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NEW New new new New top gear ON HOLD, RIP?


HMC

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It almost felt like Harris was being bullied at times by the other two, but things should even out as they get to know each other better (I think flintoff and mcguinness have worked together before)

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On the net somewhere today (Facebook, I think) someone said Top Gear are never short of publicity, one way or the other. Clearly, that's absolutely spot on, even for those of us who can't stand the programme. Clarkson ruined it, to the point where it was hard to think of how it could get worse. Now it seems that braying gobshite McGuiness is a presenter.

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I think that was a pretty good first episode, have to say. It helped that there was mainly just the one film (broken up by the Ferrari/Mclaren face off) and there were some genuinely laugh out loud moments ('this jumper smells like a marathon runner's ballbag' being one of my personal faves). That Escort was amazing - definitely the best car out of the three.

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Agreed, it’s simplicity was a big bonus. I rated the episode as well, I enjoyed it and the interplay between the hosts has got off to a promising start; it didn’t feel forced which the most recent incarnations did, to my mind at least.

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5 hours ago, HMC said:

It almost felt like Harris was being bullied at times by the other two, but things should even out as they get to know each other better (I think flintoff and mcguinness have worked together before)

just watching it and he got the northern digs in first and the slagging paddy about him being able to read was funny

yeah professional sportsman for a longtime - not a surprise boxster but hey like he said talent

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I have watched Top Gear in its various forms for nearly 30 years. I will admit I was a big fan of Clarkson era, but have given each new version a chance. The Evans version was pretty grim, (although I believe that series was always doomed to fail regardless of presenter) and Matt was not much better to begin with, but over time it seemed to find it's feet and the last series was actually pretty good. Maybe not the best, but certainly enjoyable. 

I was not particularly looking forward to the new series as it seemed like they were stepping right back, having finally got it good. I missed the first 20 minutes, which was perhaps unfair, but what I did see was alright. I wasn't blown away, and indeed was playing internet after a while, but it was far from the worst episode I have seen. I will stick with it, and give it a fairer chance, actually paying proper attention. I am not convinced yet, but will keep watching. 

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I enjoyed it 8 out of 10. Agree on the bullying of Harris. Just watched a preview of the next one and it looks like they're picking on him by electrocuting him while he's driving. Never watched Flintoff before, he seems okay. I used to like Paddy although he's acting like a right dick in this.

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Watched it by accident last night. I was laptopping when I could hear old chod having the arse ripped out of it. This immediately gets my attention. Watched the last half hour or so, didn't even know there was a new series or presenters for that matter. From what I did watch, I got a feeling that a remote part of my license fee was... justified. That hasn't happened since, well, the Clarkson era.

Will watch again and with the anticipation of becoming amused by the entertainment.

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On 6/17/2019 at 11:40 PM, Bradders59 said:

I remember the very first episode with Angela Rippon and Noel Edmonds presenting. Im pretty sure it also featured a MK2 Escrot too.  

I know it featured Angela Rippon’s Capri and interviews from random people in a cafe in order to try and find a correlation between how much they pay on meals and how much they pay on motoring. Just like TopGear today, really.

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I caught up on TG last night and I'm pretty happy. It's only their first episode and it's decent, definitely a good sign. 

I always watched Evans / LeBlanc too just because I like seeing cars on TV, but I feel like this series is going to be a step forward. Clarkson et al was tedious by the end, this is better. 

 

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There seems to be a lot of love for it here which is fair enough but it's not for me. Yet another strained rehash of the Clarkson and co format which worked for them (albeit even then it became tiresome) but seems totally contrived with any other three. I stuck with it through the first Ethiopia bit, mainly because the cars were vaguely interesting (though even then they had to include the inevitable token Porsche). Then the Ferrari bit came up (there is after all no other make of car worth talking about)…..yawn...bored now....switched off. My feeling is the format has run its course and needs canning. But they won't do that because it's such a money spinner. Sorry.

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It will be interesting to see flintoff and mcguinness in the role of motoring journalists. So far with the opener it’s been about cameraderie. Obviously Harris is there to do the more heavyweight stuff but how will the other 2 be with a direct to camera review?Flintoff especially is quite fresh to that format.

