Top Gear America...

[BrunnyS1]

is even worse that I feared.

It would have been border line bad as a Speed Vision fill in, but, when you realise they have used the TopGear brand(well paid for it too I guess, and err yes Jeremy, review this will you) to sell it.....well it is embarrassing to watch, particularly if you told used to tell people how good the original Top Gear is and they need to watch it...

They even took some of the original shows classic stunts , then diluted and Americanized them to the point of well, nothing.

Sadly there appears to be not much chemistry ,interaction or even plain simple fun going on between these three hosts.

Add to that the fact that they will never be allowed to say anything negative about any car on the show due to potentially loosing advertising $ and lawsuits.

Sad.

Oh, and I don't like any of the hosts either , so there !

Edited November 22, 2010 by BrunnyS1

[bsimon]

:iagree:

 

On par with Home Shopping Network and midget wrestling. A real dud.

[MHKflyer52]

:iagree:

 

On par with Home Shopping Network and midget wrestling. A real dud.

 

Yep I have to agree.

Not very realistic at all and after 20 min's I turned it off.

Viper being chased by a AH-1 helicopter.

Get real they would have never made it off the airport.

Oh well just my belief.

[rnr]

I posted this on a different forum:

 

It was about what I expected it to be. The ideas for the segments were ok but the execution needs some work - the chemistry will definitely take some time to get there. TG UK took a couple of years and a host change to get to where it is now.

 

The part that really annoyed me was Buzz Aldrin in the Small Car. You have one of the more interesting people of the 20th century and all you can ask him about are what he thought about some of his past cars (with no details)????

 

The other thing they are missing is the cinematic quality of the video. The UK Top Gear looks film-like with a wonderful softer feel to the video. I dont know how this one is shot but the colours did feel too bright and documentary-like.

[Boxologist]

Yep I have to agree.

Not very realistic at all and after 20 min's I turned it off.

Viper being chased by a AH-1 helicopter.

Get real they would have never made it off the airport.

Oh well just my belief.

 

 

But this the same stupid stuff on TG UK. My understanding was their first few season sucked pretty bad as well. That being said, the personalities didn't seem to mesh, and overly produced. hell, overly over-produced.

 

I forgot Brewmasters was on Discovery last night .Hopefully thats on my OnDemand service. At least tom can be happy his Iggles won:smash:.

[yellowss7]

At least tom can be happy his Iggles won:smash:.

 

No Jon, the Giants lost it. Eli, fumbled the game away all by himself.

 

Vick was not that impressive this time. But hey, a win's a win.

 

:seeya:

 

Tom

[slngsht]

Eli is the man... I really needed the 2 free points he gave to the Eagles defense in fantasy football.

[powderbrake]

I watched it last night, won't bother to do it again

[Kitcat]

Cry, cry, you guys otta try being a Bengals fan!

 

I too saw about 20 minutes of Top Gear. Boring, pointless, juvenile.

 

I actually liked the Sarah Palin show on Alaska better. Without her heels, she's kind of a shrimp. Turns out, it's hard to look totally put together in freezing weather on a fishing boat. Seeing her beat the one fish senseless with a baseball bat and hold its still throbbing heart in the air gave true meaning to her "Mama Grizzlie" moniker. Think of what she'd do if she got a liberal like me in her clutches:)!

[yellowss7]

Mike, wait until next week's show where she uses a shotgun. Hey, a hug from Sarah or Hillary, your choice. :seeya:

 

Tom

[Marine7]

TG USA... I couldnt get past the first 20 min. I DVR'd it, so I skipped forward to see if I could find something interesting. Nope, nada, nix. What a snoozefest.

I even noticed they tried to make some politically incorrect comments like JC, but failed miserably.

 

Jason

[MoPho]

I had also posted this on another forum:

 

Translating ‘Top Gear’ Into American

By JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN

Published: November 19, 2010

 

[snip]So when the NBC pilot was made in July 2008, the hosts were Mr. Carolla, Mr. Foust and Eric Stromer, who had appeared in several home improvement shows. The actor and singer David Hasselhoff came along as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car — a Kia Rio

 

Those of us who attended the taping of the NBC pilot saw a slick piece of professional show business: Mr. Carolla was funny, Mr. Hasselhoff was a riot, Mr. Foust was a good second banana and Mr. Stromer, well, he was some other banana. The audience consensus seemed to be that this “Top Gear” was bound to be a hit. [/snip]

 

 

 

I went to the Adam Carolla version taping and it was far better than this, I came out of it thinking it was every bit as good as the UK version and it was friggen hilarious. While I had high hopes and an open mind for this version, it apparent that this History Channel version lost a lot of the budget that they had to work with on the NBC pilot. Shame that....

