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[02x09] February 14th, 2012

[02x09] February 14th, 2012

  • Total voters
    120
There's only so much they can do with all the commercial breaks, but this one didn't seem way too edited to miss most of the fun.

I really think they should change this SIARPC format, not a fan of it AT ALL.

And they could use their own track for more reviews and challenges in the future. Even if it means very short reviews, like the ones from the earlier seasons of TGUK that weren't done by Clarkson.

I just feel it's pointless to always compare TGUS to TGUK, so I'll just think of it as a History show. That explains the 8/10 from me.
 
john_flaherty said:
There's only so much they can do with all the commercial breaks, but this one didn't seem way too edited to miss most of the fun.

I really think they should change this SIARPC format, not a fan of it AT ALL.

And they could use their own track for more reviews and challenges in the future. Even if it means very short reviews, like the ones from the earlier seasons of TGUK that weren't done by Clarkson.

I just feel it's pointless to always compare TGUS to TGUK, so I'll just think of it as a History show. That explains the 8/10 from me.
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thats the only way we should really think of it. The reason (i think) that they changed the intro was to do just this, make it thier own. People often watch and compare to TG UK, thats where the lower scores come from. look at it as a new show on an old idea and it will be way more fun IMO
 
Sik Pony said:
People often watch and compare to TG UK, thats where the lower scores come from.
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Problem is, most compare it to recent TG seasons. When compared to S1-3 of TG:UK, it's easily on par. Anyone remember the UK "bargains" segments that dragged on, and on, and on? Or "restoration ripoff", "best driving song", and other equally painful dreck?

TG:US is settling in to a pretty good groove. The biggest thing hurting them right now is the 60 minute slot. Show needs 90 min and fewer "stuff that just happened" bumps.
 
I gave it an 8, but watching Tanner drive his truck at 90 miles an hour with no helmet on and then actually take it on the road shows us that Top Gear was supposed to be made in America, or at least not in the UK.
 
It wasn't a bad episode, it was certainly more entertaining than the last episode of TG:UK with that idiotic movie car chase.

simbaleo said:
TG:US is settling in to a pretty good groove. The biggest thing hurting them right now is the 60 minute slot. Show needs 90 min and fewer "stuff that just happened" bumps.
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Almost no US show has a 90 minute run slot.
 
Rossco said:
BTW, who the Hell is Ed Burns?
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Lancia Stratos said:
Loved the Episode. A solid 8 for me, but would probably be lower had I watched the SIARPC. Who was he?
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0122653/

simbaleo said:
Problem is, most compare [TG USA] to recent TG seasons.
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Exactly, and this is something I said way back in US S1. Comparing TG US in its infancy to TG UK in the present day doesn't work. You have to compare like for like.

Anyone remember the UK "bargains" segments that dragged on, and on, and on? Or "restoration ripoff", "best driving song", and other equally painful dreck?
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I actually liked "Restoration Ripoff" and the "Greatest Driving Song" competition. The former because we got to learn about some interesting (semi-)famous cars, the latter because I'm a wee bit of a music junkie.
 
All in all, I thought it was pretty good...I'll let it at that for now.
 
I liked it overall. Not quite as good as some of the episodes last season but a solid start. I was disappointed that they didn't get to go and find their own trucks and then do the customizing like they did in the UK but having to take it on the actual highway made up for that.

One thing I don't like is that they keep doing the "Coming up on Top Gear" bumps before every commercial. For one, it uses up time they are already short on. Second, it spoils most gags that are coming after the break. This is poor 'reality' show editing that isn't needed. Mythbusters does the same thing now and it is really annoying.

I'm still not used to their track and the SIARPC segment is really lacking.
 
jasonof2000 said:
Almost no US show has a 90 minute run slot.
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It's uncommon, but it's been done with specials and such. Wouldn't be hard for History to pad or trail it with a 30 minute slot of something or other.
 
8/10 for me

good way to start off, what i guess is now Season 3? even though UK has done a "lorry/big rig" challenge before (obviously), this episode had to be done here in the US too. i mean, how can the US version NOT do a big rig challenge, honestly? this episode is to the US as Aston Martins and Jags are to the UK. the episode was slow to start, but ended up being a good kick off to the new season.
 
gave it a 6. it should improve. they couldve put a better up first though..:)
 
T0nyGTSt said:
am i to understand that this is 42 mins of big rig shenanigans?
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37 minutes. They had about 5 minutes of an interview.

simbaleo said:
It's uncommon, but it's been done with specials and such. Wouldn't be hard for History to pad or trail it with a 30 minute slot of something or other.
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Throw an episode of Pawn Stars or American Restoration at the end (They're the only real 30-minute shows history has now). Or, they could do a Top Gear After-Show.

Or even better, Mail Call re-runs!
 
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narf said:
Hammond supposedly did 90 in his Lorry GTI without a helmet :dunno:
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Yeah, but they had to pull off limiters for him to do that. No limiters here. Our trucks go faster than 56 miles per hour on the open road.

This one was pretty nice to watch, especially since I'm quite familiar with that road, having driven it every week for six months when I lived in the Chicago area and had a consultancy just north of Ann Arbor. And, yeah, the car being run over was scripted (but it just had to happen), and the fireworks went a bit over the top. But the important fact was that you could tell they were having fun. Fun's been in short supply lately on TGUK.

Glad to see everyone likes the electronic lap board. Jeremy putting the times up on the lap board really is his thing, and it's good to see some differentiation. I wonder if TGROK's going to start doing something different in this vein in their next season.

And for the nay-sayers, this is their eighteenth episode (not counting the clip show). What was TGUK doing on their eighteenth episode? Oh, yeah, that was the Race For The Universe, one of the most horrid moments of New Top Gear. It was Richard and James camping out in the rain to test convertibles. It was James still doing Insider Dealing. Watch 02x08. Afterward, I dare anyone to say anything bad about TGUS.
 
The Spie said:
Yeah, but they had to pull off limiters for him to do that. No limiters here. Our trucks go faster than 56 miles per hour on the open road.
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:dunno: I doubt this was the point of the post I replied to, why else mention helmets and (implicitly) health-and-safety-madness in the UK?
 
As I mentioned earlier this was an awesome episode, I also really enjoyed most of season 2 when I watched that. Yes they have copied some of their ideas from TGUK but so what. They have put their own stamp on them and made them enjoyable in their own way, and in some ways improved upon the original episodes. Yes bits are scripted but for the most part of this episode I saw three guys having fun.

I have to admit I generally don't bother with the SIARPC, as I don't know who most of them are but to be honest I don't know who many of the UK ones are either so tend to skip those bits in both when I watch recordings.
 
Might be a bit of a bold statement, but I reckon they did the truck challenge better than TG:UK. They captured the difficulty of driving a big vehicle right from the start. The UK guys just seemed to jump in and drive off.
 
SOLID 8/10 from me! TGUS became such a better show (in my mind) when I stopped trying to compare it with TGUK. It has its own identity now, I think. That and I love road trips.

Almost all parts are obviously scripted (C'mon people, this is TV. 90% of what you see is done and re-done untill it looks good), and this doesn't bother me all that much, I don't mind scripted scenes, as long as they are well done. Of course, a couple scenes were too blatant, specially the "crash" in which you could see that the car was already a piece of junk and parked "by coincidence" on a perfect spot.

The chemistry between the 3 guys is better than ever, makes me think of 3 high-school friends having a good time :D

All in all, a very very good season start


The Spie said:
... Richard and James camping out in the rain to test convertibles.
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Heeey I loved this part! :razz:
 
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