Why TGA is much worse than TGUK

[socorob]

Havent been able to put mmy finger on it until this weekend. I knew TGA was worse, but why? After watching TGUS prevews, it hit me. Australia seems to be much like here in the US where its all about peoples feelings and being politically correct. TGUK not being any of those is what makes it entertaining. On TGUK when they test a car or do a challenge, they talk about the car, tell its stats, whether its good or bad, etc... its about the car. BUT TGA and most of the previews ive seen of TGUS they seem to be talking about how the car makes them FEEL more than about the actual car. Feelings arent entertaining..... and most of the viewers arent watching the show to learn how a subaru makes so and so feel... we want to know about the car. Thats the recipe that didnt get carried over from TGUK to TGA. Hopefully TGUS will fix it after this season, or be doomed to the same mediocreness of TGA. Just give people facts in an entertaining way...thats the simple genius of TGUK.

 

[The Spie]

You missed the point completely. TGAUS and TGUS are on commercial networks. The hour that TGUK gets is 42 minutes in the US and AUS. Thus, things have to be severely edited down and go for a more immediate connection to the audience. Thus the play to emotions. Facts and figures are, to most people, boring. They're guaranteed to lose an audience. If there's a choice between losing the facts and losing the emotional statements, the choice is clear for a TV producer. You may not like it, but if that's the case, there's always Motorweek.

As an example of what I'm talking about, Stephen Hawking said in his intro to A Brief History Of Time that he was told that each equation that he'd put into the book would drop sales by half, so he kept it to one: E=mc^2. That book was the most successful popularization of science in the history of publishing. Of course, I didn't like it because I happen to have a degree in physics and it was far too simplistic for me. And that's the whole point. I wasn't the target audience for that book, just as we here aren't necessarily the target audience for Top Gear. Top Gear is a popularization at heart, especially if they only have 42 minutes to make their case and a lot to cram into it. They can't alienate the audience by info-dumping on them, especially if the show's still trying to establish itself the way TGAUS and TGUS are. If they made Top Gear to primarily appeal to us, they would have been canceled a long time ago.

They can still throw in the facts subtly. Look at the sports cars section of the Ashes special. Very heavy on emotion, but the stats of the cars still get in there. They're just not info-dumped the way TGUK has a habit of doing.

 

[spindles]

I think people also forget how 'clunky' the first few seasons on top gear UK were. When it was a *new* show with *new* hosts they certainly weren't as slick as they are now. You see that the three UK hosts really enjoy working together. You can't make people instantly gel to that level.

I also agree with The Spie in that 60 minutes v 42 minutes is a huge difference in TV land. Would TG Oz be better run over 1.5 hours, with 1/2 hour of ads? Maybe - at least it wouldn't feel as rushed. Unfortunately, that doesn't sit well with TV execs who like neat 1/2 hour & hour shows

 

[socorob]

I disagree. The main audience for this show are guys. Shows about feelings are best left to oxygen, oprah and other similar networks. High performance cars getting driven like they were stolen require much more testosterone driven presenters. Soap operas are on daytime tv.

 

[Ruddeger]

I think people also forget how 'clunky' the first few seasons on top gear UK were. When it was a *new* show with *new* hosts they certainly weren't as slick as they are now. You see that the three UK hosts really enjoy working together. You can't make people instantly gel to that level.

I also agree with The Spie in that 60 minutes v 42 minutes is a huge difference in TV land. Would TG Oz be better run over 1.5 hours, with 1/2 hour of ads? Maybe - at least it wouldn't feel as rushed. Unfortunately, that doesn't sit well with TV execs who like neat 1/2 hour & hour shows

I'm suprised Nine haven't renamed TGUK 'Two and A Half Men in Cars' [Richard being half a man.....in height ]
Of course TGA or any other rip off version is going to be worse than TGUK.

 

[The Spie]

I disagree. The main audience for this show are guys. Shows about feelings are best left to oxygen, oprah and other similar networks. High performance cars getting driven like they were stolen require much more testosterone driven presenters. Soap operas are on daytime tv.

And what's the weather like in 1950?

