[01x03] October 13th, 2008

[01x03] October 13th, 2008


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Got to agree with comments about Steve's voice, it's most likely part of the reason I still can't stand him in the show...
 
Julia Zemiro really drove me up the wall for two main reasons - I've never been a fan of hers (more my problem though) and it felt like the whole interview was about her inability to drive a manual and how autos are much better. I'm sure Charlie has made a few comments about proper manuals being better than paddle shifts and autos (the Porsche review in Episode 1 for example). Did I miss the part where he mentioned this to her? An argument might have made the segment a bit more interesting.
 
I think part of the problem with this show is, the main presenter (Warren?) doesn't write the script. In the UK TG Clarkson writes the script, so when he delivers it it feels more natural. But it's not a bad ep, I gave it a 7, mainly because I'm not that interested in the X6 review. I think they are going too easy on the reviews though, when a car is crap, call it crap. The X6 can't offroad, it's damn ugly, and it doesn't handle particularly well on road. It's not having an identity crisis, it's just crap.
 
The reviews need a format.. this is evident in TGUK

First impressions of the presenter (while car goes sideways)
The specks... 0-100, torque, Kw/Horses, any electronic stuff (while car goes really fast in a straight line)
It's market, competition, price, interior (arty pass-bys, interior shots, some more sideways stuff)
More considered thoughts of the presenter (more sideways, presenter losing it, circle work)
Final impressions the presenter wants you to go away with, why they would or wouldn't buy one or what they would buy instead of it (often with car driving into the distance... fast, or car disappearing into a cloud of tyre smoke)


Sort of going on with that, I reckon they should talk about the prices of the cars.

They never mentioned the actual pricing of the Black in the review, which would be interesting to know even if majority of the population can not afford it.
 
Oops, it's even worse than the first two episodes.

Black Series - boring.
X6 - the hell with off-roading, but there was no actual road test, at all! Many media siad this car's handling is outstanding and even beats Porsche's SUV, but TGA did not seem to care to test it properly.
Humor - it's stupid i suppose. Hope you (Australians) don't consider that funy in Australia.
The challenge - boring and quite pointless.
 
Merc Black - Lovely cinematography, crap script. Steve kept on contradicting himself. Better than previous tests and Steve himself was the most natural he's been so far, but still short on tech info. TGA track footage is still crap.

News - pretty ok. The whole poofteenth of a bee's dick thing. Nicely Australian vernacular without being cringeworthy.

Cheap Car Challenge - Actually quite good to begin with but finished up kinda half hearted. They could have done with a third challenge I think. Charlie's still overacting and overusing cliches and slang.

BMW X6 - Again, wonderfully shot - TGUK quality. Good review by Warren, again, too. He still feels the most natural of the 3 in front of a camera.

Star-in-a-car: Pretty awful. She was over the top. He was just hopeless. To be fair TGUK misses as often as it hits with SIARPC. Halfway through I skipped through to the lap to get it over and done with it. Only laughed when she swore.

In general, the in-studio stuff is still overscripted, chock full of dodgy slang and unnecessarily iterated. And Charlie needs lead on his wrists.

It's getting better... slowly.... ;-)
 
I don't agree that we need more facts on the cars.
That's not what's holding it back, it's the attitude of the presenters and the scripting, no soul no passion for the car, just "meh I'm a race driver and I drive this two bit car, I'd prefer my old commodore but here's the specs and oh look it can go sideways" kind of attitude.)
Jeremy approaches almost all cars with a storyline (yes the scuderia was as BAD as most of the aussie ones) and he'll make it interesting with lots of good things then show bad stuff.. but all with soul, with a boy like innocence or passion that makes you feel as if he's letting you drive it, you judge it and then he'll tear in to it or what ever.
The Aussies just have their opinion about the car and it's boring as hell, no storyline, no give no soul , nothing and yeah no real hard and fast comparison to anything else, especially not to aussie made stuff cause they might offend a potential sponsor.

Show how the GT40's door chops your head off before making some comment about it,
do something with "the black" rather then just sit there and criticise it from the word go "because i don't like it much" if you can't sell yourself as a believable presentor what do i care how you feel about the car?
Figure out why the X6 is what it is, what market it for so you can have a conclusion, it's a weird car but someone will buy it so find out who does...

