[23x02] June 5th, 2016

[23x02] June 5th, 2016


  • Total voters
    118
Thoughts about tonight's episode:

I want more Jenson Button reviewing cars. While I love the 675LT, Button actually made it more interesting to watch. More Evans yelling. No thanks.

SUV Challenge... not bad, actually. There's the beginning of a semblance of unit cohesion, which was nice.

SIARPC (or whatever it's called now)... no thanks. Wasn't a fan of it during the previous rendition, even less of a fan of it's current setup. Also, the stupid teleprompter joke is back and it needs to go. Also also, too many damn people on this one. Should have just left it at Damien, though Steve was kinda interesting to listen to.

Evan's F1 portion in Extra Gear should have been in Top Gear. It's a different style than simply mimicking Clarkson yelling and it was actually touching seeing Evans be emotional about driving that F1. That is something they should aspire to in future segments, not simply trying to recapture what the show once had.
 
Well this was much better episode and i did really enjoy the mclaren part. If someone complains chris shouting in long tail then i would say you are a moron. You kinda haft to shout because it's a loud ass racing car. Africa film was ok. Rest of it was kinda bland. Surprising thing was that this time tg was much better than extra gear.
 
Much better this week but I think I'm just going to skip the SIARPC segments from now on, Evans is just too obnoxious in those.
 
Evan's F1 portion in Extra Gear should have been in Top Gear. It's a different style than simply mimicking Clarkson yelling and it was actually touching seeing Evans be emotional about driving that F1. That is something they should aspire to in future segments, not simply trying to recapture what the show once had.

Part of the reason CE was so emotional, was that his mother was very sick in hospital when he was doing the first couple of shows, maybe still is.
 
At this point, can we all just agree that having a guest talk about what another guest is currently doing isn't only annoying, but just plain stupid, if I wanted to listen to someone not know how to interview a guest I would listen to CE.

Anyways, 10m 47s before CE really got shouty, I watched 20 seconds of the star interview and as much as I like Mr Lewis, I gave in and skipped it.

The 675LT was enjoyable.
Africa was okay.

Poor EJ, okay, so he has replaced Cpt Slow.....But not in a good way, he just looks lost out there.

All in all an improvement over last week, which really isn't saying a lot.
 
Mclaren bit was pretty good. SUVs felt rushed, and why was it rushed? Because some asshole thought a 20 minute long SIARPC segment would be a good idea.


fuck this.
 
Even better than last week. Evans has mellowed out a tiny bit, and I laughed that they're poking fun at the yelling criticism.
 
Reeked on ice. Put a sock in it gingerboy. Rated lower than last week because they had a week to clean up their act and instead of learning they rubbed our nose in it from the beginning.
 
I liked the McLaren part, and as someone said before, the P1 part of Extra Gear should have been in Top Gear.

SUV.... just OK, but not good.

Eddie Jordan, he adds nothing to the show, Le Blanc not bad, but he needs to improve it sound to me like he is just reading his script.. its not natural

Evans... no comment...

Overall, better than last week, but still needs to improve.

Cheers
 
Little bit better from last week, but still has a long way to go, did see a big improvement in Matt, at this point, he is the only saving grace outside of the production team.
Segment 1, decent , enjoyed it.
Segment 2, f first part of the SUV challenge, started off ok.
Segment 3, what ever its being called star car, skipped it, cant comment.
Final segment, SUV p2, and the only decent part was the final bit up the switch back road.

Extra Gear, somewhat more enjoyable than the main course, but something thats starting to be noticeable is, that TG and TGEG is starting to focus more on the people than the cars, maybe it was just this week, so I am going to hold out and see how the rest of the shows are, but so far, it seems like TG is turning into a show about people . My biggest complaint is they are just way to many talking heads for a show about cars, its just not needed. But lets see how it goes from here.

I will say, the guy who is hosting Extra Gear, whos name escapes me right is very good, and makes watching EG enjoyable.
 
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I quite liked that episode, there were moments of cheese but over all it was pretty good. The McLaren review was really good, Jenson Button should be on more often. The Africa thing I think as a whole was entertaining even though I thought the ringtones were stupid and there was some cheesy bits but not over the top. The celebrity interview aside from the car comparison bit which they should ditch I thought was pretty good. Eddie Jordan was pretty good too.
 
