[23x05] June 26th, 2016

[23x05] June 26th, 2016

  • 10

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • 9

    Votes: 2 3.0%
  • 8

    Votes: 7 10.4%
  • 7

    Votes: 14 20.9%
  • 6

    Votes: 9 13.4%
  • 5

    Votes: 7 10.4%
  • 4

    Votes: 10 14.9%
  • 3

    Votes: 6 9.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 6 9.0%
  • 1

    Votes: 5 7.5%

  • Total voters
    67
If it really is going to be either Matt OR Chris for series 2, I can't think of 1 single reason to keep Mr Evans.

Doesn't he have a three season contract?

Also, the BBC never, ever, ever admit to making a mistake. They'd rather just push on and keep pumping out press statements about what an amazing success their painfully obvious failures are. They're insane.
 
Roller vs old Roller - Just seemed like filler and an excuse for Evans to tell us about yet another car he owns, wasn't terrible, just OK.

This is actually why I kind of liked this bit: it seems like the first REAL programming they've done this season. You can just picture him rambling on to LeBlanc about how his own Corniche is a better car cause it's classic and has character and such, a debate ensuing about whether the old car is better than the new one. Now Matt loves old cars and bikes, but you can see him getting the clever idea to make it into a segment and let the people put Evans in his place on camera. Given, it could have gone the other way, and there were a few good points as to what made the Corniche a great car, but it didn't, and you can kind of see the hate in Evans eyes.
 
I guess I am a hater...
- hate Chris Evans (shouty and pitchy mofo)
- hate Matt LeBlanc (used to think he was great, but he is just monotonous and boring here)
- don't like the chubby guy
- don't like Sabine
- hate the SIARCC segment
- I actually hate the new show.

I have been hoping and hoping, but 5 episodes in I am giving up.
Sticking around Finalgear for The Grand Tour, cant wait to see those 3 again.



PS: gave it a 2, fell asleep somewhere in the middle, the only thing I recall from the show is MLB reading an obviously scripted piece very slowly and without emotion.
 
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Roller vs old Roller - Just seemed like filler and an excuse for Evans to tell us about yet another car he owns, wasn't terrible, just OK.

But I'm guessing that you didn't any problem with this bit [video=youtube;aVDKztQ-n1U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVDKztQ-n1U[/video]
 
But I'm guessing that you didn't any problem with this bit [video=youtube;aVDKztQ-n1U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVDKztQ-n1U[/video]
I know I didn't.

Clarkson and May talking about their cars and "bickering" was enjoyable and relaxing. The chemistry between them was amazing.

Evans talking about his Rolls makes me want to put his head inside a potato sack and hit it with a hammer.
 
All I can say again it was not bad, but still too much Evans. The jag bit felt really hollow for some reason. I enjoy Harris's parts always.
 
But I'm guessing that you didn't any problem with this bit

I would consider that segment not terrible and just OK as well, definitely wasn't the best thing C&M ever did but at least there was a bit of comedy and cohesion in it. We've only had 5 of these Evans shows and already in at least 2 of them we've had talk about cars he owns. Have you seen much mentioned in any of these shows what LeBlanc, Reid, Harris, Sabine or Eddie drive or the cars they own?

If you're suggesting that I automatically think all CHM stuff is magic and all Evans stuff is crap, you're wrong. If you disagree with my opinion and think it was a great piece of Top Gear TV, then why not say so.
 
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Zenos E10 - Evans' timing for his narration is off most of the time. Also, STOP SHOUTING
Stig's lap - Evans sounds like a retard who's standing 20 ft away from the microphone to try and stop his shouty voice from being annoying. It doesn't help
Rolls - a US guy reviewing it, no. Just no, it's not working
M2/RS3 - Harris is too shouty, he doesn't need it and he shouldn't do it. Stop it. Now
SIARCC - heh no, go away
F-Type Rory's doing ok but the item itself is a bit boring
2 rolls - a clown who paints his 288GTO white has no business talking about style and class

3/10
 
You think the BRX plate was intentional?
 
I get the feeling a minority are still trying to look on the bright side and find things to like, but most of us can see this is a total potato by now. :D

In fact most of the things they have done so far, CHM already got there first a while back. They need so real originality but I doubt the ginger twit has the brain power
 
I feel the BBC is dragging Chris Harris down.

Chris: The next time someone from BBC comes up with some shit like a "happiness detector" tell them to get the fuck out of your face!
 
Chris: The next time someone from BBC comes up with some shit like a "happiness detector" tell them to get the fuck out of your face!
I forgot about that nonsense! I'd have scored it lower still, damn!

If they wanted to add some awful 'happiness detector' silliness, then it would have been better to have allowed 'the producers' persist in installing it on his head, then having him toss it, wires and all, out the window on the first bend. That's more the spirit of old TG, but they just don't get it.
 
- Norman Dewis had to suffer that idiot shouting in his year, should've used his stick to shut him up
- Could Evans be more wrong about Rolls? I can imagine May ripping him apart
- Chris Harris trying to be Clarkson doesn't work. His test was stupid, stick to giving us good car reviews.
- Rory's segment was great, a bit of history and a challenge
- Paul Hollywood is a petrolhead and has a racing license, but you wouldn't know that from the moron CE's interview would you :mad:
- Matt's first segment was actually quite good
- Evan's reviews give no actual impressions, he's reading off the spec sheet. Well not reading, shouting.
 
