[23x01] May 29th, 2016 -- First Episode With New Cast

[23x01] May 29th, 2016 -- First Episode With New Cast


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Thought Matt Leblanc was a novelty casting but he was much better than I thought he would be, I'm a fan.
Sabine looks like she'll settle in just fine.
Chris Evans needs to stop trying to be like Clarkson and relax a little bit (I'm willing to put that down to nerves)
Chris Harris and Rory Reid have got the makings of a good double act.
Reserving judgement on Eddie Jordan since we haven't seen him yet.

it was pretty good for a first episode but it's not there yet. Just bear in mind it took YEARS for the old show to become what it was and it'll probably be the same with the new version.
 
Astonishingly, I thought it was good, and I really like Matt LeBlanc. Chris Evans also, but I like his radio show.
 
The only thing enjoyable is the stunning video work from the TG/BBC crew.
Other than that, i would like to punch CE in the face. Why is he -always- yelling? Does he think people will otherwise ignore him? They should!
 
Astonishingly, I thought it was good, and I really like Matt LeBlanc. Chris Evans also, but I like his radio show.

You're crazy... I've managed to watch about 10 minutes so far and I'm not sure i'll get through the entire programme... what a total crock. If I have to listen to anymore of that high pitched ginger shouting imbecile....Why has the audience also turned into a TFI shouting/ screaming match... Is the production crew holding up signs in the back "SCREAM NOW"...this I have to say, as expected is a pretty poor version of the real thing....

ewdit: watched some more, skipped quite a lot...probably I won't bother again this is just too annoying. Especially as Eddie Jordan is on the show next week...more of an idiot than Evans if thats possible... Plus why do we need rallycross laps in an underpowered mini? At least give them a 600BHP rallycross car and a clean pair of pants. :) Also the TFI studio layout gets more annoying the longer the show goes on, plus it is too 'clean' and the big screen is frankly game show/ panel show stuff.....

Lots of bad and not too much good, Chris Evans should give the Clarkson impressions and digs a rest too! 6 episodes this series and maybe 6 the next then it gets canned...
 
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Chris Evans needs to go away. His voice, the over enthusiastic-ness, the over use of crappy metaphors....

"As light as your mothers g-string." I hope I never hear that again.

The show is weird. They introduced Matt like a special guest or as if he was Richard Hammond after the roll over incident. So odd.

Audience call and response, stop. What is this? Most of the audience didn't seem that enthusiastic as much as being cued on what to say when.

The orange panels above Chris' hair makes everything worse.

They introduced Matt all nice and then there's this awesome German driver that's... Also part of the top gear hosts? They weren't that clear. Though, she needs more time on the show. She did great.

I saw a short bit on the credits run, Chris Harris is doing Extra Gear, what the hell is that?
 
Just read a comment on top gear website comments that about sums it up perfectly.

"Did Chris Evans Go To The Barry Scott School of Presenting???" :D :) :) :D

And for those who dont know who Barry Scott is checkout cillit bang
 
Really? To me, they applied far too few changes to the whole show in order to make it their own. To my (pessimistic) understanding, the only major change I could see is that they have completely binned the news.

If you're going to be following the act of the 3 giants, why not go big? Go big or go home. To me, this was still mostly following JC/AW's show concept.

Think 911. Same car for the last 50 years.
 
The great editing and camera work continues. That was nice to see.

Matt LeBlanc needs to work on his voice-overs; they're very monotone and lack energy, but when he's doing a piece to camera while driving a car there's more energy and he's more entertaining. I think he'll get better as the show progresses.

Evans is ... Evans. He throws too much energy into moments that don't need lots of energy. At times that comes across as desperate, especially during the in-studio segments. And his voice has never been a good one for presenting. He just sounds like an angry chipmunk.

SIARC .. on paper, that sounds like an interesting idea, but it throws away the past 22 series' worth of reference points we had and makes a segment that was somewhat relatable to the average viewer now just another, unrelatable film. If it's unrelatable, let's at least have some excitement, but having two guests is awful. I like a one-on-one interview where questions are asked that aren't normally brought up in PR interviews and you get a better sense of a guest's real personality. This lacked depth and gave me no reason to give a rat's ass about either of the guests, and I really like Ramsay. He's a great guest. How can you fuck that up?

I don't mind the updated studio dressing. Except that entrance from behind a door with lots of flashing lights and Jessica playing in the background. That's total crap. CHM had it right. Just pop right into the couch, don't waste time walking in to music. And Jessica should only EVER be played during the opening and closing credits and NEVER at any other point in the show (unless it's on the radio). And no presenter should ever be introduced like LeBlanc was. The only time you ever do that is to completely embarrass a hamster who couldn't hold a skid.
 
What do we all think of the Evans version? ....:?

Wow... it needs work.

I fast forwarded all studio bits because I couldn't bear to watch Evans on the brink of a nervous breakdown. And I hated him trying to be Clarkson.
LeBlanc surprised me. I really liked his laid back approach and how natural he appears to be on camera (as expected). The only grate-y thing I felt is that he's got that kind of voice where it appears he's permanently with a stuffy nose (but that's just me). But what I really liked is that LeBlanc didn't appeared to be trying to be Hammond or May. LeBlanc was LeBlanc, and that's a good thing.

