US Top Gear premieres Sunday, 11/ 21, at 10/9c

Reading this thread has made me realize one thing...

I must be the only person on earth who likes the first season of top gear & the nameless fat man. I would have thought he would get at least some love from this board, considering his whole thing was giving advice on how to get good deals on fun cars..

I wish Carolla had been able to do it. On his podcast he said he was under another contract that wouldn't allow it. I have been listening to his car podcast (car cast) for a few weeks now and it is really good. He is definitely entertaining, and a very proper gear head.

Missed sundays episode.... wasn't busy just apparently did not bother to figure out when it was on and tune in. It does seem like I should check it out though.

All I have to say it is better then 99.9% of crap on TV. Actually excluding BBC America and Comedy Central (although I have yet to watch Walking Dead), I am pretty sure it is the best show on.

The poster formally known as 96DXCivic wrote: All I have to say it is better then 99.9% of crap on TV. Actually excluding BBC America and Comedy Central (although I have yet to watch Walking Dead), I am pretty sure it is the best show on.

wow, based on the first episode, it would rank someplace between 50 and 60 or so for me. And I almost never watch network TV except for sports (and I'll groups each sport as a single show for the purpose of argument. There are alot of good shows out there, you just need to look. They are everywhere from NatGeo to Discovery to USA to premium cable channels. Very few are on a major network. And NONE are "reality" or "competition" shows, that's for sure.

A few that I particularly like recently on BBC, since you watch it: "Sherlock Holmes" - the new one, not the old ones, and Law&Order:UK is actually pretty cool - same format, much more interesting than the US version...

so now totally O/T, lol.

In reply to irish44j:

Other then sports what good shows are there on TV?

Saw bits of it, but I found the Eagles vs Giants game more entertaining and I am Giants fan (they lost). I rarely find the U.S. version of a British program as entertaining as the original. The show has potential was a bit too much "hey dude" for me. The fact that I am a first (full) generation American (my grandparents came here in the 1920s with two of their eventual 8 kids in tow) and most of my extended family resides in Staffordshire probably has much to to with it. Heck, I didn't realized my grandparents has accents until I was 13.

Seriously though, it was a good first effort and was made for a U.S. audience that has a different sense of humor.

And now for something completely different.

In reply to irish44j:

The new Sherlock Holmes, (just called "Sherlock" I think), was very entertaining. Another great BBC cop show is "Luther". Refreshingly different to US cop shows...but nothing like 'The Bill' .

irish44j wrote: IDK, a car show that isn't enjoyable to watch isn't an improvement over "no car show" in my book. That's like saying "Hey, the Hyundai Excel was a lousy car, but it was better that they made a lousy car than no car at all and having one less model on the market!"

Hah, I'll top that with one of Clarkson's own quotes: "This is the Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Ooh good I’ve got syphilis, the BEST of the sexually transmitted diseases.’” "

The poster formally known as 96DXCivic wrote: In reply to irish44j: Other then sports what good shows are there on TV?

I guess it depends on what you're into, and how you define a "good" show, doesn't it?

I'm not much for sitcoms, and hate reality/game/competition shows generally. I'll watch Dexter on Showtime. I'll watch White Collar on USA. There are a billion movies on TV, some new some old but many good. I'll watch some deadliest catch or ice road truckers - as close as I'll get to "reality" tv since it's not much scripted. I'll watch nature shows.....IDK what to tell you. Depends on what you like.

Here's a Clarkson quote: “This car is more fun than the entire French air force crashing into a firework factory.” A really, really funny quote...

Now here's the same quote adjusted for North America: “This car is more fun than the entire Mexican/Canadian/British air force crashing into a firework factory.”

If you guys can tell me we'll ever, EVER, hear this on the show, it might stand a chance. I think we'll never, ever, hear it due to living in such a PC culture. Hell, it's much the reason why we watch the BBC version, knowing they have the freedom (ironic, no?) to say what they think. Ain't going to happen here or people would cry to the sponsors and funding would dry up.

