Just went to the first taping (I was, in fact, the first audience member to ever set foot in the new studio). From the segments they showed us and perceived chemistry of the hosts, TG America seems very promising. It's not quite up to UK standards, but hell, it was the first episode, and it definitely blows Australia out of the water (though that's not saying much). Being that the studio is two minutes away from my house, I hope to attend future tapings
Well, it was a long day. Got there super early as it was suggested. Oddly, for the first taping ever, there weren't that many people there. As we walked out though, there was a good line waiting for the afternoon show.
The taping went as expected for the first one. Kinda long. Very warm. And as it turns out, we only saw them film half the show. Guess they film the second half with the other audience. In all though, I had a great time.
Anyone else go? What'd you think???
im going tomorrow, thursday for the 8am taping. what time would you suggest i would have to start lining up??
I was there. Definitely get there around 7:30 to avoid possibly being delayed to the afternoon show.
Keep us posted.
It was a lot of fun and I have high hopes that it will be a quality program. They stressed their desire for a top notch show and the segments we saw seemed to be good. Same great cinematography and good laughs in the writing. There are still some rough edges, but the Tanner, Rutledge, and Adam had good chemistry and I think it will be a good start. They seemed like great guys and where friendly and interacting with the audience when they could, especially Rutledge.
We basically just did a lot of clapping and cheering and standing around. I was hoping for a little more. No filming of the Stig, or the "Big Star in a Small Car" segment, just the stuff between segments and the opening. I hope they can work the dog incident into the show, but I doubt they will. Probably funnier in person than on TV.
Did they do a news segment?
*cue hater posts*
It sounded like fun.
Here's hoping for some more reports for the next few days.
I hope they get Adam Carolla in next year.
I know there's already a thread about this, but I too was at the taping of the first episode yesterday, as well as stayed after for about an hour to chat with the hosts, and I did a full writeup if you guys are interested
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/2010/r...studio-taping/
Sounds good
Astra
Octavia
Fabia did you guys get free souvenirs or merchandise?
Ha. I would have loved to see Adam Carolla interview a drunk David Hasslehof.
I have to agree, the first season of "new" TG was pretty rubbish.
I just came home from the 8am taping. I liked it a lot. It's not TG UK, but thats a good thing. Adam and Rutlege (spelling?) were funny as all hell and the 3 guys have a good vibe together. Both of these guys are really funny off the cuff. I have an eerie feeling Corolla would likely have done more harm to the show with his style of humor.
The segments I saw were pretty much as well produced as the UK versions. When you guys see it, don't go in looking to see who is supposed to be which host from TGUK and I think it'll be plenty enjoyable.
(merged post)
Richard today mentioned it was the first 3 seasons were shit. Your review is pretty spot on, though I saw a different segment and no celebrity or news segments.
I think this show can hold up so long as TG UK fans don't demand it be "TG UK with American accents and US market cars"
Last edited by thedguy; October 16th, 2010 at 3:14 AM.____________________________
Richard today mentioned it was the first 3 seasons were shit. Your review is pretty spot on, though I saw a different segment and no celebrity or news segments.
I think this show can hold up so long as TG UK fans don't demand it be "TG UK with American accents and US market cars"
Last edited by thedguy; October 16th, 2010 at 3:14 AM.____________________________
Some that got sent to me via e-mail:
I went to the first TG studio audience filming, and I hate to say this, but TG America looks a lot more impressive (based on what I saw today) than what I thought it would be. The jokes are there, the driving is there, and the chemistry between the guys is there. I would recommend people watch at least the first couple of episodes.Super-cars, extreme stunts and challenges, car reviews and celebrity guests... maybe on the program but there was nothing like that at the taping(a Viper and Aston Martin sitting there doesn't do much for the OC crowd). That taping was a complete waste of time for everyone in the audience. I am a huge car enthusiast and maybe had some expectations for the taping this morning- but what a horrible experience. I felt just like a prop on the stage being asked to move around for cars and cameras for taping. Of course I didn’t expect to drive any cars or anything spectacular- but the highlight was a dog peeing on the new carpet. I hoped by trading my morning and ~7 hours on a workday that it would give me some satisfaction or enjoyment in return. Will I watch the show- yes I think it will be good show. But I will highly advise my other friends with tickets to not waste their time and just watch it on TV.Just got out of the 1pm taping of top gear us. The presenters were great, and the video clips were true to the uk version. The music, the effects, and overall style of the clips were fantastic. In a way I'm glad they canned the old one because this is going to be competition to the original. In studio they had an Aston Martin v12 vantage, viper acr, camaro, and lancer evo. SiaRPC was Buzz Aldren. The location is great. The studio is inside a small hanger, right next to the hot air balloon ride at the OC Park. So if you take a ride on it before next week, you can see the track layout, and all the test cars parked out front of the studio. Adam Farrera said the show should be on end of November or December on history channel.I wrote a report on my first taping of Top Gear America: Hopefully I edited this right
My name is [removed]. I went to the very first taping on October 13th on Wednesday 8 AM. I went with my friends from Los Angeles drove along side the carpool lanes of LA traffic to Irvine toward El Toro. I drove up to guard at El Toro and I saw a Jaguar XJS (that sports car I used to love when I collect car stamps around when I was young) and I raced to it to the studio parking lot. I tried to bust an E-brake turn to park on the lot and I failed miserably. We hitched ride on a truck toward the river of people waiting for the early taping. The time was around 7:50 AM and there were around over 130 people ahead of us in line already with tickets. There was also group of people were outside trying getting in without their tickets. Either way, there were plenty of Top Gear fans that showed up for the first taping.
