Top Gear 2016 Official TV show thread *contains spoilers*

[ZX10R NIN]

It was okay but the most telling thing for me is I haven't put it on Series Link so that kind of sums it up.
What I will make a point of watching is Extra Gear.

[AnotherClarkey]

sparta6 said:

Contrived.

Evans is a pastiche of Clarkson, but unlike Clarkson, Evans has someone else write his scripts.

Clarkson is a pastiche of Clarkson.

[Challo]

You can't beat a Top Gear thread to get people all upset.

What happens if the new show on Amazon is not that good? I fear people will lose their minds and start writing strongly worded letters to the BBC.

[///ajd]

C70R said:

I wonder how many of the moaners/dissenters will be watching and posting again next week? Do we think some people just like/need an excuse to moan?

Yes, in between voting leave and complaining about immigration

I thought the show was the same as the old one - rubbish and cringy in places, but with nice stories and in places genuiney good banter with knowing glances from le blanc. Same as the old one. I thought there was a good opportunity for something new as it reminded me how stale the old one was getting, even with the chemistry if the trio.

Still, on balance worth watching and the flop gear stuff is just over blown nonsense. Quite remarkable how some think something has really been lost. It was the same!

I was amazed and disappointed that in the TopGun segment they didn't get too close to sabine and cry "switching to guns". That would have been good tv

[hairykrishna]

London424 said:

I see CE has popped up on Twitter saying it was a hit.

I think he's a bit premature crowing about it's audience share. A lot of people tuned in to see what the new TG was all about. I reckon a good number of those might not bother next week.

[DonkeyApple]

patmahe said:

Am I the only one who enjoyed it then? Maybe I'm easily pleased.

I did mute it during the SIARPC and did something else for a but, but then I've never liked Ramsay so didn't even give him a chance, I had hoped they'd drop that as it was the weakest part of the show in my opinion.

Matt Le Blanc was good I thought, entertaining, watchable, funny. I have been a big fan of the Nomad since I first saw it so it was interesting. A proper road test for once, mixed with some humour.

The Reliant thing could have been a lot better, they effectively just rejigged an older Top Gear episode, but it was funny in spots.

The show needs some more creativity and originality and Evans did grate as I feared he would. But there is the kernel of something there, if they can just nurture it and fix the issues.

I think I'm with you 100%. Overall watchable and with plenty of room for improvement. The most consistent element was the celebrity bit which just as it always has been remains a 5 minute slot to arrange a beer or glass of wine and a few nibbles then a pit stop. That was always a segment meant for the ladies or judging by the women they always manipulated to the front, the LazyBoy with tissue dispenser crowd.

I'm probably less of an Evans fan than I am of Clarkson and his silly baby talking voice and predictable, low brow writing but overall I enjoyed the hours worth of TV much as I used to the previous version and if I'm sitting in front of the TV at 8pm next Sunday then I will almost certainly watch it, just as I used to the previous three. The extra half hour online after is a bonus. Again, plenty of scope for improvement but watchable.

I do think people forget just how low brow and boring a hell of a lot of the show had become. The original three were clearly bored of it and schedules kept changing etc but there is no doubting that as a collective they did work brilliantly well and in sure the grand tour will be a good bit of TV also.

[ThunderGuts]

The way he's shouting 'FACT' on Twitter suggests he's trying to convince people

[Leins]

Quentin Wilson & Jodie Kidd fancying their chances of fronting series 2, so as to improve the show's on-screen chemistry

[suffolk009]

Challo said:

What happens if the new show on Amazon is not that good?

That would break the internet.

[Grandad Gaz]

Chris Evans has a lot of female followers, mainly from his radio show. Clarkson, I believe had none.

Last Sunday was the first time my wife has ever watched Top Gear. She actually laughed a couple of times too, and yes, she is a CE fan!

[98elise]

hairykrishna said:

London424 said:

I see CE has popped up on Twitter saying it was a hit.

I think he's a bit premature crowing about it's audience share. A lot of people tuned in to see what the new TG was all about. I reckon a good number of those might not bother next week.

Agreed. Fans of the old show will have watched the first one regardless. The feedback seems to be pretty poor. This Morning did a poll and got about 80% flop vs 20% hit, so similar to the PH poll.

The viewing figures for the next few weeks will be telling.

[C70R]

ThunderGuts said:

The way he's shouting 'FACT' on Twitter suggests he's trying to convince people

I had no idea exactly how anti-Evans this place was. People are literally reading things he hasn't said to try and knock him.

What's he done to upset PH? I would have thought someone so car-mad would be well-accepted.

[SEE YA]

I found the old Top Gear team it became Last of the Summer Wine with cars in the end.

Let's all judge it after the season ends.
As it looks like people, already made there mine up so that it fails.

Remember the old Top Gear struggled at first.

[ThunderGuts]

C70R said:

ThunderGuts said:

The way he's shouting 'FACT' on Twitter suggests he's trying to convince people

I had no idea exactly how anti-Evans this place was. People are literally reading things he hasn't said to try and knock him.

What's he done to upset PH? I would have thought someone so car-mad would be well-accepted.

Not entirely sure what that has to do with my post.

However, when people are telling you how good something they have done is, when the general opinion is that it ain't, it makes you wonder...


"Top Gear audience grew throughout the hour. FACT. Won its slot. FACT. Still number one on i Player. FACT. These are THE FACTS folks."

[98elise]

Grandad Gaz said:

Chris Evans has a lot of female followers, mainly from his radio show. Clarkson, I believe had none.

Last Sunday was the first time my wife has ever watched Top Gear. She actually laughed a couple of times too, and yes, she is a CE fan!

Old top gear is the one car show I've ever heard women talk about. It was definately not just a blokes program.

[Zoobeef]

hairyben said:

I thought the bumping looked a bit dodge TBH - did the old trio ever bump each other at anything more than manoeuvring speed?

They had better judgement and knowing precisely when to stop IMO - they did "silly" stuff but did they ever have anything as apparently disrespectful as the cenotaph incident? chris evans is like the tryhard kid who sees the cool kids doing something funny, dives in and copies to try to impress them but overdoes it.

Remind me again which bit was disrespectful? Or was that the papers forcing it on us?

[Gary C]

Wanted to like it, even sort of enjoyed the Viper segment. Its just that Matt LeBlanc is so wooden it spoils the banter.

So, no, not good.

[boz1]

Grandad Gaz said:

Chris Evans has a lot of female followers, mainly from his radio show. Clarkson, I believe had none.

Last Sunday was the first time my wife has ever watched Top Gear. She actually laughed a couple of times too, and yes, she is a CE fan!

Sure, why look up a piece of information when you can simply "believe" something else instead? As Chris Evans himself would say: "40% of JC's TG audience was female. FACT!" (Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/top...

Why don't you suggest your wife watches one of the really top notch episodes from the old team and see which she thinks is better?

[Ozzie Osmond]

My OH would rather have teeth pulled (without anaesthetic) than watch Clarkson. Evans just needs to calm himself down a bit.

[r11co]

Ozzie Osmond said:

My OH would rather have teeth pulled (without anaesthetic) than watch Clarkson.

Oh do come along now! Everyone knows the young women watched it for Hammond, and the intelligent women watched it for May!