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Top Gear New Series

Just a reminder a Topgear has been put back to its 8pm slot.
James may toy stories is on first at 7 it's the Lego house.
 
Just a reminder a Topgear has been put back to its 8pm slot.
James may toy stories is on first at 7 it's the Lego house.

Good to know on both. I was wondering when the Lego house special was ever going to air considering they built (and subsequently demolished) it awhile ago.
 
I'm tempted to agree. The art/Middlesbrough stuff was brilliant. The scenes with Jeremy driving and listening to Hammond on the radio had me in tears.
 
I thought it was alright, just alright. Nothing bad about it, nowt outstanding either. At least the three were together throughout.

I did laugh at them restraining Clarkson for the plasma cutting, only for him to be the one who pointed out it was a hire car they were chopping.
 
I must admit I found it a little dull. Some good moments and I particularly enjoyed the news, but the exhibit stuff did very little for me.
 
There's a lady in a white sweater standing behind Jeremy Clarkson during the Jensen Button interview. I simply could not take my eyes off her. Those captivating eyes and winning smile just melted my heart. Gosh, its love at first sight!
 
From Wilman's blog:
...but no, for the millionth time, we don’t pre-arrange races or challenges or petrol stations in Alabama.

That's just a lie. May has said on screen before now that they contrive the races so it'll be neck and neck towards the end (no doubt they're trying to recreate the moment in the Verbier film where Clarkson passed Hammond and James a couple of miles from the ski lodge). And had May's airship/caravan challenge gone to plan, that would have been another example of pre-arrangement; the caravan was originally supposed to "accidentally" drift off course from the caravan park and land in the middle of a cricket square during a match (instead it drifted off course through those trees). As for Bubba and the Hicks chasing the intrepid trio from the petrol station, the staging of that was obvious from the multiple camera angles (so they threw in mobile phone footage for good measure).

I'd be happy to see the back of the presenters' cartoonish personas in the studio segments. I don't mind seeing them in the longer films (the caravan holiday is a good example of when they are used properly). As for last night's episode, it's probably the best one of this series on average.
 
There's a lady in a white sweater standing behind Jeremy Clarkson during the Jensen Button interview. I simply could not take my eyes off her. Those captivating eyes and winning smile just melted my heart. Gosh, its love at first sight!

The blonde gal in the blue top behind May during the news...crikey. :drool:
 
There's a lady in a white sweater standing behind Jeremy Clarkson during the Jensen Button interview. I simply could not take my eyes off her. Those captivating eyes and winning smile just melted my heart. Gosh, its love at first sight!

The blonde gal in the blue top behind May during the news...crikey. :drool:
You guys might like to pay a visit to the most distracting audience member thread on final gear:lol:
http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/most-distracting-audience-member-36735/
 
I don't know if you guys here have read Andy's blog i think he makes some good points.
http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2009/12/20/series-14-where-were-at/

Post 377 in that thread says it better than I ever could have.

I typically fall into the camp of "it's just a show so have fun and don't nitpick it to death", but the art gallery episode was complete ass as was the one that preceded it. Watching both episodes for the first time managed to put me to sleep, something that almost never happened with any episodes of Top Gear previously (aside from some series 1 stinkers). I seriously believe you could have condensed the five episodes we've seen so far into 3 and had a good series of Top Gear. As it stands, series 14 has been utter trash.

The art gallery film went on for way too long and rehashed jokes from when they tried to frame cars as art. It could have been 10 minutes shorter with no loss and they could've added a whole additional segment, perhaps another car review to balance out the cocking about. That points to the bigger problem: There wasn't enough emphasis on actual cars instead of this gallery BS...and this comment is coming from someone who generally likes the cocking about more than the car stuff.

Someone on Final Gear put it best:

"It looks like TG started shifting its target audience to idiots, imbeciles and women now."

