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[02x01] July 24, 2011

[02x01] July 24, 2011

  • Total voters
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Viper007Bond

Viper007Bond

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Stay on-topic please. :)
 
Seems they opted to ditch the classic Top Gear theme song for their own theme. Can't decide if this is bad or good.
 
I'm against it. Pretty meh all around; 6.
 
That got a 9/10 from me. it is way better (like most of us said it would be) than last season. I really am starting to dislike Adam though. The only reason it got a 9 and not a 10 is because of the studio segments. when it opened i was thinking "hmmm, did they kill the studio? I like it better" but then they went to the studio. The audience just seems bad as far as sound is concerned. Anyone who knows anything about audio can tell how cut up the sound was in the studio. It was just bad editing. Ill just say i felt better about it 10 minutes in. After the first 30 minutes i was ready for more coffee but i didnt wanna get up so i actually waited for a comercial. Oh, before anyone says it, Yes, we know your "sick of the cars running into eachother, its so TG UK" ect... please STFU ;)

Overall, it was nice to see the guys "off script". very happy.

Edit (cuz i just read viper's post and it reminded me): The opening was cool, nice that they went thier own way.
 
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Wow. That episode seemed very clumsily put together. I really want this show to redeem itself the way it started to at the end of the first season, but it has quite a long way to go in doing that.

The biggest issue was the lack of any variety in the show. There just was not enough story or material to make the pickup story an entire episode. Episode-length pieces need to have an aura of epic-ness about them (Alaska, Vietnam, Polar Special, etc.), and this just felt like it should have been the central piece of a normal, run-of-the-mill, weekly episode. Even if they would have just broken it up in the middle with a news segment and interview, it would have been much more tolerable and felt less forced.

Fingers crossed this doesn't continue...
 
t_simmers_jr said:
Wow. That episode seemed very clumsily put together. I really want this show to redeem itself the way it started to at the end of the first season, but it has quite a long way to go in doing that.

The biggest issue was the lack of any variety in the show. There just was not enough story or material to make the pickup story an entire episode. Episode-length pieces need to have an aura of epic-ness about them (Alaska, Vietnam, Polar Special, etc.), and this just felt like it should have been the central piece of a normal, run-of-the-mill, weekly episode. Even if they would have just broken it up in the middle with a news segment and interview, it would have been much more tolerable and felt less forced.

Fingers crossed this doesn't continue...
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You mean like TG UK? Is that what your looking for?
 
They really need to go back to the classic Top Gear theme. I don't like this new one.

Also, I would have preferred to see them axe all of the useless studio segments in the middle of the show... but instead of dropping right into the package at the top of the show, I would have preferred to see them open in the studio. (Yeah, this is similar to how Top Gear UK would often do their specials. I'm not saying they need to do everything like the parent show, but that's one thing that works the way they did it over there.)
 
I increasingly prefer TGUS to TGUK and this episode just confirmed it for me.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Seems they opted to ditch the classic Top Gear theme song for their own theme. Can't decide if this is bad or good.
Click to expand...

I JUST missed the intro, but now I'm curious. If it's a cool intro, then I'd be fine with it.

Sik Pony said:
That got a 9/10 from me. it is way better (like most of us said it would be) than last season. I really am starting to dislike Adam though. The only reason it got a 9 and not a 10 is because of the studio segments. when it opened i was thinking "hmmm, did they kill the studio? I like it better" but then they went to the studio. The audience just seems bad as far as sound is concerned. Anyone who knows anything about audio can tell how cut up the sound was in the studio. It was just bad editing. Ill just say i felt better about it 10 minutes in. After the first 30 minutes i was ready for more coffee but i didnt wanna get up so i actually waited for a comercial. Oh, before anyone says it, Yes, we know your "sick of the cars running into eachother, its so TG UK" ect... please STFU ;)

Overall, it was nice to see the guys "off script". very happy.

Edit (cuz i just read viper's post and it reminded me): The opening was cool, nice that they went thier own way.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind on the studio sound thing that they were actually outside of the studio, from what I could tell. Not sure exactly why, but they were.

I think they probably could have thrown in something else, it did lack some sort of, well, for lack of a better word/phrase, "thematic flair". They could have edited out a lot of the cattle part, but I the fertilizer stuff was funny enough to leave in. I didn't know about the first episode, so I was surprised that their "road trip" episode like Alaska (if this is their only one) was the first episode, not the last one. But now after-the-fact, it's probably good that it's not the last one.

