Top Gear?

[jonny777]

Oh dear.

 

The petrol heads are annoyed.

 

I am a big fan of Chris Evans, and this is exactly his presentation style - shouty.

 

I knew as soon as I watched the first few seconds that 50% of this first show was going to be a send-up.

 

They are extracting the urine out of the car obsessives, who seem to worship Clarkson for whatever reason.

 

If this change to a less "tailgater in an Audi/BMW/4x4" attitude means that those widow-makers become less frequent on our roads and motorways then HALELLUIAH. 

 

In order to watch Evans, the first thing you need is a self-deprecating sense of humour. Not a Michelin man over inflated ego.

 

 

 

Oh! and edited to add - this was his first show.

 

Have you watched the first Top Gear?

 

Edited May 30, 2016 by jonny777

[fender]

I thought Matt LeBlanc carried off his role quite well. I'm not the biggest fan of Chris Evans, however I liked his interviewing style possibly better than Clarkson's (having seen only one interview!). I always found Clarkson to be excellent in reviews, an oaf in the challenges, and cringe-worthy in the star-in-a-car interviews.

 

I think the format itself is tired, but I certainly didn't miss the childish humour and adolescent antics of the former three presenters. I'm glad they've gone.

[jjb1970]

Everyone who judged it after 5 minutes or less (see Twitter) will drift back as things improve and the only option on a Sunday night is Antiques on BBC1 or some dire tat on ITV.

Not sure what technology you have in your household, but I'm guessing that most people nowadays will be able to watch one or more of: Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, DVDs, Bluray etc. The idea that they'll be alright because BBC1 will be showing the Antiques Roadshow and ITV1 will be showing some old tat would've been obsolete when Clarkson era TG started never mind today.

[jjb1970]

And apart from locating various wrecks the Jutland programme hardly told us anything that we didn't know already - despite saying it would.

Unfortunately that is par for the course for most history documentaries if you already have a decent knowledge of the subject. Especially in the case of Jutland, few other battles have either been micro-analysed on an ongoing basis for a century or defy simple categorisation like Jutland which means that it is a brave person that'd claim they had new revelations to share about the battle. There is a wealth of literature on the subject, some of it truly exceptional and much of it excellent so I had pretty low expectations for this documentary which it met.

[Dunsignalling]

Oh dear.

 

The petrol heads are annoyed.

 

I am a big fan of Chris Evans, and this is exactly his presentation style - shouty.

 

I knew as soon as I watched the first few seconds that 50% of this first show was going to be a send-up.

 

They are extracting the urine out of the car obsessives, who seem to worship Clarkson for whatever reason.

 

If this change to a less "tailgater in an Audi/BMW/4x4" attitude means that those widow-makers become less frequent on our roads and motorways then HALELLUIAH. 

 

In order to watch Evans, the first thing you need is a self-deprecating sense of humour. Not a Michelin man over inflated ego.

 

 

 

Oh! and edited to add - this was his first show.

 

Have you watched the first Top Gear?

 

First thing you need to watch Evans is to operate the Mute and Subtitle buttons.

 

As for ego, his own is inflated enough to cover the entire Home Counties to a considerable depth. 

 

J.

[Guest]

Personally as a sixteen year old, I quite enjoyed some of the segments - particularly the dog-fight between the Viper and the Corvette, fun to watch, if a re-hashed idea...

However, I feel that Chris Evans cheesy, over-zealous and cringe-worthy impersonation of Clarkson ruined the show on the most part. The problem for me, is that the BBC has followed the previous format of having one main presenter and the rest as co-presenters (While the trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May was fairly balanced, Jeremy always did the interviews, the narration on the Power Laps (well, most of the time) most of the voice-over pieces...etc). With the new cast, this format doesn't work so well - there are too many presenters in the cast to carry off the idea of having one more central presenter who acts as 'home-base'. 

