Worst Season of Top Gear

Worst Season of Top Gear

  • Total voters
    183
I'm willing to give them a flyer on season 9 because of the Hamster wheel incident, but 8 was just so forced from start to finish.

The reviews weren't anything special, the BBC radio bit was contrived, the convertible people carrier was okay, the only saving grace in 8 was the Amphibious cars.

Even Cpt. Slow and Jackie Stewart was marginal at best.


It was a toss up between 8 and 9, but m'eh. Even forced / contrived Top Gear is better than anything else on TV.
 
For me whilst season nine was probably too over the top with the challenges I can still re-watch the episodes, there are some good moments in there.

I voted for season one however because again whilst there are good moments the show lacked at spark which to me is not only because of Jason Dawe but also because imo Richard Hammond is not the most charasmatic of presenters and quite often in his segments, less so today, he seems uncomfortable in front of the camera and almost like his expressions are being forced. That was the main problem with the first season for me along with some really stupid sections involving the grannies!

That said it took JM quite a while to become comfortable in the roll especially in the studio however by the end of season 2 he began to come out of his shell so the speak and become alot more confident and with it showed alot more of his charisma on the screen which helped form the chemistry between the three today.
 
Good lord, I just voted for season nine, thinking I'll probably be the only one...
 
If I HAD to choose I would say season 1 simply due to the lack of James May. The beauty of Top Gear for me though is that all the series have had classic moments (I actually liked the tractors ep in Series 9 for example). So far this series has left me feeling a bit flat compared to the rest as there have been no 'epic' highlights IMO and some of the scripting has seemed a little forced. With that said after reading the summary of this Sunday's episode it sounds like it will be an absolute ripsnorter! :)
 
LurkerPatrol said:
I'm wondering which question is harder: "What is the worst season of Top Gear?" or "What is the best season of Top Gear?".

I think season 6 and season 10 were the best by far.
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That has been debated for a long long time, to me it would be impossible to argue which season was best. I mean there are certainly different viewpoints. But if there is anything everyone can do well, its agree to hate something collectively. This poll also shows the best seasons, since they would be the ones least voted for.
 
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I voted for series 10 simply because this for me was the pinnacle of their populist largese. I'll reserve judgement on series 11 until the run has actually finished, though to be fair this series has at least had one "car" episode.

Let's face it, they've become so obsessed with popularity the show has lost direction, I'm sure alot of the new viewers who now watch the show wonder why they keep on mentioning cars. Maybe they should change the name to Top Challenges.

I thought about voting for series 1 but by memory of it is so poor I didn't think it fair. Unfortunately in the UK Dave (TV channel) doesn't show series 1. But while people have attacked the lower production values of the first series, that comes at a cost, which is the cost. The sheer amount of money that they are now blowing on Top Gear means that they've only got enough for 6 episodes. Does it actually increase the benefit of the show and viewing public spending a fortune on specials like having them drive across Africa or alternatively reviewing a car by driving around Birmingham? The BBC obviously thinks it's better blowing the lot on a small number of stunts and chasing viewing figures.

Does this mean the BBC are now onto a winner with it's flash post-production, I don't think so. In fact from some of the views on this forum the photography is really starting to annoy people. If anyone from the show actually bothered to look at this poll they'd notice that out of 101 votes (@ 23:30 23-07-2008) not one person has voted for seasons 6 or 7. Both of these series had a mixture of car reviews, stunts and challenges. Now I think thats the most interesting result from this poll, and maybe a wake-up call to the Top Gear team.
 
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I'm surprised so many people voted for season 1, I quite enjoyed the slow and humble nature of the show back then, it seemed much more down to earth. But I think my entire view of season 1 is based on the lasting impression Jeremy's review of the Citroen Berlingo has made on me in the first episode. Now that was a proper car review. Can't remember much of the rest of the season actually...
 
Season 1 had Granny's doing doughnuts.

Seriously how is that not the best bit EVER on Top Gear??!?! That makes up for Jason Yawne.

Honestly though - The reviews were there, the larking about not so much, but they had the good comparison shoot outs and it was still getting the wrinkles out.




And how long before we see Wilman fire up his blog and call out the Final Gear dweebs for this thread? ;)
 
der_jackal said:
And how long before we see Wilman fire up his blog and call out the Final Gear dweebs for this thread? ;)
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Why do we care about Wilman, I mean we are making a big deal that he knows about Final Gear, I made this to find if what people thought and I found out that the season 1 and the newer seasons get the most flac. And also true to the first part according the the votes the middle seasons are the best.
 
Season nine, period. It was the first time I thought that Fifth Gear had gotten a leg up on TG and in fact, surpassed it, not only for the value of the car reviews, but was in general just more entertaining. And let's face it, that's what TG is all about...and it failed.

Who really cares about roadworks and tractors?

:sleeping:
 
Mike Nassour said:
Season nine, period. It was the first time I thought that Fifth Gear had gotten a leg up on TG and in fact, surpassed it, not only for the value of the car reviews, but was in general just more entertaining. And let's face it, that's what TG is all about...and it failed.

Who really cares about roadworks and tractors?

:sleeping:
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I must live a really dull and boring life because I do.
 
Could we get one more option on the poll? Because I'm with a good number of others in saying that I can't vote for a worst season. There are what I would call "weak" episodes of Top Gear, but every season has at least one good episode in it so it would be unfair to wholly discount a single season. Additionally we can't assume that everyone agrees what is a good/bad season (or episode) so if consensus is an issue then there won't be any agreement; however I imagine that's not the problem.

Anyway, I'd like to think about what is the best of Top Gear so lets continue our debates on the best episodes/seasons and leave the worst opinions to the side.
 
cdbob said:
Why do we care about Wilman, I mean we are making a big deal that he knows about Final Gear, I made this to find if what people thought and I found out that the season 1 and the newer seasons get the most flac. And also true to the first part according the the votes the middle seasons are the best.
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It's a joke, hence the wink.

It's a poke at the eventuality that there are going to be people who will start threads in hope of gaining some "infamy".
 
I voted for season 1, but I think those episodes are still better the best episodes of Fifth Gear which are still really good. That is just how awesome Top Gear is, the best even at its worst.
 
scowy said:
Let's face it, they've become so obsessed with popularity the show has lost direction, I'm sure alot of the new viewers who now watch the show wonder why they keep on mentioning cars. Maybe they should change the name to Top Challenges.
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Well put. Tbh they've lost contact to earth and are just trying too hard.
 
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