Good antics, really funny, the hosts, to me, seem more natural and together. I'll go 8/10 on this one. Looking forward to next week's episode.
 
ZondaR said:
I JUST missed the intro, but now I'm curious. If it's a cool intro, then I'd be fine with it.



Keep in mind on the studio sound thing that they were actually outside of the studio, from what I could tell. Not sure exactly why, but they were.

I think they probably could have thrown in something else, it did lack some sort of, well, for lack of a better word/phrase, "thematic flair". They could have edited out a lot of the cattle part, but I the fertilizer stuff was funny enough to leave in. I didn't know about the first episode, so I was surprised that their "road trip" episode like Alaska (if this is their only one) was the first episode, not the last one. But now after-the-fact, it's probably good that it's not the last one.

Good antics, really funny, the hosts, to me, seem more natural and together. I'll go 8/10 on this one. Looking forward to next week's episode.
Click to expand...

As far as the sound thing, it just never felt real last season with the applause and this season is no different. you can just tell they did alot of takes. Nothing to do with the location for me. I think they were outside because it was nice out there and maybe just felt better?

And with the cattle thing, im wondering if maybe they made it that long so we could really "get to know the hosts". learned alot about those guys out there and, i pains me to say this, but Tanner really impressed me the most out there. seemed to be the least bitchy. Just sucked it up and went with it while Rut and Adam were acting a bit tortured.
 
I don't really think this was worthy of a full episode. I think they could have shortened it a bit, especially the boring cattle part, and instead stuck in a short regular review.
 
Sik Pony said:
You mean like TG UK? Is that what your looking for?
Click to expand...

I'm not looking for it to be like TGUK. I actually want it to be a little different just on principle. I merely made those suggestions because those are the elements they have to work with. Breaking it up with ANYTHING would have been preferable.

Viper007Bond said:
I don't really think this was worthy of a full episode. I think they could have shortened it a bit, especially the boring cattle part, and instead stuck in a short regular review.
Click to expand...

Exactly my point. Thank you.
 
Viper007Bond said:
I don't really think this was worthy of a full episode. I think they could have shortened it a bit, especially the boring cattle part, and instead stuck in a short regular review.
Click to expand...

I actually liked that they only did the one thing for the whole episode.

One thing I commented on last season was that when they tried doing a long-form challenge and other stuff, everything sort of felt rushed and crammed in, mostly because they also had to deal with the all-too-frequent commercial breaks. While you are right that they probably could have edited it down somewhat, I'm not sure that they could have edited it down *enough* to fit another item into the show without it feeling rushed, or having an awkward transition from one item to the other.
 
I'm having mixed feelings on dropping "Jessica". It symbolizes that the US crew is doing their own thing now, without needing to rely on the UK for ideas like in the first season. But "Jessica" is Pavlovian...you know what's on when that song starts up. Maybe the new intro will grow on me as the season progresses.

As far as the episode, some parts could definitely been trimmed to add in a traditional review/SIARPC, but I can see why they kept it as a full "special" type show for the season premiere.
 
I thought it was quite good. Their chemistry is much better. The new intro is decent, glad to see them going in their own direction. The TGUK-esque car bumps were funny and not overdone. I seriously laughed out loud on several occasions, Adam's one-liners when Rut got stuck were hilarious.

9/10 for me, can't wait for next week's episode.
 
Major step backwards for me. My wife hated the short opening, and I found the episode full of recycled jokes.

I did like the Maverick, but that's just me.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Seems they opted to ditch the classic Top Gear theme song for their own theme. Can't decide if this is bad or good.
Click to expand...
Nooooo!

Haven't watched it yet. Tempted to read what people have said but I also don't really want to spoil it...
 
6. I like the new theme. I like the straight-to-action style. I dislike heavily the History Channel's commercial editing (you're watching the show and all-of-a-sudden it's commercial). I also heavily disliked the 20 minutes of crap. Seriously? They couldn't think of a better strength test? And wasn't the whole point supposed to be about better fuel economy? Where in that whole trip did they address that problem?

I like that they're going their own way and I want that to continue, but a episode of this caliber should've been placed later in the series, and I think History knows it too because they made a point of advertizing the much-better 2nd episode during half of the show.
 
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