And yeah the humor is over the top aussie to please aussies but it makes me cringe, I'm ashamed to be that kind of aussie, looking at the world as if we're in the centre of it while we're no more than the arse end that no one cares for, we build cars that can't take on anything in a race (we banned everything but our yank like boring same speed same look same everything holdens and fords).
I'd bet a fairly standard Skyline R35 would beat any of the hoon machines people here think are just "da best".
 
MUCH, much better.

I really like Warren's review of the X6.

Oddly, while I find May the least interesting of the 3 on TGUK, I actually like Warren (obvious James May character) the best out of the 3 on TGA. I think his delivery is the most natural so far; he seems to have made the quickest adjustment into his "role" and has been good from the start. The other two still have a ways to go, IMHO.

The cheap car thing was great, albeit still a bit short and underdeveloped. But it was great to see them messing around with some real beaters. This is TG at its best.
 
Just thought of something, I know they are trying to copy the UK TG format, but isn't two of the presenters ex-racing drivers? Wouldn't it be better to have one of them do the hot lap instead of the stig?
 
Just thought of something, I know they are trying to copy the UK TG format, but isn't two of the presenters ex-racing drivers? Wouldn't it be better to have one of them do the hot lap instead of the stig?

Part of the beauty of the Stig is that he can't be torn apart by the viewers. He has nothing to say and no one knows who he is. For time trials, this is pretty crucial.
 
Well, they still have a way to go, but they're getting there. I'm not sure whether things are gelling more or I'm getting used to the TGA boys or a bit of both. I'm no longer irritated by any of them (although I think they may have calmed down a bit since show 1) and - shock, horror - I'm even beginning to warm to Charlie. Still wish he'd keep his arms at least a bit more still because if he flaps much more, he'll take off, but at the same time I'm beginning to get used to the fact that Charlie is in the running to become the undisputed king of expansive gestures. I enjoyed the "picking and fixing" part of the challenge - heck, I enjoyed the challenge full stop - and the reviews, especially the X6, were much, much better.

SIABSC was fair to middling, but then again, it often is on TGUK too. I didn't mind Julia Zemiro, though having never seen her before might have helped. She sort of put me in mind of an Australian Fran Drescher. And as a woman fast approaching a certain age who loves cars but can't drive the buggers, she's done what no driving instructor ever could; convinced me that learning in an automatic is a crap idea and I should stick to a manual.*

I really do think they're finding their feet. Provided they keep on improving, if series 2 happens, it should be good. Possibly it will take longer to achieve actual greatness, but I'm finding it an entertaining way to waste an hour, and that's good enough for me.



*Please, lovely Final Gear people, don't berate me for being a non-driver in the midst of all this petrolheadedness. I like cars a lot, but I have a fear of other drivers since one put me in hospital and it's making it very hard to learn to drive. I'm going to do it though, and properly, and to me that means in a manual. Promise.
 
While I agree that a looser script will work better, I think that will only work well when the guys are more relaxed in front of the camera, more comfortable around each other & bouncing comments off one another, & they know what sort of material each of them is best able to deliver. In short, they still need more time to settle in.

They seem to be settling in quite well. Well, 2 of them seem to be anyway. Charlie still seems a bit wooden (perhaps he's still coming to terms with the pressure of being the shows anchor?). Warren and Steve have noticeably more authenticity to them. Warren seems to have been comfy from the get-go, whereas Steve was obviously out of his comfort zone in 1x01 but has quickly been able to go with the flow nicely.

It still doesn't excuse how naff some parts of the script are, though. I know it sounds like I'm picking nits here, and no doubt the script writer is probably still trying to ease himself into this role. Freehand still saw something in these 3, why not let the TGA3 have a bit more direct input?

Ultimately, TGA is still going ahead in leaps and bounds, even if the progress is a little patchy in places and involves a bit of the old 'two steps forward, one steps back'. 1x03 being a case in point: two reviews worthy of TGUK, a challenge that was classic TGUK cocking about but seriously compromised due to the length (or lack thereof) and a low calibre SIABSC that Charlie couldn't shut down. TGA will get there, and I seriously expect that TGA will get a following in its own right without having to rely on the strength of the TG brand to prop it up.

Just thought of something, I know they are trying to copy the UK TG format, but isn't two of the presenters ex-racing drivers? Wouldn't it be better to have one of them do the hot lap instead of the stig?