I think Evans has the potential to be a superb presenter for the show, but he needs to drop the Clarkson impersonation as soon as possible, and develop his role in the show as his own in his own style. There were so many Clarkson-like phrases and jokes: The entire opening sequence, "As advanced as a rusty Crowbar" etc. They felt like afterthoughts, every time they were implemented. When he was talking in the Viper, during the fight, to his 'Wing-Man'...it felt a hell of a lot more relaxed and genuine - possible the excitement of the moment caused a momentary lapse in his efforts to copy Clarkson?

However, I found Matt's performance to be very well structured, confident and relaxed...but he almost felt like a guest on the show, rather than a presenter, given Chris' overshadowing performance.

I look forward to seeing the show develop, and as such, will be watching next week.
(If my ears don't deceive me, I also heard some Depeche Mode during the Viper test in Nevada - so at least the producers have kept some of their decent taste in music)

Regards,
Matt

[andyram]

Just watched the show on catch up and trawled through the four pages of general criticism that make up these pages. Interestingly, a year ago I started a Top Gear thread which I revisited after the show to read the comments. Surprised to find it locked in favour of a duplicate thread. I thought the duplicates got locked rather than original threads.

The original thread was full of vititriol against CE before he had even done a show. It seemed most people were not prepared to give him a chance, and still aren't by the sounds of it. The new Top Gear could have been the best thing ever, yet many would have still slagged it off because they did not want to praise CE.

I have always approached the new series with an open mind. I am not surprised that the first show stayed close to the original format. I think if he had completely thrown out the old format he would have been more widely criticised. I predict a gradual change of format over the series and beyond.

As regards the show - I agree it had plenty of faults but, as others have stated, many series start slowly and develop as things bed in. I actually quite enjoyed it - there I have said it! So you may now shoot me down in flames!

 

I enjoyed:

* The nomad film, which was an enjoyable take on a TG challenge.

* The Top Gun film with the dog fight between the cars.

* The new take on the Star in a car. I like the tweak, to include a rally cross section, yet retaining the key parts of the original track.

 

I felt Matt LeBlanc made a good start, a bit wooden at times, but needs time to develop his presenting skills.

 

I was less impressed with CE. Yes he was too shouty and excitable at first. Yes that is his presenting style. But I think it was a case of him trying to build thinks up in a positive way. I hope he calms down a little over time.

 

I also did not like the USA v UK challenge. It was a poorer TG challenge. However I know there are better challenges to come. There were some decent gags, but it was not the best. That said there were some poor challenges in the previous incarnation of the series.

 

It was an ok start, with room for improvement.

[RJS1977]

Personally as a sixteen year old, I quite enjoyed some of the segments - particularly the dog-fight between the Viper and the Corvette, fun to watch, if a re-hashed idea...

 

However, I feel that Chris Evans cheesy, over-zealous and cringe-worthy impersonation of Clarkson ruined the show on the most part. The problem for me, is that the BBC has followed the previous format of having one main presenter and the rest as co-presenters (While the trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May was fairly balanced, Jeremy always did the interviews, the narration on the Power Laps (well, most of the time) most of the voice-over pieces...etc). With the new cast, this format doesn't work so well - there are too many presenters in the cast to carry off the idea of having one more central presenter who acts as 'home-base'. 

 

 

 

Having a large 'cast' with a central presenter can work - that's pretty much how Countryfile works - not every presenter is on it every week but there is a central presenter who opens and closes the programme and does a segment or two in the middle. And (before your time) it's how Proper Top Gear worked too. William Woollard would usually open and close the programme and do a segment but there would be a 'cast' of other specialists who would do their own bits as and when required. Those I can remember are:

 

Chris Goffey or Jeremy Clarkson - reviews

Tiff Needell or Vicki Butker-Henderson - motor racing

Tony Mason - rallying (including the much-missed Top Gear Rally Reports for what was then the RAC Rally).

Steve Berry - bikes

Quentin Willson - buying/selling a second hand car (quite interesting to watch when I was your age, with one eye on learning to drive and buying a car).

