More alternatives to US Top Gear...

[EverydayDriver]

It's awesome to see how TG has inspired folks to go out and do car films themselves. We've been watching the InnamourAuto guys for a while, and we are inspired by the "Greatest Driving Road in Cali" challenge just posted here.

So, I'm adding to the pile. With "Everyday Driver".

For the past year, a buddy of mine and I have been working on our show and slowly moving toward a TV near you. (Always takes longer than you think... an LA curse...). If things keep moving at the current pace, then we'll be on in some markets as early as Jan '09.

Yes... the same time as US Top Gear. TG Sets the bar high, and we hope the US version matches it - we will watch! So, we aren't trying to be TG, but a US Car Review show which is more fun than Motorweek.

We're working on our first 6 TV episodes, but we've also got a lot more web content coming before the year is out. Some of it is double posted YouTube.

Here's the show opener -

+ YouTube Video

We welcome any and all thoughts, it's been encouraging to see this fanbase rally behind others.

[Prost264]

Hmm.. seems a bit text heavy.

[Wizegui]

It`s really not a bad show though. I think with some more experience and perhaps a small studio, it could be quite interesting.

[NSU300zx]

The fact that you have a Z in the opener makes me want to watch.

[Cellos88GT]

I'm down. Definitely a good premise, I like it.

[MattD1zzl3]

ghhhhwahh we need more content! cant wait for the next episode.

[nouseferaname90]

episode 1 is on the website

[svb]

Is it just me or are almost all the people doing their own TG-style projects in California?

These roads look familiar to me, I'll take a wild guess that you guys are shooting on Mulholland or in one of the canyons somewhere. My backyard! Looks great!!

I do have one question -- I see you guys are using that same custom plate on the cars during all the shots, what is the deal there? Did you close the roads for you shots or did you just go for it?

And of course, the real question is have you been picked up, and by who?

[EverydayDriver]

Sorry for the slow response!

Originally Posted by svb

I'll take a wild guess that you guys are shooting on Mulholland or in one of the canyons somewhere. My backyard! Looks great!!

I do have one question -- I see you guys are using that same custom plate on the cars during all the shots, what is the deal there? Did you close the roads for you shots or did you just go for it?

And of course, the real question is have you been picked up, and by who?

Yup, you are right about the roads. Can't live in So Cal and not want to take advantage... Loved what you guys were doing with the PCH.

The license Plate is our creation, we haven't had any issues with it... yet... we've been all over with it mounted on cars. We keep all our paperwork handy, just in case!

Re: When/Where - We've got a huge shoot coming up in a couple weeks, but aren't going to have as much content before year's end as we hoped. (I'm at fault there, with other conflicts.)

So, first Quarter of '09, at the minimum we'll be in some markets scattered across the US, and may be found nationwide in a consistent Cable slot.

Having said that... It's Hollywood... the plan seems to change daily.

Really appreciate the interest!

[GerFix]

Hey, that looks really good. I just watched the Prius vs Smart review .... excellent ... really like the way the reviews where shared and there seemed to be a dialogue between the reviewers. Need to do something though about the in-car camera mounts ... there was a lot of rattle there in the Smart review.

[Dave2003]

Looks very good, hope you guys find a network to take you on, the site is cool as well, I love the awarnings awards, especially the slow driver one.

We have the same problem here in australia but we do have "Stay Right Except to Pass" signs (we drive on the opposite side of the road so our signs actually say "keep left unless overtaking") and unfortunately they do not make any difference. People still want to be dicks and drive slowly in the fast lane.

[CatalepsicFox]

The trailer definitely looks like something I might want. Keep us updated! Imma watch the first episode after get my fix of coffee here.

[CullPearlYellowTT]

Nice upload...good work on getting it all edited and put together

[BrotherBeee]

This is a really cool premise and I look forward to watching more.

Thanks!

[tuesday]

Music:
Ranged from appallingly bad and blunt (Mustang Sally? "let the sound take you away"?), to very good (the Porsche review), to great (the Solstice review), to perfect (the Elise review and the opening and closing credits), to simply epic (the intro to the moving van test), to pushing it a bit (the Zarathustra stuff for the vans, except maybe during the drag race).

Camera work:
Very good shot blocking and color/contrast with minimal use of exaggerated filters. I'm not a fan of the jerky, wobbly camera style that shows up here and there, though. And it took me a while to realize it was shot in wide screen since the player on the page was in the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.

Editing:
Varies between good and whiplash city. You switch between the two drivers too fast when they're commenting on the Solstice/Mustang, which makes it a little difficult to understand who's saying what. The technique seems to have been nailed down by the time you go to the moving van segment and it worked well for the Boxster/Elise segment.

Presenters:
Presentable, good voice tone and pacing, very natural on camera. And though they both came across a little "blah" in the Mustang review, they were hilarious in the moving van review, and passionate in the Boxster and Elise reviews. Not very distinct personalities, though. The long haired guy was more "sport performance" and the short haired guy was "sport luxury," but other than that they were a little interchangeable. So much so that I couldn't tell you who was named what.

Segments:
Opening credits/intro: good music, good shots, well-written voice over. Very appealing. And the intro was a good outline of what the episode will contain.

Mustang: seemed like the first segment written, shot, and edited. A throwaway segment, even. The conclusion was wonky: the presenters give the Mustang a mediocre review, then say it's a "good example" of a sports car, then they say it's not so great. Seems to have been something that followed from the review itself. The presenters moved fast between "this is good, that's bad, that's good, this is bad, etc." and moved fast between who was speaking, all of which made the whole thing hard to follow sometimes.

