[01x02] November 28th, 2010

[01x02] November 28th, 2010

  • 10

    Votes: 6 2.1%

  • 9

    Votes: 25 8.8%

  • 8

    Votes: 81 28.6%

  • 7

    Votes: 80 28.3%

  • 6

    Votes: 40 14.1%

  • 5

    Votes: 20 7.1%

  • 4

    Votes: 15 5.3%

  • 3

    Votes: 3 1.1%

  • 2

    Votes: 5 1.8%

  • 1

    Votes: 8 2.8%
  • Total voters
    283
i have yet to see it. the many, MANY flaws of living in California.

but from the responses, it looks more promising than the 1st episode. :mrgreen:
 
Overall, I liked the episode, I even laughed out loud a few times.

The camera work seemed improved - less vibration on the in-car shots. The overall production value, as with last week's premier, seemed high, and there were some very nice looking shots this week.

The skier race and the Aston Martin segment were both well-paced and interesting. BSSC gets the "Most Improved Segment" award, along with the less prestigious "Still Needs the Most Work" award. Personally, I don't really like having to watch a celebrity who clearly doesn't care about cars try and talk about cars, but if you're filming a version of Top Gear in Los Angeles, you'd have to be an idiot not to take advantage of that for SIARPC. Wood this week was a better interviewer than Ferrara last week. This may be down to preparation (or lack thereof) or filming-day constraints, I'll wait and see.

The last segment felt like it dragged on a bit too much. Watching drifting is exciting. Watching people fail at drifting is only interesting if the people involved can make it amusing. The TG UK presenters all have the ability to engage the viewer by finding the narrative, the story in what they're doing, and then making the viewer feel involved. Watching TG US sometimes felt like watching footage of some guys doing stuff that they found fun, but I as the viewer was just too distant from it.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the episode, and I expect that they'll show rapid improvement as the makers of Top Gear US continue to learn. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

PS A news segment would be great, but I'm not sure that the presenters actually know enough about cars to present the news convincingly.
 
Some really obvious continuity issues with the EVO X piece.

Really beautiful shots on the Aston film. Though, I disagree with the script's treatment of the car. It looks ridiculous and overreaching gauges are a matter of fact in almost every car (modifications may put more of any car's gauges to use). Hardly a worthy criticism. And, drag racing... again?

Perfect opening to razz a guest about his car choice... missed. Seriously, you can't just let someone say they have a Prius and NOT give them a hard time about it on a show like this.
 
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It's getting better. I'm actually looking forward to next week's episode.
 
I give it a 6/10. Better than last week's episode, but Tanner's voice overs were really weirding me out. I've been in film-festival quality films and had voiceover turn out way better and I was the one recording myself and editing. The Evo bit was old Top Gear and unoriginal. Why do they keep doing films on old cars? The Viper, now the Evo? One of the amazing things about Top Gear UK is that they review cars before they come out in many cases; why is the US version spotlighting cars that have been in the background now for 5 years? Also it's painfully obvious that Ferrara and Wood can't drive worth a crap. OTOH, I like Tanner's character a bit more, and the cinematography seemed improved with the Aston Martin segment. The music is still nowhere near as good as UK though, which IMHO can ruin good photography.
 
Just like I said last week, guys. The show gets better. It will never be as good as Top Gear UK, but it can be a respectible Top Gear USA if you give it a chance and forgive the 'roughness' of a brand new crew from the cameramen to the director to the talent, all learning to work with each other and find their groove. It won't happen in season 1. However, that doesn't mean season 1 is automatically bad. Remember, all unhappiness is caused by comparison.

Two episodes down, just 8 more to go... before you know it, the season will be over. :(
 
show was better than last week and the Aston piece was up to Top Gear UK spec in terms of filming. Rutledge is by far my favorite of the hosts and it's nice to have an actual driver on the show in Faust.
 
One thing I'm looking forward to next week is their first non-photocopied from the UK-show-film, the moonshine challenge, buy a car and deliver moonshine in it.
 
i got a question do they want people to watch the show on air. because it was on itunes at at least one pm eastern time. i mean why put it on itunes before you air the show. torrent are one thing i expect that but itunes 9 hours before airing. ok with that out of the way.

the show was much better than last time. the camera work was better and the review were a little better. the interview was better. they are l
 
A much stronger episode. Went from 5 last week to solid 7 this week.

