Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV

[F1 fan]

You might want to edit your post. It's in violation of the AUP you just signed.
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[Crash]

Just watched this week's episode and I thought it was ok. I honestly thought that the NASCAR segment was pretty good. I had expected them to trash everything about NASCAR, but they at least painted in such a way to show that it actually takes more skills than simply turning left.

The Chinese part was ok. I would have liked them to be more informative about Chinese cars and the industry overall. That Chinese Stig attacking everyone, it was amusing for the first couple of minutes, after that it just got really old and annoying very quickly.

 

[NINE_HUNDRED]

I loved the one where they had to buy a rear wheel drive car, cant remember the price bracket, and they drove them to a snow track doing challenges along the way. Thats was epic

There's a chance it will be on Dave this week. That's on of the episodes that gets showed a lot.

 

[Submerged]

I missed the NASCAR segment. Saw the News, thought it was ok but dragging a bit. Matt LeBlanc seemed to be really strange, as he was pretty wooden really. I mean, that guy didn't really seem to show euthisiam for whatever he was doing at all.

Also, it dragged a bit as well.

The Chinese segment at the start actually had some good information in it, but it then kinda lost it way after that bit and didn't really regain their aim at any point after that bit.

So, it was pretty flat, the whole episode from what I saw (apart from NASCAR which I missed).

 

[homeforsummer]

Wasn't too bad an episode last night, but nothing special.

SLS and NASCAR segments were good, the latter mainly because I'd love to have a go in a NASCAR. SIARPC wasn't too bad for once, mainly because it's always good to see someone top the board.

Wasn't so impressed with the China segment. I'd disagree with comments I've heard that it was "racist" or whatever, it was just a bit dull. Chinese Stig was a bit embarrassing to watch. The Stig has become too much like a cartoon character these days. It's like watching one of those films, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit or something, where real people are speaking to a fictitious character.

However, on the TG site there was a preview of this week's episode, with Clarkson and Andy Wilman discussing what people want from TG. And I'm ashamed to say that I'd never thought of things in the way they pointed out.

Basically, I think it's easy to forget that a huge range of people watches TG, and car enthusiasts are now only a relatively small part of that. For every one person who thinks Chinese Stig was crap, there are another million 8-16 year olds with an 8-16 year old's sense of humour who thought it was hilarious. And since that particular target market is the one who buys/gets bought all the TG-branded merchandise in the shops and makes the series craploads of money, you can sort of see why they do it sometimes.

Personally, I'd love them to go back to the earlier series sort of thing, where the arsing about was a little more spontaneous (which is why I think on balance, I now prefer US Top Gear, which I find far, far funnier, plus they're doing the traditional "buy crap car, do challenges" thing), but I can understand the cartoonish nature of some of the stuff because it's not just a program for petrolheads these days.

 

[poolhaas]

I saw 4 episodes of Top Gear US, didn't find it funny at all, almost like they were reading a script quite badly. Maybe they've improved over time, in that case my apologies.

 

[Joey D]

I saw 4 episodes of Top Gear US, didn't find it funny at all, almost like they were reading a script quite badly. Maybe they've improved over time, in that case my apologies.

It's predominantly American humor so some of the jokes might be lost on a European, just as it works in the opposite direction when we watch Top Gear UK.

Top Gear America has come along way since the first handful of episodes. I actually find it better the Top Gear UK at times.

 

[homeforsummer]

I've watched probably a dozen or so episodes of U.S. TG now and every one of them has been better than the last three or four series of U.K. TG.

I think I can appreciate it partly because I spend so much time writing about the American market, and as Joey says there are a lot of "in jokes" that may only make sense if you're familiar with the U.S. market, but I reckon it's easier to appreciate the format too.

Firstly, as I mentioned, there's a lot more of the earlier UK TG-style "buy crap car, do challenges, see who wins" type stuff, and it works really well because all three presenters have very different taste in cars. And when something goes wrong, it's because it went wrong while they were filming - cars breaking, getting stuck, etc.

There are a few segments copied from UK TG, but then that's understandable as they worked really well - the UK show's "buy a British Leyland car" was replicated almost identically with US TG's "buy a GM car" challenge, but because they were different cars and different presenters, it still worked.

I think the studio sections are a bit forced and a bit too polished in US TG, but the whole rest of the program feels a lot more natural. The presenters aren't a parody of themselves, like the UK ones are now. It's just three blokes, and some cars.

 

[Liquid]

The presenters aren't a parody of themselves, like the UK ones are now. It's just three blokes, and some cars.

As I've mentioned in some previous posts, this is my main gripe with the UK show.

I have to accept that the show has definitely moved from being an entertaining car show to a car-themed entertainment show and it has been scaled down, generalised and made formulaic to appeal to a wider, less niche audience.

But I am still allowed to state that somewhere between series 4-13 were the better years of Top Gear UK.

 

[dsgerbc]

Pretty meh episode. NASCAR part was okay, LeBlanc part was fairly decent. SLS was somewhat boring. Chinese Stig was mildly annoying in its regular TG stereotypical-ish-ness.