Around like 9AM, cast members let people in with tickets inside a huge tent near the studio and fed us with snacks, water, and coffee. Me and my friends enjoyed mingling about cars with others in line before letting us in the airport hangar. After giving us the seal of approval “Top Gear Audience” wristbands, we were all sent inside group by group.
The studio was smaller than one hangar in Surrey in the UK. I am not going to spoil too much but they had the following cars: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, Dodge Viper ARCA, Chevy Camaro, Porsche Panamera, and my favorite car, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage.
As far inside the studio was filled with a lot of lights and they had air-conditioning blowing from the outside. It was pretty much warm if you were standing for a long period of time. They introduced Tanner Foust, Rutledge Wood and Adam Ferrara and the three did have great chemistry throughout the taping. The producers came up to the audience explained that show is meant to promote an American audience of Top Gear in the U.S. The show isn’t competing with antics and heavy criticism of the British version.
We, the audience followed the stage director instructions of when to move and when to applaud. I got chance to talk to Rutledge Wood about his experience of cars. He and Adam Ferrara were joking a lot around with audience. Tanner Foust was a popular guy throughout everyone since he’s the most experienced driver and host of two TV series on Speed Channel. I chatted with him and he’s pretty cool.
After a couple long takes, funny moments, and mishaps, the audience was done for the morning and they release us around 1PM. After being part of audience, I did not have high expectations just because I’m so used watching Jeremy, Hamster, and May entertaining show. I thought it was great to be filmed in episode in Top Gear. I wish the best to the producers, the cast, directors, and others to keep Top Gear in America.
I went to the Oct 14th morning taping. I had a lot of fun however there was a lot of standing around and waiting.
The crew still seems like they've got some fine tuning before it turns into a well oiled machine. They spent a lot of time moving mostly equipment and the people around. They seemed to have no problems moving the cars in & out even when making sure the car doesn't tear up the floors.
I did happen to notice a lap time paper (like the one they stick on the board) for Adam Corolla on the back of one of the walls. While I don't know if it was planted there or just forgot, I did notice it. I'm not sure who the guess was for the day because they were running so far behind they only shot a few scenes, and left the news, guest, and power lap for the afternoon group.
In addition to the cars listed above, I did notice:
Spoiler Text: (Click here to toggle display)
They did each scene about 5 times. They also showed us most of the short films while they were relocating equipment so we did get to see a lot. They also showed us a clip that wasn't going to make it into the show (so they say). It was about drifting at Willow Springs Raceway here in California. It was quite funny.
Like the UK version there is a big poster with the STIG. Only in this hanger there is about a 15' tall screen that has a rear projector showing the STIG on the screen, and he moves.. it looked like a printed poster until he moved.
I hope this show does as well as the UK version. The USA desperately needs a good car related show that isn't controlled by the sponsors. There was a line that poked fun at Toyota, a line that poked fun at the P.T. Cruiser, and a few rough spots for FORD as well. So they hit most of the main players while I was there. I honestly hope they don't go all corporate and continue to just tell it as it is.
I also just got emailed that there are more tickets- I'm guessing they're going to have to tape for 2 more additional days because they're running slow.
Also, if there are any questions, post them here and I'll try to answer them.
There is no such thing as an "old SLS" It's a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.
Went on Thursday.
I really enjoyed being at the taping. Sure it was a lot of standing around and waiting, what did you expect? I chatted with two of the three hosts as well as the "big star" and enjoyed the whole experience. Now, about the show:
The pieces with Rutledge sound...awkward at best. Don't like him. He is funny when he is not on camera. Great guy, but it just doesn't work for me on screen.
Tanner is a great guy and a great driver but awkward on camera. Watching him put the times on the power board was painful.
Adam Ferrera is the best host. He seemed natural and easy going all the time. If the other two hosts were up to his caliber that would be awesome. But they aren't.
So...
The pieces were, at best, ok. The cinematography was awesome but the voiceovers felt forced. There is lots of room for improvement there but the production value was top notch.
The interview was weak. Rutledge isn't as likable as Clarkson and the chemistry wasn't there with the guest. He doesn't have the gravitas to make this work yet.
Then they did the news. Oy! It sucked and everyone in the room knew it. I wouldn't be surprised if they axe the whole segment. At one point Adam joked "we won't edit this at all, we'll just play the whole painful 17 minutes just like this"
The stig did his laps. The track seems ok but this show lives and dies on the hosts and I'm afraid that will kill this.
That's my take. Not as enthusiastic as others around here, but maybe it was just our taping.
MR
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