Top Gear USA Series 2

[ScionDriver]

Yeah if I had to describe "The Car Show" to someone I would say it's a combination of The Man Show, Best Damn Sports Show Period with a low production Top Gear thrown in.

[Rockefella]

If you combined the styles of the Car Show and TGUS and chose the following to host:

Rutledge
Carolla
Foust? (he'd have to loosen up and not act like a spoiled fairy though). Maybe they can get a retired NASCAR driver or something

Then you have a real winner.

I like the style the Car Show uses but the hosts suck and the cinematography is garbage. TGUS is the opposite where the production value is quite good but the hosts and audience/setup are shitty. It'll probably take a couple of years until America gets a really good car show and I wouldn't be surprised if both shows got canned until someone with the budget comes up with a winner.

Carrola overdoes his shtick but he has to otherwise the show would be complete garbage. Every other host is terrible: John Salley doesn't know a damn thing about cars. The bald guy isn't bad but doesn't add much to the show. The knowledgeable old guy comes off as gay, smug, and annoying. He's not a car show host.

Ferrara still sucks. His Italian cool/tough guy act and his general lack of knowledge on autos still pisses me off. Foust, see above. Rutledge is the most natural and he is a great host I think.

[Matra et Alpine]

Carolla is is AWFUL in front of camera. That stare to camer and no facial movements is like a 2nd year performing arts student on their first camera test

He also constantly tries to be "front of stage" with comments and poor jokes and interrupting. I found him so irritating I was zoning out every time he interrupted !

Dont think it's budget that ever makes a car show and I do think the TGUS team are better and getting there and remember it took years for Top Gear to really fly ( now off it's peak I'm afraid but still good ). Problem is US tv producers are ruthless and yes it will ikely get shit-canned or change of presenters to chase ratings

[pimento]

Hopefully it'll have a better fate than TGAus...

[Rockefella]

Carolla is is AWFUL in front of camera. That stare to camer and no facial movements is like a 2nd year performing arts student on their first camera test

He also constantly tries to be "front of stage" with comments and poor jokes and interrupting. I found him so irritating I was zoning out every time he interrupted !

He's not the greatest but he's the most enjoyable to watch if that makes any sense. I think if he was transplanted onto TG:US in place of Ferrara the show would improve exponentially. And change that stupid setup TGUS is using while they're at it.

It's like the three walked into a crowd and started hosting a tv show. TGUK is good in that the crowd is obviously present and pretty vast, but they're in dim lighting and set down a bit from the elevated TG stage. Basically, you know they're there but not in your face. TGUS tries to interact with the crowd and crack stupid jokes so it fails. TGUK interact with one another and naturally 'take the piss' out of one another so it works.

[RacingManiac]

Don't like Corolla, period....they guy is just creepy...

[ScionDriver]

Well Carolla did do a test for TGUS a few years back, they filmed a pilot with Carolla, Foust and some one else (can't remember who) it was slated for NBC (big-time network broadcaster) but the pilot never made it to air and the whole project was canned.

Fast forward a couple years and TGUS shows up on History Channel w/ Foust, Rutledge and Ferrera. So either the pilot of the other one was just AWFUL or something because to not even reach broadcast it must have been BAD.

A website offered a cash reward to anyone who could produce a video of the un-aired pilot. I can't remember the site and I never bothered to follow up and see if they found it. I bet the episode was awful though.

[Kitdy]

Jalopnik offered the reward for the unseen footage.

[pimento]

Actually I heard rumours that the pilot was ok.. though that might have been a pilot for the current format. Can't remember, too lazy to go searching... :P

[Matra et Alpine]

Doesn't look as if TG USA has much of a concern over Car Show ...

Top Gear USA audience eight times larger than The Car Show stars

Ratings for SPEED's The Car Show with Adam Carolla and the second season of History's Top Gear USA show the latter with an audience of approximately 2.0 million viewers, compared to just 249,000 for the former.

It's difficult to make a fair comparison between TGUSA and The Car Show given History is one of the most basic of basic cable networks and SPEED is a network that, if it's even carried, is likely to be slotted between the Game Show Network and Retirement Living TV in the triple-digit channels, but there are a few revelations in the numbers.

Last year, TGUSA premiered at 1.9 million viewers after large promotional efforts, which was good enough to earn a second season. This year's new style, which drops the British intro and look for a more American feel, managed to pick up another 100,000 viewers for the premiere with 1.6 million in the 18-54 male demographic.

The numbers for The Car Show aren't large enough to crack into the Top 100 rankings so we're relying on what we've heard and what those connected to the show have said. For its premiere, Adam Carolla's new project took 249,000 viewers, with 87,000 men between 25-54.



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Most significantly, The Car Show only registered an increase of 5% in they key demographic of males between 25-54 when compared to Speed Makers, which was the show in the same slot on SPEED the week before.

A representative of The Tire Rack, who sponsors the show with a surf-board sized logo on the set, called the numbers "a respectable start."

For TGUSA the goal is to see if they can keep a larger share of the audience than last year, which dropped to about 1.3 million after the first episode. For The Car Show it's to stop having their biggest sponsor react to the show's ratings by damming them with faint praise.

[Rockefella]

Most recent episode of TGUS with the big truck comparo was probably the best to date. I enjoyed it.

Still has it's cheesy moments and obvious mimicking of Top Gear UK but the one that aired tonight felt really natural. I liked it.

[RacingManiac]

I like last night's episode too....very American and it works. I also liked the airboat vs "Rally Fighter" race, but still puzzled as to how they got away with not have either the boat driver or Foust wearing any sort of safety gear, especially when flipping over with something like that car in that kind of terrain is a real possibility...

Also what kind of off-road, all terrain vehicle have their intake completely unprotected from water ingestion in the wheel well....no wonder it died in the swamp....

[f6fhellcat13]

They're definitely starting to hit their stride, though the last two episodes have left me wanting for more car, and less truck, action.

[RacingManiac]

I think the preview show the next ep will be a TGUK style car(and I think its cars this time) for 5K episode....

[RacingManiac]

The test of the GT2RS is pretty nicely shot, I don't think even TGUK shoots in a metropolitan area with roads closed for driving shots....