Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV 

  • Thread starter ExigeEvan
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Team THRT Drift
I've put aside the fanboy bull:censored: and just accepted the show as it is. I'm not going to address the new crew because at this point I couldn't really care. All the same points have been raised and discussed over a dozen times so I'm not going to comment and aid in turning this into one of those Gran Turismo critique/wish threads.

Let's be honest here, we never really watched TG for the presenters; we always watched it for the cars. Sure, the trio was a nice plus because we, in a way, grew up with them so they're kinda like family (I personally can't think of other shows where the fanbase refers to its presenters by their nicknames). No one really likes change, especially when it comes to family. However, we know The Grand Tour is coming soon hosted by the familiar muppets.

With that being said, I really like the new TG. It had a horrid first episode but they're bouncing back. Really enjoyed this episode and am looking forward for next week's episode.
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I think you're going to have to speak for yourself. I watched it for Clarkson, Hammond, & May primarily because I enjoyed their banter & views on cars. The show didn't gain all this popularity off just putting together challenges & car reviews, and folks wouldn't have been lobbying so hard to bring them back if they only watched for the cars.

You need personalities to make a great show, otherwise a terrific idea or plot becomes stale if the person you're watching can't capture your attention.

Similar situation to when Harris left /Drive & everyone unsubscribed afterwards b/c they were watching for him.
 
So Chris Evans wasn't Captain America?
It must have been the movie Snatch then?
bricktop.png

Chris "Bricktop" Evans, Yesterday.
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Matt Le Tribbiani was cool in a Fonzie kind of way. Had some nice lines for him to repeat.
A bit of "Our Jens" didn't hurt, nice to see him have a bit of fun in a McLaren.
Extra Gear - having a Mock the Week approved Comic on injects a bit of quick-witted fun.

The Scenery on South Africa was amazing too. No Sabine? Was she feeding her pigs on her farm this week. At least she can dispose of the bodies of the previous hosts.
 
I really enjoyed this week's episode - it's definitely a smart move to have more guests participating in the show other than the SIARPC segment, which has always been a bit of a low point of the show IMO. The idea of having a 'guest host' (like Eddie Jordan this week) would work really well, and all in all it was pretty much as good a show as TG could manage previously, so that is a pretty encouraging sign.
 
I enjoyed the second episode, especially the Mclaren part, the guests were also pretty entertaining and (dare I say) Chris Evans is growing on me. I think first impressions of the show and the presenters weren't so great, but it's an entertaining show still and I will keep tuning in. Because honestly, at the moment it's the only TV show with new cars sliding around corners in beautifully filmed clips.
 
Finally managed to watch both TG and EG and I like Evans a bit more this time around.

McLaren LT review : I still dont like how the car review is done but I think that they could have done a very good footage if they had included bits of what we've seen on EG (him crying of emotion). So I guess Evans is not that bad, the way the show is scripted is really bad tho. Jenson was amazing, he was natural, smiling and obviously enjoying his time in the new LT, really liked that part. I wonder why they got Sabine tho if she isnt driving super fast car and isnt doing tour like south africa, I dont really see where she can fit, but I guess with her doing Nurb-taxi and racing in gt category I guess she has stuff to do.

South Africa trip : Bad, scenery where great but cars where uninteresting (imo) and they had too many people in the trip. The dialogue felt forced at times. I liked Matt tho he's fitting really good in the show.

SIARCC : Bad bad bad, I hate Evans interview, we learn nothing and it's totaly lame. Also I'm not sure that bullying the main guest like he did will bring him anything. I dont even know what time he did in the rallycross car as I find it boring and uninteresting, people seems to show less interest in their lap times too.

EG : I loved the segment about Evans on the Mclaren, it was really nice. Bits on the 24hr was pretty cool but they could have done much better since they were already at it. Hopefully they did some footage for a future episode. Eddie Jordan interview was nice, just the Eddie I like :D Rory is definitely better at doing interview than Evans, he should do the SIARCC segment imo. Last guy I didnt bother watching as I dont know him and didnt care.
 
