TG on discovery channel

You know whats a shame about the whole thing. Is that since Top Gear is shot in Digital Widescreen (not full HD) it would still look great on DiscHD. Also Discovery HD doesnt' air commercials so they could just air TG straight from the UK airing.

Its funny that alot of people say its "smart" for them to cut out the news, citroen comparo's, and star in a reasonably priced car. But at the same time there are THOUSANDS of us who download and watch the show for exactly those points! And we're mostly all american's. Yes we're not the large chunk that watches nascrap, but we're a sizable audience that loves to see the ENTIRE show the way it was meant to be seen!

Oh well, its a start! Off to watch the latest eps from this current season! :D
 
Easily the best car TV show on US cable, nothing on speed channel (including Fifth gear) is as good.

The show felt like the editors said "we'll take all the crap no one likes and remove it" and didn't realize that people still like some of it. Personally the News is great, cause most of the time it's mostly things everyone gets, and it's always fun to hear them talk about the cars we don't get in the news.
Removing the cars we don't get is fine, atleast as long as it's not cars like the Renault Clio v6 :D. The star in a reasonably priced car has always been a bit I didn't care for, some times it was funny but rarely.

What I miss the most is:
The comments between the segments
without them the show isn't what it is, and you don't quite feel like Jezza, Hamster, and May (any nicknames for him?) are just one of the guys.
The reviews and segments they did leave in started to feel repetive. Granted I had seen them all before (several times) but still I just felt like it was the same thing I just saw 2 minutes ago.
 
empowah said:
Absolute rubbish. It was the most boring, censored, and politically correct episode of Top Gear ever. The "talk-show" setting was new, but the reviews were just edited versions of 1-3 year old films, with different music and less commentary. For the XKR vs. 645Ci vs. 911 beach comparison, they barely said a word and didn't pick a winner at all. They took away all the elements of what makes Top Gear Top Gear.
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Think you're exaggerating a bit? They had to cut out 15 minutes somehow. I personally wasn't at all sad they cut out the celebrity part. I don't think they had to censor anything, even though the TV-14 signs repeatedly came up throughout the episode. The show still blows Motortrend and Autoweek completely out of the water. By comparison, those shows look as if they're being made by a couple nuns.
 
My impression:

Ok, so it's dumbed down. More quanitity reviews, but less quality. They cut to commercials way too often and at inappropriate times. I don't like how they convert to dollars from pounds, because it's completely irrelevant to the actual price in the United States. Instead of "?30,000 is around $58,000," they should say "The Lotus Elise costs around $49,000 in the United States."

But OVERALL, it was great! (albeit somewhat weird watching Top Gear in my living room) I think that since it's the first episode, they just wanted to get the viewers into the mood of what they can expect with the car reviews. Gradually it should work out like a normal Top Gear show and it will have more dialogue between the presenters and more wisecracks at the cars. I did see that Jeremy got a good one in about Wales before the last segment, so the potential is still there.

Am I going to continue watching the American version? Yes. Am I going to continue downloading the British version? Yes.



And also, what happened to the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car"? It was in tonight's description. :confused:

-Matt
 
I'm still setting my DVR to record these episodes (every Wed at 7pm PST) even though they're just re-hashed episodes.
 
Did you guys notice that they cut out all the criticisms of the cars?
You also notice how they have no car companies advertising during that show?
 
Im definetly gonna keep watching it, and I hope everyone else does, so someone gets the message that ToPGeaR is a great show and should be aired regularly in the USA, and normal episodes aswell. ;) :thumbsup:
 
I agree pretty much with everything that has been said. The episode was not as exciting as the UK version. However, It was still awsome to see Top Gear on the discovery channel. And the picture looked so much better in my opinion, I felt like I was watching HDTV. I will of course still watch the UK eps, but you can never have to much Top Gear.
 
I thought the picture on the US version looked like ass. Not everything has to be bright and shiny and lit up to make it look better.

The show feels wooden without interaction between the presenters. And because they cant do anything but show the old video reviews, the whole thing comes off as rushed to me.

