[01x04] December 9nd, 2016

[01x04] December 9nd, 2016

  • 10

    Votes: 5 4.1%
  • 9

    Votes: 17 14.0%
  • 8

    Votes: 31 25.6%
  • 7

    Votes: 19 15.7%
  • 6

    Votes: 19 15.7%
  • 5

    Votes: 16 13.2%
  • 4

    Votes: 7 5.8%
  • 3

    Votes: 4 3.3%
  • 2

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • 1

    Votes: 2 1.7%

  • Total voters
    121
It appears that votes are starting to get split along clear lines. Those who are reality show centric seem to like it and rank it high, while car show centric folks seem to be ranking it lower. Unfortunately reality shows sell right now, so I guess that is the audience they are aiming for.

I think the split is "scripted comedy show" versus "car show".

If car reviews is all you want, Fifth Gear was a better choice than TG for quite some time. That being said, I was disappointed "Conversation Street" isn't longer, and that they cut off with a tease regarding talking about Alfa Romeo in this ep.
 
Surprisingly it was ok. It felt like the old BBC Top Gear.
Two ok episodes in a row. Pretty nice. They only need to get rid of two things to actually make it great again. wink wink
Get rid of the Mcdonalds driver and fix the celebrity nonsense. Either have an actual star on the show that doesn't get eaten or get rid of that segment entirely.
 
The really sad thing for me is: The main features of the GT episodes were consistently the worst thing of the entire episode.
 
It has been that way since Series 12 or 13 of Top Gear. I've been wondering for years why people who want to see car reviews, are still watching it anyway.
Not necessarily, there is a huge difference between Top Gear of those days and Top Gear after season 18 (which TGT starts to resemble, unfortunately).
 
I've been wondering for years why people who want to see car reviews, are still watching it anyway.
You don't to seem to grasp what many people here are complaining about. Most of them loved the earlier specials and they loved the cocking about in earlier seasons. But these episodes feel more like the India special; mostly rehashes of earlier seasons, the three acting out their roles.
 
Oh, I get it, make no mistake.

It's a fan reaction to their favourite band changing their musical style. I grasp the feeling but I don't share it. Besides, I really don't like it when fans want to dictate their idols how to behave and what their idols should do or not.

The fans should get used to the fact that it won't change much from its current form anymore. They found their routine now and the majority still likes it. They are extremely successful with it and for all the old fans they lose, they probably gain 3 new ones. So don't make the mistake of thinking that your opinion is somehow important to them.

I am flexible enough to adjust, maybe you are not? Here's a trick: Let some time pass and then rewatch some of the really badly reviewed episodes of Top Gear, like the India Special or the Art Gallery or the Hammerhead iThrust and you'll see that they're not nearly as bad as you first percieved it. Strange phenomenon.

So maybe you should pass on TGT for now and wait a year or two and then start watching it again. I'm quite sure you'll see it with different eyes. And if not, you'll always have the "old albums" with your favourite music to go back to, so to speak.

For everyone else here is an old wisdom: Never judge a book after you have only read the first chapters.
 
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i actually was wishing they'd choose cars that had steel alternatives...such as fiberglass (not sure if this is even environmentally sound), wood, or even stretched nylon...and see which one would hold up versus the elements and a race.
 
I must be some kind of freak.

I've loved every episode thus far.

I don't even understand what some people in here are looking for anymore.

The thing is, as soon as they switch gears and someone is pleased, someone else is bothered by change.

Right now, the only group I feel sympathy for are the GT and even Top Gear producers that have to cater to such a fickle lot.
 
Oh, I get it, make no mistake.

It's a fan reaction to their favourite band changing their musical style. I grasp the feeling but I don't share it. Besides, I really don't like it when fans want to dictate their idols how to behave and what their idols should do or not.

The fans should get used to the fact that it won't change much from its current form anymore. They found their routine now and the majority still likes it. They are extremely successful with it and for all the old fans they lose, they probably gain 3 new ones. So don't make the mistake of thinking that your opinion is somehow important to them.

I am flexible enough to adjust, maybe you are not? Here's a trick: Let some time pass and then rewatch some of the really badly reviewed episodes of Top Gear, like the India Special or the Art Gallery or the Hammerhead iThrust and you'll see that they're not nearly as bad as you first percieved it. Strange phenomenon.

So maybe you should pass on TGT for now and wait a year or two and then start watching it again. I'm quite sure you'll see it with different eyes. And if not, you'll always have the "old albums" with your favourite music to go back to, so to speak.

For everyone else here is an old wisdom: Never judge a book after you have only read the first chapters.


