[23x02] June 5th, 2016

[23x02] June 5th, 2016


  • Total voters
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Evans face looks like sliced ham.
 
Stop insulting ham.
 
Honestly, CE's initial reactions to bad news, on Twitter, aren't really going to help TG regain its popularity. He's going to have to eat a bit (okay, a whole ton) of humble pie ("Yes, I screwed up. Sorry, sorry") to get back in the viewing audience's good graces. (Think JC and RH hanging their heads while the director bawls them out for not coming in during their Audi vs Porsche segment.)
 
Don't really get the positive remarks in this topic. I was again bored to death and annoyed to hell by the annoying voice of Evans. He made the 10 mil Mc Claren even boring. Really looked forward to watching that car! The Africa trip was boring and with a lot of d?j? vu, but worse. The awesome car made it bearable though. I tuned out after 20 min, with the boring SUV test, just couldn't stand it anymore.

I hope the next one will be better, it's just a waste of money and time.

Watched yesterday episode 5x02, even if it's a freaking old episode it was hugely entertaining and fun...

Maybe they should put Gardener's World on instead of Top Gear, more exciting.
 
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Honestly, CE's initial reactions to bad news, on Twitter, aren't really going to help TG regain its popularity. He's going to have to eat a bit (okay, a whole ton) of humble pie ("Yes, I screwed up. Sorry, sorry") to get back in the viewing audience's good graces.
Sadly that's not going to happen. I've worked with self centered douchebags just like Evans and people like him NEVER think they screwed up, the ego simply won't allow it. For him it probably won't matter if he causes the show to flop, it will never be his fault, it's always someone else's.
 
I find myself disagreeing with most of the views here, what an utter, coma inducing borefest, about round the SIARPC I just zoned out, checking my phone and skipping through a magazine, this has never happende before that I can remember, this was even worst than last week.
You was never bored by all the repeated, scripted, childish, badly acted yokes of CHM?

I was.

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The SUV film was okay-ish. But why did they need co-drivers in the first place? No idea. [/I]
So when they do try to be different from old Top Gear that's no good. And when they do copy the format, that's no good either?

This Top Gear is a lot more social than the previous one. More guests and more helping each other. And with that, it acknowledges they won't simply get the same chemistry of CHM by only replacing the presenters.
 
Sack Evans, put Harris in his stead, and this is going to be a good show, not bargain-bin CHM.

I like this idea.
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. The guests were more than OK, that 675LT and of course the F1 GTR are awesome cars, the South Africa part was beautiful. LeBlanc is really turning in to a great host.

The bad: SIARPC is way too long. I'd just ditch it entirely. But this was also the case in previous seasons. CE is annoying and I don't like him at all.

Overall, I think the show needs a few tweeks, but I still see a lot of potential.
 
You was never bored by all the repeated, scripted, childish, badly acted yokes of CHM?

I was.

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So when they do try to be different from old Top Gear that's no good. And when they do copy the format, that's no good either?

This Top Gear is a lot more social than the previous one. More guests and more helping each other. And with that, it acknowledges they won't simply get the same chemistry of CHM by only replacing the presenters.

Never said the old Top Gear was perfect, I was quite bored when they tried to build that bridge and the time they went looking for the start of that river though it had some good parts as well.

I was hoping it to be better than the old top gear taking the good parts like the amazing graphics (still there) and entertaining supercar reviews, and most of the road trips to 'test' a car without making it a copy of the old or a boring fifth gear installment.

I actually feel 'robbed' of my weekly hour of fun, I am still hoping for it to become magical, funny, new and amazingly entertaining but it just isn't to date, it's boring.

About the copying, it's like a painting. If you paint some fat people, it isn't a Rubens. Paint them from a different perspective and it can be a picasso.

I'm still hoping for the best, but honestly, that Evan guy really spoils it and I don't seem to be the only one going on about it so there must be some common truth in that...

Let's hope for the best next time! Bring on some funny creative stuff!

PS, about the gardening stuff, we could put Monty Don as the main presenter, would be good fun. I follow(ed) to shows from the BBC, gardener's world and Top Gear, as in Europe we don't really have any good garden or car show on.
 
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Sack Evans, put Harris in his stead, and this is going to be a good show, not bargain-bin CHM.

That won't happen, that would be the BBC admitting they made a mistake and right now that won't be allowed by the powers that be to happen, after this season, maybe, but during the first season, no.


I just watched extra gear, it's so much better than the main show, though I am not sure if Reid or Harris could carry the main show. The main issue for me is the voice, yes Clarkson could be a prize pillock at times, but his voice just conveyed a natural tone that at least to me made his opinion of a car the truth, no arguments allowed, with Evans, Reid and Harris, it's more of the boys out having fun and hey, here's what they think, but you don't have to take it as gospel.
 
Y'know... all this talk of "It's just the second episode", "give them time", "2002 TG was bad at their beginning too" made me watch the old [01x02] again. And you know what? I actually liked it more.


Some things are similar to what we have been watching: You have one main presenter taking up 90% of screen time (Clarkson), a sidekick with a few good lines but you can see he can shine on his own given a chance (Hammond), and a 3rd guy who is "kinda there" but also not (Dawe). And no I'm not wearing nostalgia glasses, I actually found those people more likable. I'm the kind of person who prefers a boring place with nice people over an awesome party filled with annoying douchebags. (I'm not the kind who blindly believes new is always better. Noises and flashy lights don't attract me)
 
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I liked it more than the first episode, but I still rate it at 5/10.