What's to say they're not The Stig? The budget is pretty small after all. Would make sense to put Pizzati in The Stig costume and send him around the track. If Pizzati & Stig need to be in the same shot, they could probably just dress one of the crew up and use him/her as a ring-in.
 
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What I don't get is this: if they had all the reviews and challenges shot before they started, why didn't they lead off with better stuff? Yes, the in-studio stuff still requires break-in time, but they could have started the series with their BEST review and their BEST challenge. The fact that they seem to be getting better as the series goes along seems to be an indication that they didn't.
 
As I said about the second episode, every part of the show appears slightly unfinished.

The best example was when CC asked the audience about the roundabout laws - but never actually touched on what they were. It was a bad lead it to show some roundabouts from around the world. The "challenge" was also underdone; buy a car, drag race it, then kill it off road. There was plenty of room to develop this into something better, but it wasn't. Having the show shortened because of the adverts doesn't help, but it means that the producers need to fully develop their ideas instead of trying to jam as much in as possible.

Good to see that Steve appears to have toned down his studio voice too.

2c.
 
It was a quite good show, you can really see they're starting to get the hang of it. The cheap car challenge on the other hand was a big letdown, but being the first I can only expect te next one's to be better
 
Hey guys... I really want to find out the name of the song that was playing at 16:12


I think Top Gear UK also played this song... please let me know the name of it
 
I gave it a 6, mainly because the guest spoke swedish...

Other than that it seemed "unfinished"...
 
As I said about the second episode, every part of the show appears slightly unfinished.

The best example was when CC asked the audience about the roundabout laws - but never actually touched on what they were. It was a bad lead it to show some roundabouts from around the world. The "challenge" was also underdone; buy a car, drag race it, then kill it off road. There was plenty of room to develop this into something better, but it wasn't. Having the show shortened because of the adverts doesn't help, but it means that the producers need to fully develop their ideas instead of trying to jam as much in as possible.

Good to see that Steve appears to have toned down his studio voice too.

2c.

I don't agree that we need more facts on the cars.
That's not what's holding it back, it's the attitude of the presenters and the scripting, no soul no passion for the car, just "meh I'm a race driver and I drive this two bit car, I'd prefer my old commodore but here's the specs and oh look it can go sideways" kind of attitude.)
Jeremy approaches almost all cars with a storyline (yes the scuderia was as BAD as most of the aussie ones) and he'll make it interesting with lots of good things then show bad stuff.. but all with soul, with a boy like innocence or passion that makes you feel as if he's letting you drive it, you judge it and then he'll tear in to it or what ever.
The Aussies just have their opinion about the car and it's boring as hell, no storyline, no give no soul , nothing and yeah no real hard and fast comparison to anything else, especially not to aussie made stuff cause they might offend a potential sponsor.

Show how the GT40's door chops your head off before making some comment about it,
do something with "the black" rather then just sit there and criticise it from the word go "because i don't like it much" if you can't sell yourself as a believable presentor what do i care how you feel about the car?
Figure out why the X6 is what it is, what market it for so you can have a conclusion, it's a weird car but someone will buy it so find out who does...

And yeah the humor is over the top aussie to please aussies but it makes me cringe, I'm ashamed to be that kind of aussie, looking at the world as if we're in the centre of it while we're no more than the arse end that no one cares for, we build cars that can't take on anything in a race (we banned everything but our yank like boring same speed same look same everything holdens and fords).
I'd bet a fairly standard Skyline R35 would beat any of the hoon machines people here think are just "da best".

These points really sum up my opinion on this show.
 
I have to say, i just watched ep 3 last night and its getting better. i dont know if maybe im getting used to the presenters or im learning to deal with the way they talk, but, its getting much better. i just wish they would take a presentation lesson from TGUK about how to talk and narrate. also, i know the show runs shorter, but, is it just me or does it seem like some of the segments end kinda abruptly?

oh, i still wish the would either show us the track or paint some lines. Its the BBC, im sure they have the money to "talk" the owner of the airfield into letting them do it.

again, overall, i see something good, im going to keep watching. based on a comment made by someone else, im not going to wait till season 2, im a real fan so ill stick it out. it gives me hope that TG US will be done well if they can make this one look good. and they have.
 
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