[Closed] New Top Gear series...

I thought it got better as it went on to be honest. I will probably watch the series and see how it goes.

The Nomad bit was superb... I too want one.

I'm really disappointed that it was exactly the same as the old top gear. I was bored of the last format and was hoping for a change but all that changed is the presenters. Evans was awful. Desperately trying to be clarkson but just came across as shouty and annoying. I warmed a little to Leblanc as the show went on. It does make easy Sunday night watching but I won't go out my way to watch it if I'm doing something else.

Sabine should have her own show

The woman is so honest it's hilarious

Well the little golf course that used to run between the runways at Dunsfold must definitely be gone now with the rally cross thing going on.

I liked the Top Gear bit, Sabine's comments were quite funny. I liked the Nomad bit too, but mainly because the car is just mental. The rest of it seemed a bit like the Chris Evans show with a helper.

Just watched Extra Gear to see what one of the presenters was like as I have a loose connection to one of them. Was ok, but as I'm not actually too bothered about cars this will probably be a bit geeky in future episodes.

The longer it became apparent that this was just a rehash of the old format, the more it felt like it needed a third presenter.

The U.K. V USA thing was completely irrelevant - which to be fair, nearly all the old TG content was irrelevant - but somehow they just got this one completely wrong.

Agreed, Evans was ittitaring throughout. He needs his love of cars to come through rather than just 'zany ideas'.

The whole show has been crying out for reinvention for years, all they've done so far is the worst of the old bits.
Still, fingers crossed for improvement over the coming episodes. LeBlanc shows promise as he warms to it.

James May said, quite correctly, on The Reassembler that 'the adjustable spanner is the tool of the charlatan' and that sums up for me why he is irreplaceable. Justify your wages by showing greater imagination in changing the format and for heaven's sake get the volume levels correct.

You're right.
And bizzarly The Reassmebler was more cutting edge and creative than this entire episode of TG.

*puts adjustable spanner, duct tape and selection of hammers away*

I didn't mind the show. What worked for Clarkson et al was very specific though. It was a little tired and I wish they'd got a little more car-ey which it sounds like they are with their [i]Grand Tour[/i].

I'll probably keep watching but with a download and see when I get around to it attitude as opposed to my 4am* alarm on Monday mornings to download and watch TG before work.

*the sacrifices ex-pats make!

So not managed to watch it yet but from what I've read here

Houns - Member
It'll be good
It'll be shit
It's not proper top gear
Clarkson is a nob
Clarkson is god
Evans is a nob
Evans is good
Hitler
Racist
Bike helmets
Ooh Sabine
Why won't someone think of the children

For me Clarkson was terrible in the studio, his interviews cringewirthy. Evans better at that bit already. Evans cannot talk about cars like Clarkson, he cant even deliver the top gear standard line "if you're looking at this massive spoiler and thinking this car is a handful (pause, prepare lower voice) well you'd be right!"

LeBlanc is brill already.

I preferred Top Gear Extra on iplayer, better presenters, less woody.

Ditch Top Gear, keep Top Gear Extra 🙂

I didn't manage to see all of it, but I will watch it again as it needs time to settle in.
Remember when the New Top Gear first came back the had Jason Dawe with Clarkson and Hammond, he was replaced by James Maywho was the 'school boy voice of reason' of the trio.
I think he's the hardest one of the three to replace?
And as others have said, why oh why does Chris Evans have to shout?

I used to watch TG even though I have little interest in cars other than as bike transporters.

But the thought of sitting down and watching Evans was too repellent.

Looks like I didn't miss much.

Exactly my feelings epicyclo, Was entertaining before, but we've reached peak Evans a while back.

I was expecting something different entirely to what we got. Very much a continuation of the old one which I'd got pretty tired of.

Glad for the change in presenters though so I'll give it time.

One word: dire.

The best bit was this comment up there ^

"The only good thing is no Hammond. But at best thats like a cancer patient being told they dont have AIDS"- very good, yes very strong etc (W1A)

Really was Awful. Cannot stand Chris Evans

I love Chris Evans but that was dire. The show was crying out for a reboot and they changed nothing.

What pondo said ^^

I shal tune in next week to see if first show nerves are vanished, but I don't wish the see Evans in a silly hat as an attempt to amuse the crowd in a faux Clarkson manner. He's screwed the Beeb there TBH.

Just watched the top gear extra show and thought it was far better than the main bbc2 effort.
I'm no Chris Evans hater but he was annoying and contrived. Matt was actually pretty good and better to watch than expected.

Early days but I can see them getting a spanking online once the show airs today in the US.

I liked it and more importantly my nine year old liked it. TG was always aimed at nine year old humour so they will do fine.

Very strong confident start I thought

Enjoyed it, but do think they could have tried harder with the format 'changes'. Whispers are that the second show is better.

I really like Evans as a presenter so can cope with the shouting. LeBlanc was good. He may well be just acting, but the dry, self-deprecating persona he is developing these days is easy to warm to.

I too want a Nomad...

Also interesting that half of the few comments in this thread about Schmidt were purely about her appearance. STW demographic full effect.

peak Evans a while back

Circa the Big Breakfast IMHO!

I thought it was pretty good for a first show.

The presenters are gonna take a while to settle in and find their feet - some on here are very quick to judge.