Solstice: much better. Presenters seemed to be enjoying themselves. Though the back and forth between the presenters could have stood to be slowed down a bit, it's much better than it was in the Mustang segment. Liked the Top Gear homage intro, though the the car showed up on the screen for a few seconds before it was introduced. Like someone walking out on stage to make a speech then being introduced by the MC, it was a bit weird. Skipped everything about practicality, though, considering that's something you made a big deal about in the episode intro and in the Mustang review.

Moving vans: needed to be longer somehow, it just went by too fast. HIlarious, informative, very good overall, though.

Boxster: The intro was a bit out of place, it seemed to suggest that one presenter would be driving one car while the second drove the other one. Most of it should have been saved for the conclusion to the Boxster/Elise review. Once the segment started, it was a good, smooth, refined piece of work. Stellar editing work in pairing the music to the video. Very nice. Not much about why it was a practical car.

Elise: Same issue with the intro as the Solstice, but the whole review felt much more polished than anything in the sports car segment except the Boxster review. Nothing about practicality, though.

Show a whole: I don't think the Mustang review was much of a hook piece for the sports car segment, much less the whole show and the Solstice segment didn't make up for it, even if it was much better. I think the moving van segment should have led the show, it was that good. Second should have been the awarnings and the "come to the website" request, which was the shortest and least polished segment. For the sports car segment, I think it would have been better to lead with the Boxster since it's the benchmark sports car in that price range and clearly the second best driving car. I think it should have been followed with the worst car, then the second worst, then concluded with the best driving but least practical car.

"Awarnings"/Show conclusion: Why wasn't the moving van test wrapped up the way the sports car test was, or why did the sports car review merit a total of three wrap-ups? I like the awarning idea and the graphic intro. Was it twice or three times you mentioned the website, though? Good preview of future episodes, and the new economy car vs. used luxury car idea is inspired.

Verdict: Better than MotorWeek and far superior to that Road Test thing they have on Speed. I'm looking forward to your future efforts. Some of which I see are already available on the website.

[EverydayDriver]

Tuesday... Wow, I'm just really appreciative of your time and detail here.

And everyone who's chimed in with comments.

Some very astute observations, many of which are things which bug us as well. (the Mustang piece being the weakest one, the shakey camera problems in the Truck piece, etc...) The "pilot" which is on the website is definitely proving to be more of a test piece and trial run. Since then we've further refined and improved our style and like to think we're doing even better work.

Both Paul and I have read your comments and we are going to keep all the stuff everyone's said here in mind going forward. (We've printed it out and everything!) Feedback like this is vital!

So again, thank you for the very detailed comments and the time it took to both watch our First Episode and make those notes.

Looking forward to showing everyone much much more!

[ricochet]

Maybe Viper could make a new section for "aspirational shows" -- covering webisodes like Everyday Driver and the ilk. Shows like this are as much an "alternative" to TG as a VW Beetle is an "alternative" to a Porsche Carrera GT. Still, they may turn out decent some day, so I wouldn't want to completely shove shows like ED, or even my own Driving Sports TV, completely out of the discussion.

[Tangent: Not dissing ED specifically, because I see this all the time, but why does everyone say "Coming soon to a cable channel near you" when they launch a web series? It's like drawing a web comic and saying that it will "soon" appear in syndication -- even though that would only add a small amount of incremental viewership. Why would someone want to be on cable, anyhow? Driving Sports *has* been on cable in select markets as a half-hour weekly show and I can say, borrowing a phrase from TG, that doesn't mean the show is any less rubbish.]

[Crazy Vega]

Originally Posted by ricochet

Maybe Viper could make a new section for "aspirational shows" -- covering webisodes like Everyday Driver and the ilk. Shows like this are as much an "alternative" to TG as a VW Beetle is an "alternative" to a Porsche Carrera GT. Still, they may turn out decent some day, so I wouldn't want to completely shove shows like ED, or even my own Driving Sports TV, completely out of the discussion.

I agree. Personally, I think that the Video Offers section would be more the place, as I've seen a couple alternative shows here. 'Before TGUSA...' 'An alternative to TGUSA...' To me, the very titles seem to imply that TGUSA will, by definition, fail completely, so there's a need to make shows to take its place.

Now, I don't mean to say that these shouldn't be made or that they shouldn't be shown on FinalGear, but perhaps they shouldn't be presented on the forum in such a manner. After all, this particular forum is for TGUSA, not InnamorAuto, nor Everyday Driver, nor any other show. Or, at least that's how I see it.

[pcbootleger]

I am shocked that no one mentioned about the Solstice illegally trying to pass the Mustang. That was a double yellow line afterall.

-Eagle eyed chap

[EverydayDriver]

Ricochet & Crazy Vega:

Thanks for giving us a look, and appreciate your comments. In response I would only offer the following:

- We didn't set out to be a web show, but a TV show. With background in Film and TV and a base in LA it has always been our intention to be on TV. And we are still moving that direction.

- As we stated in our original post here, we are not trying to suggest TGUSA won't work. We hope it does.

- If there were a specific place to post things like our show, we would post there. There have been postings here (Top Gear USA) and in the original Top Gear UK discussion for other "aspirational" shows. I did confirm with Viper before posting.

- Even though you questioned why any show would want to be on cable: It seems we are all excited TGUSA is going to cable instead of NBC. So it seems a valid place for a show like this...

We can't claim to know what the future really holds for us or any other car show - but we can't thank you all enough for your comments.