Top Gear?!

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dec 28, 2015
2,337
1,003
After my evening pipe last night I was flipping channels on tv and couldn't find anything good to watch when I noticed top gear was on BBC America. Great I thought, top gear is always entertaining. But I assumed it was a rerun with the old cast. Unfortunately it was a new episode. My God it was worse than the time I accidentally tuned in to the American version of the show. It was so painful to watch I actually almost felt sorry for whoever was responsible. Has anyone else experienced watching this excruciating train wreck of a show?

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,700
16,209
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
It's a different show and a bit ragged I agree. The lead presenter isn't up to par, "forced." Still, the second show was an improvement over the premier. I expect to see more of LeBlanc and Schmidt, and less of Evans as the season goes on.
Right now just too similar to the second iteration of the show with Clarkson and company. The first twenty years, monthly shows, were much different and lasted a long time. This third series will no doubt shakeout over time and find an audience. BBC isn't so quick to pull the plug as US Networks are with new shows.

 

ophiuchus

Lifer
Mar 25, 2016
1,557
2,052
I didn't think the new show totally sucked. There's still a good production crew in place. The Matt LeBlanc segment with the skeletal off-roader was even somewhat entertaining, though it highlighted the big difference between the new presenters and the old.
Sabine is fun to watch, but hardly a presenter. Matt LeBlanc is obviously speaking words written for him. Chris Evans doesn't appear to be very articulate, and though he seems to know something about Porsches, he hasn't demonstrated much knowledge about cars in general. The Extra Gear episode was better than the Top Gear entry that preceded it. The studio segments were cringeworthy. Gordon Ramsey as a guest had more presence than host Evans in the Celebrity in a Rally Car portion; Jesse Eisenberg looked like an embarrassed afterthought. (Evans is just not good at interviews.)
Jeremy Clarkson and James May are as strong as writers as they are in their respective elocutionary talents; Richard Hammond ... I image he talks like that when he's alone in the car with no camera, a natural motormouth. James May brought presenters playing characters in sketches to the old Top Gear at the end of the '90s, and Clarkson has been described as an "absolutely brilliant" content editor on the fly. (I've read that they're dropping the studio and just doing the "epic films" and I'm really looking forward to it.) It took time, but they evolved to comedy gold.
The new Top Gear should forget about the "epic films," take a couple steps back and create something new instead of imitating something they'll never be able to reproduce, and drop Chris Evans. I didn't like him when he was a guest on Clarkson's show and I like him less now.
Better still ... the BBC should just drop Top Gear and concentrate on the half-hour Extra Gear. Okay ... I guess I didn't like the first new episode. I've skipped the second. I'll likely catch it in interminable reruns on BBC America.
Afterthought ... the first "series" of the revamped Top Gear in 2002 with Jason Dawes was slow, awkward and felt cobbled together.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
14
Moody, AL
I absolutely adore the BBC version of the show. It's about as brilliant as television can be, but the American version... I've tried to like it, but thus far I've failed miserably. Yesterday it was on all afternoon and I FORCED myself to watch two episodes. It was like trying to drink NyQuil. Sometimes English doesn't translate to American ;)

 

philobeddoe

Lifer
Oct 31, 2011
7,405
11,579
East Indiana
I loved the Clarkson, May and Hammond version and I'm eagerly awaiting their Amazon show. The American version is.....well it is and I'll leave it at that. The new version, well I think Matt LeBlanc has promise, he's just too stiff right now and the idea is still sound, but the BBC is trying to catch lightning in a bottle again and it's just not going to happen. As was already said, they should retool the show to fit LeBlanc and Evans' strengths. They need to break away from the (studio banter-car segment-studio banter-car segment-Stig test-interview/celebrity test-car segment-witty banter-bombshell) format and try something totally new.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
14
Moody, AL
Well stated Phil! I couldn't agree more! Trying to recreate the BBC version is just painfully awkward.

 

sajgre

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 13, 2010
139
1
Painfully awkward is the exact phrase I would use. Have absolutely no clue why they thought it would be good to use exactly the same script.

 

drezz01

Can't Leave
Dec 1, 2014
483
6
I was actually introduced to Top Gear by a female friend who had no interest in cars what-so-ever. That says something about where the value in that show resided. The character work and chemistry between Hammond May and Clarkson was 99% of the entertainment value to me - and I'm a fledgling car nut. The three of them felt like friends of mine; everyone had their role (May the eccentric, Hammond the obnoxious mousy type, and Clarkson the oaf) and their were inside jokes abound. The new rendition may get to that point, but at this point in time it seems tremendously forced and awkward. Evans is hyperbole, Leblanc hasn't found his timing yet, and they don't really have a true third as of yet.
I thought the McLaren 675lt segment with Jenson Button was a huge improvement. I'm a bit biased because I am both a huge McLaren fan, and a huge Button fan, but I find Jenson has that sort of magnetism the show needs. He seems like someone you would want to be friends with, share a pint and a laugh with. Evans, by contrast, is like the annoying friend-of-a-friend who overstays his welcome.
There was early speculation that Jenson would be a presenter, but he chose to option his contract at McLaren. There was a fair amount of positive reaction to the last episode and a general internet war cry to have Button as a host. I'd hate to see him leave formula 1, but if he so chooses, I would be happy to see him at the helm.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
We won't know if the new guys are any good until we watch one of them fix their suspension with rags and duct tape in the middle of Africa, or sink a car in a river in South America, or drive drunk on the iceflows of the North Pole.
Jeremy and crew went on some of the most epic adventures humanly possible, they didn't just talk about cars, they threw their bodies into danger for the sake of the show, Hammond almost died in a jet car, we saw the best and worst parts of some of the most extraordinary human lives ever broadcasted (regardless of whether they were good or bad, they were definitely not ordinary), I wonder what the new hosts really think they signed up for?
That being said, Jensen is no stranger to danger, and while I hate to talk like his racing career is over, the chances of getting much further before age catches up and another new generation of drivers out pace him altogether is slim. The biggest problem is he might not be outrageous enough, F1 drivers are level headed and he's more level headed than most of those (at least on the track), but it would probably be good for him if he did get in the new Top Gear, since as we can see with Jeremy this kind of personality show doesn't necessarily have an age limit (we'll see how good Jeremy is on Amazon).

 

drezz01

Can't Leave
Dec 1, 2014
483
6
That being said, Jensen is no stranger to danger, and while I hate to talk like his racing career is over, the chances of getting much further before age catches up and another new generation of drivers out pace him altogether is slim.
I would agree with you there. While Jenson is a good driver (and his world championship is proof of that) he is far from the fastest driver on the grid. Frankly with how well Verstappen has (generally) been performing, I'm a little concerned that even Ricciardo may never achieve the championship his talent deserves.
I feel like he could definitely be outrageous enough though. He has a seriously quick whit which often comes out in his impromptu interviews during race weekends and I think he's generally required to toe the line as far as how he conducts himself as a figurehead for the team and the sponsors; once he's freed from those responsibilities ... who knows? He's also dating a playboy model (I'll let you chaps google that one on your own time) so there's that...
The production quality is definitely still there -- hopefully Amazon can match it...

 
Status
Not open for further replies.