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Top Gear USA

whiterp199

By whiterp199
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LDM

LDM

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I enjoyed the show. Is it as great as the original, not really, but they've had 15 series to build the chemistry that makes it so awesome. If you go back and watch Series 1 of the original Top Gear, I don't think it's as good as it had gotten by say Series 9 or so. Some of what makes Top Gear great are the running gags, that will take time to develop. For those that are going to continuously compare it to the original Top Gear, I think you have to just step back and look at this show as if you've never seen Clarkson, May, and Hammond, and enjoy it for what it is.

Now if only we could go BBC style and lose the commercials.

As annoying as they are, the worst part about the commercials is that it cuts the content time down from an hour to about 42 minutes or so. They can't fit as much stuff into each episode over here.

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whiterp199

whiterp199

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So LDM you do not think there is going to be a Morris Marina on Top Gear USA? :lol:

 

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LDM

LDM

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I wonder if we'll get to hear any great news about the Dacia Sandero in the US version?

 

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Cygnus

Cygnus

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The first episode wasn't bad, but not great either. I'll give it a chance to get it's legs. The Viper segment was fun, but the Lambo one felt a little off. Not exactly sure why though. The chemistry between the guys was probably best in this segment, so it wasn't them. I think it might be the way that it was edited and the race set-up. For the hosts, I liked Tanner and Rutledge, but didn't really care for Adam in the pilot. He seemed to be lacking the Top Gear spirit and was a bit too much of a straight host and wasn't funny when he was trying to be. I'm also hoping that they get rid of the explanations of the segments and that they were only in for the pilot. Explaining the Stig, celebrity car, etc. hurt the flow and really dumbed down the show.

 

I also thought the show was missing some of the top gear vibe. And I'm not comparing it only to the UK version. I've also been watching Top Gear Australia and it has the same feel as the UK version. This is the big thing that I hope they grow into.

 

BTW, if you haven't seen the Top Gear Australia special "The Ashes" try to catch it. I'm sure you can find it online. The Aussie hosts go to the UK and have a competition with the UK guys. Before they do that though, they have to learn about British cars and part of it was driving some through a wild animal park. It was so funny. I was literally crying from it.

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Team Adam's

Team Adam's

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Didn't love it, didn't hate it. It held my attention enough to keep it in my season pass file of the DVR for at least a few more episodes before I jump to any conclusion.

 

Just some thoughts I had while watching:

 

Needs more personality. Tanner is not the most charismatic person in the world... he used to put me to sleep on supercars exposed.

 

Seemed they were straining to copy the BBC version... some of Tanners lines in the Viper bit were direct rips of Clarkson (a car trying to kill you). I see MUCH more of this coming just based on how the first episode went and glimpses of the upcoming shows seemed to be exact reproductions of episodes from the BBC.

 

Also seemed forced/scripted too much... didn't have the spontaneity of the BBC version.

 

Overall I'd say its better than I expected, but my expectations were reasonable low to begin with.

 

I will say though, that Sundays are now quite the TV night for me - Top Gear America, BrewMasters, and Boardwalk Empire - fast cars, beer, and gangster violence... what a way to end the weekend LOL.

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08G8V8

08G8V8

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I will say though, that Sundays are now quite the TV night for me - Top Gear America, BrewMasters, and Boardwalk Empire - fast cars, beer, and gangster violence... what a way to end the weekend LOL.

 

Same as me....but it all starts with Dexter! I Tivo them all, but I usually watch Dexter live, as I also watched Top Gear live last night. Probably could have watched the recorded version of Top Gear and watched BrewMasters live. I will have to check that one out tonight and see how it was.

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02Xtreme07ss

02Xtreme07ss

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I know the show shares the same name as it's British counterpart, but I just couldn't help but keep saying how much it reminded me of a cheap imitation of the real thing.

 

The Viper bit was playful, but it just didn't feel right. There was no real character there.

 

The Lambo bit, well, it felt very forced. I didn't feel there was any real cohesion between the hosts.

 

I'll check out a few upcoming episodes, but I didn't make it halfway through this one before I felt bored and like I wanted to watch something else.

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Team Adam's

Team Adam's

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I'm hoping that maybe as the 3 hosts spend more time together the show will start to develop its own flow and try to break from the BBC script a little... if I wanted to see the BBC version, I'd watch the BBC version!!

 

When they did the preview of upcoming stuff I counted numerous clips that looked like DIRECT copies of the original, including a scene where the set parking brakes on a hill and the car rolls back... might as well have been Richard Hammond in that bit.

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LDM

LDM

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When they did the preview of upcoming stuff I counted numerous clips that looked like DIRECT copies of the original, including a scene where the set parking brakes on a hill and the car rolls back... might as well have been Richard Hammond in that bit.

 

Like Ferrara slamming into the back of Foust, claiming "my bad," much the same way Hammond always seems to rear-end Captain Slow whenever they're driving in convoy. They also showed a station wagon filled with water, which I assume they're going to see who can drive the farthest before all the water runs out...exactly like the UK Top Gear.

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Cygnus

Cygnus

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Another thing I just thought of that isn't right with the show. What's up with them using a Suzuki for the celebrity car? They should have gone with something that's American. At least use a Ford Fiesta if they had to go the hatchback route. But they should have gotten something with American flavor that when you look at it you know it's American. Like how the Australian version uses a Ute. When you see video of the Ute going around the track, there's no question which version you're watching.

 

Now the question is, what car would work best for this? Something like a vette or mustang is out since they have too much performance for the segment. Maybe something like an F-150 or a Jeep.

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