[23x01] May 29th, 2016 -- First Episode With New Cast

[23x01] May 29th, 2016 -- First Episode With New Cast


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The Guardian Live Blog summed it up perfectly for me in this post:

This whole show feels like someone used the internet to translate Top Gear from English to Swahili and then back into English again. The intention is right but the execution is buggered beyond all belief.

It wasn't terrible... yeah, actually, it was :(
 
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Maybe my previous comment fell on deaf ears so let me spell it out for you. Abusive or insulting behaviour isn't tolerated here from long standing members let alone n00bs. It's one of the reasons why Final Gear is so respected and frequently acknowledged by the original TG team.

Wind your neck in and show some respect. We welcome new members with open arms as long as their contribution is positive. On the basis of your recent posts I would say you have a very short shelf life.

You just keep living the dream
 
Just few notes:

[-] Chris should stop shouting like crazy and jumping around in the studio like he is on 10 Red Bulls in a disco club. That's really, really annoying!
[-] Sabine should be natural. Cheesy phrases are for 90s American Movies, not for the current worlds most viewed car show.
[-] No Chris Harris on Top Gear? Only on extra gear. Come on, he is great ... put him on. The show needs him.


[+] Matt is good. Probably the only good thing about the show. Just a little less American jokes and he is top notch.
[+] Some fresh elements are nice to be seen, although that might get boring. e.g. the rally car and celebrities giving details about their first cars.
[+] Cinematography is still true Top Gear. Looking awesome.

4/10 ... Needs a lot of improvement.
 
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OK, watched again. More prepared, more sober.

Evans has to go. Give him a desk job, put him as a writer or something. On screen the man is a disaster (and his big head makes him look like Tweety bird).

Put LeBlanc, Reid and Harris as the main trio and keep Sabine as a support character (I'm sorry, she is a great person and an awesome driver but she does not have a good voice, her accent is TOO strong, and not enough talent to present a program, in my humble opinion)

I have'n seen Jordan yet, but I've watched him on YouTube and I liked him (Obviously I know who he is, but I had never watched him as a presenter). Maybe instead of a trio we could have a main quartet?

Maybe (big maybe) even... ditch the Stig and put Sabine to do the power laps, and offer her opinion about the cars when driven on the limit.


Still 4/10. Lots of maybes...
 
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I'm giving it an optimistic 6.

I really like Matt on the show. He's a more relaxed version of Hammond.
Chris is...ok.

Where are the other people? :blink: I was looking forward to Harris Monkey.
 
OK, watched again. More prepared, more sober.

Evans has to go. Give him a desk job, put him as a writer or something. On screen the man is a disaster (and his big head makes him look like Tweetie bird).

Put LeBlanc, Reid and Harris as the main trio and keep Sabine as a support character (I'm sorry, she is a great person and an awesome driver but she does not have a good voice, her accent is TOO strong, and not enough talent to present a program, in my humble opinion)

I have'n seen Jordan yet, but I've watched him on YouTube and I liked him (Obviously I know who he is, but I had never watched him as a presenter). Maybe instead of a trio we could have a main quartet?

Maybe (big maybe) even... ditch the Stig and put Sabine to do the power laps, and offer her opinion about the cars when driven on the limit.

Still 4/10. Lots of maybes...

I like your ideas a lot.
Yeah, whoever suggested Evans in the first place doomed the first series of the show.
Harris is GREAT, can't go wrong with him. But his main reason for starting his own Youtube channel was having no one to answer to, no red lines, just doing as he liked. I wonder if he's prepared to put those things aside for a bigger paycheck and a fancier production setting. (And some travel)
 
I didn't dislike it, considering it is the first episode and all. I understand why Chris Evans annoys people but since it was the first time I watched him, I don't have antibodies (yet?).
 
I thought it was pretty good. Evans needs to calm down obviously, but at least he knows his cars. LeBlanc was good. Camera work fantastic. Sabine fine. For a first episode with a new cast and crew this is a pretty amazing result. They do need a third presenter for balance.

I have seen worse from CHM. Except from May of course, being the best of the three.
 
Top CVT is so far the best call.

Meh, Flopgear is more punny, and of course it rhymes. But I'd just like to throw out there Wrong Gear.

OK, watched again. More prepared, more sober.
Put LeBlanc, Reid and Harris as the main trio and keep Sabine as a support character (I'm sorry, she is a great person and an awesome driver but she does not have a good voice, her accent is TOO strong, and not enough talent to present a program, in my humble opinion)

Sabine has her downsides. However, what made CHM so good is that they all have very different personalities and tastes. Nothing against Rory, but I just don't see him being that different from the others. Plus, he doesn't seem very argumentative. On the other hand, when Clarkson was so proud of going round the Ring in under 10 minutes, Sabine called him out and said she could beat that time in a VAN. And her jibe at Ferrari yesterday was pretty snarky. At least if she were a regular on the show, her English would probably improve. But if for no other reason, I'd like to see Sabine more simply because she's the only person on the show who is a properly good driver, and has lots of experience with lots of fast cars. One of the very few reasons I still watch TG US is for the same reason: Tanner Faust has expertise and experience that the others don't, not to mention he does some cool slides and shit. Plus, he can be surprisingly funny.

