So, since I went to the trouble of writing up my thoughts about the program elsewhere on the web, thought I may as well copy and paste my 2 cents in here as well.
For the sake of comparison I'll start off mentioning that whilst Top Gear had produced some of the best television I think I've ever seen, it often completely failed to hit the mark too, with the last couple of series' being a bit rubbish IMHO. Old New Top Gear first demonstrated how good it really could be with the Polar Special (2007), and then really peaked with the Vietnam special (2008).. with Botswana and Bolivia also being notably good.. but that's 8 years ago, and those were specials, and I think it's been on the slide since.
So, "chemistry". I've seen this word mentioned a lot. Maybe it's just me, but I thought the chemistry between the old 3 was all too often utterly swallowed up by poor delivery of the scripted sections... if the chemistry was that good, it should never have come across as laboriously delivered predictable punchlines... and it did, often. Having said that, the last couple of minutes in the studio on Sunday with Le Blanc and Evans were... painful, it was like the worst of Old New Top Gear all over again --- but, we're one episode in. I'm sure we'll see things develop.
That kind of brings me on to the presenters.
Evans: I don't like him, I never have. As the lead man he will be compared mostly with Clarkson... and that really is an apples vs oranges situation. Clarkson was/is a journalist, he was good with words and had an effective manner in which to deliver them. Evans, first and foremost, is a presenter, and he likes to work his studio audience - it's an utterly different style to JC. I'm actually okay with that, but he's far better off in the studio environment than doing the pieces out on the road. I feel he bought nothing to either piece he did in Sundays show.
Le Blanc: I have to admit, I thought this was an utterly ridiculous idea when the news first broke... but actually, I thought he was (mostly) great. I think it works because he's an actor - we know who Matt Le Blanc is.. but we don't really know him at all. This means he can deliver scripted lines without seeming out of character (something 2/3rds of the old Trio couldn't do), and his natural persona (seen in the Nomad section) seemed pretty cool. I like his deadpan delivery too.
Schmitz: I love Sabine, I think she's charming and always puts a smile on my face. I don't think she'll make a great presenter though, so I'm happy if shes confined to being the 3rd person in the feature segments. I honestly can't see her doing a piece to camera, ever. Very slightly misquoting Top Gun with a German accent made me laugh I have to admit.
Harris: I like Chris Harris, but I've got to say, I don't think he'll work well in anything other than lone car reviews. He's quite opinionated and doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humour. If anything I think he's the closest of the bunch to being a replacement for JC, but as has been said, he looked uncomfortable in the studio, and compared to Reid's enthusiasm, he seemed hostile and stand-off-ish. He's great at what he does though, I look forward to seeing that more in the program.
Reid: Aww... he's just so happy to be there isn't he. Likable enough guy. I sense that he's the one most likely to build chemistry with people... shame he'll be confined to Extra Gear only it seems.
Eddie Jordan will put in an appearance next week: I hate Eddie Jordan. Simple as that.
In short, I think they've actually got a good team, but - I don't think they're going to be using it as effectively as they could.
As for Sundays episode itself;
Viper vs. Vette was okay, typical Top Gear of old - beautifully shot, quite implausible, lots of shouting and tyre smoke.
MLB's Nomad feature was fun, if it had have been Old New Top Gear, it would have been Hammond doing the review, and personally I think MLB did a better job than Hamster would have done.
USA vs UK Pretty rubbish. Clearly tried to emulate some of the previous challenges, but basically came across as pointless. We've seen the team in crap cars before, we've seen them breakdown before, we've seen them fail to negotiate muddy fields before, and we've seen them race along a beach before. I don't think this did any of those things better in any way than anything we've seen before. Old team or New, it was just weak.
SIARPC is the bit I always skip. However, I gave it a go this time. My only real complaint is matching Gordon Ramsey with someone like Jesse Eisenberg as guests... worst combo since Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash tried to harmonise. This is much more familiar territory for Evans, and I think he did a good enough job. New track is fun, and I approve of the new car.
Extra Gear was alright. Fast lap by Harris was what he does best, finding out about Sabine's Ranch was a surprise. The guest star (I forget his name) was pretty funny, should probably have been in the actual program against Ramsey, rather than Eisenberg. EG is a good addition to the series overall.
TL;DR
Evans et al have picked up exactly the same problem Clarkson left with. We've seen it all before. Whilst I think the new line-up is overall a good one, I don't think they're going to utilise each of them in the best fashion. Fundamentally though, TG at it's best was 10/10, at its worst it was 3/10. Sunday's episode may only have been a 6/10 (IMHO), but that still puts it fairly and squarely in the ball park for what TG needs to be.
Just swap Chris Evans for Chris Evans
