New Top Gear

[Gavv8]

Thoughts people?..
I liked the new lap time track and the Ariel Nomad was awesome....
Not so sure about Matt and Chris was way too excitable..
Strange to see the old seats and introduction to the stig....

Jury is still out for me....

 

[jimboy]

On an obvious point, people will either love or hate it. It will depend on how much which of the presenters irritate you the most. I'm not going to go into a detailed account of what I think, but already the British/American thing is grinding my gears, LeBlanc referring to "Brits" every five minutes. Perhaps a small point, but very irritating all the same.

 

[StevenRB45]

I liked the Ariel Nomad piece otherwise seemed to be TG by the numbers but very little chemistry between presenters.

Star in a rally cross car....sigh

 

[panda panda]

Where's the volume control for shouty evans?

Where's the other "presenters"?

I always liked the messing about with cars best but it doesn't work with just two of them.

I got bored halfway through.

 

[Asa James]

My verdict? Amazon Prime, take my money! It was painful, and seems very geared towards the American audience which its now getting shown to. Sorry TG, your time is up.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Was it just me or did the audience appear to be there under duress? They didn't sound happy to be there at all and you could almost see the production staff waving arms around to cue laughing, applause; etc. Just play back some old canned Top Gear laughter and applause like they did with the TFI revival last year.

As usual Chris Evans was trying too hard. He isn't naturally funny and this was most evident in the cringe inducing chef who swears too much and star interview. That's when I changed over to watch the Antiques Roadshow.

 

[Palio]

I managed half of it too! Got to him ridiculing a Strada & I thought I'd go an play some music instead...... I will watch the other half later.

Evans appeared to be attempting a Clarkson impression. He seemed to be shouting in one word sentences at the start (which I didn't think was actually possible), and completely failing to show any knowledge - annoying!

Matt whoever he is, actor bloke, seemed to be better than anticipated. Damning with faint praise here - but what is he doing as a presenter on British TG?

I will probably watch it to see if it gets better - and seeing a bit of a train wreck is quite fun...... It's completely the wrong format & presenters though as predicted - why they didn't use unknown presenters with talent & let them create something new (I could have thrown a dozen at them who would have been excellent and credible hosts & are currently a bit wasted writing for classic mags).

Now we see how talented Andy Wilman was in conjunction with Clarkson. Amazon knows what it's doing!

 

[Liquid Knight]

On a side note who was running the book on how long it would take for Chris Evans to say...

"In the Worrrrrllllldddd!"

...it was twenty two minutes and I had a fiver on the sixth.

 

[Gavv8]

Its worth checking out ExtraGear on bbc3, some interesting articles and Chris Harris who does know his stuff.

 

[StevenRB45]

It'll be interesting to see how it develops, I can't see the "hey isn't it funny that we have joey from friends doing tg" shtick lasting and he may make a reasonable presenter, replace Evans with Harris whose videos I've enjoyed for a while and it may well be watchable if nothing like TG has been of late.

 

[maggers]

Yeah, Monkey Harris might be worth a shout, I used to like his articles in Autocar until he did a Sutcliffe & baled out. Chris Evans - the man with the perfect face for radio - always has been and remains an irritating ginger tw4t. LeBlanc - who? and don't say Joey from Friends because I don't watch lame American sit coms - just grinds with me. I reckon they'll have a season of dwindling viewing figures, the terrible Trio will do the same on Amazon then they'll call a truce and go back to the BBC. But that's just me.

 

[StevenRB45]

Just watching extra gear on I player...

Actually seems preferable to the main show, no Evans, they do a bit similar to old news segment in which there is some craic. Also seems they are happier to be a bit more geeky with the car stuff without being all about ridiculousness.

 

[SB1500]

I think the new Top Gear is ridiculous.

It'll be like Two And A Half Men in 2011, they got rid of Sheen and it ran for how many lousy seasons before calling it quits? I can see this happening.

You couldn't have 'The Simpsons' if you changed all the main characters etc, even if it turns out well, I think they should have succeeded it with a new brand / show name etc.

Amazon, bring us back the real Top Gear!

 

[portland_bill]

It occurred to me, an hour or so before the programme aired, that they should invent a new format, not try to continue with what Clarkson and friends invented. The original Top Gear was a car show, with a small audience. Clarkson and his friends, and it is important that they were friends, reinvented it into an entertainment show, with cars.
Now I think that it is time to reinvent it again, as an entertainment show, with cars, but it needs a new format. You can't just copy what was there with different people.
There was no chemistry between the two presenters, although Matt LeBlanc looks like he will develop. LeBlanc is at least a car nut first, with a lot of skill and knowledge, whereas Evans is just a car nut.
If you'd never seen the Clarkson version, this would probably be OK. View it with that in mind, and reduce the disappointment.

 

[jimboy]

To be fair this really didn't stand a chance for several reasons, mainly riding on the back of it's predecessors, lambasted by the media before it started, die hard Top Gear fans. The Beeb still wanting to press ahead with it's ways. This will not be the money making adventure that first was, pure & simple.

OK it was just the first episode, but...what a load of irritating twaddle from all involved. It's just a matter of who irritates you the worst as I said. For me it's LeBlanc. Aye, what is he doing on our screens anyway, seriously this Yank/British bit will just do my head in. What's offered as fun/comedy is excruciatingly bad, just not working at all. I would hate to them emulate Clarkson & co literally, but surely they can come up with better material than this.

There now, that's got that off my chest.

 

[ChrisUK]

The star in the reasonably priced car section was cringe worthy. Clearly pre-planned, not even Gordon Ramsay's charisma could save it...

 

[Asa James]

Just tried to watch extra gear, got as far as Evans showing up and turned off. Chris Harris sounds horrifically patronising, I can't listen to him, and Rory "that's how we roll" Reid, no thanks mate. Gutted, used to look forward to Sunday nights. Just going to have to keep watching Bad Obsession Motorsports bonkers mini builds on YouTube

 

[puntofan01]

For me personally: I don't get the colossal hatred aimed at the new show. I'd prefer it to go back to roadtesting actual cars at some point, as ferraris and lambos do not interest me in the slightest.

I do feel for Chris Evans though: let's be honest, he was doomed purely because he isn't Jeremy Clarkson, but if you see him as actually being Chris Evans rather than Clarkson, I think he did a good job.

 

[maggers]

He's still a speccy ginge though.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

It seems at the moment they haven't tried to change anything at all. The problem is, as with anything, you change the people and things need to change.

Give it a little while and the hosts will settle into what is comfortable for them. They need to do more grass roots hooning around in cars and not try the pointless challenges until the relationships have built up and the bonds are stronger.

The whole idea of the challenges was buy a car for under £1000 or a super at for under £10,000 then decide whos car is best.

In the case of the reliant's and the old jeep/Land Rover was all a bit pointless and unnecessary.

For anyone who says they should do more car reviews and more affordable cars there are other programs that cater to this. Topgear is really a light entertainment show with a car theme and not a review or consumer advice show