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but I guess some will insist on disliking it....
How will they persist in the face of such awesome telly?
Most importantly - what does kryton57 think?
Tomorrow.
I enjoyed the new top gear.
I don't think one episode (as with both TG and TGT)is indicative of its stride.
Need to give it a full series really.
I thought it was workmanlike and efficient, with the studio bits being a bit awkward. Ultimately pretty dull, and I switched to the Martin Scorsese documentary.
Could it be that it doesn't matter what form these programmes now appear in - they probably can't actually offer anything new or that exciting?
I suppose it doesn't matter as we now have two car programmes running so we can tune in twice a year.
Disposable television.
Chris Harris is annoyingly twitchy.
They work together much better than the last line up. Last nights was a great improvement over old TG and GT.
If they keep that up they might not get a mauling this series.
It was a bit wooden & scripted in the studio, Chris needs to get over hs stage fright. But as Mrs K said, the presentation was a bit more "every day man" for today which is welcome.
I quite enjoyed it.
Keep an eye out for my brother's 60's Guilia GTA Stradale in the next episode (think it'll be there for the opening bit of the Alfa story). He was impressed at how much Chris Harris new about the car when they chatted in rehersals (e.g. fact that roof is riveted on indicates it's a genuine GTA).
I was in the studio for filming too so look out for a bloke in a green Vulpine waterproof 🙂
I don't watch any TV other than from Amazon these days. So it was a novelty to tune in to BBC2. It wasn't actually that bad. My 11 year old enjoyed it, where he walks away from TGT and stopped watching Evans quite quickly. Chris Harris is an odd one, and doesn't look too happy with scripts. Then again neither does James May.
Is the Harris Monkey opening bonnet going to be the new bumping into each other thing?
It is a bit dated they keep crashing into each other.
I think I watched a different show to others on here?
That was terrible.
Chris Harris is awful.
They basically copied the Clarkson/May/Hammond format for a show that was already past it's sell by date and replaced the presenters.
It was painfully scripted and wooden.
Unbelievably, the high mileage race was even more contrived than anything that had been done before.
It is a bit dated they keep crashing into each other.
That's all accidental as no one in their right mind would deliberately go out and damage another vehicle.
Obvz.
It'll grow I'm sure, plenty of chat on R2 this morning about it.. which is its target audience.
The characters will soften on us, no doubt in 5 years we'll have forgotten the odd scripts and accept the simpleton tried and tested format.
But, I quite like MlB. He has a humour I recognise.
I liked Chris. All of them were good but he has a real passion for cars that lacked in May and Hammond.
It seemed to be a nice balance of motoring and TG - which wasn't about cars by the end.
I think it proved nicely that it isn't a big name that makes a programme. Evans was shite!
I used to love Clarkson/Hammond/May Top Gear, but the scripts were getting tired and increasingly contrived with the sense that none of them really wanted to be there. I watched it because I love watching snazzy cars being driven fast and I enjoyed the extended features. The Grand Tour didn't really deliver and I gave up after episode 4.
This new TG series looks like it has removed most of what I dislike and done more of what I like. It's a thumbs up from me. The Star in a Reasonably Fast Car has got promise too.
7.5/10
I wouldn't be watching were it not for Chris Harris. Saying that I only wathced the FXXK bit then fast forwarded right through the rest of the show.
I enjoyed it (only watched part of it up to the Volvo crashing). Chris Harris is ace and along with MlB had a decent sense of humour.
Quote of the show
'Wheel bearings gone' as the Lada pulled off...
Enjoyed that a lot. I think they're starting to get the mix right. Better than GT and the vast majority of a few TG series prior to the big bust-up.
Didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did - that was good! Too much fake laughing and I'm never gonna be a big fan of the challenge thingies but I enjoyed it, I like it that they now have a proper driver on the squad. 🙂
I think it was a decent first episode, I like that they didn't have specifically named segments, it just kind of moved between each without trying too hard, like inventing tacky names such as conversation street or celebrity brain crash!
Works best with just the three main presenters, and I'm really enjoying it. Amazingly, I didn't think it could be rescued after the Chris Evans cluster****.
And that Ferrari... 😯
Nup. Tried to like it, but by the time they got to the goat chucking I'd had enough.
like inventing tacky names such as conversation street or celebrity brain crash!
Or Star in a Reasonably Fast Car.
Tried to watch it last night but just found it painfully scripted and forced. I'm out.
I liked it and the 3 have got good potential
What didn't help with the studio pieces was the editing. The cuts happened too quick or were unnecessary, so went from a joke with every laughing, sudden cut, then audience silent, didn't help with the flow
Could only be better without Chris Evans.
Great filming, looks better than TGT.
As before Top Gear Extra straight after on BBC3 seems to have a lot better studio vibe and the piece on there where Chris Harris instructed the 'celebs' round the track was probably the funniest part of both shows.
I was quite pleasantly surprised, I found it quite watchable.
Matt LeBlanc was very good, as was Chris Harris. Rory's manner got on my nerves a little, he comes across as an excitable puppy, but at least there was no Eddie Jordan and Sabine. The latter, I'm very sad to admit got on my nerves.