I don't know if it's due to the BBC's budget cuts or trying to appeal to the masses more, but somewhere along the way Top Gear HAS lost its way, regardless of Wilman's defense in his blog post.

I can live with "scripted" race events and segments, the three presenters being overly cartoony, the overemphasis on cars none of us will ever be able to afford, and even the immature penis and ass jokes. What I can't live with is being put to sleep by an episode of Top Gear for two consecutive weeks. Maybe they really should have ended it on a higher note at the end of series 13. The last thing I want to see is one of the best shows on television become a watered-down mess that's trying far too hard to appeal to the masses and loses most everything that makes it great television in the process.
 
I think most of the complaints are from those who think the show is supposed to be about cars. It's not; it's about car lovers. This has been pretty clear since season one and Jason What's-His-Face. He tried to make it about cars, and they sacked him.

Do I think the show is showing signs of age? Yes. While, this series has been better than the last, it stills falls short of a few years ago. Obviously, for a show like this, it's hard to continue to come up with new ideas.

But I do agree with one thing that was brought up several times in the links provided: Clarkson needs to go.

He was always my least favorite of the three. And while he did have his funny moments I would never call him "funny." Now he's even starting to rehash some of his material.

The only reason for keeping him around has been for recognition, but May and Hammond are established well enough that this really isn't necessary anymore. They are both better presenters as suggested by their other work.

The only problem is do they just go with the two then, or bring in another third guy (gal?) Obviously, one of the biggest aspects of the show is the chemistry between them. That'd really hard (maybe impossible) to replicate.

I also t think it could benefit from an extended break--like skip the spring/summer series and come back re worked and with some new ideas fall '10.
 
I just wish they'd go back to trying to do things properly-ish (and failing hilariously through natural incompetence) than setting out to cock things up on purpose. One car-boat or police cars piece is worth ten contrived art gallery segments, and the challenges and races are always at their best when the guys can't help getting competitive and end up sparking off each other.

Still, high hopes for the South America special...
 
The only reason for keeping him around has been for recognition, but May and Hammond are established well enough that this really isn't necessary anymore. They are both better presenters as suggested by their other work.

Hammond? Really? I always thought he was horrible in everything outside of Top Gear. In his other work, he sounds like he's reading from cue cards and not like he's into the material unlike Clarkson and May. By watching their individual documentaries you can see that Clarkson's genuinely interested in WWII and May enjoys his toys and gadgets (and wine, but that doesn't really count since he's interacting with Oz Clarke), while watching Hammond's it feels like he's just there for a paycheck.

I think a long break and then one long fall or winter 2010 season would help the fatigue issue Wilman raised in his blog, allowing them to come up with some fresh ideas and ending the show on a high note.
 
Love how women have been lumbered in with idiots, imbeciles.:rolleyes:
As for those of you who want rid of Clarkson and the other two to stay not going to happen Andy and Jeremy are responsible for the new top gear so when they go so does the show.
I think the problem with the show is the same problem that the Simpson's has there only so many new ideas you can get out of a format before it begins to repeat its self and top gear as got to that point.:(
But maybe the Christmas special that starts at 7.45 by the way will prove me wrong. I think they are at there best when they go off and do a one off specials.
Maybe they should end the series and just do a special now and then.
 
Hammond? Really? I always thought he was horrible in everything outside of Top Gear. In his other work, he sounds like he's reading from cue cards and not like he's into the material unlike Clarkson and May. By watching their individual documentaries you can see that Clarkson's genuinely interested in WWII and May enjoys his toys and gadgets (and wine, but that doesn't really count since he's interacting with Oz Clarke), while watching Hammond's it feels like he's just there for a paycheck.

I completely agree. I don't remember having seen Clarkson do anything other than Top Gear, but he's obviously got a lot of charisma and is interesting to watch on tv and May has been great in some other things like that Moon special. Hammond? I've seen him on that British Mythbusters rip-off which he sucked at imo and he's also my least favourite presenter on Top Gear.
 
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