Top Gear! (was: Who else is dissapointed?)
 

http://www.egmcartech.com/2008/06/16...ts-for-the-us/

it's gonna suck

the fuck?! the hgtv guy???

:werd: :cry:

I'm leaning toward suckage myself, but I think I ought to give it a chance before I write it off entirely.

Part of the appeal of the English version is that they test cars we don't get and do things we can't do here in the land of the trial and the home of the lawyer.. plus learning their slang is fun.

Can't say that I'm surprised. The rumor mill over at FinalGear.com has been working overtime on this, I still can't decide if I'm going to like it or not.

The one thing I do find promising is that they've agreed that, unlike most other programmes that cross the pond, the US and UK (and Aussie) versions of Gear will acknowledge each other's existence, "so they can take the piss out of each other." IOW- remember when TopGear came to the US on holiday and basically bashed every single thing imaginable about the US? Jeremy opened the piece with "Miami, home to all the most succesful drug dealers." I am really hoping our guys will do the same in England, perhaps with a caravan. :D


I definately hear you on the libel/PC issues. It's uncertain whether the US Gear will be able to tell you, in plain (American) English, just how badly the new Camaro sucks, question the sexual orientation of its designers, and imply that their mothers are impure.

OTOH, you menioned Jeremy & the gang reviewing cars that we can't get over here. Hell, most of the cars they review you can't get over there either, unless you happen to be Justin Hawkins or Sir Richard Branson. How many times have they "reviewed" a normal car by showing it on-screen for six seconds, then bringing out the latest Ferarri and that's the last we see of the Hyundai.

I hope they don't let too many sponsors influence them, I would hate to change the chanel when they start hyping up certain cars that we all know suck balls.

Tanner's a good choice. He'll be good on the show.

Adam Corrola, I mean he is funny, but does he know anything about cars?
But that third guy, whats his name, i am seriously worried about his presence there, might make the show too gay to watch.

He has a BRE replica Datsume 510 and some other European cars. I think he likes car just fine.

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:..._1600x1200.jpg

as too the third guy, I guess they need a captain slow.

I have a feeling the show is going to suck due to corporate sponsors.

My biggest question is this:
are we going to have the Stigs fat American cousin as our stiq

http://astrx.files.wordpress.com/200...0409234139.jpg

I'd rather have African stig

lame-o

or miss stig in a nomex bikini. now that's american!

I listened to his morning show when I was in Seattle, and amazed that someone of his stature knew about cars. Someone called in to tell him that IRL cars and F1 were similar, he then spouted off F1 superiority facts and commented on how he liked F1 on speed more than Fox because you got to listen to experienced race car drivers behind the mic. He also debunked a bunch of shit about alternative fuels on the radio, and described working on a car a few times. Don't forget that the guy was a carpenter for decades, owned a few camaros, and supposedly spent a few weekends at the drag strip.


As for the show, it will be garbage. They'll tell us that like axle $80k cars handle well, and they'll drift cars around the track to entice teenagers which will drive up the price of miatas. They will only have positive things to say about shitty cars, they will love every one of them, and probably won't have a test track. They will also probably dumb down the humor for the rest of America who thinks they can talk to jesus, think driving in circles is cool, and shave numbers of their favorite circle track drivers in their back. This show is for an audience that refused to buy the Ford 500, until they changed the name back to "Taurus" because they're genuinely too stupid to either buy a better car, or too dense to correlate the progression of an engineering generation to a new car name. I mean fuck, get ready for blue collar comedy garbage because this nation can't understand the dialect, point of view, or funny accent. Think of how stupid Americans are, these are the people who watch nascar, and the people who they'll target with this show.

His "supercars exposed" bullshit is unwatchable.

You speak of the Daihatsu xB clone vs. Ascari A10, no doubt. :) I'm talking more about the Peugeots, Citroens, MGs, etc.

well, what cars can you get over here that are worth a shit? I can make a list:
z06
porsches
ferraris
lambos
mini
evo
subarus


what else is there to give a shit about here?