I will still watch next weeks - I am betting at least two commercials during the race to Monte Carlo. :)

And I do wish they would show it on Discovery HD.

Keep the UK torrents alive!
 
Wow, that was pieced together so badly it isn't even funny. Too many things cut out, don't like it at all.
 
I totally agree that it lacked so much. The segment where richard tosses around the cars using the jet engine was great in the original, but it wasn't even a comparison in thse US version. They just sent one car flying. In the original, it was a comparison to see which car was safer should you be driving behind a jet airplane. I don't understand why they felt the need to cut so much out of each segment. It let them fit more in, but they lost so much in the process.
 
I just looked at my captured version (captured a very low quality version for simply archival purposes and its hardly watchable because audio is out of sync at the end...) and they cut out 25 MINUTES of show to make space for commercials, it was more than just 15/20 that they usually cut out, and it seemed that the advertisements were all car commercials... But alas, it is a start.
 
I'd still prefer American Chopper over the US version of Top Gear :|

But if it was the full version of TG, then that would change.


What's even nice though is that these shows come on during the late hours, so if i can't sleep... i got something to watch :)

I agree with the HDTV thing. Should be broadcasted in BBCUK standards. I wish i had hdtv to experience it :(
 
I recorded mine as Mpeg 2 at 12 MBit/sec Came out with a huge 5 gig file, then compressed it to a 350 meg file in XviD using AGK. Overall really nice, but the pic quality doesn't compare to PAL (i.e. fuzzy faces on full screen). Fortunately no audio synching issues.


I liked the American version. Yes its lacking, but if I didn't know what I was missing it's not bad at all. I think it's funny how when James May is first introduced he looks quite reluctant. They definately needed to give him more dialogue in this first episode, hopefully that will change. It's interesting to see that there is a new Top Lap Times board. Looking forward to seeing more. :thumbsup: Of course the UK version is vastly superior, but something is better than nothing at all.
 
I'm gonna chime in here and say that the American Top Gear on the Discovery channel 100% blows. I was so mad!! I was cursing throughout the show. They have edited it to just driving around. Is that ALL you think we Americans Like? Hell no! I want to see reviews, and laps and stuff. And the full part of reviews. YOUR MISSING THE POINT OF TOP GEAR ENTIRELY! What I waste!!!
 
I dont think that this show was just "waste" that some of you like to call it. However, I didnt like the show and for a good reason. They didnt include the usual "cosy" feeling of Jeremys humour. He sounded to rushed and it seemed he didnt like it. What happent to James and Hammond? They were hardly there exept the old clips!.. Poor show and I wish I would never have seen it. Hopefully it wont have desptroyed the Real TopGear!... :bangin:
 
Cobreth said:
My impression:

Ok, so it's dumbed down. More quanitity reviews, but less quality. They cut to commercials way too often and at inappropriate times. I don't like how they convert to dollars from pounds, because it's completely irrelevant to the actual price in the United States. Instead of "?30,000 is around $58,000," they should say "The Lotus Elise costs around $49,000 in the United States."

But OVERALL, it was great! (albeit somewhat weird watching Top Gear in my living room) I think that since it's the first episode, they just wanted to get the viewers into the mood of what they can expect with the car reviews. Gradually it should work out like a normal Top Gear show and it will have more dialogue between the presenters and more wisecracks at the cars. I did see that Jeremy got a good one in about Wales before the last segment, so the potential is still there.

Am I going to continue watching the American version? Yes. Am I going to continue downloading the British version? Yes.





And also, what happened to the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car"? It was in tonight's description. :confused:

-Matt
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I just watched this last night and Matt has said everything I was thinking.
I did actually like the part where Stig ran the lotus, without the music you could hear the engine and it sounded pretty good.
Overall, very good for an auto show on American TV.

But OVERALL, it was great! (albeit somewhat weird watching Top Gear in my living room)
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Y'know, I watch nearly all my downloads on my big screen. I bought a Pinnacle ShowCenter. It's just like having a Media Center PC for $300, you should check it out.
 
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