The problem is, like others already said, that they try to continue the CHM version, but look like they're just imitating other people's playbook - which is exactly what they are doing. It shows very much that they either want to play it safe by just marginally changing the format or just don't have any ideas of their own.

The McLaren film was good, and indeed - Jenson Button would be a better presenter than Chris Evans. Or as Sabine Schmitz for that matter, to keep the comparison to the same role.
The studio bits were cringeworthy, and FOR FUCKS SAKE cut the SIARPC segment shorter. And with more actual content. Those first and best car nonsense needs to go. Actually, everything involving the audience shouting or clapping as a feature has to go. It was far more interesting when Clarkson read off the car history of the guest and they actually talked about it.
Also regarding SIARPC: That Mini actually looks consistently slower than the reasonably priced car. Something is wrong with the cinematography there.

The Africa film was good. I really liked the backup camera challenge, even considering that the "stealth" was of course utter crap because of the additional camera crew right next to the cars...
 

This recent upload in JM's Unemployment Tube channel was 10x funnier than both episodes.
 
Y'know... all this talk of "It's just the second episode", "give them time", "2002 TG was bad at their beginning too" made me watch the old [01x02] again. And you know what? I actually liked it more.


The first 2 minutes alone are already more entertaining than the whole 2 episodes of the "new" Top Gear...
 
Y'know... all this talk of "It's just the second episode", "give them time", "2002 TG was bad at their beginning too" made me watch the old [01x02] again. And you know what? I actually liked it more.


Some things are similar to what we have been watching: You have one main presenter taking up 90% of screen time (Clarkson), a sidekick with a few good lines but you can see he can shine on his own given a chance (Hammond), and a 3rd guy who is "kinda there" but also not (Dawe). And no I'm not wearing nostalgia glasses, I actually found those people more likable. I'm the kind of person who prefers a boring place with nice people over an awesome party filled with annoying douchebags. (I'm not the kind who blindly believes new is always better. Noises and flashy lights don't attract me)
Ah yes, I personally like those old episodes a lot. Really down to earth and fun. Still a mix of classic Top Gear and a new found freedom in car journalism. But those episodes were mostly fun for car lovers and not the general public.
 
I'm quite "surprised" that the people who kept saying that Evansgear would be crap before they'd even seen it are now finding it so. :lol:

Anyway, interesting development of the format. More please... and that's also true for my video which stopped playing after about three quarters of an hour. :cry:
 
4/10 from me.

- 675LT segment had good cinematography, which accounts for probably 3-3.5 of the above points. I feel like if they had the F1, F1 GTR and F1 GTR LT, they should've spent more time with them. Not just a quick overview. And Evans really needs to chill out.

- Skipped the star in a rallycross car.

- SUV challenge was very boring. I didn't feel engaged or attached to the characters like CHM used to make me feel. The Mercedes breaking twice was for CMH style theatrics. Very little about the actual SUVs and all about the pointless events.

Was that really all there? I don't remember any more. Just 3 segments seems like much less than CHM used to do.

I've given it the chance I promised I would, but I think I'm done with Top Gear. At least for this season. I'll give 24x01 a go when/if that comes.
 
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I actually read through this thread while watching most of tonight's episode (Monday on BBC America). This is my first chance to enter the discussion, and I'm really very disappointed. Let's see if I can rank things in order of their terribleness:

1. Stars in the rally car: Just horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. What a complete episode killer to plug some kind of miserable, awful chat show in the middle of Top Gear. And adding another couple of dozen "stars" into the thing and making the misery that much longer really doesn't help.

2. All of the shouting: It's not really just CE -- there was a lot of it in the "stars" segment. Like they're playing to a stadium crowd, instead of an intimate studio crowd. It's just really awful.

3. Language: Again, I'm from the US, and one thing I liked THE MOST about the CHM Top Gear was their use of the language. MLB really doesn't help here at all, of course, though CE certainly isn't any better in terms of using the carefully-crafted language that made CHM so enjoyable. It's all just vulgar language and shouting. The opposite of the elegance that CHM brought to the show.

4. More of the above, I suppose: I always enjoyed how Clarkson "took on all comers" in the RPC segments, chatting on a great level with everyone. And almost talking like a "father" to the F1 drivers. Man, do I miss that in the mess that CE makes of all of that. Clarkson talked to the "stars" -- CE shouts to the audience.

5. Personalities: Historically, CHM really clicked when they finally put all three of them together. I still don't know what to expect with TGCE, but so far, it's either too many people, or too few, with just CE and MLB. I don't expect to EVER see any of them "click" the way CHM did.

To put it into perspective, I'd have to say that I far prefer Fifth Gear and Top Gear USA to this drivel -- Fifth Gear at least talks about cars and isn't the car wreck that TGCE is. Top Gear USA finally got smart and ditched the whole studio nonsense, and I've been pretty happy with their later episodes. Just get three guys, put them in three vehicles, and let some fun ensue. It sure works far better than the mess CE has cooked up. And it goes without saying that Top Gear CHM was miles ahead of any of the others.
 
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