I'm not saying I want a Citroen, but it is nice to be in the loop about other makes.

Mosler, Lotus, 350z variants, the new RWD hyundais, G8, Ultima, Viper.

yes yes yes

I dunno... it's just not gonna be the real thing. I don't watch the brit version just for the cars, those guys are sincerely hilarious. And I don't see that coming from this "yank" cast... :squint:

He's pretty sharp, and has the driving credentials, his dry wit will go great with Corrolas sillyness, much like Corolla went well with Dr. Drew, as to the H&G guy, they need someone on the show for the other two to make fun of for being a hybrid driving pussy.

As to no test track, are you fucking kidding me? They can easily get time on plenty of real tracks, and not be stuck on a shitty defunct runway.

For the population and money in the US we have the most limited selection of cars of any 1st world nation. Even Mexico has cars that are more interesting than what we get in the affordable price range. US car standards suck. Severely limit what we can get our hands on. It's crazy that popular and common European brands can't be bought here.

Of course with the dollar sucking against the Euro - we can't afford them right now.

If they have a track, hopefully it will be an oval...lol. Also, I'd rather watch competitive elephant ejaculation than taner faust talk about ******** some stupid bullshit supercar around which no one who can afford one of those cars would ever be interested in.

I hope if fails quickly, so we can get back to watching the real top gear.

I'm still trying to figure out how a mini made that list? :ugh2:

Fixed

Problem is that there couldn't be much mystery and speculation. If the entire list of possible suspects is Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick, well...

The point is that they really don't do serious reviews of "normal" cars all that often. When they did citycars, it wound up turning into a race between the presenter's mothers to see who could get into the car and start it the fastest. When they did the Toyota Aygo, they wound up demolishing most of them in a game of car soccer. When they reviewed the MX-5, they pitted it against a dog. They strapped rockets onto a Reliant Robin and tried to launch it into space. The SportKa competed against a pigeon. The Fiat Nuova Panda was bested by a man in tight shorts, running. Not to mention the "Cheap Car" and "How Hard Can it Be?" segments, that generally end with one or more of the following:
1- Fire.
2- Drowning / capsizing.
3- Arrest / civil disobediance.
4- Catastrophic structural failure.
5- A caravan being dropped from a great height.


Apart from that, it's all Koenigseggs, Pagani Zondas, Maseratis, Nobles, TVRs, Ascaris, Aston Martins, Ferarris, Bentlys, Lamborghinis, Bugattis... Basically nothing that a normal human would ever own regardless of whether they grew up in Chicago or Leeds. They just don't take that segment of the market seriously, and that's what I love. Basically, Top gear (UK) has evolved over the years into a parody of Fifth Gear, which is the show that took over the "Serious car reviews" genre after the big rift over a decade ago.

So long as the first competition that the US guys do involves a Ford Focus (or similar) being violenty annhilated, I'll be happy.


Well, there's no question it will not be the same show as what we're accustomed to. And I think that's the critical point. If you go in expecting Jeremy, James and Richard but with different hair, you're going to be disappointed. If you take this as just another motoring programme, well, maybe...

the only fwd car which has ever put up a fight with me on a track day.

Joe makes a lot of sense, and now that I think about this a little more clearly, this may have a shot, besides, I really do think Adam is pretty funny.

I wanna see some older mustangs and camaros go head to head against each other on a real track, and then hustler to get introduced to the race on the 2nd or 3rd lap and overlap them in by the end of the 5 lap race...now that would be a show!!!

There's no arguing that they handle very well and they can be made pretty quick in a strait line, but I just can't see putting them in the top 7 cars in the US. Even if they can keep up w/ a miata :)

I'll be interested to see how the show turns out. Hopefully it maintains some loyalties to the original.

I just had a brilliant though. They should have a momentum track, and do a "is it faster than a 90whp miata" segment...lol.