Having just watched the second episode, I get the feeling Chris Evans thinks he is presenting a program on the CBeebies channel. I can't stand him. Matt is really good and Jenson was fantastic in the short segment he appeared in. He really looked like he was enjoying himself and explained what the car felt like, how the handling was, and seemed like a proper car nut and happy to be there.
 
Viewership down to 4.4 million, means a third of the viewers went and its the lowest figure for a TG episode in a decade, BBC have blamed the hot weather (to be fair it was still quite warm in lots of places at that time) and revealed that over a million people recorded the episode and watched it later.
 
That only got an average of 3.8 million over the course of the 4 hour transmission....
 
MUSC4EVER
Viewership down to 4.4 million, means a third of the viewers went and its the lowest figure for a TG episode in a decade, BBC have blamed the hot weather (to be fair it was still quite warm in lots of places at that time) and revealed that over a million people recorded the episode and watched it later.
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Then next week they will blame the Euro's and so on and so on until eventually they will have to accept that people just don't like Chris Evans, for various reasons (mostly deserved) and are not just calling him names because he's not Clarkson.

Also as already mentioned in this thread, quoting the iPlayer results is meaningless unless they first discount all of the illegal views but they can't do that because they don't have a clue who's accessing it legit and who's not.
 
Question though, when The Grand Tour starts on Amazon later this year is it likely to get 4 million plus?, are that many people going to sign up and watch it?
 
MUSC4EVER
Question though, when The Grand Tour starts on Amazon later this year is it likely to get 4 million plus?, are that many people going to sign up and watch it?
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Depends if you can still get a free trial by then and use that to watch it, otherwise of course they won't. Even then they'll probably still struggle. It'll be a gold mine for potential pirates though but that doesn't need to be and can't be discussed here.

Other than the quality and that's just personal opinions, you can't compare the shows.
 
Just watched the new Top Gear for the first time (second episode), and I think that it was okay but not great.

I think they're playing too much on the "this is the legendary Top Gear and it's so amazing" thing, while the last generation was a bit more modest and layed back. I mean, Clarkson and company also had cheering crowds, but it appeared more genuine and less forced. There were certainly a lot less shouting from the old hosts... I also miss the knowledge part, especially Clarkson and May appeared to know a thing or two about cars, while - in this particular episode at least - it seemed to be more about the hosts having fun in cars, without actually knowing (or sharing at least) much about them.

Of course they must do their own thing though, it wouldn't end up well if they all pretended that they were the previous hosts, it's just that I think the show went from being knowledge + entertainment, to just being entertainment, and I'm not sure if that's a format that I'm really that interested in.

Let's see after a few more episodes, maybe it will get better.
 
I watched portions of the first and second episode last night. My completely subjective, no-experience in programming thoughts on what they should do.

- Stop with the recycled old bits. No Robin three wheelers, for instance. [EDIT: Three wheeled Reliants, whether Robins or Rialtos]. That just reminds people of Clarkson at his most ridiculously funny, and they're not going to top that. Similarly, the military style dogfight/car-chase things could use a rest. They even got a bit stale on the old series, or at least were used on an over-the-top grand scale.
- And speaking of old bits, do they really need the Stig? How about trying that role with one of the race car drivers they have now? Like, Scmidtz. Or have whoever the Stig is be known this time. If neither of those are available enough for the show, call in Tiff Needell.
- Don't try to force camaraderie. It's obvious the slew of presenters don't have chemistry yet, so don't try to fake it.
- Are they going to keep having the Sabine Schmidtz made someone vomit bit? Even before LeBlanc said anything, I was thinking, "A fighter pilot gets carsick? really? Come on."
- For me, Chris Evans doesn't work for that role. I'm not familiar with him, but his style seems too animated without being believable. And the buddy relationship with Evans and LeBlanc doesn't seem genuine.
- Thus, I'm also in the, "Let's have Chris Harris be the main presenter" camp, as at least his love of the cars seems genuine.
- I was surprised at LeBlanc's Ariel Nomad presentation, specifically that I thought he did pretty well until the paparazzi challenge, anyway. Until then, he was at least somewhat informative and entertaining.