The race was pretty good. While TG Proper has done it, they never did anything off road and seeing the Evo in the snow was great. (I'm inclined to think the shaky camera might have more to do with driving through 8 feet of snow rather than a technical problem).

Aston Review was pretty well done. Dare I say felt like a true TG reveiw.

BSSC was thankfully not boring as hell. Definitely a better guest and maybe Wood is more suited to it. (I feel like the first season is going to be a tryout of figuring out who will do certain kinds of segments). Still wanted to skip over it though.

The last bit was good. Looks like the chemistry is building but as expected still far off from the original. Overall it was pretty enjoyable. The ending and more importantly, how it was handled was hilarious.


To me this episode was more of what I hoped for last week and hopefully sets a good benchmark for the rest of the season.
 
It's not half bad, really. It helps if you haven't seen TGUK, so you won't recognize the structures/setups of the films- some pretty blatant ripping off happening there. It's doing it's job of introducing TG to the US masses (well, however many watch History, not sure if you could call that "masses").
One question though, did the seeing eye dog do that on cue? I know they're highly trained...

A review I heard about said that the third show was where the hosts started to get some real chemistry. We'll see.
 
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Gave it an 8 because it was so much better than the first outing. The Evo bit was too scripted (bus, propane truck, jumping over the EVO) but that is typical of the UK version as well. The Aston piece was beautiful. Can't believe that just today I drove past that dry lake bed. I had no idea that for $15 you can take your car on it and do what you please. Back to the segment, the cinematography was beautiful. Great choice on color for the two Vantages. I cringed every time Wood said "Ass-ton" and it was compounded even more when he was trying to make a point that it Aston Martin sounded classy.

BSSC should just be dropped. It is rarely good even on the UK show and there at least Clarkson can interview. Here it is boring, the stars, even though I now know who they are, are boring, the lap is boring. I would rather they do a news segment to add some good banter/ribbing from the 3 hosts.

The blind drifting segment was pretty good. I was impressed by the driver and there was some good humor this time as well. The problem, as someone else mentioned is that it is too clinical. Everyone talks and narrates like they are on the evening news. These types of segments don't need narration or recaps, or even explanations. If there really is a need for exposition, then add a little 'colorization' or give it character for the narration. Clarkson and Hammond do this quite well. Blindly reading from a script in the VO booth is extremely boring.

The Stig was again almost complete an afterthought. If you are going to use him, then USE him. Copy the intro if you must "Some say...." but don't just cut to video of him in the car and stating that this is the guy that drives our cars.

The show is picking up and it could be a pretty good season of car enthusiast television but please please please stop talking like you are a field reporter on the 11 o'clock news. Just keep it light and conversational.

8/10 just because I loved the cinematography of the Vantage piece....and that is my all time favorite ride. :)
 
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bahnstormer said:
wood and faust can stay, but the other guy needs to be replaced immediately =[
Click to expand...

That's kind of my thinking, although I'm still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. So far, Ferrara has definitely been the weak link in the crew. 0 car knowledge, 0 driving skill, 0 fun from what I've seen. They must have seen something in him that made them cast him, but whatever that is it's definitely not showing. He really does stick out like a sore thumb on that show.
 
I think it was a much needed improvement over the first episode, hopefully it continues.
 
Much better. What I loved most about this episode was the drift challenge. I didn't love it because it was the most entertaining, but because it was the most original. It's similar to Jeremy talking the man around the UK track, yes. But if this segment is similar, the others are carbon copies.
 
Gave this one a 7 as it was nice improvement over the first episode. The chemistry's beginning to form, the camera work (anti-shake, better effects and transitions) is improving and the big star in a small car segment didn't seem nearly as awkward. This show is showing some real potential.
 
I was so disappointed in the first show that I wasn't expecting much this time.
I was however pleasantly surprised. I may even be warming up to hosts.
Film work was better, the breaks in the action for the commercials where better.
This one was just "Better".
 
I enjoyed the last episode, but this one was 100% better!

I was laughing throughout and I thought that the hosts really started to show their personalities.

As for Ferrera getting axed, it's still only been 2 episodes and he hasn't had that much camera time. Give him a chance.
 
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