Now your sounding like a game show lol

Zabac, I think you nailed it early on. Because Top Gear (UK) is on BBC, they can get away with saying pretty much anything they want within the constraints of England's rather liberal decency policies. The problem for NBC is going to be filling all of their spot blocks with adverts from companies other than automakers. If Ford, Chevy and Chrysler are buying airtime, then the presenters will be unable to speak candidly about their cars- simple fact of life. Actually, the same goes at the affiliate level with local car dealers.

To me, the whole thing is really going to hinge upon whether or not the presenters are free to criticize the cars. Don't get me wrong- the criticisms don't all have to end badly. I'll be perfectly OK if Adam goes on a long tirade about how the new Camaro uses an antiquated pushrod engine, has a plasticky interior that reminds him of a toy out of a vending machine, and rides on the same solid axle and leaf-springs that supported his great great grandfather's wagon as he crossed the American plains in 1863, and then follows with "But you know what, it's still an amazing car." I demand only that crappy FWD sedans be put to death in the most horrible ways imagineable.

It's going to suck donkey balls.

What makes the show is funny guys driving cars that I will likely never see, let alone ever drive.

I liked launching the Robin. It did better than I thought. Soccer? Pretty good, too. I preferred it to a review about how the car actually drove, as I couldn't care less. Driving across Africa, boat cars? Delivery vans? BUilding the 7 before Stig drove there? I liked them all.

Review cars within the reach of mere mortals? I hope not. If I'm that jazzed about a car that I can actually afford, I'll go drive it. I don't want to watch someone on TV do it.

What about the civics?

Anyhow, i guess you could need some renault clio sports and peugeot 206/207 gti-180's over there. Thats some fun hatches.

I think it'll flail like the majority of Speed's original programming. I get a real car guy feeling when I watch the 'real' TopGear. Then I watch something like Setup on speed, which is probably a best effort on their part for new programming, and I'm embarrassed for the self induced drama. It's essentially like an automotive soap opera. And I like Tommy Kendall. AAMOF, his XXX Test Drive shows are as close to the feel of Top Gear as we get for native programming... and they're essentially info-mercials. Swap out these new TopGear yocals for some real car guys- like Tommy Kendall, Dorsey Schrader.... and? :dunno: and you'd have a show with guys that can drive, know engineering and are funny... w/o a writer. I think that would give the show some credibility - what it's lacking with this proposed host line up. And yeah, I know Tanner Foust drives, but he's about as exciting as a new set of hub caps... and who is he? really? I don't see NBC doing anything "car" better than speed. I hope I'm wrong... please make me wrong.

Speaking of Hatches, I went to the mall saturday night in a hurry to get a shirt and walked right by an Astra (sitting inside the mall), stopped and turned around for another look, too bad I was in a hurry as with only 12 minutes remaining I had to keep going, but I'd like to test drive it some day, just for shits and giggles, it actually looked nice.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it...my sister had an Opel Kadett GSi (unsure of what year) back home, it was the second car i got to drive at age of 13, oh man, the fun times, a 13 year old on a closed road with 168bhp :giggle:

A US version of top gear won't work. It's the relationships and commentary of the Brit's that make that show. Similar formula with different hosts isn't likely to work here. Tanner Foust is unwatchable. "OOoh, look at me drive car's you'll never see, let alone get a whiff of". Not enough personality to have his own show. Didn't even have enough personality or brains to close the deal with some filthy rich car snob on one show.

What we need is a US version of 5th gear. Just have to steal Tiff to host it. That show is less about the personalities and more about the cars.

Why? I can't even watch the original 5'th gear, much less an American version of it.

I hate to say it, but fact-based television is dead. Why on earth would I tune in for an hour each week to see a couple of people give real-world reviews on a half-dozen or so cars, on the off chance that they might perhaps review a car that I'd be interested in buying. If I want to find information about a "normal" car, I'll start by reading up on it at Edmunds. Then I'll register at that car's forum and lurk through the stickies for a while, maybe ask a few questions. If it's a common model I'll rent one and drive it for a few days. After all that, I may go to a dealer and talk business. But I'm sure as hell not going to get my car facts from a television show.

