How to Improve TGUSA

[funkadesi]

Here are my suggestions:

ADD or IMPROVE

- Music: The has gotten better over the past few episodes but it still sounds a bit dull. When reviewing fast cars people expect loud and flamboyant music....

- Delivery: The jokes are most deff getting better but the delivery can be better (C'mon ADAM!). Tanner deff needs to act more lively, he seems a bit dull especially doing car review.... he needs to watch hammond from TGUK, But not mirror him ofcourse....

- In Studio: everytime the show resumes to the in-studio segments, it seems a bit awkward.... granted its not easy to pull stuff in front of audience but I think there is room for some improvement.

Remove

- Introduction: Rutledge wood's happy cheery side. I want him to stay because hes a REAL gearhead but I am not fond of his voice or delivery style....

thanks it for now....

 

[TechZ]

I'm no expert on the forum rules, but since I sort of share that user's opinion, even if it was a little clumsily expressed, I'm not sure why he would need to be warned.

I managed to get through the pilot episode, but that's all. I am perfectly okay with people taking my opinion with a grain of salt because of that. I'm sure the show can and will get better as it goes (TGUK certainly did, ie: they killed off the deals guy, thank God). But the first episode was awful. It didn't have a single original element, in which case, they might as well just start airing TGUK, because it's not like we can't understand the language they are speaking or something. Hell, I like TGUK largely because of the British idiosyncrasies. If you could clone Jeremy, Richard and James as Americans, I probably wouldn't like the show half as much.

Anyway, that's all I care to post. The show needs to be less TGUK copying, and more American-esque originality. But of course, in the world of the never-ending stream of Hollywood remakes, Survivor season 35, and now the 109th reiteration of Top Gear, I suppose some originality might be asking for a bit too much.

You'd need to look at his history of posting here. Anyway, its been taken care of.

 

[Dungogvolts]

Thing to remember: this is a brand new show, with hosts not well known to a national audience, and a format not well known to the TV general audience in the US. I think the intro is quite reminiscent of TGUK's early run, prior to the "silhouette" titles (which are overdue for an overhaul on TGUK anyway).

Back to the opener I understand what you are saying BUT we are now how many episodes in? Surely the ?hosts? don?t have to go through the whole introduction now or are you suggesting Americans are a little dull and need everything explained to them all the time?



Have to disagree. Of the three, Rutledge comes across as the most authentic gearhead, and the type that the TG producers like. There's an Adam Savage-like enthusiasm about his persona that fanboys empathize with.

Rutledge It must be an American thing but he just annoys me no end he comes across as a smart arse trying way to hard and don?t get me started on his interview technic.


Hold on.

The Brit comedy Steptoe and Sun gave us Sanford and Son and Redd Foxx.

The Brit comedy Till Death Us Do Part gave us All in the Family and Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker.

The Brit comedy Man About the House gave us Three's Company, Suzanne Somers and John Ritter.

Pop Idol begat American Idol.

None of the above, I'd suggest are "just OK."

I rest my case.
Oh and FYI I personally cant stand anything that has the words Idol or X Factor in the title no matter what country it comes from.

 

[English Fools]

-Why is the audience so Asian? I mean, I'm asian (sic)too but it just seems a bit weird that there are so many.

1. Only Asians work hard enough to afford homes in Orange County, California.

2. A disproportionate percentage of Asians are computer nerds, ergo internent nerds, ergo torrent nerds, ergo TGUK nerds, ergo TGUSA nerds.

-.... no filters/vignettes, the colors are just too boring.

Do you have any idea how much money I've spent on really expensive Nikon telephoto lenses to avoid vignetting? Watching TopGear UK reminds me of cheap consumer cameras.

-The in-studio segments seem way too quiet... the hosts leave too much awkward silence and the audience isn't laughing nor clapping.

They're freakin' Asians! What the hell do you expect from a hangar full of rich, successful 4.0 GPA English is a second language Asian nerds? Frankly, the producers are lucky they're not all hunched over goddamned iPhone watching a hacked live feed of the very episode they're attending. Maybe they need to take binge drinking lessons from the English TG audience. If it wasn't for that Indian or Arab looking dude in the Members Only jacket, things would have been really boring.

- The background music used is too bland. All I hear are guitars and banjos. They should try using movie soundtracks like TGUK

If I hear the A-team one more time as Jeremy, Richard and James modify cars, I'm gonna hurl.

- Top Gear theme music is not visible enough ? I can only hear a muted version in the beginning.

Not visible enough? Do you need to see the sheet music under the Top Gear logo?

Shhhhh! They're stealing it! If they can't afford soundtracks from direct-to-DVD movies for background music, what makes you think they can afford to license "Jessica?"

 

[Sock]

Well they got to cut out the fake applause/laughter from the audience.

 

[English Fools]

Well they got to cut out the fake applause/laughter from the audience.

The Audience is Asian. Have you ever seen an Asian movie with perfectly sync'd voice overs?

 

[Merc63]

I managed to get through the pilot episode, but that's all. I am perfectly okay with people taking my opinion with a grain of salt because of that.

Even with the qualifier, the attitude of "I'm not going to watch it, but I'm going to comment as though my opinion has any validity" is laughable. Sorry. But it's all too common on internet forums (and water cooler discussions).

It didn't have a single original element, in which case, they might as well just start airing TGUK, because it's not like we can't understand the language they are speaking or something. Hell, I like TGUK largely because of the British idiosyncrasies. If you could clone Jeremy, Richard and James as Americans, I probably wouldn't like the show half as much.

Anyway, that's all I care to post. The show needs to be less TGUK copying, and more American-esque originality. But of course, in the world of the never-ending stream of Hollywood remakes, Survivor season 35, and now the 109th reiteration of Top Gear, I suppose some originality might be asking for a bit too much.

