UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I love this show but I can only believe we Americans would bugger it all up

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I absolutely LOVE Top Gear. Discovered it a few months ago and the first episode I saw was when they go to Miami. Obviously I've been hooked ever since.

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Totally agree. Here's Jay Leno's thoughts on the matter...Unfortunately it looks like its still going to go ahead with Adam Carolla running the show. I have little hope that it'll be anything but an hour long commercial instead of the witty TV show I'm now addicted to

I hope we don’t ruin Top Gear - Times Online

For fans of Top Gear and 5th Gear try this site FinalGear.com :: There's Fifth Gear, There's Top Gear, And Then There Is Final Gear

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

Leno mentions his website:

Jay Leno's Garage

which I've dug through a few times in the past. He has a lot of great feature shows on his various collector cars and related topics. Well worth checking out if you're a gearhead.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I'd love to spend a week in that garage

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I absolutely love this show. I've been watching it solid for about almost 2 years now. I really, really, really wish they'd release it on DVD.

I noticed in NBC's 2008 fall line up I didn't see a "Top Gear" anywhere. And I'm quite grateful for that. There is no way they will be able to capture the wittiness and camaraderie of Clarkson, May and Hammond. And one strong word against one of the vehicles will cause the suits to have heart attacks and pull advertising. As most have said, it will most likely be a one hour commercial.

But I hope I'm wrong and maybe we'll have another great show to watch.


On a side note, check out youtube.com for their "Top Gear - Polar special" if you haven't seen it already. Superb. I sure wish we could get the Toyota Hilux over here.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

The Hilux is vitually the same as our Tacoma (Link with differences) The polar special was amazing and was my first intro to the show...needless to say I'm now hooked.

From what the NBC exec told Jay Leno I expect the US copy will focus more on the challenges and less on the reviews...at least if they do do reviews it'll be of exotics that everyone will love...ie no bad reviews. If they do that IMO it'll just be a cross of Monster Garage and your typical car show.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I applaud Leno for being smart enough to know that we can't re-create the greatness of the UK show over here and therefore turning down the offer to host. Clarkson, Hammond and May ARE Top Gear and anything we put on the air is just going to be an awful imitation. I like Adam Carolla, but I like him on The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel, not doing a U.S. version of Top Gear. Maybe I'll be wrong and this will be like The Office(a great UK show that translated well to the U.S.), but I'm certainly not expecting that to be the case.

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The only chance it has is to avoid the car reviews and focus on stunts and playing with 'fun' cars...it'll pale in comparison to the UK version but it would be better to create its own identity then to imitate another.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I was thinking this show would have worked on a non-commercial network (PBS, HBO, Showtime) with the sometimes scathing car reviews intact, then caught an episode of Motorweek on PBS--they never met a car they didn't like, unfortunately.

As it is this will probably devolve into another mindless reality show, sort of an auto-oriented Fear Factor.

Leno's passing on the project is an indication of his integrity when it comes to things automotive.

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If Top Gear is a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Motorweek is a PT Cruiser. So boring it's not even worth watching.

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Just glad to see I'm not the only one on this forum who loves TG. It's become my favorite show and I can't wait for season 11. I heard it was initially supposed to premiere this month, but has been pushed back to July. Does anyone know if that's indeed the case?

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I can't believe there is no ongoing Top Gear thread.
I just recently started to really catch up on this show and it is fantastic. I had seen scattered episode here and there and liked it, but in the last couple weeks I have caught up on almost every episode I had missed in between those, and it's easily one of my favorite shows ever now.

The current season is very good the the last two weeks episodes with the Nissan GTR were very cool, that's one hell of a car. And the Mercedes SLK Black, sick!!

After watching all these episodes, and knowing who they have planned for the US version, I am not convinced that Adam Corrola is the right guy for the job. I love Adam Corrola for what he does, but on this show in the shadow of Top Gear UK I just don't see it working the same way.

The current presenters of Top Gear all have a deep appreciation and genuine love and respect for the cars that their driving, and it shows in every review good or bad. I just hope the studios do that here in the US rather than just make it funny for the audience. I just hate to think what the studios think the American audience wants from this show to make it sell.
One more thing that scares me is that this new show could really spark new interest in a sagging car market and I'm hoping that car manufacturers here don't see that and try too capitalize of off that. I would hate to see "Top Gear: Ford hour" or "Top Gear brought to you by Chevy and nothing but Chevy reviews for the night".

I also don't want a crude show much like anything else on TV right now. The UK version is very witty and genuine, and I would hate to see it reduced to a MTV/Jerry Springer/lowest common denominator suck fest. And having Adam Corrola as a host it could easily be thrown that way. I hear he is a car fan, so let's hope that shows through here.

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I've gone back and caught up on all the previous seasons now(1-10) and Top Gear is easily one of the most entertaining shows I've ever watched. Of course you really need to be a "gearhead" to appreciate it, but even if you're not into cars the show is still funny as hell. I haven't started watching the current season yet, but I can't wait to start checking out the new episodes.

By the way, I'll call it now: the U.S. version will be a complete disaster and will be bumped for a mid-season replacement show when it fails. I loved Carolla on The Man Show, but I just don't see him and these two other guys making an entertaining car show like Clarkson and Co. have done with the UK version. Time will tell.