 

etc

 

Personally I think there is room in a one-hour programme to include parts of the original Top Gear format along with the less ridiculous parts of the Hammond/May/Clarkson era like Star in A Reasonably Priced Car(*). When I first saw that they were moving towards the 'large cast' approach I thought this might indeed be the case, however the trailers suggested otherwise and having completely forgotten that it was starting on Sunday and having read the reviews here and elsewhere I'm not particularly inclined to go look it up on iPlayer.

 

(*) Jeremy Clarkson is on record as having said that personally he'd have liked to have put some more serious segments back into Top Gear, bringing back Goffey and some of the others, but he wasn't sure how keen the fans would be on it.

[gismorail]

Have to say I agree with most of the comments and I'm not surprised to see this reaction to what was a poor effort by a clown to be blunt. One thing's for sure I won't be wasting time watching the next episode. 

[Dunsignalling]

I felt Matt LeBlanc made a good start, a bit wooden at times, but needs time to develop his presenting skills.

 

I was less impressed with CE. Yes he was too shouty and excitable at first. Yes that is his presenting style. But I think it was a case of him trying to build thinks up in a positive way. I hope he calms down a little over time.

 

 

I watched in again when it was repeated earlier this evening (glutton for punishment).

 

1. I tend to agree that the Nomad thrash was pretty good and that Matt has the makings of a good presenter when he gets settled in.

 

2. CE was actually quite restrained (at least by his standards) early on, becoming noisier and more frenetic as the show went on. I don't think there's a solution to this, he's been making a very good living out of being that way for a long time. Presumably some people like it, and he probably can't do anything else. 

 

3. Sabine will be a great asset if they exploit her personality as well as her driving ability but, on this showing, she was wasted in what amounted to little more than a "Lady Stig" role.

 

4. After two viewings I still haven't worked out who the hell Gordon Ramsay's sidekick was. EDIT I've just had a look on Wikipedia and Mr Jesse Eisenberg seems to have done quite a lot - just that I've not seen any of it.

 

John

Edited May 31, 2016 by Dunsignalling

[newbryford]

 

Everyone who judged it after 5 minutes or less (see Twitter) will drift back as things improve and the only option on a Sunday night is Antiques on BBC1 or some dire tat on ITV.

 

There is another option.....

 

I now have another hour of modelling time every week.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[big jim]

Well I quite enjoyed it, I do enjoy Chris Evans anyway both on the radio and tv, he's certainly got a good business head on him for someone so universally hated by many, I certainly wouldnt mind being a few quid behind him anyway!!

 

I hope the chemistry between the presenters evolves throughout the series as Matt le blanc came across as quite a dry humoured guy, my 11 year old loved the bit where pointing at his mouth he said "see I'm smiling, look the corner of my lips go up here and here" revealing a 2 fingered salute to mr Evans!

 

The biggest annoyance to me was the echo in the studio filmed sections and I didn't like the rallycross part of the "star in the car" track

[MJI]

I think CE must be the only person on TV who mainlines Haribo

[DavidB-AU]

Top Gear opens with lowest audience in a decade

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/30/top-gears-first-episode-branded-boring-and-badly-presented-by-fa/

['CHARD]

BBC advance notice of schedules.

 

This year, on 25th December, The Queen's Speech will be written and presented by Shami Chakrabarti, sticking to the old format but with the right amount of equality, diversity and inclusion to suit modern audiences.  Expect viewers to quadruple.

 

 

 

Sometimes, just sometimes, the people speak.  En masse.  They recognise the emperor's new clothes have failed to conceal his needy little (petrol-)head.

 

Sorry if this is unpopular with some, but TG has trounced its own legacy.  I don't care what the future weeks have in store, those hours are mine to use for better purposes than ginger nuts' self aggrandizement.  

[wombatofludham]

Well, either I've just watched something completely different to what the reviewers and some on here have watched or I think there are a lot of people who have wished it to fail and, because it is different and has a Marmite presenter, fell self fulfilment that they didn't like it.