This has also been gone over here if you cared to actually read anything before posting an opinion, but..

It's not a Hollywood remake. It's the TG franchise, produced by the BBC. it's not someone else simply stealing the logo and copying, and I'm kind of tired, at this late point, of people still thinking/basing their opinion on the idea that it is somehow simply Hollywood copying something British. It's the BBC Top Gear production company repackaging it for an American audince with American locations and cars generally available HERE. the GM clone of the British Leyland episode works because even though the basic stunts are the same, no one here gives a rat's ass about there being no more Austin Princesses (or even knows why they were crap to begin with). But we can relate to a POS old GM car still managing to survive abuse and punishment.

 

[Initial_B]

^^Amen to your post.

 

[LVTony]

Another thing they could do to improve the show is review some driving schools, both safety and performance types. We would get reviews of the schools and this would give Adam and Rutledge some training and Tanner could review the schools from a race car training POV.

 

[Initial_B]

Whoa, no need to bash on those ideas, I merely pulled those outta my ass as I was writing.
Plus, Mexico is nowhere near as dangerous as you say it is. I went to there twice last year, and not once was I murdered.
And in any case you missed my point, I was saying that the challenges needed to be more epic. My ideas may not be perfect, but at least someone's getting shot at.

if you don't think mexico isn't dangerous, then clearly, your parents have done a good job sheltering you from real-life. there are a few places where you won't get shot and/or killed, so consider yourself lucky. but some Americans aren't so lucky, but then again, i do watch the news.

 

[shadragon]

They need to get closer to their audience. You cannot see most of them in most shots and that is a huge difference between the UK and US versions. In the UK one the audience is right next to the hosts and cars.

 

[shellygrrl]

Finally, my own suggestions...

* Expand the timeslot to 90 minutes. The DIY military car segment suffered a lot from being stuck in at the tail end of an episode, with virtually no time to showcase it properly. Simply put, it is very hard to slot in four, sometimes five, quality segments in 42-45 minutes. 90 minutes with commercials gives them roughly the same amount of time as the UK version.

* Choose one host to do the BSSC/SIARPC interviews. In my view, this should be Rutledge. He seems more at ease with interviewing than Adam does, IMO.

* Develop the Stig mythology. They can follow the UK's example, or they can take a different approach. Just do something with this.

* This one's more for if/when there's a third season, I'm thinking, since they're going to start working on S2 soon (if they've not started already), but I'll put it out there now: I'd like to see them take on the UK's approach to studio filming -- that is, tape at El Toro the Wednesday or so before the Sunday the episode airs. This way, more News segments would become possible.

 

[jbmcduff]

Although probably mentioned already.

Could we get NASCAR drivers to do the Big Star, Small Car segment? I think it would be funny to see them turn right. The UK version does it with F1 drivers, lets do it with NASCAR!

Stig needs some music! And the presenters need to make him funny.

Could the ever just dig into how bad a car is, that CR-Z is an all around crappy car.

 

[Merc63]

Although probably mentioned already.

Could we get NASCAR drivers to do the Big Star, Small Car segment? I think it would be funny to see them turn right. The UK version does it with F1 drivers, lets do it with NASCAR!

NASCAR drivers do turn right. Many of them do road racing, too, or came from road racing before they got into NASCAR. And there are road race tracks that the NASCAR races are held on, as well. Or are you also one of those that says "I'm not going to watch any of it, but I'm going to comment on it as though I actually know what I'm talking about."

 

[jbmcduff]

NASCAR drivers do turn right. Many of them do road racing, too, or came from road racing before they got into NASCAR. And there are road race tracks that the NASCAR races are held on, as well. Or are you also one of those that says "I'm not going to watch any of it, but I'm going to comment on it as though I actually know what I'm talking about."

Whoa, dude, it was just a joke.

Yes, I can freely admit that I am not a NASCAR fan, I have been to the Brickyard, but I just can't get into it. Yes, I was using a stereotype when I make that comment. I know at courses like Watkins Glen they turn left as well as right. And no, I have watched every Top Gear Episode and I can my hands on (Australia, UK, USA, not Russia though.)

My bad, how about this.

I would find it enjoyable if they were to use professional racing series drivers to do the BS,SC segments. I think this would be enjoyable to see them having to traverse a track that may, or may not, be different than that of the tracks that they drive on in their normal season of professional racing series.

 

[TopGearNorthAmerica]

For those people arguing about expanding the time, please remember: that kind of decision is up to the Network, not the producers.

Also remember that time tends to be deducted for promos, commercials, etc. Thus the typical "hour" for Top Gear would be 45 to 48 minutes, while a 90 minute special would actually be about 70 minutes.

Keep in mind that TG-US is still not a very well-known show in the industry, and it's going to be tough for the network to find sponsors willing to cough up advertising for that big a block.

 

[Gyvon]

if you don't think mexico isn't dangerous, then clearly, your parents have done a good job sheltering you from real-life. there are a few places where you won't get shot and/or killed, so consider yourself lucky. but some Americans aren't so lucky, but then again, i do watch the news.

To be fair, when he went to Mexico, he probably went to Cancun or Cozumel.

 

[The Spie]

To be fair, when he went to Mexico, he probably went to Cancun or Cozumel.

Earlier in this thread, I hit him up with the same accusation, specifically Cancun. Cali-tard said that he went to TJ. That says it all.

 

[Mills]

The Alaska episode was the only really good one of the season. So I think they should do more road trips, and less in studio nonsense, because for me that's where the show fails. And maybe try a couple of new hosts, who are naturally funny, and can write their own lines.

 

[admerwill]

I agree that one presenter must go, and be replaced. whoever it is, it needs to be a jerk , and an A type personality, i think Adam Corrla would fit the bill nicely but there are other options for sure.