Top Gear America Returns July 24th

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Why do people say "no offense" then follow it up with being offensive on purpose?

he drives a Porsche, so he doesn't know any better...
 
nvfox said:
Car(s): Porsche 911 GT3 (I wish <3)
Dude doesn't have a Porsche yet; reading comprehension yo.
 
No offence or anything, but how do you guys want to watch this show? I find all of the presenters moronic and the show to be an insult to the English one.
Please go watch season 1 of UK Top Gear then come back here and try to tell me this show blows in comparison. Not that you appear to be coming back.

Anyway, pretty excited to have Top Gear UK and US on the same day. Should really make me a bit happier today.
 
Please go watch season 1 of UK Top Gear then come back here and try to tell me this show blows in comparison. Not that you appear to be coming back.

Anyway, pretty excited to have Top Gear UK and US on the same day. Should really make me a bit happier today.

Yes, in comparison to TGUK Series 1, TGUSA is a lot better.

HOWEVER, TGUK had nothing to base off of for Series 1. All they had was old Top Gear which was cancelled due to appalingly low viewership so you really can't work off that if you want to create a successful show. Top Gear USA on the other hand had 13 Series' of TGUK to base on (which has about 300 million viewers per episode worldwide) and 2-3 Series' of Top Gear Australia to base on.

I'm not saying TGUSA Series 1 was total rubbish, it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as even TGUK when they were scripting everything (Series 13-15, generally) and not as good. IMO, even The Car Show is better than most of the episodes of TGUSA, except for 2 (Alaska Special and Episode 2, with the Moonshine challenge).

I will be watching tonight though because i really do hope they took a look at the comments topgear.com and the history.com forums (do they even have forums on history.com?) and FinalGear and actually put some of that advice to practice. They kind of couldn't for Series 1 because by the time any of it aired, everything, including all the studio bits were probably all already shot.
 
From Adam Ferrara's twitter -- seems like they know they had work to do:

"Thank you guys 4all the feedback. We listened 2ur comments &added more trips like Alaska. Tomorrow night the 3 of us go to #Texas"

and

"watching a little of the #TopGear Marathon....it's going to be like night and day with the new season : D"
 
From Adam Ferrara's twitter -- seems like they know they had work to do:

"Thank you guys 4all the feedback. We listened 2ur comments &added more trips like Alaska. Tomorrow night the 3 of us go to #Texas"

and

"watching a little of the #TopGear Marathon....it's going to be like night and day with the new season : D"

If that's true, TGUSA might actually go from being the #4 (worldwide) car show IMO to #2 (nothing could EVER beat TGUK).
 
HOWEVER, TGUK had nothing to base off of for Series 1. All they had was old Top Gear which was cancelled due to appalingly low viewership so you really can't work off that if you want to create a successful show. Top Gear USA on the other hand had 15 Series' of TGUK to base on (which has about 300 million viewers per episode worldwide) and 2-3 Series' of Top Gear Australia to base on.

Fixed.

That's the problem a lot of those who've said "TG USA SUCKS!" have, I think. They're comparing what was (at the time) an essentially brand new show* to its predecessor after it's had eight years' worth of stuff in the can, and they set themselves up for disappointment.

Of course TG USA would have some growing pains. Of course it wouldn't be as slick as the UK one is after eight years. Of course the chemistry between Adam, Tanner, and Rutledge would need to develop a bit. So IMO, you have to compare like for like. Comparing US S1 to UK S2 (I chose S2 because that's the first season with James) would've been better. Or even US S1 to Australia S1. (IMO, US S1 is miles ahead of Aus S1...and I didn't mind Aus S1 that much.)

I'm not saying TGUSA Series 1 was total rubbish, it wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as even TGUK when they were scripting everything (Series 13-15 generally) and not as good. IMO, even The Car Show is better than most of the episodes of TGUSA, except for 2 (Alaska Special and Episode 3, with the Moonshine challenge).

Fixed some stuff again.

The word "scripted" makes me want to stab something every time I see it in the same sentence as "Top Gear" (any version). EVERY season of every version is "scripted". Every car review has a point to be made; every challenge and race has a basic premise behind it. They're not just going to throw stuff together haphazardly; otherwise, it'd be chaos. A better word than "scripted", to me, would be "contrived".

And personally, after watching the first episode of The Car Show, I passed on it. I found it lacked soul and personality, and I'm surprised I watched it all the way through. I thought TG USA S1 was better.

I will be watching tonight though because i really do hope they took a look at the comments topgear.com and the history.com forums (do they even have forums on history.com?) and FinalGear and actually put some of that advice to practice. They kind of couldn't for Series 1 because by the time any of it aired, everything, including all the studio bits were probably all already shot.

US S1's films were done throughout last summer, I think; the studio stuff was done in mid-to-late October for a November premiere. (They had some guidance from the UK crew; for example, Richard Porter (UK script editor) was there.) For S2, they started filming reviews and challenges around springtime, and studio bits were filmed throughout last week and up to last Monday.

The History Channel website doesn't have a forum that I can see, but there's a Facebook page for TG USA (look for "Top Gear on History" or something like that), and all three hosts have Twitter accounts. Adam and Rutledge seem to engage the most with the fans.

* While the UK version has aired in the US somewhere since 2005 (at that time, it was on Discovery; BBC America picked it up in 2008), and while it clearly has a US following, I would daresay that, until the US version came along, most still hadn't heard of it.
 
Of course the chemistry between Adam, Tanner, and Rutledge would need to develop a bit.

And that's the whole issue right there. TGUK's chemistry wasn't instantaneous. It wasn't as if the moment that James walked on to the set for the first time, the heavens opened and the Deity of Automobiles gave its blessing on the enterprise. It took them a long time to develop that chemistry between them. It started to appear at the end of Season 3, but it wasn't completely evident until 04x05. There were three specific moments where you could see the chemistry starting to progress: 04x01 with the first Epic Race, 04x03 with the first Cheap Car Challenge, and then came 04x05 and the trip to Pendine Sands. After that trip to Wales, the chemistry and interplay between them was perfected. Top Gear before 04x05 and after 04x05 are completely different animals. But we're still talking about 24 episodes together prior to this.

Now contrast TGUS. The chemistry between the boys was virtually there from the start. You know what the moment was that I knew that things were going to be fine, and this was going to be a Top Gear that would be acceptable? It was in 01x05, when Rut pulled up in the Roadmaster and Adam said, "Mom's here!". I know it sounds weird, but that was the perfect indication of what Adam and Rut were going to bring to the table, which was a gigantic question mark when the series began.

No, this wasn't going to be the occasionally vicious iron-hand-in-velvet-glove chemistry of the UK cast. They were going to have a lot more visible camaraderie than the UK cast. But that's how most Americans are. We don't have that strain of bitterness that Brits do. The problem with a lot of people is that they didn't adjust for that fact. They wanted Tanner, Adam, and Rut to go after each other like rabid weasels. But the TGUS cast developed its own, very American, chemistry. And they had it working within five episodes, not the 24 it took the UK cast. With more work under their belt, especially after the Alaska trip, the chemistry and the show can only get better.

This is why I have high hopes for TGAUS. It's had a very, very difficult time, but they've got something with the current cast (as I've mentioned before, the AUS and US casts are essentially the same). The current cast had their chemistry working by their third episode. Now they just have to get the damn show back on the air.
 
Dammit, must spread more
cow manure
around before giving any to The Spie again.
 
I"m watching the show. If the rest of season 2 is like the first episode, your arguments against the TGUSA's detractors will be made null and void.
 
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