TV programming is entertainment. Yes, even the news and the educationial-sounding stuff on the History Channel. I know, it's ultimately there so they can deliver your eyeballs to advertisers, but the actual programming itself is supposed to amuse and entertain you, maybe provide you with some useless trivia about the mating habits of the Emperor Penguin or the way a safe explodes when you fill it with water and insert a stick of dynamite through a hole in the top, but it's not there to equip you to make real-world decisions.

That's what Top Gear understands. Watching Jeremy discuss the flaws in the design of the cupholder on the new Lamborghini Murciélago while at the same time driving sideways at 100 Kph in a perfectly controlled 630HP drift amidst a cloud of tiresmoke and a noise that sounds like Thor the god of thunder gargling hammers, is inherently entertaining.

Likewise, listening to James prattle on about how the new Renault, despite being rather well fitted-out, comfortable to drive, and having a superb gearbox, somehow lacks that essential joie de vivre that makes a Renault special, and at the same time seeing Richard and Jeremy sneak up behind him, set the car on fire, and then cut it in half with a piece of heavy construction equipment, about which time James turns around, sees what the others have done, and says "Oh, cock", is absolutely worth watching, even if you learn absolutely nothing about the new Renault.

I'm watching a top gear rerun. Americans are incapable of replicating this kind of humor, and if they did it would offend someone.

bleh I dont like any of them... I would of loved to of seen Leno(sp?) and Stacy David

Leno said he wouldn't do it. And I'm happy for that. He'd be better on a kids show, too much of a "well hello boys and girls look over here. Heehee it's a car!" Besides he'd probably be afraid the producers would try to rope him in to using his own personal cars for the show.

Tommy Kendall also should NOT be on the show. Guy is too much of a douche bag. He doesn't really tell you anything about the car you didn't already know, or that 2 minutes on the internet would tell you, and he thinks he's the shit. His lines are clearly rehearsed and I'll watch when he's on, but only because it's something that ISN'T NASCAR on Speed! (i love it when that happens...preferably GT1 & 2 or Touring...fuck Pinks that show needs to die.)
For anyone who doesn't think the orignal cast looks up to par, or that the show doesn't seem right...go check first season of Top Gear. I'm glad they axed that fat bloke...no one wanted to hear his mess about "if you buy now it's the right market because dealers are getting rid of their 02 models!".

I sure hope to god they do the stupid stunts the top gear guys do. Can a ____ beat a ____ from ____ to ____? Lets find out!

or the toyota truck segment? that's one of my all time faves. what does it take to kill a toyota PU?

awesome:

Actually, even after they brought May in to replace Jason Dawe, there was still a lot of "Daewoo is currently offering to pay the VAT on any new car you buy until September, and while that sounds like a tremendous savings, I was able to find a brand new Leganza for £700 under that dealer's offer simply by ringing up a few of the brokers whose adverts I saw in the back of the bargain trader." It took a while for the gang to really shrug off the last vestiges of their former existance and get down to the business of properly ignoring their mandate to do sensible car reviews.

And my gods how James has changed. Go back and re-watch season 2. He's a clean cut, sharply dressed, professional TV presenter!

Hell, I'm just happy that there's only 3 days, 22 hours, 32 minutes, and 57 seconds until the next season of Top Gear starts on June 22nd.

I will give the show a shot and watch it with an open mind and not shrug it off before it ever airs. Not that I have much faith in our television or Speed, simply because I have longed for a show that I would actually enjoy watching on Speed. So sick of that homo bullshit that comes on now, I want to turn on the TV at any given night at XXPM and look forward to it and not get my hopes crucshed when some ------ talks about pimped out rides (NOPI) or Dave Despain talking about how hard it is to turn left over and over again, or the biggest douche of all (Pinks) falling off a bike (even though I liked that moment).
Just want some real car stuff on TV!!! F1 and SCCA races don't come often enough, need something link top gear in between, I really hope they don't fuck it up, I'm tired of hearing buy this buy this.

