Top Gear US

[Greg]

i know they are trying to emulate the British version, but it feels like a cheesy Speed Channel rip-off, it's like they are acting I.E. stiff.

[Yoshi]

Can't be much worse than top gear australia

[P.Haire]

it's pretty weak.

[CodyW]

For the FOERST season, I think it's pretty cool (UK has had like 15 seasons to polish theirs, can't expect this one to do quite the same right away) . Some of the stuff we saw at the premiere in Vegas (that wasn't in the FOERST episode) got pretty neat too, I'm excited to see how the rest of the season goes. Rut is a super cool guy too, and kept telling us not to think of it as the a copy of the UK version as he knows they'll never be the same (although I think the producers want it to be that).

Also, there may be a slightly visible Still Hood shirt in one episode (under a button shirt I think, but oh well) which is awesome.

[boostbeef]

I didn't think the show was that bad. Biggest difference for me between the shows was having to watch commercials.

Like they say on Jalopnik, beats the hell out of watching motorweek.

[Treefish]

Super dull explanation of the Stig.

The in-car stuff is soooo shaky.

Music was dull to non-existant.

Lambo segments had pretty terrible filters after the very beginning.

I dunno how but they managed to make reviewing 3 lambos boring.

Helicopter bit was already done before. Twice if I remember correctly.

Just has no character.

[down_shift]

yup. not TG Australia bad. I can totally forgive the hosts for being stiff and not having the chemistry of the original. what got me more was the things that seemed to mistakes by the producers. like the "big star" choice. Buzz Aldrin is a celebrity but not a star. maybe later in the series but not the FOERST guest. I hope his appearance wasn't some sort of concession to being on the History channel. The other big thing that stuck out was the lack of any music. left a pretty big hole in the over all feel of the show. how expensive can some decently dramatic instrumental tracks be?

cliffs: will watch more.

[shawn shawn]

Nothing ground breaking or funny. Even if I didn't know the UK Top Gear existed this show still would have came off dull to me. Maybe they will develop more of an exciting style of their own over time.








[html]<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u_9UO8wa-1c&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u_9UO8wa-1c&hl ... &version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>[/html]

This kinda stuff is brilliantly funny. I really don't care about a million stats about a viper or a lambo.

[Treefish]

The Australian Top Gear had better cinematography than TG'murica.

TGUSA has no objective criticism. All they do is prattle off a ton of facts from a cue card, then deliver some mindless praise like they're star-struck by everything and themselves.

Even the FOERST Top Gear UK in this format had more character. And unlike TGUSA, they didn't have the benefit of 10 years of previous episodes in the same format, HD cameras, and stuff like that. Given the name they're carrying, they certainly made a dull show out of what could have been some quality entertainment.

Also was duller to me because I've already seen a good helicopter car chase on Top Gear 6 years ago, and they didn't get "3 lives". Also from the preview, it looks like they've poached the skydiver one, the ski-slope one, and a few other challenges that have already been done.

Furthermore, way to interrupt the flow/pace of the show by sloppy commercial break spots.

/cools jets

I'm hoping it gets better but I'm not going to hold my breath. Their analogies were awful.

[andysapp]

I'm stuck in my cave and don't have cable. I'll have to download because I want to have an opinion.

[P.Haire]

this show needs more america and personality. i watched it a couple times. we get it, most of california is a desert, go drive in colorado or washington or somewhere cool. i think this show would be ten times cooler if it was filmed on the east coast. as far as the personality side, i'm not buying that any of these dudes are car dudes. tanner foust is a race car driver rutledge is some nascar tv personality(that's all i know him from) and that other dude is from rescue me and not that funny. that dude is from new york city. i bet he's never owned any cool cars. in fact i bet i've owned more cars than him. none of mine were cool, but they were fun. also none of those dudes are old enough. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

all that said, i'm still going to support the show. i am hoping they will get better.

[CodyW]

I know I'll sound like a total fanboy, but meeting all the guys in Vegas (and knowing Rut through ImportAtlanta forums since like 03 or so) made me respect it a good bit. In the preview we saw at SEMA, there was plenty of non-desert driving going on, mainly driving an Evo 10 down an actual ski slope (yea, it's been done in the UK version but having the car literally going down the slopes made for a cool segment). The opening segment with the Viper/Cobra was east coast too, every bit of it was filmed just a few miles from where I grew up.

Rut is definitely way more than just a nascar dude as well, and I know for a fact he's big into classic import stuff (pretty sure I saw a comment of him wanting to buy Generz's Caddy truck on facebook as that's what his FOERST car ever was or something). I know he's got a 70's ratted out Datsun truck as well, and I think he said something about GarageZero helping out with a swap on an old Civic wagon he's got a the moment. Can't say I know a lot about Ferrera (other than the fact that he admitted that his FOERST car was an 81 Dodge K car), but he was pretty funny in person, hopefully some of it will eventually show through on tv (I don't think Hammond initially started out as a huge car guy in the UK version but he's turned out to be an awesome host anyhow, maybe the same could happen here).

Not trying to force anyone into thinking they're awesome car dudes or whatever, but there's definitely more out there than what the show will probably initially tell about them.

[HATERDAN]

tanner fousts favorite thing about the lambo was a metal gated shifter.


this show sucks

[andysapp]

I just wrote a semi-long post and lost it because I am too quick to habitually tab-tab-spacebar-apple+w to post and close my window while a new post was made. Ugh.

Cliffs... Rut is cool... IDK about the others. I'll have to watch and see.

[P.Haire]

I know I'll sound like a total fanboy, but meeting all the guys in Vegas (and knowing Rut through ImportAtlanta forums since like 03 or so) made me respect it a good bit. In the preview we saw at SEMA, there was plenty of non-desert driving going on, mainly driving an Evo 10 down an actual ski slope (yea, it's been done in the UK version but having the car literally going down the slopes made for a cool segment). The opening segment with the Viper/Cobra was east coast too, every bit of it was filmed just a few miles from where I grew up.

Rut is definitely way more than just a nascar dude as well, and I know for a fact he's big into classic import stuff (pretty sure I saw a comment of him wanting to buy Generz's Caddy truck on facebook as that's what his FOERST car ever was or something). I know he's got a 70's ratted out Datsun truck as well, and I think he said something about GarageZero helping out with a swap on an old Civic wagon he's got a the moment. Can't say I know a lot about Ferrera (other than the fact that he admitted that his FOERST car was an 81 Dodge K car), but he was pretty funny in person, hopefully some of it will eventually show through on tv (I don't think Hammond initially started out as a huge car guy in the UK version but he's turned out to be an awesome host anyhow, maybe the same could happen here).

Not trying to force anyone into thinking they're awesome car dudes or whatever, but there's definitely more out there than what the show will probably initially tell about them.

and that's the producer's fault. people don't watch top gear because it's a show about cars, there are tons of shows about cars, they watch because it's a unique show about guys who have a passion for cars.