 

I'm no fan of Chris Evans, I find his presenting style in need of a major dose of Ritalin and Mogadon, but actually I thought his piece on that silly American supercar was actually quite good.  To be honest I don't like the fanw*nking of exotic cars no normal person will ever see let alone drive, and I did find the Clarkson crew's perpetual going round in circles shredding tyres and raising sea levels by a good few centimetres by charging around the dead VC10s and 747s tediously boring in the extreme, but if you are going to fetishise bad driving and speed, the idea of the "dogfight" was at least entertaining.  Matt le Blanc is an acquired taste but I expect he'll get better.  I thought that the title sequence introduction was frankly a bit of a deliberate p-take of Clarkson's increasingly stilted introductions rather than as some feel a poor attempt at impersonating him, but I personally was most surprised by how much Evans had reined in his usual on-screen ADHD to tolerable levels.

 

To be honest, given Clarkson precipitated the self destruction of the old format Top Gear himself and left the BBC with a serious problem with no alternative but to not renew his contract, it was always going to be a difficult act to pull off but I found it more entertaining than the old team.  I like James May but Clarkson's style was a boorish put-on act and to be honest the programme had become Last of the Summer Wine on four wheels.  I expect the Clarksonistas and rabid haters of Chris Evans are feeling all smug and self satisfied at the mixed reviews but I personally am glad the programme has lost Clarkson who personally I found off-putting and irritating.

 

I just hope the production team have enough confidence to start and steer their own path with new elements over time, it could do with a bit of a content make-over.

[ClikC]

People saying there is a market for an 'original Top Gear' style show. What the hell was 5th gear? It even had former 'orginal Top Gear' presenters. It should be noted, 5th gear got canned for regularly earning less than 1 million viewers, even after its return to Freeview.

 

Original Top Gear peaked around 6 million, which fell to 3 million for the final series back in 2001. This makes it sound viable when compared to the JC and co era Top Gear, but this fails to take into account the overall decline in TV viewing figures (approximately 20% since 2010) due to broadband internet and various streaming services.

 

Brand has considerably more impact on new car choice than reviews nowadays.

[Mike G]

I didn't think it was a bad start to a series, but how many of you watched "Extra Gear" on BBC3? There is a new presenter - to the masses - named Chris Harris. This guy can really drive and knows what he talking about. Needs to be added to the main series pronto! Chris Evans was too shouty, but I'm sure he'll calm down, I'd have been a little over excited if I'd been given the jewel in the BBC crown to present!

Matt Le Blanc made a decent start, but really need to develop another style of presenting, Richard Hammond he is not. The best bit by far was seeing Sabine Schmitt back. What an extraordinary driver, pity more of her presence wasn't used back in the studio.

 

Whether this can be as good as the other lot I'll reserve judgement, but then do I just want it to be that, or do I want something different? On reflection..yeah, something fresher would be better.

 

Mike

[298]

It could have been worse I suppose, the BBC could have brought out their big guns in the form of Bruce Forsyth, Camila Batmanghelidjh, and that unfunny bloke from Citizen Khan.

[enginelane]

Watched the bits again

 

1. top Gun no.

 

2. 3 wheeler event a non event - though I am sure roof being cut off to show Matt Blanc profile sat in this car on the low loader was appreciated by his agent

 

3. Off road by Matt Blanc was excellent but how long will he stay. I do not think Mr Evans will like it if his reviews are worst.

 

4. Mr Evans more cringeworthy than I remembered in trying to gee up the audience in the star in the car.

 

5. Yes will take time to gel the format but think will be looking more at the 2 geezers than Evans et al

[Dunsignalling]

Top Gear opens with lowest audience in a decade

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/30/top-gears-first-episode-branded-boring-and-badly-presented-by-fa/

Many will have watched the first show to see how it went / compared. A stiffer test will be how many give it a second chance next week and the fate of the revised format / new cast will ultimately be decided by what happens to the viewing figures over the whole series.

