[05x01] June 3rd, 2014

[05x01] June 3rd, 2014


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Viper007Bond

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I'm trying to watch it now and I'll probably draw some ire, but I doubt it could get worse. I get the feeling that none of the presenters have even the slightest interest in cars beyond using them to look cool, and that they think their audience has a mental age of five. If they canned these childish clowns and hired some proper immature adults who knew something about the subject, the sky would be the limit. But instead we get incorrect information presented at the same pace and in the same tone as you'd use when talking to your dog. This is what happens when you hire talk-show hosts instead of witty enthusiasts... but at least I feel like a good boy (yes you are!).
 
That was pretty awesome, especially the end. Not sure what ^ is talking about.

I don't even like drag racing but found myself on the edge of my seat. The challenges were pretty good, but the cars were the stars this episode. Some great mix of muscle. Loved Adam's chewbacca impression.
 
I'm with you. This has to be one of the worst episodes they've ever done. Everything felt so incredibly staged and unfunny. In the very beginning, Rut talks about the Charger in Bullitt, but makes a reference to the '72 bodystyle, whereas the one in Bullitt was a '68.

The steering wheel shocking challenge made zero sense. Why didn't they just take their hands off the wheel? And why not just keep going when the red light came on as there was no time penalty? The thing with the flies was equally dumb, because why was Rut the only one who thought to roll down his window? And why didn't they set a rule before hand disallowing that? The bit with setting off car alarms was so obviously faked, too. You can see dozens of people standing on the sidewalk watching, and just know that the producers told them to all hit the panic buttons on their FOBs. The bit with Tanner and Rut wearing blindfolds was stupid and impossible. No way in fucking hell they let anyone, let alone the stars of their show, drive tuned drag cars with blindfolds on.

The only remotely cool part was the race at the end, but all the goddamn previews sort of ruined it when it showed a black Dodge doing a massive wheelie.
 
I'm trying to watch it now and I'll probably draw some ire, but I doubt it could get worse. I get the feeling that none of the presenters have even the slightest interest in cars beyond using them to look cool, and that they think their audience has a mental age of five. If they canned these childish clowns and hired some proper immature adults who knew something about the subject, the sky would be the limit. But instead we get incorrect information presented at the same pace and in the same tone as you'd use when talking to your dog. This is what happens when you hire talk-show hosts instead of witty enthusiasts... but at least I feel like a good boy (yes you are!).

This really pissed me off. I have no idea how you can say that the hosts are only interested in the cars so they can look cool. I met Tanner Foust at Lydden Hill a couple of weekends ago, and let me tell you, he's the real deal. We talked cars and he knows his stuff. He's very articulate and down to earth, to boot. I've never met Adam or Rut but I'm willing to say the same about them.
 
This really pissed me off. I have no idea how you can say that the hosts are only interested in the cars so they can look cool. I met Tanner Foust at Lydden Hill a couple of weekends ago, and let me tell you, he's the real deal. We talked cars and he knows his stuff. He's very articulate and down to earth, to boot. I've never met Adam or Rut but I'm willing to say the same about them.
Look at the date of joining. Look at the number of posts. Look at the content which failes to mention any specific details of the episode that justify the expressed opinion. This is a troll, pure and simple.
 
Comments about episode 5x01 (spoilers!)

-I'm tired of seeing grey 67' and 68' 'Eleanor' replicas in grey. The only 'Eleanor' I acknowledge is the yellow Mach 1 from the original Gone in 60 Seconds.

-Those rear speaker grilles in Tanner's car are kinda cool though.

-What's up with the center stack LED gauges in Adam's Camaro??

-Zero thoughts on Rut's Charger.

-They should have had the guys sit on the shocker. Then have them do a 1 mile full throttle run through the gears. If they jumped the tree or missed an upshift, a red light and horn on the roof would tell the two guys on the sidelines that the driver messed up and got zapped.

-If I had lent someone my car and they did what happened in the second challenge, I'd be really, really pissed.

-Just noticed that I really don't like the History bug on the lower right having to be there ALL THE TIME. Also, 30 minutes into the show, and they still say NOW Season Premier, just in case you forgot what you were watching.

-Cars from Asian car manufacturers, as well as pickup trucks, are susceptible to noise activation syndrome.

-Rutledge's second car is missing the cruise control stalk.

-I really hate the on-screen ads for other History Channel shows. If I rent or buy the episode from iTunes, can I opt-out of those overlays? They are really taking me out of the show.

-Rutledge's voice-overs are better than Tanners.

-Doesn't the Mopar catalog have wheelie bars in it?

It was an okay episode, would be a pretty good one if History would stop having those stupid overlays on the screen all the time.
 
Slow start, but the cars were excellent and the final race had an honest feel to it that is pretty rare in TG anything these days. 7/10. I have a feeling this'll be a pretty good season.
 
great start to the season, had really missed Top Gear USA, as strong as ever. I really really want any of those 3 muscle cars now though. Rut's wheelie was pretty insane as well.

8/10 really strong start to the season.
 
To be honest, I think TGA has the recipe for their version of TG just right. Solid 8/10 from me
 
It was nice to see something other than the usual "cheap car challenge" that has dominated past seasons, but on the flip-side they tend to do those really well and this one was kind of a snoozer at times (I watched it over two days as I found other things in my Tivo queue more compelling).

An average score (7) for an average episode.*

(I use a grading system of A/B/C/D/F - 9/8/7/6/5 - so this episode was a "C / 7").
 
I agree with those that say this had a little more real feel to the racing at the end. Made me want to go out and order a drag pack car as that did look like fun and I always liked the Challenger. About as low maintenance as drag racing can get and still be fast. i really appreciate that as my Atom is kind of the same except I can drive to the track and my tracks have turns, but, track all day for peanuts. OK, the 100K initial buy in isn't peanuts
 
I thought it was solid. Yeah, a little staged, but it's not like TGUK is completely unscripted. The drag race was cool, and I don't think of Rutt as so much of a pansy anymore. Still, not bad. Almost comparable to what TGUK was doing in their fifth season.

However, I really hope they can avoid the pitfall of their catchphrase jokes (rutt is a pig, tanner is a show-off, and adam can't do anything right). Not that I have a problem with those character profiles (I enjoy their jokes), but I can see why a lot of people don't find them funny. I can only hear so many jokes about Rutt eating too many pies and Tanner not being able to avoid burnouts.
 
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