 

 

 

The thing is, had we never seen the UK version, this show would have been pretty decent. I imagine it will get a little better with time and if it proves reasonably popular and gets renewed, they will likely have a bigger budget next year.

 

 

On a side note, I had that same Gallardo Balboni for a day, I took it shopping at the discount outlet mall :cooldude:

 

.

[Kitcat]

MoPho:

 

Impressions of the Galardo Balboni? Did it live up to it's hype? Is it even more beautiful in person? Did it draw as many gawkers as the se7en? How did you back it up (I recently saw a video of Balboni himself backing it up by having the door up and sitting half out of the car)?

 

Mike M.

[MoPho]

MoPho:

 

Impressions of the Galardo Balboni? Did it live up to it's hype? Is it even more beautiful in person? Did it draw as many gawkers as the se7en? How did you back it up (I recently saw a video of Balboni himself backing it up by having the door up and sitting half out of the car)?

 

Mike M.

 

It's the Murcielago that has the scissor doors, the Gallardo has traditional doors so you can't really back it up like that. I only had to back it out of a parking spot once and did so very carefully.

 

I don't think any of the supercars live up to the hype, especially given how much they cost. I suppose if the cost of entry is not a lot of money to you they are sort of worth it, but I've never driven one and went, OMG I've got to have it and I will save all my pennies to buy one.

They're all really nice, but the problem for me is that they design these cars to go 200+mph so in turn they are pretty boring to drive in the real world of less than 100mph. Additionally, in order to really drive these cars to the limits, you have to be a superhero driver (and willing to ball it up and walk away on a track)

When the Murcielago LP-640 came out, I went to the press launch and got to drive the car on the track, I drove it as fast as I could given my unfamiliarity of the car, but did see 140mph and overall it was more fun to tell my friends I did it than to actually drive the car. Later I got a ride with an Indy car driver at the wheel and he was full opposite lock sideways out of corners, late braking and slamming me into the belts, up on two wheels, 150mph down the straight and that was pretty exciting. But who can do that with a car like that?! And in all honesty, it was not any more exciting than me driving the Caterham at 70mph

Of course the cars look, sound, and smell amazing, and they are pretty comfortable given the performance, but I care more about the driving experience than posing and my big bucks would be spent on real race cars before an exotic.

 

Also to note, where I live, Lamborghini's and Ferrari's are quite common, so they don't even garner a second look anymore

 

I guess I am jaded. :willy_nilly:

 

 

Though I wouldn't mind a Morgan Aeromax or an Aston Martin Vantage to accompany the Caterham

 

 

------

 

 

 

Some say he crawls because he thinks walking is overrated, and that his diaper smells of antifreeze ..... all we know is he's called The Stiglet

 

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs603.ash2/155557_471890593900_842533900_5540001_16704_n.jpg

 

 

 

.

Edited November 24, 2010 by MoPho

[BMW RACER]

Stiglet looks about the same size as the Stig on US Top Gear

[DeanG]

You need to build Stiglet a rocking Se7en.

[MoPho]

Working on it

[MoPho]

Yep I have to agree.

Not very realistic at all and after 20 min's I turned it off.

Viper being chased by a AH-1 helicopter.

Get real they would have never made it off the airport.

Oh well just my belief.

 

YouTube - Top Gear - Lotus Exige vs Apache Helicopter Gunship

 

 

.

[Mondo]

I have to agree about the Aston Martin. A personal favorite as well.... just seems to be one of the most classy cars to me. And something you could drive anywhere (on pavement).

[solder_guy]

TG America was a bit stiff .. but it wasn't that bad .. better than what is on most cable TV .. I missed Dr. Aldrin's spot so I will have to watch the rerun again tonight.

 

My criticism is why make it half like TG UK? Just make it fully like TG UK. There were no references to the TG beginnings at all. But I will watch again as time allows.

 

Rob