Aussie Top Gear - first episode

[Toecutter]

Anybody catch the first episode? I missed it! 

 

How did it rate vs the originla?

 

Sulio

[Zedman240®]

In my opinion, they tried to be too much like the UK one. That older character must have thought he was Jeremy Clarkson. Almost tried a half arsed English accent. You'd swear they filmed it in the UK! No intro's about who the team was, just tried their hardest to be like the original. Like vanilla ice cream....OK but gets boring after a bit....

[Hunter]

I think they were sticking to the english version because it works and makes shite loads of money.

 

"If it ain't broke why fix it"

 

They will eventually Australianise it.

[ozy]

i hope they dont ruin the franchise by sticking to the formula. i know franchise are meant to be run exactly to plan, but with the 3 most important elements missing, then they should diverge a bit. im sure in time, with ratings / confidence, then they will make it their own!

 

any links as to where i can see it.. very curious

[Robstar]

I'll be honest, I cringed a little while watching it.

 

But, I'm hoping they develop their own style and perhaps talk a little more professionally about the cars over time. I guess they just lack a little experience, can't be perfect right off the bat obviously! Hahaha, but holdens vs fords soon? I mean, who didn't see that one coming.

[260Coupe]

As with every other Pommy show they try and replicate here in Australia.....end result can only be described as lame.  ......and as for that really little beardy bloke ........was I the only one who found him incredibly irritating  .

[PZG302]

Charlie Cox sounds like a Pom because he has spent the greater part of the last 20 years either full time in England or living between England and Australia.

 

I reckon give it a couple of more episodes to find it's feet, I bet you see the hosts settled down into their own roles with their own quirks.

 

At least they have kept the production qualities of the original. Will aslo be good to see some Aussie cars in the comaprisons, will be intersting to see the Holden Ford comparos and what breaks on each as they thrash them around.

[chris240]

content was 8.5/10

presenters 4/10...

Id have preferred they get an oldie Aussie racedriver as a presenter..Gricey, Bowe , Dicky Johnson...someone with "real" character , not fake.

[Spartan Warrior]

Australia needs to do itself a favour and not air another show, I for one will not be watching it again as I treasure both my sanity and eyesight, it was boring and lame, who chose the presenters? In fact I am trying to remember what was on the program, hmm it must have been really bad.

 

Anyway my son and I had a laugh at the so called Stig's performance on the airfield, poorly shot, poor driving, the plane moving in the background was more interesting, in fact had this have been a pilot show I am hoping that it would have been canned!

 

 

[George]

judging by the response around the net, it's a dud.

[RBZ 260]

i havent seen it but will dowload it and check it out tonight. but doesn't look good for the oz top gear.

 

as for presenters i dont think they should have ex race drivers. cause in original top gear the presenters are normal people and not ex race drivers where normal ppl can relate to.thats what made top gear what it is.

 

but stig he sounds hopeless as this is where they should get someone from the v8 supercars to test their cars and prob not an ex racer but a current someone with balls.

 

lets hope it improves. eagerly wating to check it out but I dont have big expectations of it by the sound of things over the net.

 

how many ppl seen Car Show by Glen Ridge. I have to change channel as it bores me to death with their safety crap.

 

[Zeddophile]

I found for the most part it was exactly like any other Australian car show - lacking in passion.  For example, The Car Show on 9 - all the presenters talk in a bored monotone, and manage to make the few interesting cars they get on completely drab and boring.  They could be telling me about a supercar with 850hp, getting 5l/100km, lapping the nurburgring in 4 minutes and costing $5,000, and I'd fall asleep and think the car was about as interesting as brown dirt.

 

Top Gear UK however, has presenters that spend so much time jumping up and down and talking flat out that it somehow manages to make a review of a Ford Mondeo quite interesting, despite the fact its a pile of puss.

 

If they wanted a decent Aussie motoring show, they should have started from scratch, and got some excitable, passionate car nuts to present it.  Sure, take an element or segment idea here or there, but start it all as a new show.

 

As they've gone about it, they've taken a show with a huge cult following and tried to carbon copy it - with the predictable result of being set an impossibly high level of expectations to live up to from day one.  Fans of the original top gear were always going to be watching it at the start and noting all the ways its just not as interesting.  And now there is a Holden v Ford in the second episode (I'm amazed they avoided the words 'Ford' and 'Holden' for a whole episode), that's likely to cull a large part of the audience who were tempted to see if it improves over time.

 

As well it may do, with a couple more episodes under the belt, it might lose the sterilised feel and become enjoyable - but it will take some considerable time after that to draw those viewers back who watched the first one hoping for a true copy of the English top gear.  I saw very few people in the studio audience laughing, most of the time they looked like they were waiting for a bus.

 

All that aside, there were a few small things that amused me - the old guy jumping the softroader over the finish line, the little comment of "more like a Latvian thud than a Scandanavian flick", and the message on the board when underwater in the Moke  "Bloody lucas electrics are useless in the wet."

I wonder if they'll continue to get manufacturer or dealer support after starting the Lambo up and revving the crap out of it dead cold.

[ozy]

I wonder if they'll continue to get manufacturer or dealer support after starting the Lambo up and revving the crap out of it dead cold.

 

dont orget the manufacturers tried to bully clarkson too. the original topgear was a more sober affair, but it had JC. now, he destroyed vauxhall(general motors) or ford, i cant remember, and they refused to give cars to TG, then they had to allow after the bad publicity JC gave them regarding their protectionist attitude.

 

anyway, rover tried to stop the TG boys from review their "citycar?" that was made in singapore i think and they just got a rental and filmed it by secret camera!

 

same with the enzo, they borrowed one from a guy that got to buy it.

 

but you can only get away with it if you have a large audience, and that needs charisma!

[V8Datto]

It's a shame, I've watched the UK Top Gear since the three current presenters have been on it, and loved every minute of it, But there is just no way the Aus version will come any where close.

IMO there are three vital things they need, 1. A decent script writer, 2. Three good presenters, and 3. Money (and I mean lots of money)

At the moment they have none of the above, maybe things will change, I hope..

 

I give it 5/10 content

3/10 presenters (One point each)

[RBZ 260]

well i downloaded it but only managed to check first 5 min or so.

 

nowhere near as good as Uk top gear but HELL of a lot better than Carshow.

 

so for the first 5 min its watchable. dont like the look of presenters seem bit too cooky and try hard but i guess they grow in future episodes.

 

ill watch the rest tonight