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Top Gear USA

CL65 Captain

CL65 Captain

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Top Gear USA - SUCKED! :mad:

The hosts sucked, they weren't funny, or entertaining. No originality at all as they have a Stig (they could have come up with a different name) and Big Star in Small Car too. If they are going to do an exact copy of Top Gear, then they might as well just air Top Gear BBC on the History Channel. The show is doomed to fail, because it SUCKED! If it had better hosts and better writing it would have a chance, but both sucked so it probably won't even make it a full season. Deleted the TIVO season pass because it's on at the same time as Brothers and Sisters (and that shows you how bad it sucked.)
 
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CL65 Captain said:
Top Gear USA - SUCKED! :mad:

The hosts sucked, they weren't funny, or entertaining. No originality at all as they have a Stig (they could have come up with a different name) and Big Star in Small Car too. If they are going to do an exact copy of Top Gear, then they might as well just air Top Gear BBC on the History Channel. The show is doomed to fail, because it SUCKED! If it had better hosts and better writing it would have a chance, but both sucked so it probably won't even make it a full season. Deleted the TIVO season pass because it's on at the same time as Brothers and Sisters (and that shows you how bad it sucked.)
Click to expand...


Sadly I agree it sucked but the production value was there. The UK Top Gear production team and writters are doing the US version. The chemistry and star power is where the show is seriously lacking. They should have kept Adam Corolla on and as much as I think Tanner Foust is a cool, talented drifter, he's like the Ben Collins of Top Gear but minus the true talent.
 
CL65 Captain said:
Top Gear USA - SUCKED! :mad:

The hosts sucked, they weren't funny, or entertaining. No originality at all as they have a Stig (they could have come up with a different name) and Big Star in Small Car too. If they are going to do an exact copy of Top Gear, then they might as well just air Top Gear BBC on the History Channel. The show is doomed to fail, because it SUCKED! If it had better hosts and better writing it would have a chance, but both sucked so it probably won't even make it a full season. Deleted the TIVO season pass because it's on at the same time as Brothers and Sisters (and that shows you how bad it sucked.)
Click to expand...

Tell us how you really feel. :tongue:
 
I thought the segments were good. Good production value. But I agree with the hosts. Tanner is great, but where did they find these other two guys? They had no chemistry. They were not entertaining at all... though I am glad they ditched Carolla.
 
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I have to agree. The total show SUCKED!!
Ok Tanner is on Speed (Two shows as a matter of fact) he Drifts and now on this (Drifts) ..Ok I Got IT.... if THIS show is gonna be nothing but him Drifting every car he drives? It's not goning to end well.
 
The chemistry between Clarkson,Hammond and May is what makes the show work.With different presenters it would be rubbish.
You only have to watch Fifth Gear with Tiffany Dell,Jason Plato and the Vicky Butler Henderson to see that.
They have the personality of wet cabbage.
 
Agreed :frown:

I watched Top Gear USA last night. It just can't compete with Top Gear BBC. The USA hosts are lame...really boring to listen to. Especially when they start narrating. It looks like Top Gear USA is exactly like Top Gear BBC...celebrity race and interview, the stig, crazy car challenges...minus the flair and excitement.
 
colslaw87 said:
agreed



i watched top gear usa last night. It just can't compete with top gear bbc. The usa hosts are lame...really boring to listen to. Especially when they start narrating. It looks like top gear usa is exactly like top gear bbc...celebrity race and interview, the stig, crazy car challenges...minus the flair and excitement.
Click to expand...

^ +1
 
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I think Ken Block would be a better host than Tanner Foust.
 
s14_tat said:
I think Ken Block would be a better host than Tanner Foust.
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Ken Block has absolutely no personality on Television. He's worse than Tanner.
Brylek said:
I was actually wondering how many times they offered him to be the Stig :)
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Block is great at rally & Gymkhana...I highly doubt that would automatically make him great at road course racing.
 
Jack Sparrow said:
Ken Block has absolutely no personality on Television. He's worse than Tanner.

