Replace Rutledge Wood with Rob Dyrdek

Adam is a comic, yeah, but his most recent gig hasn't been comedy; it's been Rescue Me.
 
Dyrdek is goofy and insufferable on his fantasy factory. I hope he's not even close to the running if they retool.

Tanner is bland. He should destroy the other two presenters on any driving challenge considering he is a professional racing driver. That ruins any legitimacy of challenges.

Adam. He's gotten better. It may be more of him holding back instead of letting the personality fly.

And Ruttledge. Well he's annoying for the most part on Nascar shows. Not much better here.

The show should improve as they find their limits.
 
i'm wondering why are we still acknowledging this thread still. the op was nothing more but a punk-ass troll and hasn't been back since.

:nazilock:
 
How about Nikki Churchill from el garage tv, she could be the American VBH.
 
Personally, I think Topgear UK works as the 3 hosts represent a archetype of the male UK populace. Hence, to accurately reflect the American experience, I think the different elasticities needs to be represented.

If I had to select the host, it would be....
Dave Chappelle
Bobby Lee
Rodney Carrington

There would then be an older producer that reflects the role of Clarkson, either that or Chappelle can do it.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if they go through several host changes before they find a winning combination.
 
I've said it before, but Rut is great. He keeps getting better and better. Tanner is ok, he needs to loosen up a bit, and Adam, well, I'll give him a few more chances, but he needs to get better.
 
In my view based upon the current run, the presenters themselves in the films that have been selected thus far (and more importantly the studio linking segments) have started to gel. Remember, whilst comparisons between TGUSA and TGUK will always be made (perhaps more so than with TGA given TGUSA being more recent) and the tests themselves carbon copies from old TGUK episodes*, they and the show itself is still in the "we're learning the ropes" stage.

I have no problems with any of the presenters. Foust is a racing driver eccentric but not necessarily an elitist snob, Ferrara comes across as more down to earth but loves his supercars (especially classics) whenever he can get a hold of them, whilst Wood comes across as normal. You could give Wood anything from a pick-up truck to a European estate (sorry, wagon ;) ) and not only will he be happy to test them; he'll give his honest opinion whereas the others might scoff at testing something like a Volvo XC70 or a Nissan Leaf for that matter - he'd get on with it.

And that's the most important point, and is what the show needs. The show already has a racing driver who has kept his skills up in the form of Foust and is actually articulate with the American Edition of the English language. The show has a slightly crazed supercar exotica loving rapscallion in the form of Ferrara that you would still invite to dinner because he wouldn't bore you to tears about horsepower, power-to-weight ratios and torque. And finally...(bong!)...we have an everyman who loves any motorised vehicle with a passion in the form of Wood and is willing to give anything a go just to see what happens.

Therefore, the show and its presenters does not have any problems. The OP, however distasteful this may be to say, does have the problem.

Besides, come the second series (sorry, season *ahem*) they won't have to explain anymore as to who and what they are nor what the show entails. And assuming they make it to a third season (this English English to American English translation sure is hard! ;) ) everything will be in place and they'll be doing their own thing independently of what TGUK has already accomplished.

Regards,

Yickle!

* = whilst new viewers to TGUSA and TG in general won't get this, the whole "buy cars made natively that are out of production and put them through the very same tests" was done quite a few series (I say "series" because I'm referring to TGUK) ago now by TGUK. The Mitsubishi Evo vs Skiers was a reworking of the Evo vs Bobsleigh run that May & Hammond done. The Helicopter vs a supercar being "fired" upon was done years ago...so the sooner TGUSA escapes from doing TGUK has already accomplished in order to explain what TG is all about (cocking) the better.

P.S. Of course, I could have summed up this entire post with just my reaction to seeing this thread being in existence...."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" :mad:

:D
 
Some of us Yanks do understand Britspeak, y'know. ;)

Seriously, though; excellent post, Yickle. :clap:
 
As long as I'm here waiting for a new episode thread to be posted... It finally hit me seeing the promos for next week's episode: I would love to see them replace Adam Ferrara with Tim Allen. Both have a stand-up comedy background, but I think that Tim Allen would be so much more natural in front of the camera. Plus, he would add a little more maturity to the presenting team, something I think is sorely lacking on the show.
 
Wow you all sound like executive producers.

I've watched TGUSA and TGA and to be honest, I just wish they'd stop trying to emulate TGUK all the time. Stop trying to emulate the "attitudes" or the TGUK's crazy little nuances because it seems forced and really look as if they're just putting this front up for the camera. Not that TGUK doesn't seem to do this at times but they've already built it up over the years that it doesn't look so jarring. TGUSA should just be themselves and stop trying to sound like Clarkson, James or Richard all the time. Carbon copies/imitators are usually crap. Stop trying too hard.

They need to find some sort of niche but at least TGA is getting better now that they've matured a bit more. Hopefully this will happen to TGUSA.
 
Some of us Yanks do understand Britspeak, y'know. ;)

Seriously, though; excellent post, Yickle. :clap:
Rich Hall (who has been here a lot) was in a QI a while ago when quite a long conversation ensued - he chimed in at then end - "I have not understood a word that has been said for the last 5 minutes". ...
 
Once in a while I would play the earlier seasons of the new TGUK in the background on my computer at work. Truthfully the casts in early seasons of TGUK weren't that great. Even JC himself was not as funny or as smooth as he is now. He would have hiccups during a speech and that sort of thing back in the days. He certainly wasn't that funny back then either. Both the script writers and the actors of TGUK have improved drastically over the past 8 years. Top Gear back in the days was not as entertaining as it is now. It is very typical of any long running TV show.

The chemistry of TGA casts will improve over time. This is only their first season. People rate them with a longer yard stick only because TGUK is that good. Many people seem to forget the fact that TGUK didn't start out perfect either.
 
Once in a while I would play the earlier seasons of the new TGUK in the background on my computer at work. Truthfully the casts in early seasons of TGUK weren't that great. Even JC himself was not as funny or as smooth as he is now. He would have hiccups during a speech and that sort of thing back in the days. He certainly wasn't that funny back then either. Both the script writers and the actors of TGUK have improved drastically over the past 8 years. Top Gear back in the days was not as entertaining as it is now. It is very typical of any long running TV show.

The chemistry of TGA casts will improve over time. This is only their first season. People rate them with a longer yard stick only because TGUK is that good. Many people seem to forget the fact that TGUK didn't start out perfect either.
I think you forgot to recognise the fact that in the earlier days of TGUK, they were the only car show with the format we are familiar with now. Back then they did not have any other show to compare themselves with. They were the pioneers of creating entertaining car shows. Also notice how much more entertaining Top Gear is when they moved away from "statistics-based" car reviews to more "emotion-oriented" car reviews. Car reviews can be done in under 5 minutes: you just rattle out how big is the boot space, fuel economy etc which frankly is boring to non-technical car fans.

Now, TGUSA and TGA already have that framework established. That's why they seem more like a pale imitation of the original the more they try to emulate TGUK because we've seen it before. They should strive to find their own rhythm and style instead of working the camera and trying to be "edgy" and having "attitude" all the time.
 
The last thing audiences want is too similar presentation. Even if they replace Wood it has to complement the other 2 current presenters.
 
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