DD_545i

What did we all think ? It started (FINALLY) on the History channel Sunday night.

Clearly they've taken every single aspect of the BBC original and basically americanized it. They've got 3 presenters, an airfield test track, a fast laps board, a hanger studio with audience, a reasonably priced car with celeb guest, a Stig (wonder how long they can keep theirs secret), the same style of cinematography even (rolling clouds and sky filters), and fun/crazy challenges and tests.

I hear the purists are saying it's not as good as the BBC one. That's comparing a first episode against 8 years of chemistry that the BBC presenters have built up. If you watch the first (2002) episode of (new) Top Gear though, they were also a bit nervous and it also didn't quite all gel together.

I thought it worked very well. By the end (the lambos in the desert) they'd started to relax a bit and I think it might just have some legs this time and not get cancelled.

pjinca

It sucked, the original is MUCH better. It was boring, and too nice. They cannot replace the wit and jovial criticisms of the original bunch from the BBC. :thumbsdown:

DD_545i

They only featured good/fast cars on the first episode, it's natural they were nice about them. It remains to be seen whether they'll be nasty about crap cars in future episodes though. The BBC team have a unique advantage having no advertisers, they can say what they want about the cars. As they discovered though a few years in, some manufacturers chose not to give them a car for testing for fear of it getting a bad review (remember the episode where James May went undercover to test a Rover city car).

It's a bit unfair to compare their first episode against the current standard from the brit TG though. If you've got them all in .avi form (like I have), try going back to season 1 episode 1 from 2002. They were all over the place, not knowing what to say next, not having a good flow and no chemistry. If anything, I'd say that TGA has done easily as well as you could have expected for a first episode.

pjinca

Possibly, but it will be very difficult to duplicate the challenges that BBC TG have: How will American car makers like an episode where they try to find a "good" Ford for example? Or a good Pontiac? Or a good Plymouth? The way that BBC TG did with British Leyland, Alpha Romeo, etc.

The American car companies are way too sensitive to put up with that sort of criticism, they much prefer the bland passive reviews of shows like Motorweek. Not to mention the hosts on TG America are bland and humorless.

DD_545i

It's a shame Adam Carolla didn't make it to this show, after the first incarnation of TG (which he was in) was canned after the pilot.

pjinca

He's not exactly what I envision as a TG presenter. Part of the reason I like the BBC TG is that they are funny, yet still have a sense of class. Adam Carolla is more the "fart joke" type.

anand_rahim

+1. I thought the guy driving the Viper was the only one who I could envision a "car guy". The others played a minimal role at least, and were more hosts than advisors in my opinion. Guess I'll have to take a look at the very first TG episodes to see how the original cast interacted and compare the two.

DD_545i

Exactly. It has to be considered that these guys (I assume) didn't know each other before this job. Give them a dozen trips around the world, with many a fine beer consumed, and a playful banter should develop (I hope).

pjinca

The guy driving the Viper is a car guy, that is Tanner Foust he's a pretty good driver in Formula D drifting here in the US. My problem with him lies in his fairly boring personality, not his driving skills. He seems to think (based on other review shows he does) that there are no bad cars out there, anywhere.

Krozi

It was better than I expected, but it can't live up to the real Top Gear....I'll probably keep watching it along with re-runs of the British one ha


BTW, the replacements for Hammond is the best...the fattish guy isn't too bad either, but Clarkson's replacement is a total twat faced douchebag.