Block is great at rally & Gymkhana...I highly doubt that would automatically make him great at road course racing.
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Yes, but he is the younger crowd's hero.
 
Brylek said:
Yes, but he is the younger crowd's hero.
Click to expand...
Not so when you compare him to Tanner...Travis Pastrana would have been great for the show. Both Travis and Tanner have a larger following in the youth demographic than Block but youth is not what the show is lacking.
 
The US version is set to run for 10 weeks. I wonder if they will even bother to air all 10.

I found Buzz Aldrin's segment to be the most entertaining; looks like he will be keeping his driver's license for a few more years.

I might watch one more episode (out of morbid curiousity).

Matt
 
Jack Sparrow said:
Not so when you compare him to Tanner...Travis Pastrana would have been great for the show. Both Travis and Tanner have a larger following in the youth demographic than Block but youth is not what the show is lacking.
Click to expand...

I never said Block would make a better host that Tanner or Pastrana, what I was saying is the producers of the US top gear propably wanted Ken Block to be their Stig. Remeber: Stig has no voice, no family and etc ... :)

If the US Stig was 6'5' and skinny and was doing crazy donuts / fun stunts with all their tested vehicles everyone would suspect that its Block, just like lots of people are saying that the UK Stig is really Schumacher.

Enough on hijacking this thread Jack Sparrow, lets go back to the origial topic now. :)
 
I wish they hadn't tried to make it an exact replica of the original show when one of the critical components (the hosts) are obviously different. It just felt like they were trying to pull a fast one over the audience. The chemistry between the hosts was a big reason for the original show's success. Instead, this effort reminds me of "Iron Chef America" (and not even good as that, because the TGUSA hosts are total unknowns), which eventually lost my interest because it didn't have the magic of the Japanese version.
 
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stuntman said:
Am I the only one who thought it was pretty good for a first episode? :confused:
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I'm with you.

People forget that the BBC hosts have had 8 years to build chemistry. I invite anyone here to go watch Episode 1 of the Top Gear relaunch from 2002 and tell me that episode was better than the US episode.

I think people are being overly critical. It certainly wasn't as good as the British Top Gear, but it wasn't exactly "Supercars Exposed," either. It was like watching an episode of 5th Gear, in my opinion. Didn't exactly have the flare and the hosts didn't have the chemistry of Top Gear, but it was still an entertaining hour of television.
 
I don't get it either. If you are going to make a replica of another show, why not just air the original. The cars were nice but this show had no presonality. I'll still watch it, but making it exactly like the british show was a mistake.
 
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Things wrong with it:
The helicopter race thing went on for WAY too long, and was poorly portrayed and hokey.

The jokes were forced and the writing in general was terrible.

I wanted to kick each of the presenters in the head, except for Tanner.

Things that worked:
Copying the general format of the BBC show is not a bad thing. If they keep it as an outline to do the show, and not as a how to, it will be a good start.

Production value is way up. Better than I expected from History Channel. Shows like this tend to put most of their budget in the first few shows to hook you, then drop off. We'll see if it follows through in the rest of the episodes.

They started off talking about an American icon (maybe bad execution though). If they continue in this vein and give us history too, great! (sort of how TG UK focus on Aston, Jag and british car history in general)

Tanner. He is a decent driver, generally knows what he is talking about, and I have confidence in what he is saying. He can play the "straight man". If the others can give personality without me wanting to kick them in the head while Tanner gives the real info, that would be great.


I agree though, do not copy TG UK, what would be the point? If they can differentiate themselves enough, like talking a bit more about American car culture, it'll be watchable. At least in the fact that its about cars.
 
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enigma said:
People forget that the BBC hosts have had 8 years to build chemistry. I invite anyone here to go watch Episode 1 of the Top Gear relaunch from 2002 and tell me that episode was better than the US episode.
Click to expand...

I've watched a lot of the old TG UK and I would have to say it is still better than the TG US ep1. While the budget was lower, the writing wasn't as good, and many of the jokes fell flat, there was one major difference. None of it felt forced.
 

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