I'd love that. And some mugs of tea on a ringed tray.

I said a lot of them were , not all of them ...

Exactly

I found it ridiculous that Clarkson would label an old Skoda as COOL and a moment later say that a certain Ferrari model was UNCOOL ....

Exactly

I'll watch it every time ... Fast forward any boring bits as I did with the old , stale series .

The Star in a RallyCross car racing around a rally circuit is a genius idea .

The show just needs some eye candy ( Rachel ) as did the old series ..

Imho

As long as this awful show is being pushed out by the BBC on the licence fee payers behalf, and as long as people on here continue to push the nonsense that Clarkson is a racist and a thug who'll punch your lights out as soon as have a pint with you, I'll continue to flag up what a load of puerile tat this reincarnation has been so far.


If you believe that there's just a cigarette paper between shouty whiny-voiced Evans, a man who relies on others to write his stuff and who has a legacy of lord knows how many years of tv & radio programming behind that I've disliked enormously from the off, including his Virgin radio shows; and erudite writer and ideas man Clarkson, a man who can hold the camera's attention and who also has a cv that includes some brilliant programmes away from the world of motoring, you're not on the same planet as me. Both may just touch the overlap in a venn diagram labelled bombastic, but beyond that they're chalk & cheese.

I'd be quite happy for it to succeed as it would be good to have another decent car-based light entertainment show presented by people with the confidence to do it properly. Sadly the BBC chose Evans, so that's not likely to happen for at least 3 years.


Mr Baker has tonight tweeted that he isn't a writer on TG, merely an advisor. He doesn't say how closely he advises - maybe it's as closely as 'press the e, then a, then r'...


So you missed the point, that just because a car is made by a particular manufacturer it doesn't have to be either cool or uncool just on its badge? Skoda can make a car that's cool in its own way; Ferrari have been known to turn out the odd lemon. A Ferrari lemon is worse as the expectation is so much higher based on the marque, and the shedload of money that they cost.


Seriously? It's not a rally circuit, it's not rallycross, it's just bit of field with the grass scraped off and a puddle + a tiny jump in so that Evans can squeal at the car getting air and making a splash. CHM did rallycross and it was nothing like this. This - like the rest of the new show - is a pale imitation of how it can be done. As for Rachel being wheeled in, please no. Some of us are past our teenage years and don't need an attractive woman being used to detract from its shortcomings.

Really? He was listed as a writer on the end credits.


Actually whilst your rationale is perfectly correct, the choice of a Skoda by the original poster was wrong as Cool Wall rules stated that all Skodas were Seriously Uncool, irrespective of any other considerations.

I'm yet to be convinced on the rallycross idea as it doesn't fit with the previous remit of putting a celeb in a duff car. It may work but we've already seen a difference of what, fifteen-plus seconds(?), on the first two laps in perfect conditions.

I don't know if you saw Extra Gear but the rallycross 'circuit' is a tad more than just a bit of field and a puddle - it took them six weeks to construct it!

am i missing something here

the race in Blackpool with the jeeps, Evans gets a time of 43.3 and Le Blanc gets a time of 48 and yet Le Blanc wins

Just caught up with the first episode. I thought it started off quite well but my attention waned halfway through. The potential is there but it needs some work. Perhaps it would be best if the series was put on hiatus until they can work out a way to refresh it altogether, so that it's not just a pale imitation of the previous TG.

It was the other way around - Evans got 48.0!

Both missed. It was a speed test; Evans got 43 out of the Land Rover, the Jeep hit 48mph at the timing point.

Doh! I think I was too busy wondering exactly why they were racing off-roaders that weren't designed for speed (as the figures prove) instead of paying proper attention!

Yes. He really did tweet to say that he isn't a writer on TG. Here yer go.


Take it how you like.

Sort of sums up what was so frustrating about it all. A S1 Land Rover from the 50s and a wartime Jeep, and someone says let's do a drag race. Next week - Mary Berry does keepy-uppy.

It doesn't bode well if the big launch manages to convey the idea that the rally-x circuit really is that bad despite taking 6 weeks to build. It also doesn't bode well that the general view emerging now seems to be that the show wasn't so bad if you watch it for a second time, or if you watch the spin-off programme that wasn't shown as Top Gear but is apparently better as Chris Evans isn't in it.

Maybe someone in charge currently has a puzzled frown, his forefinger on his bottom lip and his right hand in his hair, twirling it round as a fantastic idea occurs to him...

I agree which is why I suggested that they really ought to have done some sort of trailer program, if only to (and I hate the phrase), manage people's expectations. As it was, the first episode started with viewers having a whole host of preconceptions, many of which were wrong and could have been allayed in advance, and thus ward off some of the disappointments. They needed to tease and plug the contents of the series properly, which they didn't do. Instead the episode's 'coming up' introduction was reduced to a cheesy Jeremy Clarkson impression which probably left most viewers immediately wondering what the heck they were letting themselves in for, rather than actually taking the info in.

BTW, Evans was in Extra Gear - briefly - but he still spent half of that time trying to whoop the audience and get some participation. It wasn't needed and it merely proved that he (and the production team) haven't got a handle on TG and its audience. It doesn't want, or need, TFI / Evans-style whooping and cheering in the studio.

You're all welcome to your opinion, I'm just fed up with the same people, repeating the same things, ad nauseam. Anyway, I'm going to take my own advice now and stop reading this thread, since I doubt anyone has anything new or enlightening to add.

To be fair, that would 'event television'.

Reading the reviews in the various papers, I don't normally totally agree with the DM and disagree with the Graunird. Chris Evans needs to stop SHOUTING or be put on a course of betablockers.

i just hope they don't the whole USA v UK thingy every week, it'll get tiresome quickly me thinks

I found it ok. I havent watched anything with CE before so didnt know what to expect.

The "rally cross" section was the only bit I didnt like. It was rally cross, they went through a puddle and had a jump. Should have just left the old track as it was.

I thought MLB was better than CE. Also they crammed to much into one show. There was US muscle car piece, the nomad piece and the blackpool piece, the climb the mountain piece. I thought the nomad piece was about right. The other three could have been longer. Maybe they should have had two less piece.

Defiantly not as good as old TG, but not as bad as I expected.

I watched the 'Extra Gear' show on BBC3 last night, and it's just as bad as the main one. Everyone (especially the main presenter, the chunky black guy) seems to be hollering at the camera and everything is 'amazing' and 'awesome!!' Is everybody on Red Bull?

I'm expecting the audience figures to drop over the course of the series. I'm going to keep watching it just to see if it starts to improve but I think the problem with it is that there's no chemistry between CE and MLB. It took years to build the relationships between CHM, this version of Top Gear may not have enough time to do that

Episode 3