Who knows, I guess I don't know Rory well enough, time will tell. At the very least, he's a helluva lot better than Evans.
 
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Going to echo what has been said about Matt , he was about the only thing I enjoyed , I dont think its fully set in yet, so I have no idea what to say, to be fair, I am to watch all of series 23 before I make up my mind, but thats going ot be hard, not sure if I can stomach that much more of CE, unless he settles down a lot.
 
What speaks volumes is the reaction here. In the past a new episode discussion would be well over 20 pages by now. If not more. And the number of new members would be heading for three digits.

:tumbleweed:

Not it a reflection on FG, just to the show itself.
 
In my opinion the first episode was a hit-and-miss.
  • Evans was not as bad as he was made up to be beforehand, but nevertheless he tries much too hard and that's fucking annoying. The interaction with the studio audience felt forced as hell. Also he should triy not to shout so much. Microphones do exist.
  • On the whole, they should have shed more of the old formula. Perhaps the studio bits get better when the hosts get to know each other better, but this felt like a mere shadow of the CHM incarnation.
  • LeBlanc is surprisingly apt at the "review with a silly twist" business. I like his calm approach, but he could shift up a gear.
  • Sabine has potential for the odd guest appearance, but while she is a great driver, she also tries too hard in front of a camera. I like her swearing, though, but not that they cut it short, those British pussies. :p
  • Cinematography especially on the Viper and Nomad films was properly good.
  • The Blackpool thing was especially cringeworthy, as it was again a reminder of the old days, but only a bad copy.
  • Stars in a rallycross car: Like the twist on the lap format, but that double interview with forced audience interaction was just awful.
 
Britain, you've given Chris Evans enough money to buy a collection of Ferraris, and you should feel bad for that.

Anyway, on last night's show:

One thing that everyone forgets is that the earliest 2nd-series episodes of TG starring the classic trio were also terrible. They just were.

But, they weren't as terrible as Top Evans FEATURING CHRIS EVANS ON TONIGHT'S SHOW WITH CHRIS EVANS.

Seriously, I didn't even get six minutes in before I'd completely had it with Chris Evans. His voice is grating, his non-stop screeching is unbearable, and his 'humour' lines were shite.

Matt LeBlanc has potential. His dry delivery was low-key but still entertaining. He has actual presence on camera. Once he gets comfortable with the show and has a better lead presenter to play off of, I could see him being a good co-host of this show. Unlike Evans, whose only potential is to become an even bigger twat. Also, the 'lul American' lines will get old fast, even to the most Yankophobic of Brits.

Sabine is a good choice for films that need another driver for one of the hosts to participate in the scene with. I don't know that she could carry the show, but as a second/third presenter in a segment, especially one that needs a lot of aggressive driving, she's a great choice.

I liked Extra Gear. Liked it enough that I'd like to replace Chris Evans with Rory Reid. Top Gear's lead presenter being a loud buffoon worked with Clarkson as the buffoon. It doesn't work with someone else (especially someone as annoying as Evans) trying to be Clarkson II. Rory strikes me as having just enough personality and energy to effectively lead the show and counteract Joey's more laid-back style.

Highlight of the show: LeBlanc's film with the off-road buggy.

Lowlight of the show: Everything with Chris Evans in it.

I think I may just let the first season of this show slip past and re-join at S24E01 to see if things have improved.
 
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What speaks volumes is the reaction here. In the past a new episode discussion would be well over 20 pages by now. If not more.
Not really. 22x6: 5 pages, 22x7: 4 pages. 22x3: 5 pages. 22x2: 4 pages.22x5: 5 pages.

Unless with 'in the past' you mean many seasons ago.
 
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it although that is likely due to missing the original so much. It was great just to hear the title music again :lol:


-Matt was great! Lots of potential and very likable. Hopefully he reviews some actual cars in the future(new Ford GT perhaps...). He's about as far from British as you can get but the truth is that Top Gear is very much a global show with a global audience.

-I can never get enough Sabine.

-Chris was goodish but I don't like him as the main host. He's much too frenetic for the role.

-SIARPC has changed for the worse. I like the Mini and I have always felt the chosen car should have more power/be more unique but the track sucks. The TG track is known around the world so why fuck with it?
 
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This show needs more retooling. Needs to remove the tool Chris Evans as host and replace with someone mush less annoying.
 
Britain, you've given Chris Evans enough money to buy a collection of Ferraris, and you should feel bad for that.

Indeed. Prior to this episode, the only Evans screen time I've experienced was when May did the bit on Evan's California and even then his abrasiveness showed.
 
A lot of opinion was most influenced by CHM lovers. When The Grand Tour episode 1 is shown, it'll be mostly 10s even if it was a terrible episode, because CHM.
 
A lot of opinion was most influenced by CHM lovers. When The Grand Tour episode 1 is shown, it'll be mostly 10s even if it was a terrible episode, because CHM.

Wrong. Look at the top gear episodes from series 14-20. You'll see the polarizing results from those monumentally awful years.

Indeed. Prior to this episode, the only Evans screen time I've experienced was when May did the bit on Evan's California and even then his abrasiveness showed.

He seemed like a jackass. He had the old man hot rodder feel of "don't touch my fucking cars."
 
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