There were opportunities missed. Clarkson, May or Hammond would have delivered a stirring monologue about the Kazakhstan steppe, accompanied by picturesque tracking shots of the landscape as the usual nod to the local tourist industry. The fake banter between Rory and the others got on my nerves too.
I think the Guardian summed it up by suggesting that Rory, Matt and Chris hole up in a bar somewhere and get very, very drunk to work on minimising the awkwardness and faux camaraderie.
But it's improved by 73.2% since Chris Evans moved on.
And people are saying this is better than TGT - you need your ruddy heads testing! 😀
Unless the BBC have some cast-iron contracts with broadcasters tied in for the next 5 years, they won't be getting top-price for this when selling it overseas.
the-muffin-man - Member
And people are saying this is better than TGT - you need your ruddy heads testing
Just watched the new Top Gear, and at no point did I find myself wondering wtf i was watching. That puts it instantly ahead of TGT - no Celebrity Brain Crash (seriously, wtf?), no bizarre crap Sauber shed builds, no special forces that had nothing to do with the special forces or their kit. The road trip could easily have happened on either show, but overall i didn't feel the need to blind and deafen myself..... or at least switch it off
...did you stay awake though!
TGT is worse for that too, just completely switch-off to it after a while
I think I preferred it with Evans - at least he was excitable and gave you someone to shout at!
Yep - that was ok.
A much braver attempt at a relaunch than the first attempt that kept too much of the old show both physically and in format.
Agree with a above that Rory is a bit of a puppy dog. I thought it was better for having no Stig too, although that is just a temp thing. Harris teaching the celeb the ropes is better. The car change is also an improvement. Road trip was watchable and only the jetwasher that was a bit pointless.
But its not a global seller - that ship might have sailed.
watched it on iplayer tonight, convert pretty much sums it up. I think it will still sell though.
think I preferred it with Evans - at least he was excitable and gave you someone to shout at!
No, I switched it off, deleted it, and deleted the series link, I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to raise my voice, it was just too embarrassing to watch.
Chris Harris looks really forced. It's like he's been told "OK, you need to ridicule the others" as a kind of clarkson. This won't work! He's a good chap, and just needs to be himself, the show won't suffer if there is no laddish ridicule. They seem to be trying to replace personalities with others trying to be those personalities and it's just...well...shit.
Let them be themselves. It won't get the mass appeal that the last show got anyway so they may as well make it a full on motorist show.
The americans won't buy more than one series of this. It's not entertaining to the masses, may as well swallow it and make it something new.
The americans won't buy more than one series of this. It's not entertaining to the masses, may as well swallow it and make it something new.
Given that USA and Australia have their own presenters, as does Germany. Is it not the format that was sold rather than episodes?
Hmmm. Not sure. It did seem a long hour. I like le Blanc. He has that middle aged confidence and I like his dryness which is accentuated by his voice/accent. Rory needs to rein in his pubescent fervour. Not sure about Harris. He can't help his cock sureness as a decent racing driver. He handled that FXXK like a seasoned Mig pilot. But he is on that short bridge between proficiency and arseholeity.
Will watch again. It'd be nice to have a 10 min review of cars we can all at least hope to own and enjoy.
Given that USA and Australia have their own presenters, as does Germany. Is it not the format that was sold rather than episodes?
Yes, obviously. But don't ruin it for the BBC Brand Strategy experts above 😉
Given that USA and Australia have their own presenters, as does Germany. Is it not the format that was sold rather than episodes?
No its both, or maybe was. Although in US, Top Gear UK is shown on BBC America, dont know whether it is shown elsewhere. In Australia, BBC Knowledge shows it first, then Channel 9. TV rights are very complicated these days.
Will watch again. It'd be nice to have a 10 min review of cars we can all at least hope to own and enjoy.
They do that on the extra show, I think the extra shoe enhances the main show, it's like they are more relaxed on that
I think the extra shoe enhances the main show
Is it Matt LeBlanc or Jake le Peg who presents that?
Y'know the "extra show" thingy, the online BBC 3 thingy..
Do you not think that this will be pushed hard every show? I think soon, maybe even next season, that TG will be pushed to BBC 3 for online only.
IMHO they still haven't had the courage to move it on from the Clarkson era. That is why Evans failed. They're trying to make the Clarkson Top Gear with different faces. I thought Evans was a good choice originally, but I think I was expecting it to become a different show that played to his strengths - "TFI Cars" if you like.
A bit late to the party, but I've finally had chance to watch it.
General impression is it's OK. Nothing mind blowing but watchable.
Except for Chris Harris. What an irritating little know-it-all twerp. Don't know if it's really him, or just a character he or the show is trying to create, but if I were Matt leBlanc I'd probably have punched him at some point during that challenge!
Both Matt and Rory but looked genuinely annoyed and fed up with him a few times already during that piece.
And I don't think that James McAvoy took to him either judging by some of his responses 😕
How many times did he have to insult him with the "you didn't catch that, it was the electronics" line - I counted at least 3 times.
Also, that crash definitely didn't look staged. If it was sureley they would have has a nicely framed external shot rather than the combination of shaky in car footage from both vehicles?