Okay, I have more, but that's already more than I planned on writing nor anyone will probably read. But for now I have to say that I found the Twitter videos of the old presenters timing each other folding boxes more entertaining than anything on the new Top Gear.
 
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Well that was a marginally better episode. Button completely outshone Evans, Le Blanc improved, Eddie Jordan I really don't know as I lost focus during the South Africa bit. Star in a Reasonably Priced Rallycross Car segment somehow got worse. Just get rid of Evans for that because he's absolutely hopeless there. I really don't have much more to say.

Extra Gear was good, the Chris Harris bit at the Nurburgring was good, Stephen K Amos was alright... now, the Chris Evans McLaren F1 bit... I honestly think that was aired as a way to get fans of the old show on board with Evans as the host by showing this connection he has with cars, similar to how we (well, me anyway) connected with Clarkson, Hammond and May through their love of cars. Evans never really won the fans over because he lacked that perceived love of cars. So I think that was a nice bit, and changes my opinion slightly of him.

I know I'm being harsh on the main show and nitpicking, but I want to love and enjoy new Top Gear. It's just making it so hard to do so. It's nearly unbearable to watch now. It's sad.
 
Just watched the first episode. I turned it off after Jesse Eisenberg said he rode a bicycle in New York city. Honestly, what the **** are you doing on top gear then? They put this git next to Gordon Ramsey? Wtf is that.

The show is painful to watch. It takes effort to not turn off. I mean, did I honestly watch two meatbags drive three-wheeled **** boxes on a highway for ten minutes? Really? Was that supposed to be entertaining?

Matt is OK. He just looks like he's riding the train until it's out of steam. Chris Evans is awful though. First off, he's ugly as ****. And not in a way that does anything for his character. He just looks like a total moron with birth control glasses on. It's like they took all the worst parts of Hammond and distilled it into a single presenter. His style is contrived and terrible. It reminds me of a Robin Leach for 12-year-olds. The Motoring of the Rich and Stupid.

Too Gear is dead.
 
Omnis
Just watched the first episode. I turned it off after Jesse Eisenberg said he rode a bicycle in New York city. Honestly, what the **** are you doing on top gear then? They put this git next to Gordon Ramsey? Wtf is that.

The show is painful to watch. It takes effort to not turn off. I mean, did I honestly watch two meatbags drive three-wheeled **** boxes on a highway for ten minutes? Really? Was that supposed to be entertaining?

Matt is OK. He just looks like he's riding the train until it's out of steam. Chris Evans is awful though. First off, he's ugly as ****. And not in a way that does anything for his character. He just looks like a total moron with birth control glasses on. It's like they took all the worst parts of Hammond and distilled it into a single presenter. His style is contrived and terrible. It reminds me of a Robin Leach for 12-year-olds. The Motoring of the Rich and Stupid.

Too Gear is dead.
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:lol: Let the pain out Omnis!

The 2nd episode is much better, try and sit through that one ;).
 
Having a nice glass of wine on the floor next to the garbage bins. Classy.


edit: And he still has the tags on his Nikes. What a twit.
 
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Tonights show, Anthony Joshua and Kevin Hart are the guests, Rory Reid in the Ford Focus, Chris Harris in the Ferrari F12 TDF, Ken Block and Matt LeBlanc around London in the 'Hoonicorn', and Evan being sick in the Audi R8.

Have to tape the show and watch it later as it sort of clashes with the Grand Prix and Germany v Ukraine on BBC1.
 

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