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I've been watching the current season as they become available and have enjoyed them as well. I have mixed feelings about the US version as I fear that the networks will get in the way with regard to letting the presenters actually speak their mind. I was also not sure about Carolla but I listened to an interview he did about the show and I must admit he impressed me so we'll see what happens. My best hope is that they do not try and copy the UK version but come up with their own slant on it and do that well. Stars in cars could easily be done, the reviews will be tough but the challenges should be do able so long as it doesn't get out of hand.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

I think the reviews would definitely be the hardest part of their show, especially since it will be car manufacturers sponsoring for the show.
If they take it seriously and not make it a giant joke like every other reality show on TV right now then it may do alright. Plus the look of the show is brilliant. The cinematography is absolutely fantastic, they better spend the money to do this right as well.
I just want this show to work out so bad here, I really hope they take their time with it.

This last weeks episode was great too. The challenges with the Germans were hilarious.

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Over at final gear (A TG fan site), many of the regulars over there went to the taping of the first US show last weekend, and their reviews have been supprisingly positive about the show they saw. The only thing I worry about is how do you do a negative review and still appease advertisers. Id hate to see each episode turn into a 1 hr infomercial because they dont want to piss off advertisers.

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Yeah the Cool Wall could get them in trouble pretty quick

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Sounds promising, I really want this show to work out.
I'm wondering how much improv from Corrola will hurt or help the show though since Clarkson is known to write everything for the UK version.

http://podcast.971freefm.com/klsx1/1233612.mp3

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I don't think there's any way the U.S. version can be as hard on American cars as the UK version has been and still expect to get any sponsorship. Clarkson basically calls all American cars "rubbish" and kills them every chance he gets. Whether it's true or not is up for debate(I happen to believe it's not), but a show airing on NBC can't get away with anything close to that.

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I dunno, they seem to like Fords. They liked the Ford utility van best of the vans recently. They deemed the Mondeo the best car they reviewed one year. And does more need to be said about Clarkson's infatuation with his F40?
Their 'rubbish' assessments are usually for either hamster wheel city cars or detuned supercars that fill a ridiculous niche, like the the Aston Martin convertible that was sluggish and bendy, or the Lambo that had umpteen grand extra in carbon fiber and customization with little to nothing in performance enhancement, or that V-12 Golf that couldn't handle it's power, or anything, for poop.

Re: UK: Top Gear, for the fans..

If you get a chance, try to track down a 1 hour special Clarkson did called "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". He comes to the U.S. to drive a bunch of American cars and then compares them to their European counterparts. He absolutely destroys every offering from the states and it's clear he doesn't think much of our cars. In one episode of Top Gear, he tested the Ford F150 pickup and said it was the worst vehicle he had ever driven. There are countless other examples of his hatred of American cars, but then again he did buy a GT40 and they do compliment other Fords on the show from time to time. I find that odd because of all the American cars, Fords are probably the last ones I'd ever give accolades to.

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Clarkson's paradigm is fixed on european needs and so most of our cars don't make sense for him...at least that's the angle he uses on a UK TV show where its good for ratings to trash talk American products. Clarkson is a showman and knows what his public wants to hear...besides to be honest his assessment of the F150 isn't that far off..it is not a good car for the masses yet it continues to be one of our top selling vehicles year after year, it is however a great work truck.

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Euro Fords do not equal US Fords, you have to keep that in mind when looking at their reviews of American cars. There is no US equivalent of the Mondeo anymore, and Ford destroyed the Focus in the US. One can only hope they go back to the Euro styling/builds/options soon.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see GM bringing over some of their Euro cars, sticking them in the Saturn family. Hopefully this trend continues and the US companies give us some of the same option packages available in Europe.

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Agree the Euro Focus looks much better then ours. I'd like to see more diesel offerings as well.

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I haven't seen the "good bad the ugly" episode but I know on one of the most recent episodes I've seen, they take shots at things like the Cadillac Escalade for being a gigantic $60,000 truck with a flimsy plastic dash. Hammond was right on that one. And Clarkson said that the new Dodge Challenger will most likely be all power and no handling. That hopefully wont be true, but with most new classic remakes it's probably spot on.
While I don't agree that all American cars are rubbish, I do however recognize that there is a big gap in quality between American and any other manufacturer in the same respective price ranges.

On the F-150 stance, I think Andrew is right, you have to look at that truck from a utility point of view. It's work truck, it's not meant for speed, style, elegance.

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At least in the US market, American cars are now second to the Asian makes in reliabilty and better than the European makes. Note that this is for operational reliability, not perceived quality of interior plastics, body fit and finish, or handling prowess.

If you want a Euro Focus go buy a Mazda 3--it and the entry level Volvo share the Euro Focus platform.

As previously stated the anti-American car bias on Top Gear is aimed at pleasing the non-US market, and actually isn't all pervasive. Clarkson did seem to catch the appeal of some American cars when he used that beater Camaro in the Florida-to-Louisiana story. His comments seemed to paraphrase the old saying "I like Chevys, they seem to run great no matter what's wrong with them." They were certainly pretty scathing of the BL cars they did on a later episode as well as of the Jag from their recent cheap coupes that aren't Porsches episode.