Liked the Viper vs Corvette. And I liked the sound of a calm Evans, but then the laser tag began and I skipped. (Which is why I won't say anything about Sabine, I found her EXTREMELY obnoxious whenever she appeared on screen, during old TG, maybe now they told her to pipe down).

Quite liked the nomad, LeBlanc is entertaining and apparently can drive and talk at the same time. The Jeeps race was... cute.

I never watch SIARPC, so I won't say anything. (should now be "Star in a mini cooper with mud tires" - SIAMCWMT?) The driving bit was okay, but I prefer stars driving a common, cheap everyday car, and loved to see the F1 drivers showing what it really can do.

5/10 because I watched only half of an episode... or less. I'll watch the second episode, but I don't feel like it's a show I would follow and wait anxiously while staring at a countdown.
 
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Think 911. Same car for the last 50 years.

I felt like Chris Evans said they would swap the I6 for a V6, but then realised that people would be too scared of the change. He promised so much and then changed almost nothing in the end.
 
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Chris Evans who I am not familiar with as an Australian was far too excitable and seemed to shout every line in the studio, so lets hope that was nerves for the first episode. Otherwise he will get annoying very, very quickly. Mat was ok, but his having to pretend he knew nothing about the UK where he has been working for a few years now, grew old quickly. Apparently that is the part he is supposed to play and none of us as the audience are meant to know its written for him. Hint. We can tell. Also audience participation efforts on Chris's part was frankly unnecessary. I don't watch the show for the audience. The Camera work was fine and didn't seem to have lost anything in the move to the new show. The set, hmm well it different is about all one can say. New Top Gear circuit and celebrity thing was in no way an improvement and still the weakest part of the show. Having a bigger cast of people on the show is potentially a good idea, but seemed completely wasted in this first episode. Where were they? If they rotate Mat and Chris out to give some of the others a go in future episodes, maybe it will work.

Which brings me to my main complaint. The old Top Gear was getting very old, because it had become so scripted and just one "exciting adventure" after another, with the love and interest in cars increasingly being lost and the scripted "events" becoming increasingly obvious and repetitive. I was soooo disappointed to see the new Top Gear is even more obliviously scripted and banal. That took a lot of the fun away from the show. Really I was over this on the old show, it was well time to make the show more about cars and not some stunt show every single week.

I had really hoped in getting Chris Harris on the show, they were going to bring back some decent reviews of the cars, like the old cast once did, so those of us who love cars well photographed and reviewed with a sense of humour could enjoy the show. Maybe leave the Top Gear stunt special stuff to each alternative episode or something.

Top Gear extra could have potentially been better than the main show, but they ruined that by not putting Chris Harris in charge of it and not just focusing on a couple of stories - one review and something else. Instead they seemed desperate to fit as much as they could in as little time as possible. Ruining every story they touched on in the process. The guest on Top Gear Extra is a stupid idea and served absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Again, like they thought it would be cooler if they just get cramming everything into it.

So my final thoughts are the show could certainly have been worse, but it was a rough start. I will in fairness give it a couple more episodes, but if it doesn't become more a car show again, I am out. I was beginning to feel that way with the original cast too.
 
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I give this a 6. Ordinarily its a typical latter day Top Gear episode, but with fresh faces which I thought it needed. I can imagine a very Top Gear thing happening on Clarkson, Hammond and May's show, so if anyone likes this, they'll like The Grand Tour and they should feel lucky (so long they can afford the Amazon Prime membership).
 
Not as bad as I expected but it felt forced and sometimes weird - like an alternate reality. It seems like someone was looting the stuff others were forced to leave behind when they left in a hurry. Using some of the old props (sofa, table) almost seemed like robbing a dead body.

The studio segments completely lost their charms with the crazy cheering croud and the boring interior and Chris is no substitute for Jeremy as an interviewer. Matt might be an actor but as a TV presenter he still has a lot to practice. His whole appearance was stiff and wooden. Chemistry between the two was non-existent.

Bumping into each others cars? That was new. NOT!

I'm afraid that even though it wasn't the train crash we all feared, it is about a thousand miles away from the Top Gear that gathered a worldwide audience. On the plus side, the BBC production quality is still outstanding. But it's like they say: A fair face may hide a fould heart. It's all appearance but lacks substance.

I hope that in the future they do more than reheat the food from yesterday and come up with something new, original and captivating.

5/10 from me for now.
 
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Not as bad as I expected but it felt forced and sometimes weird - like an alternate reality.
5/10 from me for now.


That's exactly how I felt.

It seemed like "Top Gear Oceania", almost but not entirely unlike Top Gear.

Chris Evans was awful. Matt Leblanc was a pleasant surprise.
 
Chris Evans was awful. Matt Leblanc was a pleasant surprise.

I have the feeling Matt can improve. With Chris I don't think so. Let's see how they do some actual car reviewing next week and I hope they're better with it than with pointlessly fooling around.
 