 

[nealcropper]

TG was rubbish on Sunday, hope next week is better.

 

[Crumpet]

I liked the NASCAR segment, I really can now see the appeal..

 

[Liquid]

It's not even finished but this 'Sweeney' segment is dire.

 

[Submerged]

Yeah, I TOTALLY agree with that!

 

[paddyree]

It's not even finished but this 'Sweeney' segment is dire.

It's all getting a bit stale now. They are much better when they're not trying to be funny. Top gear seems to be turning into some crap BBC sitcom

 

[Wiegert]

It's not even finished but this 'Sweeney' segment is dire.

I wasn't paying much attention to that segment (distractions n'stuff). Guess I didn't miss anything then.

One of my friends said earlier that he didn't have much hope of this episode being any good after seeing the synopsis, and it looks like he might be right.

 

[Liquid]

It's just facepalm after facepalm. I turned off before they started SIARPC.

I mean, Hammond getting Ray Winstone mixed up with Bob Hoskins when Ray was a guest on the show and Hammond playing the naive, anonymous BBC man. Ray Winstone guest starred in the Sweeney TV show when he was still a bit part actor.

...

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

The cute redhead standing behind Reynolds was the only redeeming thing about this episode. Damn she was cuuuutttteee.

 

[Rossell2]

Ryan Reynolds interview was great, which I enjoyed and was better then the last two. Corsa V Panda and the news segments were fun.

Stunt driving stuff on the other hand. For the first time ever I walked away 10 minutes before the end. Cue the "Last 2 minutes were AWESOME" post.

 

[Liquid]

I did like reviewing the Panda. May still has small fragments of 'being himself' in his roadtests.

 

[Wiegert]

Ray Winston pinching the bridge of his nose while Hammond was rambling on summed up how I feel about this episode, even though the Panda/Corsa test was alright.

I know those scenes they filmed during the Sweeney segments were a joke (not that funny, mind), but having half an episode dedicated to that kind of unfunny stuff which is clearly setup isn't what this show should keep doing.

And might I add, the Jag sounds sweet.

 

[mattythedog]

Was basically a crap episode, though the car flipping edit made me laugh. The Sweeny bit was stale and pretty boring, and I had no idea who Ryan Renolds was, but he's pretty cute.

 

[Akira AC]

Well I just updated with this season and I must say that is not looking very good.

Episode 1 was better than some of the previous season episodes but nowhere near as good as S10->S12 episodes, Episode 2 was about the same, the NASCAR feature was interesting but the Chinese car feature was sort of meh(I was expecting something like the communist car feature, but no it was dreadful with the Chinese stig and the stupid punchline at the end, that was silly).

Episode 3 manages to be the worst of this season, the Panda test was what can be expected from James(which hasn't got anywhere near as scripted as the others) but the rest is just boring, and they are really struggling with SIARPC.

Is not good, if season 17 showed something is that TG completely lost its entertainment value, I liked it how it was on seasons 10->12, back then it was an unscripted entertainment car show, not a mindless comic relief show with cars on it.

 

[Liquid]

Is not good, if season 17 showed something is that TG completely lost its entertainment value, I liked it how it was on seasons 10->12, back then it was an unscripted entertainment car show, not a mindless comic relief show with cars on it.

It's always been scripted, but it used to be much cleverer and less obvious.

Now Top Gear is, a) a global show and, b) a show not just for people who like cars, it's much simpler, more general and less 'smart' or 'technical' than it used to be. I rate 4-13 as being the best years, and there's been a steady decline since around season 7-8, when they updated the studio for the first time.

 

[Submerged]

The whole film thing was TOTALLY rubbish.

Corsa was classic good stuff. The Canadian was actually the best guest this season.

The film stuff was just totally and utterly horrible. Words cannot describe it.

I hope they are ashamed of it

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Series 3 was the best for me. The Toyota Hilux, Professor burnouts and Hammond trying to escape from a drowning car was good stuff. I wish they would just do more challenges that are real and not heavily edited and fake and let the presenters be themselves not their characters. Some of that last episode was painful to watch, especially Hammond who has been trying too hard recently and it just isn't working.

 

[Liquid]

I've always rated Hammond as the weakest presenter. I even prefer Jason Dawe. I must be one of the few people that found his hints and tips very informative and interesting. And when he was replaced, that was May's job for a short while.

 

[TopGearFTW]

I actually found the Sweeney bit funny. Clarkson being ridiculously fastidious about the car settings amused me, and the Focus jump edit that Hammond showed the director had me in hysterics.
Yes I know the dicking about is expected and might be getting a bit stale nowadays, but it still got a laugh out of me (the caravan explosion was one of the most predictable things ever though)

 

[homeforsummer]

I did like reviewing the Panda. May still has small fragments of 'being himself' in his roadtests.

May's at his best without the other two. Man Lab, Oz & James, Toy Stories etc - all more interesting and generally funnier than TG.

Predictably, found the Corsa/Panda segment best this week, though I didn't mind the Ryan Reynolds bit, but Sweeney was atrocious.

 

[Liquid]

May's at his best without the other two.

Linked for language

He's a star.