New Top Gear- The Verdict

crunchman

Chris Harris was very good.  They need to give him a bigger role.

Rory Reid was better than Evans.

Interesting that they got Matt LeBlanc to do a lot of the linking segments in the studio not Evans.

Evans is the problem.  He has to be one of the most annoying people on the planet.  I wasn't convinced by Eddie Jordan in the 2nd episode either.

If they had LeBlanc, Harris, Sabine Schmidt and Rory Reid I think it could work.

BigBearKris

crunchman;1108429" said:

Evans is the problem.  He has to be one of the most annoying people on the planet.  I wasn't convinced by Eddie Jordan in the 2nd episode either.



If they had LeBlanc, Harris, Sabine Schmidt and Rory Reid I think it could work.

Absolutely.

It's was a mediocre episode - LeBlanc and Ken Block were great though and it ginally felt like "Top Gear" again.

Evans is OK to narrate the video clips but once he's going live he shouts and is just over the top.
I don't care about him or other shows of his - he's just not what TG needs.

jpttaylor

Quite enjoyed last night's episode. It's improving week by week and the new presenters really added something to the mix.

Please though for the love of God can they sort out the celebrity segment. It's like they compiled a list of cringeworthy don'ts and then made it happen. Too long, no need to get the guests to promote whatever the other one is doing, and please stop getting the crowd to cheer who has/had the best cars.

stickyfiddle

crunchman said:

Chris Harris was very good.  They need to give him a bigger role.

Rory Reid was better than Evans.

Interesting that they got Matt LeBlanc to do a lot of the linking segments in the studio not Evans.

Evans is the problem.  He has to be one of the most annoying people on the planet.  I wasn't convinced by Eddie Jordan in the 2nd episode either.

If they had LeBlanc, Harris, Sabine Schmidt and Rory Reid I think it could work.

Honestly I can see it going that way after a season or two, once all the new faces are better known by the majority of viewers, with Evans stepping back to a production role. Chris Harris has been genuinely fantastic in print and on youtube for years, so he's definitely up to the job, and LeBlanc has been the highlight of the new show so far. 

Have they dropped "best first car" yet?

Moe_Zambeek

Agreed. Get rid of Evans and the star / car thing and more of Matt / C. Harris / Rory / Sabine and I'll keep watching.

octatonic

Get rid of Evans.

Le Blanc and Harris are so much better, especially Harris.

Sabine seems to believe she is in Panto.

OH NO SHE DOESN'T.

She really does.

PC_Dave

octatonic;1108537" said:

Get rid of Evans.Le Blanc and Harris are so much better, especially Harris.

Sabine seems to believe she is in Panto.OH NO SHE DOESN'T.She really does.

She is German though... They don't really have a sense of humour that we are aware of.

Hertz32

I've not sat through an entire episode yet and dont plan to.
The stars have been weak, and even the Block/le blanc segment felt dry.

I guess the real decider will be after this series ends and the BBC start trying to sell it to other chanels.
Do any of us see Dave buying the new series? Because I dont.

exocet

Hertz32 said:

I've not sat through an entire episode yet and dont plan to.
The stars have been weak, and even the Block/le blanc segment felt dry.

I guess the real decider will be after this series ends and the BBC start trying to sell it to other chanels.
Do any of us see Dave buying the new series? Because I dont.

I suspect that unless the series really "pans", that it will appear on Dave because Dave is part of UKTV which in turn is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive.

joneve

stickyfiddle said:

I'm watching now and enjoying it. The chemistry isn't quite there like it was, but that'll probably get better as they tweak the format and settle into it. 

It's absolutely not as good as the best of Old Top Gear, but at least as good as the worst of it, and frankly any New Top Gear is better than no Top Gear at all. 

Mostly this. 

This thread is tl;dr so I don't know what's already been said, but I watched episodes 2 and 3 last night. the segment with Jensen was absolutely cracking, he's a natural. I also quite enjoyed (to a point) the 4x4 adventure. The bits with Sabine Schmidt were good also, and Joey is settling down to be pretty solid. Evans is still a cunt, but I'm warming to the format, and the two stars in a x-car is ok (Damien Lewis was superb and Kevin Hart was pretty funny).

Evilmags

Viewing figires way down.

chillidoggy

Now down to 2.4 million from 2.8 last week.

The rate appears to have slowed, but with no 'Antiques Roadshow' to watch due to the footie, it could well have been a lot worse.

crunchman

chillidoggy said:

Now down to 2.4 million from 2.8 last week.

The rate appears to have slowed, but with no 'Antiques Roadshow' to watch due to the footie, it could well have been a lot worse.

Not sure about the bit I've bolded.  The Top Gear audience is (presumably) largely male so might have been watching football.

Also need to be careful with viewing figures on the night.  I've watched 2 of the 3 episodes on iPlayer.

chillidoggy

crunchman said:

chillidoggy said:

Now down to 2.4 million from 2.8 last week.

The rate appears to have slowed, but with no 'Antiques Roadshow' to watch due to the footie, it could well have been a lot worse.

Not sure about the bit I've bolded.  The Top Gear audience is (presumably) largely male so might have been watching football.

Also need to be careful with viewing figures on the night.  I've watched 2 of the 3 episodes on iPlayer.

I'm sure you're right, however in my defence, Mrs C is a confirmed motorhead, and even she prefers watching 'Antiques Roadshow' over that ginger tosser.

LastMantra

I like it for the road trips/scenery and the cinematography.

sinbaadi

I think a lot of the car-segment editing in this series is absolutely shocking, and I do not think it was quite this bad before.

Some of the moments of Chris Harris onboard, initiating a slide, catching it, and then they cut to a car exiting a totally different corner in an opposite slide!  Or at Laguna where the sequence of corners was off and you didn't really learn a thing about the track.

You end up not really seeing anything, just being bombarded by the cutting from shot to shot with weird zooms and fake "action".

ennspek

I thought it was great last night.

crunchman

sinbaadi said:

I think a lot of the car-segment editing in this series is absolutely shocking, and I do not think it was quite this bad before.

Some of the moments of Chris Harris onboard, initiating a slide, catching it, and then they cut to a car exiting a totally different corner in an opposite slide!  Or at Laguna where the sequence of corners was off and you didn't really learn a thing about the track.

You end up not really seeing anything, just being bombarded by the cutting from shot to shot with weird zooms and fake "action".

I didn't notice that stuff.

I guess it's like my friends not noticing the wrong guitar in Back to the Future.

dindude

I'm watching it but it really is rather dull. It's much more a straightforward car programme (and I like cars), like fifth gear with a budget.

Having said that, as much as I liked ckarkson and co top gear, it was getting a bit contrived. I hope the Amazon move will freshen them up a bit.

koneguitarist

Watched about 20mins last night, why are they all shouting? Sound in studio was shit.