Top Gear : USA Premieres Tonight

[ScionDriver]

I thought it was OK, I just think they need to be given time. It seems like their agents or History Channel or someone pitched the show to them by saying "Here, watch these DVDs of the original Top Gear and then go out and do it." Just give these guys a chance to go out and carve their own legacies and build their own chemistry. I think the show has promise going forward.

I think they should have Rutledge do the interviews because at least he comes from a more TV/journalist background. Adam Ferrera is a funny comedian but I'm not sold on his role on this show yet. Foust didn't annoy me like he has in the past (like on Supercars Exposed). Rutledge didn't do much of anything but it was only the first episode. It got a lot better as it went on. At the end, with the standing mile in the Lambos, that seemed like the least forced segment. They legitimately were competitive and having fun but you could tell they're still not to the point where they can rib on each other like the UK hosts.

[RacingManiac]

I thought the moment when Ferrera stepped out the Lambo was his best moment(or maybe the best overall moment) on that episode. He was genuinely excited, full of adrenaline, and just generally gobsmacked by the car.

[Matra et Alpine]

It's worse than you imagine ScionDriver.

they BUY the format from BBC who own the rights.
The format specifies what you do
SO even if they wanted to change it from the start they'd not be allowed !!!

[RacingManiac]

Some random thought on someone who might work as a Clarkson-esque person, as far as qualification goes, Kitdy might know him, Jim Kenzie, a Canadian Auto-Journal type. He had been around the block, has a lot of hot air to vent(his blog is interesting), and he can drive worth his salt(won Targa Newfoundland overall twice)....

[Kitdy]

Yeah I know Jim Kenzie - he writes for the Toronto Star and does Kenzie's corner on Motoring on TSN... Canadian low budget car shows shown at off peak hours. Quality TV.

RM, I used to read Wheels sometimes, along with The Globe's Cars section, but their reviews are too consumer - as opposed to enthusiast - oriented. I suppose that is the way of automotive journalists who write for newspapers.

Kenzie doesn't seem to be charismatic though, does he?

[RacingManiac]

You need to read his blog on the Wheels section on Stars' site. IMO one of the few people left with common sense in the world of journalism...and very very different from the rest of the Toronto Star's heavily left slant view...

[Kitdy]

You need to read his blog on the Wheels section on Stars' site. IMO one of the few people left with common sense in the world of journalism...and very very different from the rest of the Toronto Star's heavily left slant view...

What does common sense even mean anymore?

As for The Star, pick up the Post and it's just as bad as The Star in terms of bias.

The Star is a pain to read, the Post even more so as it's less adherent to my political views. I don't really read The Star anymore; I have moved to the Globe. That isn't because I prefer their political stance (I'd prefer reporting be as unbiased as possible, though I realize this is impossible), but the reporting seems somehow more objective in the Globe and the writing is better. They are "centrist," supposedly.

Pokey said the Globe was mentioned in one of his classes as one of the best or least biased papers in the world or some shit.

I suppose it's Canada's newspaper of record.

[ScionDriver]

It's worse than you imagine ScionDriver.

they BUY the format from BBC who own the rights.
The format specifies what you do
SO even if they wanted to change it from the start they'd not be allowed !!!

Well I don't mean change it entirely, I just mean instead of doing straight Clarkson/May/Hammond impressions just try and be themselves and then down the road, instead of recycling old TGUK ideas (Like the Lotus v. Helicopter and doing the Viper v. Helicopter) just come up with original ideas that still fit the TG mold.

[RacingManiac]

Common sense as in what he writes about speaks to me as a somewhat educated engineering grad....Probably because he has the same education background and also a UofT grad.....There is another writer, Gerry Malloy, also writes for Wheels, but he seems to have stopped...

A few topic at least came to mind, the texting/driving deal, and the bike lane deal....etc.

Post is bad, its hard to be worse than The Star but they certainly are. There are a few writers/columnist in The Star I read and often still agree with their opinion though, but in recent years its getting worse...

[Chernaudi]

The big advantage that BBC's TG has over the History Channel version is that the host, namely Clarkson and May, are many year's veterans of automotive jounralism. Remember, May was forced to resign from Autocar magazine in 1992 after he posted a sardonic joke spelled out in the boldface lettering that began a series of brief reveiws that caused a major inconveince for Autocar due to fans calling in to see if they won something by decifering that code.

And Clarkson was on Top Gear since 1988 in it's original format, and May was on TG from 1999-2000, and rejoined in 2003. Only Hammond was the odd guy out on having major auto journalism expierience, and even he since has written automotive articles and knew his stuff from the beginning.

And of course, there are the characters they play--Clarkson the all performance junkie, May the practical man, and Hammond the modern classic and muscle car buff.

These guys need to find their niche if they want to be successful long term. Here, you have a professional driver, a comedian, and an automotive/motorsports jounralist. To be honest, it wasn't the plane crash I expected, because I can hardly stand Rutlege on the Speed Channel's NASCAR stuff. But still, it's hard to beat the original by essentially being the new boys on the block, even with Tanner's motorsports and performance driving experience.

Speaking of which, it's not like it's hard to decifer who American Stig is--It's a pretty solid bet that it's Tanner.

The show doen't 100% follow the British TG format, especially the post 2002-Clarkson lead version, but the parentage is obvoious, and as far as the test track, where is BBC's Top Gear's test track based at? Dunsford Airfield. Both are airport tracks that were apparntly designed by automotive enginners (I know that a Lotus enginner designed British TG's track).

Not bad, but could be better, which may come with time. If yo're put off by American TG, get BBC America--they show eight hour Top Gear marathons Monday nights now.

[Matra et Alpine]

Check out TG AUstralia. I think they've done all of the above by the third series.
I just hope US TV ratings system will let them have the time to pick their own way

[Nonsequitur]

The first one just left me flat,... but I'll take the comments here as good advice and continue to watch with the hope that the chemistry and personalities evolve, and they focus on interesting cars.

[Rockefella]

Doubt it MetA.. The ratings people are Nazis. If it doesn't do well by episode 3 it'll be gone, though History channel may be forgiving compared to fox, abc, and CBS.

[Matra et Alpine]

^^^^^^^^^ yeah it amazes me how "successful" shows sold worldwide will get threatened with canning all in the belief that anyone bothers to watch an advert.

Seems the UK audiences have saved a few Sci-Fi shows over the years

[ScionDriver]

Well ratings are definitely king, I think there is a TON more leeway for cable channels. No matter what, more or less, the entire first season will be aired and then after that I think they'll sit back and look at the ratings and decide whether or not it should continue. If it was network, I bet they'd kill it after 3 episodes if it wasn't doing well.