The show has potential, but the yesterday's episode's humor was juvenile and simple. The humor is at the expense of some group or person. I guess very American. I was waiting for white men drive like this, and black men drive like this...blah blah blah

Luke wrote: In reply to irish44j: The new Sherlock Holmes, (just called "Sherlock" I think), was very entertaining. Another great BBC cop show is "Luther". Refreshingly different to US cop shows...but nothing like 'The Bill' .

yeah, "Sherlock" it is....too bad they've only made like 4 episodes so far. They've done a great job of taking the original stories and just using them as a basis for modern ones, without following very closely. The originals are classics and brilliant, but the remakes are very smart as well.

I'll have to check out "Luther"

Simply put, I will watch again. And wait for Adam C. to be available. Tim Allen would be good. Hadn't thought of him.

vwcorvette wrote: Tim Allen would be good. Hadn't thought of him.

Holy god that would be awesome!

How about Joel McHale? The guy is a gearhead as well. He had a highly modified WRX STI hatch a few months back.

I'm not sure if he's the "right" kind of humor, but i know i'd watch it.

I was not expecting the show to rival it's UK counterpart. That show has had a lot of time to develop and mature, like any successful show. The Australian version has gone through a few hosts, and perhaps they will get there by getting rid of the drifter-yo hots and realize that it is us 40-somethings that made Top Gear a worldwide phenom. (Why do you think their hosts are a bit older?)

I do think they could have had hosts with some personality however, or at least a pulse! I can't believe how unphased they all were by landing the greatest gig on the planet. Dudes, wake up!

I will say that it was an hour-long show about cars, and the beginning summed it up perfectly: no one was getting voted off or was singing. Thank goodness. I would watch an hour of Lamborghinis racing around with nothing more than the voice-over from The Wonder Years.

You don't need gearheads to make a show like this work. You could replace Adam with even an unknown, an unknown with some character and not afraid to speak his/her mind. I wouldn't mind seeing a girl in Adam's place.

I see no reason to have a girl or a person of a certain color or race, only someone who is funny (not really a comedian), not afraid to speak their minds and someone who will get along with the group.

Having Leno, Allen and Carolla hosting TG would make the movie "Titanic" look like a small budget film! This is History Channel not half time of the Super Bowl.

Yeah they would all be good, but I doubt that they would work for the love of cars! I am sure the producers expect to make a profit.

Leno has already said he won't do it since he loves the UK version so much.

Allen might not be that expensive right now...

While I respect Carolla as a 'car guy' I haven't been impressed with anything else he's done.

Let's see how the current team does over the rest of the season before we start replacing them.

Lame.

There's another one I can cross of my 'to watch' list. Rather watch the British series in rerun.

Trying to think of any British show that was remade in American version and it was better than the original. Coming up pretty dry.....

wspohn wrote: Trying to think of any British show that was remade in American version and it was better than the original. Coming up pretty dry.....

The Office. I find the the original British version is almost painful to watch. Not that I really enjoy the US version either.

I'm curious to see what the US version of Being Human is like. The UK version is cute... but I'm not sure it was worthy of a re-make.

Ian F wrote:

wspohn wrote: Trying to think of any British show that was remade in American version and it was better than the original. Coming up pretty dry.....

The Office. I find the the original British version is almost painful to watch. Not that I really enjoy the US version either. I'm curious to see what the US version of Being Human is like. The UK version is cute... but I'm not sure it was worthy of a re-make.

I can't stand either version personally, though Ricky Gervais is actually funny sometimes, unlike Steve Carrell. That guy is a one trick pony that just had its one trick cut off.

After much thought I've decided I'd rather have Tim Taylor than Tim Allen.

It would make for a much better show.

mndsm wrote: I can't stand either version personally, though Ricky Gervais is actually funny sometimes, unlike Steve Carrell. That guy is a one trick pony that just had its one trick cut off.

I agree. But that character is supposed to be annoying... and best played by an annoying actor - which the producers accomplished in both versions. However, from the few times I've watched them the supporting cast in the US version is less annoying.

I just figured out what they need to do:

Replace Adam F (or big Lurch) with Vicki Butler...... 1. she can drive 2. she clearly knows more about cars 3. she has a british accent 4. she was part of the old TG for retro appeal 5. she's not hard on the eyes 6. Isn't she married to a TG director or something....so she's already intimately connected to the brand....

PROFIT!

carguy123 wrote: You could replace Adam with even an unknown, an unknown with some character and not afraid to speak his/her mind...

The way things are set up here, I do not think we will ever see a TV host on a US show that "speaks their mind."