Crapsicles!! My FiOS TV wont be installed til 6/27 and we might be unhooking the directv before that. I guess this is one of those "pay the extra few days for continuity" situations. I can at least let the DVR fill itself before I disconnect it.

Unless you live in the UK, that DVR isn't going to do you much good. I'm talking about the "real" TopGear, the one on BBC2. Grab the torrent at TheBox.bz or FinalGear.com after it airs. PM me your email address if you need an invite to TheBox.

I've transcribed a short excerpt:

Adam: The plan for the show is not to do an "American version" of the show, it's to re-create that show, minus the British actors.

Teresa: Just like they did with "Who wants to be a millionaire" or "Dancing w. the Stars"

Eric: Yeah, or "The Office", same thing.

Adam: Right, they just re-cast it and do the exact same show, because the formula's already been worked out and the bug, quite honestly, have been worked out.

Interesting...

I realized that after I posted. But then I found that we might get teh UK version in August in semi-full hour long style.

Nopi. End of story. :giggle:


If they don't dumb it down, it might be good, just send enough emails when it comes out...

Hopefully those guys will add enough of car experience in order to be real...not sponsors puppets...

Thank you Joe...

Well, if they're serious about "...re-create that show, minus the British actors." then they won't be doing any on-camera sponsorships at all. The only time Jeremy, James & Richard ever "review" a product on-set is during the news segment, where they mock it, break it, set it alight, extinguish it with a hammer, and then throw it at the audience.

Compare this to the various car shows on Speed, where the whole programme consists of the hosts spending five minutes at a time talking about, and then using, some brand of car polish, or some set of plug wires, of some particular cold air intake kit, etc... But then, Speed falls into the general category of a low-budget, special-interest cable network. Remember that the real TopGear airs in Prime Time on BBC2- this is how they pay for all those extravagent adventure trips, the Hollywood-quality photography and editing, the legal settlements... Yes, I realize that Lambo and Kogeneggfxzegggxg are loaning them the cars free of charge, but trekking to the North Pole, crossing the whole of Africa, hiring out the Olympic Stadium in Norway, attaching rocket engines to a Mini, erecting a huge "Car Darts" playfield in a quarry complete with pneumatic launcher, these things cost money.

As it happens, NBC is also a big company with a big budget.

This may be the one thing that sets Gear apart from, oh, pretty much every single personality-based car show on American TV.


In other news...


What the hell ever happened to Top Gear Dog? She was easily the fifth best presenter on the show, and yet after series 8 she just up and disappeared.

I want for this show to do well but, yeah, we'll see and even if it does it still won't be as good as the UK version.

Besides: Jeremy Clarkson > *

And if I see any auto manufacturer advertising i'm not watching.

i heard rumors adam carolla was going to be a host for a while. i don't have a problem with him at all. it's the other two i'm not so sure about.

i'm not too familiar with anything he's done, but on paper it seems like Stromer is going to be the sissy of the group. i think i read he drives a hybrid. maybe it'll be just like the euro version and they'll only pay him 40k a year.

They play Top Gear on BBC America pretty regular here. I have like 5 on my DVR as I type this.

Just looking at the 3 of them I am reminded of the BBC hosts. Ill give them a thumbs up, I have high hopes and think it willl be good.

Top Gear America Supposedly Won’t Be Censored By NBC
 

Another update:


Source: http://www.finalgear.com/news/2008/0...nsored-by-nbc/

fuck yeah.

Now instead of people aimlessly praising Morgans just because they are "old style" despite suspension sucking donkey dick, we can see corolla romping old classic american muscle cars and do the same. Suspension will still suck donkey dick.

Season 11 episode 1 has aired. Here's the torrent: http://www.mininova.org/tor/1529018