the hours watching them getting it together.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I agree that it'll take time but if they're going to try and ape what the previous group did then the show will fail. Its stupid for them to even try and stupid for people to be expecting that either. They need to do their own thing, and be themselves. The only thing they should try to keep is the high production values and a variety of car interests (so new stuff, old stuff, weird stuff, supercars, interesting locations). Let the chemistry happen naturally.

People forget how awkward Clarkson/Hammond/May were for quite a while (several seasons before they really got into the swing of things; actually May wasn't even there the what first season?). They made the same mistake I was talking about as well, as early on they aped the previous iteration of the show a lot, and that stuff was mediocre and boring and really comes off as filler. Hell even after 20 seasons they still had segments that fell completely flat.

People definitely need to keep things in perspective (and especially the people making the show).

We'll see how things go, but it sounds like Evans has been a bit of a backstage disaster so far. I'm also not sure about the others (Harris and Sabine would be great but I don't know how well they'd hold up to doing a regular show, especially if they have to try and ham it up and can't be natural).

 

[SKORPI0]

Just too many members in the new team. Watched the 63 minute season 23 premiere, I'll give them 1 season to last..... ^_^

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Really bad. Chris is trying way too hard and seems desperate for approval, Matt is just dull. Real Top Gear took about a season and a half to find its stride. The first season didn't have James, it was a different presenter that did bits on finding car deals and those segments were awful. When they added James in season two things stayed reasonably slow until the trio built up some chemistry and learned to work together. Based on that, I don't think this episode was any worse than season one was, but it's a long long way behind where the Clarkson/Hammond/May version was at its best.

They need a more likeable presenter. Neither Evans nor LeBlanc make me want to watch.

 

[DigDog]

OT

 

[eldorado99]

Really bad. Chris is trying way too hard and seems desperate for approval, Matt is just dull. Real Top Gear took about a season and a half to find its stride. The first season didn't have James, it was a different presenter that did bits on finding car deals and those segments were awful. When they added James in season two things stayed reasonably slow until the trio built up some chemistry and learned to work together. Based on that, I don't think this episode was any worse than season one was, but it's a long long way behind where the Clarkson/Hammond/May version was at its best.

They need a more likeable presenter. Neither Evans nor LeBlanc make me want to watch.

Agreed, I might check it out again in a year or two, but I am not particularly interested based on last night's show.

 

[Fritzo]

That's a lot of time being asked to commit in hopes of something getting better. Most shows either work or don't by episode 2-3. I personally think that Top Gear worked because the hosts had a great chemistry. I'm just not sure this group has, or will ever have that. It's also worse for them as the original line up also grew even closer over the years (as people who travel that much together always do) making them even tighter, so this new group has a lot of work to fill those shoes. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'm just not sure I'd be willing to spend the hours watching them getting it together.

With that attitude, Star Trek TNG, The Flash, Arrow, Seinfeld, Parks and Recreation, True Blood, and a slew of others would never be the great shows they are today.

 

[TheAdvocate]

My lord Evans was absolute crap in the studio segments. I've seen more sincere infomercials.

Look, I get that chemistry takes time, but he was so painfully bad that I had to turn it off.

When does the Grand Tour start?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm 11 minutes into this and it is just awful.

 

[shabby]

Something with the audience seems off, can't put my finger on it, not feeling the new hosts at all.