Regarding the scripted format - it's always been scripted and the last few series before it got axed were pretty painful with the same formulaic stuff, tittering jokes about willies, crotch fizzing and 'the gays'...

Literally couldn't bear to watch Clarkson, and didn't like Hammond or May either.

Therefore definitely better, although Evans was annoying and definitely trying too hard. Did laugh though when they were in the Reliants in the rain, and Evans pointed out LeBlanc looked like a moviestar, and he looked like a dick 😆

Thought LeBlanc was excellent.

Agree it needs more presenters though, don't know why the other two were restricted to the extra show?

Sabine has huge racing, teaching, business and german tv responsibilities don't forget.

Didn't watch TG but really like Matt Le B. in "Episodes" if you haven't seen it worth looking out for.

Episodes" if you haven't seen it worth looking out for.

Worth avoiding.

Loved the old Top Gear but admit it had turned a bit stale this last few years. I'm not a massive fan of Evans but we sat down to watch it last night with the mindset that it wasn't the old TG with new presenters but a different show.

But instead we did get the old TG with new presenters. Evans came across as trying too hard to be like JC and I will go against the grain and say I found Le Blanc to be quite bland.

I will still keep the series link but I won't be going out of my way to sit down and watch it live again.

Didnt watch it, not my cup of tea.

Wifey did though and said it was cringing.

Le Blanc only seemed OK because Evans was so, so bad.

Gash.

Le Blanc wasn't actually that bad in places, Sabine good but not enough of her. As for the mess they made of that fell, that was a damned sight worse than Jeremy did in the Disco in Scotland a few years back, I hope they get as much flak.

Now that they are gone I kinda miss the big bafoon.

When does the Amazon series start?

Just give Sabine a bunch of cars to drive around the ring...an hour a week of that would be great.

Fell asleep watching.. The whole thing is tired, a bit boring and now it's a bit shouty and forced. Needs to rapidly pick itself up and point in a new direction..

Saw a survey in the Telegragph of all the presenters - yeh or neh ? Top was May then Clarkson and Hammknd. Evans was last by a very big margin behind everyone else. Viewing figures where just 4.4m and would usually fall after the first episode, it looks doomed. Sabrine and Chris Harris I like, they should have just given them the show.

[img] [/img]

Front it with a female and make it about transport rather than just cars and I'm in.

You're all saying the format was tired and needed changing. The worldwide success of the show and the format would tend to disagree with you all. Evans has tried and failed because he tried to out do Clarkson and Co and that frankly was never a goer. The show is not for you and never has been. It's for your kids, it's a pantomime car show with a few adult orientated jokes. I get pleasure from watching my son laugh his head off at the daft antics they get up to. He's 13 yrs old. They may well increase the viewing figures as it settles down but they will never replace James May who was my main reason for watching anyway.

New TG is like trying to substitute a supergroup with new musicians and no songwriter. Before he started on TG, Jeremy Clarkson's writing stood out as being special amongst a fairly anodyne crowd. He could introduce humour and write material that appealed to non petrolheads. The interplay between the characters was important too. You have the (increasingly) boorish, opinionated one, then quaint, old fashioned sensible one, followed by the little vain one who was in touch with his feminine side. Whilst they played on this and exaggerated the characters, even though we were in on it, it was entertaining to watch despite an increasingly boring and tired format. Sadly, with new TG, the format stayed and the strong interplay between characters went (little choice - Clarkson's behaviour couldn't be condoned). The smart money's on Rory Reid and Chris Harris, with Eddie Jordan as the wild card if he can be placed in an unfamilar environment and let his guard slip. I'd have picked Harry Metcalfe as the new James May (he may or may not like that analogy!!). It can improve if the commissioning team have the courage to let the less well known ones flourish, but I suspect they're banking on the familiarity of the big names setting the ball rolling. They can't go on copying forever - even the Viper piece in Arizona was a blatant copy of a piece by Jesse Crosse an old colleague of Clarkson's on Performane Car. I don't think that he was credited with it though.
The new Amazon show has greater promise because you have the magic of the characters to bounce off each other but with, possibly, a newer, fresher format, which what it would have needed eventually even if it were to stay with BBC.

TG Extra was surprisingly watchable, a lot better than the main programme.

As above..... Got angry watching it. Don't mind "friends got old" bloke. He was surprisingly OK. Evans is a shouty bacon deprived try hard cockwomble who I knew would be terrible. Sick of the US / uk thing too. Marketing production dicks must have had a field day in that meeting!

Really not sure what people expect. It's a programme featuring men talking about cars; it's not going to be that exciting, whichever way you cut it.

The old show was popular because it had Clarkson presenting it. A man whose views/right wing slant/"anti PC" comments appeal to your typical white/middle aged/middle of the road/blokey motoring enthusiast. And by extension, their wives aswell.

Clarkson's a bit of a bellend, but he's also a decent presenter, especially for Top Gear. Without him, it doesn't have the same appeal to the target audience.

They should just scrap it really. Cars are so last century anyway, IDK why anyone cares about them anymore. It's all about the push bike these days.

I'm wiv Tinners....

The old formula was way beyond its sell by date and they've just tried to roll with it when it should have been canned.

I reckon the new 'Grand Tour' and the fact that they've decided to film it all over the world is going to be the fresher format that this needed.