I found no words to match this precisely accurate description of TGT. I do love cars, but I love being entertained more. Today's audience tends to do the latter. Have any doubts? Ask a Millennial when He/She will get their first car. Many will say they don't need it yet, but then ask for the latest iPhone or Android, and get ready for the insanity.
 
I've been pretty happy, so far. Obviously, folks, this is a "comedy" show, even down to the comments from The American. No seriousness allowed.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that, for whatever reason, they had all of the "episodes" completely done before the first episode ever aired. And most of the tent stuff, as well. So, there's no room for "a feedback loop," and that's a bit of a shame. A quick read through the comments here and elsewhere might have been useful as they moved along through their episode shooting, but it's too late, now. Looks like we might have to wait until next year before we'll see any changes due to viewer feedback.

In the end, I think my main beef is, like many folks have mentioned, how there has been a bit too much "over the top" comedy -- certainly, one thing I always liked in the old days was a bit of British subtlety, which is a bit lacking this year. But, overall, I think the pattern has been set -- there probably won't be "a bunch of smaller segments," but rather, one big segment per episode, after a tent introduction, and a tent intermission, with a tent ending. Get used to it.
 
I've been pretty happy, so far. Obviously, folks, this is a "comedy" show, even down to the comments from The American. No seriousness allowed.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that, for whatever reason, they had all of the "episodes" completely done before the first episode ever aired. And most of the tent stuff, as well. So, there's no room for "a feedback loop," and that's a bit of a shame. A quick read through the comments here and elsewhere might have been useful as they moved along through their episode shooting, but it's too late, now. Looks like we might have to wait until next year before we'll see any changes due to viewer feedback.

In the end, I think my main beef is, like many folks have mentioned, how there has been a bit too much "over the top" comedy -- certainly, one thing I always liked in the old days was a bit of British subtlety, which is a bit lacking this year. But, overall, I think the pattern has been set -- there probably won't be "a bunch of smaller segments," but rather, one big segment per episode, after a tent introduction, and a tent intermission, with a tent ending. Get used to it.

Bear in mind that the TGT eps we've seen so far have had to clear a different set of bosses than at the BBC. And because the corporate culture of Amazon is probably not all that familiar with the BBC mode of writing, Wilman & Co have decided to try for an "over the top" approach in order to sell their product to the Amazon execs. So we're seeing more of the stuff that TGUK is famous for, but done in a more exaggerated fashion.
 
The first ?100 challenge, fuck me that's what we want. No nonsense and 'real'.

Series 7 is what we want... but in 4k.
 
Oh? To me the first real highlight has always been series 8, with the first amphibious car challenge and the caravan holiday.

I remember series 7 mainly for the supercar road trip to southern France and something similar you already had in TGT.

Always keep in mind that different people want different things.
 
Veyron vs plane.
Winter Olympics
Isle of Man
308 vs Merak vs Uracco.


Maybe it's rose tinted glasses time, but I dont remember any 'comedy' in the first 10? Seasons.
 
The 3 supercars on a budget will always be what hooked me on TopGear, this was series 7 to.

'take 3 blokes and let them do some outrageous automotive thing plenty of us would like to do, but will in practise never get to do, and watch them have fun with it'

I Like TGT so far, it's not perfect, this episode was the weakest of the 4 IMHO, still better than 90% of the crap on TV, wich come to think of it is exactly what we used to say about the lesser TG episodes.

The only thing I really do miss though, and I'm not sure how to express this , is the basic 'Britishness' of the show.
They achieved this with simple things, testing a car in the Cotswolds, or on the Yorkshire Dales, the simply driving around in Britain, the small interactions with people, the jabs at certain places and people, the 'always a little bit shit' undertones of British self-depriciating humor, I love that....

Before TopGear, GB was that wet Island on the other side of the Northsea, gray cities and bad food, Topgear made me fall in love with it, made me want to know more about it, nowadays I consider myself a proper Anglophile and I Holiday in Britain almost every year.

TGT seems to be almost all exotic locations and 'internationalness'. That makes sense obviously, as it now an international show made for an American company, but it feels like it's missing a little, there I say it? Soul?
 
TGT seems to be almost all exotic locations and 'internationalness'. That makes sense obviously, as it now an international show made for an American company, but it feels like it's missing a little, there I say it? Soul?
Have to agree. I liked the UK'ness of the old shows. The gloomy weather, quaint locations, quirky characters and the 'local' humour. Some of the subtly in their banter is probably being lost to the new arrangement.

I didn't know many of the not-so-famous identities they'd lay into at times, but I usually got the joke. For instance, I might not know who he is, but I now know how to draw an Eric Pickles on my thumb :| :lol:
 
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