Advice to my fellow forum dwellers: If you watch this show, you can either a) compare it to the past days of CHM or b) enjoy the program as a motoring show "as is".

I strongly suggest you do the latter, given the fact that this is a old show with new people, many things will and must change. Be patient, nobody expected them to be the closest line up in current TV. I remind you that CHM needed many episodes to finally grow as a team, and it resulted just great.

I have not seen the show, so I will wait to make my own mind about it. You will see it (my opinion) here though.

Having said that, if CE screws TGUK to shit, I will join the army of angry TGUK purists and send them to hell.
 
Starting with a laser/jet/military/whatever chase. Ugh, I'd skip it even if it was "old" Top Gear, I think. A highly unoriginal way to start the series. The Reliant part was...I dunno, kinda fun, but ultimately pointless. Felt like a leftover/deleted segment. Gordon Ramsay? Skip... That Mini is hardly reasonably priced. The off-road segment felt like the Reliant one. Cool car, though. Blah, blah...

Overall, I see potential in The Chris and Matt Show, and I'm pretty much just glad that there's a fun car review show on until C, M & H get theirs on. (TG US is fun, but pretty much 95% adventure show)
 
We we still have The Grand Tour to look forward to but as someone who has watched TG since it started in 1977 and seen it go through many changes and presenters and iterations I have to eat my previous cynical words and say I welcome our new Ginger-American overlords.

Well, if we're comparing it to old old Top Gear then yeah, it's a lot more favourable outlook. And yes, it was better than the India special.

I think the problem with CE I think is less about ego and more about how he's trying too hard to be like Clarkson in many segments and it feels unnatural. He needs to tone it down.
 
You're crazy... I've managed to watch about 10 minutes so far and I'm not sure i'll get through the entire programme... what a total crock. If I have to listen to anymore of that high pitched ginger shouting imbecile....Why has the audience also turned into a TFI shouting/ screaming match... Is the production crew holding up signs in the back "SCREAM NOW"...this I have to say, as expected is a pretty poor version of the real thing....

ewdit: watched some more, skipped quite a lot...probably I won't bother again this is just too annoying. Especially as Eddie Jordan is on the show next week...more of an idiot than Evans if thats possible... Plus why do we need rallycross laps in an underpowered mini? At least give them a 600BHP rallycross car and a clean pair of pants. :) Also the TFI studio layout gets more annoying the longer the show goes on, plus it is too 'clean' and the big screen is frankly game show/ panel show stuff.....

Lots of bad and not too much good, Chris Evans should give the Clarkson impressions and digs a rest too! 6 episodes this series and maybe 6 the next then it gets canned...

Yes, Chris Evans was trying to put too much energy into it, and I think that the new SIARPC is dumber, and overall, the show is worse.

On the other hand, it's still a very good car program. I'm not comparing it to old new Top Gear, just taking it as it was, and it was a good show.
 
Okay. I just finished watching it because my vpn shat itself in the middle of SIARPC and i had dinner in the middle.

Overall, I think the most important thing to remember is that this is the first episode of the show, and that things will get worked out as the presenters get more comfortable with themselves and one another.

In terms of the show itself, I have a number of observations. First, Chris and Matt need to make sure that their lines, particularly but not only not he voiceovers, are edited to reflect their personalities and identities better. Chris really ought to sound more like his radio self not because his radio self is what I'd like, but because it would be more reflective of who HE really is. Matt needs to americanize his lines before recording them. Hearing him say "bonkers" and use "proper" as an intensifier is awkward and clearly not how he talks. And it shows.

Car stuff: This episode needed a review of a usable car. Without one, it's hard to know how much of the supercar testing is there for excitement and entertainment and how much is about the car itself. In the past, when Jeremy would review a regular car, we could get a sense of what his priorities were in terms of usability and that would lend important perspective for the more "fun" reviews. If we didn't know what it meant for a car to be good in a real sense and not just exciting, we would have no idea what he really felt about a car like the Lexus RC-F for example, where the footage was flashy but it was an overall negative review. I'm afraid that this new version of Top Gear would show the RC-F smoking its tires and being on the whole uncontrollable and give us the impression that it was simply just a fun time and not a fundamentally unusable shit car.

The Atom review was good and the "chase" thing was actually good enough that I would have liked to see Richard do it on the old show, paparazzi and all.

Sabine needs to be allowed to talk about the cars she is driving. I want to know what she thinks of the Corvette.

Fuck the Blackpool idiocy.

I'm fine with rallycross actually, but why use this expensive Mini?! Why not have it be a Nissan Micra with rally bits on it instead? Why not use this as an opportunity to demonstrate the accessibility of fun motorsport?!


Bring back the news. really. I want these guys to show us what they know about cars and what their opinions are. I can situate Jeremy, James, and Richard on in the car nut topography because of segments like the news, and I want to be able to do that with Chris, Matt, and the rest of them. There ARE good conversations to be had between them but if they don't give us the chance to see them, we'll have to piece it together from the magazine. And it's really not the same thing.

EDIT: Why does Chris Evans have sound like Chris Matthews!?
 
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