Again, I bloody hate the music choices... One Einaudi and one Zimmer piece won't save it.


But I'm guessing that you didn't any problem with this bit [video=youtube;aVDKztQ-n1U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVDKztQ-n1U[/video]

Most misplaced comparison ever.
 
I know I am going against the trend here, but I'm warming more and more to the latest incarnation of Top Gear and I enjoyed this episode the most to date.

Zenos E10 S: So Chris Evans can talk without shouting, even when driving a car so loud he should be. Imagine that. Now if he could just bring his "narration voice" back into the studio segments... Overall, I found it a decent review.

BMW M2: I have never seen any of Chris Harris' videos, so I am not familiar with his "normal" reviewing style and how it compares to his "Top Gear" reviewing style. As I noted last episode, if he is channelling Clarkson, IMO he is not doing a right hash of it as I like his reviews.

SIARCC: Two great guests whose time was wasted with the new "interview" format.

Jaguar F-Type SVR Delivery Drive: Again, finding Rory Reid to be a pleasure. With a full season under his belt, I think he could be a solid contender as one of the primary presenters. Yes, clearly staged and scripted, but still enjoyed it no less for that.

Rolls Royce Dawn: Matt LeBlanc was the right choice for this one. He has that low-key James May vibe and while May would have been much more knowledgable about what makes a Roller, both in general and in this particular case, special, LeBlanc came across as at least competent.

Rolls Royce Dawn vs Rolls-Royce Corniche: Not rubbish, but also not ambitious. Honestly, it's no worse than Hammond holding a public vote between an Aston Martin DB9 Volante and a puppy and doing something like the Grosser vs. Corniche challenge would have been horribly unfair to the Corniche. So maybe it was all we could ask for.
 
Rolls Royce Dawn vs Rolls-Royce Corniche: Not rubbish, but also not ambitious. Honestly, it's no worse than Hammond holding a public vote between an Aston Martin DB9 Volante and a puppy...

Yeah. But... the puppy was cute.
 
This latest episode was a letdown for me, and the realization that in the current state, this show doesn't work for me.
  • Zenos review:
    Straight to the point: Evans doesn't come across as a believable car person. He can say whatever, it's just an empty shell.
  • BMW M2:
    Harris is good, but drawn back by the gimmicks they have him doing. In this case, the silly happiness-o-meter. His own style works much better. On good days, he's like a mix of Hammond's enthusiam and May's insight, and even Clarkson's driving thrown in. Just let him do what he does best...
  • Star guests:
    The new format has a huge problem, and it isn't the car nor the track. It is the very strict formula: Have two guests, start with blatant plugging of their latest work, then talk about two of their cars, then have the lap. There is just no room for a remotely natural conversation to develop, in contrast to the interviews Clarkson did.
  • Jaguar:
    Boring. It just felt staged. But that's a problem I had with just about every long-distance race Top Gear ever did - just that the old crew did it much more epically so that I could live with that, and in comparison this one fell flat. Probably because the driving shots were sparse and lacked atmosphere.
  • Rolls-Royce:
    The first part was decent. LeBlanc is the right presenter for such a piece, but due tp the lack of insight he presents, it's just some (albeit nice) guy driving around. He's an actor, just give the man a decent script to work with! Write him some lines with interesting information!
    The antagonism they built between Evans and LeBlanc for the second part and in fact the whole second part - just terrible.
  • Studio parts in general:
    They are just forced. There's no atmosphere, no chemistry between the presenters, even the audience reactions seem robotic.
As a whole, this ep manifests the problem "new" Top Gear has: They are just going through the motions, following the CHM formula in most cases, but clearly without any of the enthusiasm the old crew had. That's evident even in the cinematography. Perhaps I'm jaded, but to me it feels like they have new camera crews and directors desperately trying to film the way the old ones did, but falling short.
 
As a whole, this ep manifests the problem "new" Top Gear has: They are just going through the motions, following the CHM formula in most cases, but clearly without any of the enthusiasm the old crew had. That's evident even in the cinematography. Perhaps I'm jaded, but to me it feels like they have new camera crews and directors desperately trying to film the way the old ones did, but falling short.

It's the Uncanny Valley effect. They look like CHM, try to talk like CHM, act like CHM. But they lack the insight, capabilities and quality of CHM. They should never have done the "lets try and keep CHM going" thing, we and anyone with more than 2 brain cells told them so.
 
could see LeBlanc getting a bit more comfy.
This. Liked to see that a lot, and improved the show for me quite a bit.

And yes, I skipped SIARPRC, sorry, still voted.

As to why I didn't watch SIARPRC:
Have two guests, start with blatant plugging of their latest work, then talk about two of their cars, then have the lap. There is just no room for a remotely natural conversation to develop, in contrast to the interviews Clarkson did.
I don't expect a Ranulph Fiennes interview every week, but the current format is so far away from that, it's not even counting in the same league.
 
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And yes, I skipped SIARPRC, sorry, still voted.

As to why I didn't watch SIARPRC:

I don't expect a Ranulph Fiennes interview every week, but the current format is so far away from that, it's not even counting in the same league.

The current star segment is fucking brutal. I wasted 13 minutes watching the most recent one, it doesn't matter who the guests are on the next one I'm 100% skipping that part.
 
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