I was okay with everything except for the SIARPC because it's just so :blowup:

Also I wished they talked more about the SUVs rather than just have the challenges say "This car is faster" and "That car is slower because of the engine" etc. like what else is there you know.
 
I enjoyed it to be honest.
SIARPC is a bit long, but the Africa segment made me want to jump on a plane to South Africa, so I guess it did its job.
I'd almost forgotten how well Top Gear shoots its segments. Everything looked great.
I do wish Chris Harris and Rorey were replacing Evans and Jordan on the main show, but its fine.
Everyone banging on about it being the worst thing ever probably needs to settle down a bit.
7/10
 
The Africa bit looked great, but I had the distinct feeling that what you saw was ALL they did; turn up, film a little bit, move on...and of course, no way on earth did they actually camp out in those tents!
 
Just no. I tried to watch it, honestly tried it, but I can't... just like the first episode. It's so fake, they try too hard. It's not just Evans although he's a big part of the problem, it's the whole concept of mimicking what was but is now gone, a frantic and feverish attempt to somehow retain the magic. Stop it and rebuild it from the ground up, as it is it'll never work.
 
It was better than last week but it still feels like it was left in the oven for too long. SIARPC was extraordinarily boring, I think they should just axe the segment tbh. I think guests do better in the actual features rather than the interview. Africa was OK, I felt bad for that poor new MBZ....
 
McLaren - was OK but it was getting a bit boring until Button appeared, then it had a bit of entertainment.
SIARCC - Was terrible, it's needed a revamp or dropping for years. Credit to them for trying something a bit different but they've just managed to make it much worse and virtually unwatchable.
Africa SUVs - Watchable and mildly entertaining in places but still felt quite boring overall to watch. Although I'm no fan of Eddie Jordan, the one good thing it did do was split the screen time from 2 cars to 3 so that meant less time on screen for Evans. Same thing for the guests, instead of Evans taking up half the screen time their inclusion meant he was pretty much 1/6.

Overall it was better than last week and I will pin it down to there being less of Chris Evans on screen. LeBlanc seemed to be doing more studio segments this week and I wouldn't be surprised if there was plenty of editing during the week to tone Evans down a bit.

The result - Less Evans = a better show. 6/10
 
[23x02] June 5th, 2016

I've been thinking a lot about why this new Top Gear doesn't give me a good feeling so far and it's only partly because of the presenter(s).

The main issue I have with it, is that it doesn't feel authentic. It tries to resume where CHM left but without the passion, the tomfoolery, the anarchy and the self-mockery.

It feels too slick, too sterile. It looks like Top Gear but it doesn't feel like it. A lot is missing. It's like one if those cheap Rolex watches you can buy in Asia: Seems convincing on first glance but the longer you look at it, the more you recognize it's a fake.

I'm sure the production team does a good job but it all seems like someone ripped the soul out and what's left is an empty shell.

It's like Top Gear U.S.: it looks familiar but it just isn't the same. It feels calculated and cold -- I have a hard time developing any empathy with the protagonists.

It's hard to put into words but the fact of the matter is this: As a car-themed entertainment show it just isn't working with these presenters. And if you are a car nut and just want good reviews, you are better off with some YouTube channels these days...
 
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I still am not a fan of Chris Evans and I still don't agree with having an American on a show that is built in part on its Britishness but there were definite signs of improvement.

And please don't be dumb enough to complain that Top Gear is too much like Top Gear. You can't reinvent the wheel and likewise you can't change an established format too radically. If Top Gear were a car in its 2002-date iteration then it would be a Golf GTi or a Land Rover Defender - the same basic design just tweaked a little with each new model (season) and evolving. The GTi didn't necessarily improve with each new generation and so it was and will continue to be with Top Gear

CE is contracted for 3 years but could shuffle off sooner and MLB is only contracted for one season as far as I can make out, Harris and Rory are establishing themselves on Extra Gear so short term pain may turn into long term gain.
 
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