 

Whatever happens, don't expect a change of anchor during this series (unless he walks). On past form, there seem to be elements within the BBC hierarchy who consider CE "too big to fail". He undeniably has that "Marmite" factor, though.

 

John

Edited May 31, 2016 by Dunsignalling

[RJS1977]

People saying there is a market for an 'original Top Gear' style show. What the hell was 5th gear? It even had former 'orginal Top Gear' presenters. It should be noted, 5th gear got canned for regularly earning less than 1 million viewers, even after its return to Freeview.

 

Original Top Gear peaked around 6 million, which fell to 3 million for the final series back in 2001. This makes it sound viable when compared to the JC and co era Top Gear, but this fails to take into account the overall decline in TV viewing figures (approximately 20% since 2010) due to broadband internet and various streaming services.

 

Brand has considerably more impact on new car choice than reviews nowadays.

 

I think part of Fifth Gear's problem was that it was on Channel 5, which generally has fewer viewers than BBC anyway. I guess the question is "Should the BBC be producing popular rubbish or less popular quality TV?" At the moment it sounds as if it's producing less popular rubbish....

 

As to reviews, I think there was an element of that in some of the later reviews in Proper Top Gear, Clarkson often ended his reviews with comments like "This is a good car, but don't buy it, it's got a Ford (or Rover) badge on it, and it'll make you look boring" (a factor which may well in my mind have contributed to Rover's collapse a few years later) Yet when Skoda started building better cars under VW ownership, it was a different story.

[griffgriff]

I really don't know what you're all complaining about. You've got an extra hour free for modelling on a Sunday night

[jjb1970]

A lot of the criticism and adverse reaction is really self-inflicted. If you make a copy of an existing formula, even down to mimicking the one liners and delivery style of former presenters, then it is pretty obvious that people will make comparisons with what has gone before and apply different expectations than for a fresh new approach. Put simply, if you just take a winning formula off the shelf and insert established stars as presenters then people can reasonably expect the new show to hit the ground running. If you decide to do a refresh and do something new, or introduce people relatively new to TV then most people will allow them time to find their feet and establish the new show.

 

I think that a lot has focused on Chris Evans, yet dire as he was I think that probably the bigger problem is that the format of the show itself really needs a refresh. The last series of Clarkson era TG had a very “haven’t we been here before” feel as they’d reached a point where they’d done the road trips, challenges etc to a point where they were basically just repeating stuff that they’d already done, and in many cases done better before. The show was pretty much reliant on the chemistry of the three presenters to retain my interest. I think they had a golden opportunity to take the show in a new direction and re-invent it in the way Clarkson did but by playing it safe by making a copy of what went before they’ve inherited the same basic problem of how to try and keep a show interesting when everything is basically just a copy of what the show has already done. I’m interested to see how Clarkson, May & Hammond address this in their Amazon Prime show.

 

In terms of TG, I do think there is potential. As others have said Matt Leblanc seems to bring a sort of dry observational humour and laid back approach that works well. Also he can drive a car. Sabine Schmitz is everything that a TG host should be, cracking driver, irreverent, funny and her own person. If she was bumped up to become one of a trio with the other two then it’d be a massive improvement I think. The problem then would be that if you had a hugely likeable Sabine, a dry and funny Matt Leblanc it’d still leave Chris Evans as a loud and unfunny alpha male unless he can radically alter his presenting style. The “star in a reasonably priced car” bit this week was painful, made worse by the fact that in Jesse Eisenberg they did actually pick a genuinely funny and articulate guest. What possessed them to put him on as a double act with Gordon Ramsey and then reduce the slot to Chris Evans shouting about who had the best car? If somebody that could interact with other human beings had bothered to try and engage Jesse Eisenberg in a short chat it could’ve been great, as it was it was ghastly.

[jonny777]

Top Gear opens with lowest audience in a decade

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/30/top-gears-first-episode-branded-boring-and-badly-presented-by-fa/

 

 

Sounds reasonable to me.

 

The very first show of Great British Bake Off had 2.2 million viewers.