Okay, lemme throw out a few ideas:
1. The Hosts. Tanner stays. His background supports his stay. Maybe work on his presenting. Rutledge goes. His interviewing skills are atrocious. His dialogue is forced and too canned. His personality is a mixed bag of being too hyper at the wrong times to being too frat boyish for the task at hand. Adam goes. All I get from him is a creepy Guido vibe. I don't feel like he knows about cars and was just a last minute addition because the producers couldn't find the right third guy in time.
No, keep all three. You are
not going to get true analogues to the UK boys, because the talent pool for auto shows like this isn't built that way. Rutledge's onscreen persona hits the mark as a gen-you-wine gearhead enthusiast from the South, and Adam's Guido vibe happens to be "working class East Coast" which happens to be in vogue now (why else would Jersey Shore be a hit?).
2. The Format. The new season pretty much is a step backwards. The intro needs to be the iconic intro from the UK version (the whole black background motif, not the aerial shot one), only given a distinct American flair. Silhouettes of the guys on top of cars hooning in the background. A Corvette doing burnouts. A Pony Car track battle. Some stupid shots of Dodge Neons being blown up. Get people back into the studio, not outside. Rename "Big Star, Small Car" back to "SIARPC" because the list of "stars" they've had so far aren't big. Big is getting someone that makes $20mil a film. Big is someone that has been acting for years and years and has a whole wing of their house dedicated to the awards they've won. Big isn't getting two of the main faces of one of your sister shows on the same network into the car.
A. The new title sequence gives TGUS its own identity, and takes less time than the original, meaning more time for the actual segments. B. You've got great California weather and climate outside, you'd be a bloody idiot
not to use that for audience comfort. C. The A-List of qualified Big Stars would be more interested in doing TGUK (free trip to England + bigger established audience exposure), but there's nothing wrong with getting cable network personalities on the segment, it's the same as the Brit comedians like Michael McIntyre on the original SIARPC.
3. The Challenges. I know it's hard not to overlap the UK version, but if you have to, keep to the spirit of the original. You can change the cars if you have to, but I don't wanna see some idiot yelling like a girl while being chased by an attack helicopter in a Viper. As for being original, make them interesting, but not too corny to the point where even I have to wonder who's the asshole that thought that idea was a good one.
The UK boys (Hammond, especially) yell like idiots whenever they're confronted with something dangerous -- or did you not see their Holy Land special? By contrast, the Americans do far less yelling now.
4. The Reviews. As far as i've seen, it's a mixed bag. The reviews need to convince me to BUY THE CAR, not make me wonder why "what the hell is that asshole saying?"
The reviews "need to convince you to buy the car"? I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me the reviewers should be selling a featured car to you? Like an extended informercial of the car?
Oooh, no, neighbor. The point of a Top Gear style car review is to talk about the featured car using terms, and metaphors, that people who
aren't gearheads can understand -- and give an honest opinion as to why the reviewer likes or dislikes a car. It's not, and never should be, about convincing people to buy a car.