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2 hours ago, skoda_fan said:

There seems to be a lot of love for it here which is fair enough but it's not for me. Yet another strained rehash of the Clarkson and co format which worked for them (albeit even then it became tiresome) but seems totally contrived with any other three. I stuck with it through the first Ethiopia bit, mainly because the cars were vaguely interesting (though even then they had to include the inevitable token Porsche). Then the Ferrari bit came up (there is after all no other make of car worth talking about)…..yawn...bored now....switched off. My feeling is the format has run its course and needs canning. But they won't do that because it's such a money spinner. Sorry.

 

 

Harris was banned from Ferrari press cars for a few years because he wrote this.

 

https://jalopnik.com/how-ferrari-spins-5760248/amp

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On the fence about whether or not to give this a go; I haven't seen an episode of TG for about ten years or so now (wouldn't have missed it in the 1990s).

Personally, I used to watch it cos I like cars. What alienated me was that many episodes seemed to focus simply on Clarkson and co destroying quite nice cars, apparently 'for the bantz'. I don't get it.

The tiresome Marina/piano thing seemed particularly unnecessary, and I gather their Grand Tour rehash is pretty much more of the same, with a recent 'highlight' being Hammond taking a hammer to a really clean, low mile Allegro 3 estate that had been enthusiast owned for many years.

Yeah yeah, their car, their choice, sure - but just why??? Why would you even do that? Is it really a good thing to put out there to Joe Public, that the act of trashing a nice old car is somehow hilarious? Perhaps having had so many of my cars horribly vandalised over the years, I can't really find much humour in it.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems the equivalent of Antiques Roadshow presenters taking Stanley knives to Victorian portraits and lump hammers to crockery and clocks - or else David Attenborough travelling the world to find rare creatures in their natural habitat just so he could shoot them with a pellet gun while laughing like a drain.

So slap my thigh and call me Queen Victoria, because we are not amused.

Anyway. As you were.

Maybe this latest bunch of blokes to shuffle around the studio being blokey don't go in for these sort of zany antics - but I think I might've talked myself out of watching it anyway.

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I've recently been watching a lot of old Top Gear (90s) and it's remarkable how different it was in most respects, essentially a televised version of the magazine. But it was also quite helpful. 

I'd love to say that there is room again for something like that but new Top Gear made thrashing stuff round an airfield the norm, so roadtests involving normal situations would no doubt send everyone to sleep. 

What is evident is that for the most part, the older Top Gear seemed to come across as far more passionate about what it was projecting. The Motorsport stuff with Tony Mason would no doubt work well today, wouldn't hurt to get people watching rallying again either?! And maybe some consumer advice, although without that vampire Quentin at the wheel, would be useful. Tiff and (younger, thinner, less bald) Clarkson had a pretty good back and fourth...

 

I did watch quite a lot of The Grand Tour recently and I actually like it. Well no, I don't like Hammond, who seems to be constantly trying to outdo the others with some weird, beyond his scope personality traits, he just seems to me like the human embodiment of a mid life crisis these days. Clarkson and May are actually both pretty much as they were. It's more of an entertainment show that happens to feature cars....

 

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12 hours ago, skoda_fan said:

There seems to be a lot of love for it here which is fair enough but it's not for me. Yet another strained rehash of the Clarkson and co format which worked for them (albeit even then it became tiresome) but seems totally contrived with any other three. I stuck with it through the first Ethiopia bit, mainly because the cars were vaguely interesting (though even then they had to include the inevitable token Porsche). Then the Ferrari bit came up (there is after all no other make of car worth talking about)…..yawn...bored now....switched off. My feeling is the format has run its course and needs canning. But they won't do that because it's such a money spinner. Sorry.

Yeah, same again here really. Paddy Mcguiness is really annoying. There really is no need to be that loud. You can be quiet and funny (James May was the best of the other three. His other programmes are very watchable). 

But the main point is it's just more of the same. They can carry on picking three random blokes and see if they get on, but even if they do, the format is now tired. They've been pretty much everywhere and all the road trips are completely contrived. Like if a bit falls off someone's car there just happens to be a camera by the roadside at that exact moment. Coincidence? Yeah, sure. I remember one one of their races, Hammond and May got off a Eurostar at Waterloo (which dates it to pre 2007!) and got on a number 26 bus. They boarded a some sort of Alexander Dennis low floor thing then the interior shot was of an ex LT Metrobus that was probably 20 years older. 

 

Somehow they need a completely new format. I've no idea what that should be but preferably, as others have mentioned above, something that doesn't destroy perfectly good old cars. 

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