 

[socorob]

The weather is COOL! So youre saying you prefer TGA over TGUK?

 

[brembo]

I like the way TGUK sets up the challenges. The guys are told to get X car and meet at Y. They rip into each others cars with detailed facts about their own car and the other two. They seemingly (we know they do) don't know exactly what's in store and away they go getting new, equally silly challenges along the way. With TGAU they seem to just jump straight into "ok we're here, there's our cars, off we go." Also the stupid intro's after each ad break are painful.

 

[The Spie]

The weather is COOL!

That just flew over your pin head, didn't it?

So youre saying you prefer TGA over TGUK?

Where are you getting that from? No, what I'm saying is that conditions between the two are so different that expectations have to be adjusted and that comparisons between the two need to be minimized. And learn how to use apostrophes, please.

 

[Initial_B]

i don't get the purpose of this thread? are you saying that Top Gear US and Top Gear America are like "feminine" programs...really?

i don't know what show you are watching, but it sounds like you're nothing more than those trolls who really just don't get it, don't want to get it, and get "any" for that matter.

 

[Tzarrim]

OP stating that TGUK is factual is uhm... yeah.

The problem TGAus and TGUS have is that they're spin-offs, not originals. If TGUK messes up (and they do) then we forgive them because they're the good old boys etc etc, the spinoff will forever be mirrored against the original and that just won't work. Also, what someone said earlier; the older series of TG are painful to watch, it got better from 2004 and onward.

 

[Carmen's Revenge]

OP stating that TGUK is factual is uhm... yeah.

The problem TGAus and TGUS have is that they're spin-offs, not originals. If TGUK messes up (and they do) then we forgive them because they're the good old boys etc etc, the spinoff will forever be mirrored against the original and that just won't work. Also, what someone said earlier; the older series of TG are painful to watch, it got better from 2004 and onward.

Despite the 'spinoffish' feel I enjoyed TG-Australia, and even TG-Russia. They may not be as polished and 'natural' as the Clarkson Party but taken from a local perspective, it's great that more people have a chance to star as TG presenters in their home territories.

Remember, Clarkson and Co. will eventually retire. Oh no!

 

[Icedvovo]

The reason is simple.

Top Gear UK is written and produced.
Top Gear Australia is only produced.

 

[tone76]

The reason TGA now sucks sweaty nutsacks (whereas back on SBS, it didn't) is because of Channel Nein. FFS, these cocksmokers are STILL pushing the Shane Warne thing:

http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2010/12/14/video-when-warnie-met-jeremy-ey/



Just when you think Nein couldn't do any more to destroy the TG brand ... fuck you Nein, you cnts.

 

[AiR]

Top Gear Australia have always been yawn-inducing piece of crap. Yes I just had to bump this a bit to tell everyone how awful it is, in case they had not realized it yet. I thought in my ignorance that a thread on the first page in this subforum wasnt last active a year ago... Move on, there is nothing to see here (literally).

 

[Dr.Kamiya]

TGUS and TGAU presenters aren't oafish/pedantic/short enough.

 

[bryanbeachboy1970]

I liked TGAus during the first series and third series. Series 2 kind of blows. And the Shane Warne segments during series 3 threw me off; I understand money was spent on those segments, but still...

I thought series 3 was pretty damn good. I'll be the first to admit that I know little about Aussie culture, but it 'felt' genuine to me. The hosts played off each other pretty well. Their challenges were fun (I liked the expedition to Lake Eyre in the old cars). And I appreciated that their SIARPC used a ute, which is a type of car I associate with Australia, and why I think TGUS should use a 1/2 ton full-size pickup in its SIARPC.

I hope series 4 comes soon (in fact, I hope it releases just after series 2 of TGUS) so I can have a Top Gear show every week of the year. This is my plan when I come to power.

 

[Matt Hsv]

The return of Top Gear Australia is going to be interesting hopefully they will start reviewing cars as others have said for what they are and what they really think about them and not worry about being politically correct.

I agree with the Shane Warne thing throwing viewers off all I could manage to here during the review of that car he was driving was "YOU BEAUTY" not real good commentating there if you ask me.