Agree with others. Copying the previous format was a big mistake. Evans is annoying. I thought they had a boatload of new presenters? Perhaps they'll be dribbled in over time.
A points it was complete cringe. Chris just isn't a good enough motoring journalist to keep Top Gear going. All he does is shout as a way to force the punchline of bad jokes/writing.
I like Matt Le Blanc... If I take a positive spin I think he held it up. But agreed Evans is forcing it... It's only the first episode and it seemed like it had already run out of ideas.... I'll keep watching as Le Blanc is OK.... I'm hoping it will get better... Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
Even though I'd grown to despise Top Gear as it morphed from entertaining motoring journalism to some kind of terrible crowd pleasing stunt monster, it had 'something'. Having watched last nights episode it was fairly clear what that 'something' was. It wasnt that the 3 buffoons were no longer there, it was that the history of WHY the show had become its current self was gone. Even more significant is that it turns out (surprise surprise) you really have to know your onions in order to make cheap gags work. Behind the stale Tom foolery the 3 buffoons were churning out was decades of knowledge gleaned from automotive journalism. Surrounding the slapstick scripts were their little comments, quips and factoids that, looking back, I'd failed to notice in recent years as my love and viewing patience for the show had dwindled in inverse proportion to its global popularity. The absence of this rich motoring journalism history, no matter how dumbed down it had become, was painfully evident. What remains to be seen is whether Evans has learned anything worth sharing while throwing his cash at vehicles.
Some degree of motoring knowledge and that of the car industry and markets in general, gleaned over many years of motoring journalism, is not easy to replace. Enthusiasm does not make up for such shortfalls, no matter how funny you think you are. Felt even more contrived than before, lacking the underpinnings of credibility of a sound and extensive background on all things four wheeled. Personally I think they should ditch Evans and give the job to Harris, who is eminently better qualified to do the job and what's more can drive rings around the others, literally.
Its an entertainment. Show, not a car show. Hasnt been that for 10 years. Just a shame it missed the mark on that too. Le Blanc is exactky what an american sterotype is: gung ho and arrogant, but he is quite funny with it. But then I liked him in Steven Mangan's Episodes
I agree with most of the above. Evans is annoying, it's forced etc. But the saddest thing of all is..................I know I'll continue to watch it and already have it on series link. :Bag:
I stopped tuning into R2 when Mr Evans came along. I will grant him the Don't forget your toothbrush was a great tv show, and he had a great morning slot on GLR radio along time ago too. Other than that he is strangely annoying, he has never grown up and seems to behave the way he does to try and get popularity, like in junior school days.
Noone at the BBC was brave enough to change a tired format La Blanc was better than I expected and I can see him being quite funny Evans looks like he's delivering someone else's script (he probably is) but it's a script written for Clarkson not him Each segment was trying desperately hard to do something impressive but missing the mark by a mile (guns on cars.....really?! We're not 4!) The studio segments missed continuity all over the place and the film with the Reliants was badly introduced with no explanation of what they were doing. Did anyone else realise they were going to do anything once they got to Blackpool? I hate that it was that bad it made me miss the old presenters (apparently from May....he's actually quite likable) Meanwhile at Amazon
Evans has a lot to be admired for. Genuine talent that took him from a council estate strip-a-gram to multi millionaire owner of a Radio station and married to a schoolgirl, oops sorry Billie (Yewtree anyone....). When he took on R2 from Wogan, I listened for the first year or so, may be less, but it was the same program exactly every morning. Every morning. Now I know this is often the same for most shows (Simon Mayo drive time for example, that I only listen to on a Friday now) but his more so than any other
Presumably the entire series has been filmed so why did they make / edit such an abysmal first show ? Are they saving the best till later or was that the best ? I have left it on series record, for now, but I suspect there will be a lot of fast forwarding.
I hated it and wont watch it anymore, I cant stand evans he is flipping annoying total crap now in my view
evans now misses a lot of his morning shows, which is the best thing i can say about the new flop gear. blanc plays the same idiot he did in friends and evans is a bigger twat than ever. the beeb should have just pulled the plug rather than TRY to prove that the show can go on.
I think Clarkson wrote the scripts for the old show himself and his show persona was an act. Evans can't write, present or act - even hamming it. It was never going to work.
"New" Top Gear ? Really ? The "Top Gun" thing ? Been done better already (at least twice), with an Apache attack helicopter and with a Challenger battle tank. Reliants ? Been done... Road trip to Blackpool ? Been done... Old Land Rovers ? Been done... Driving 4x4's up mountains ? Been done... Off roaders being chased by a motorcross bike - been done (and with Ken Block driving)... The only new thing was the "star in a rallycross car" - which turned out to be a standard Mini in road trim driving on the grass. Dull, boring, lacking in new ideas... Far too scripted, forced and missing all the things that made the previous version so great. Worse than expected, actually. I'll be surprised if it survives one series.
Yep, I thought that when it was said that the writers wrote for Clarkson. Iirc, Calrkson and Andy Willman wrote the show. When Ben Collins (Stig) left the show, he said that Jeremy Clarkson put an enormous ammount of effort into the show behind the scenes. Clarkson also has a journalistic background, so knows how to write and; his newspaper columns have been compiled into many top selling books. Whatever people think of Clarkson (I've always liked him and thought the school boy persona is just an act), he is a very talented writer and presenter. I think it's just fashionable to slate him.
Watched it out of curiosity and switched off before the end. Evans constantly yelling doesn't compensate for his and the shows complete lack of charisma. With a US presenter, the first feature based in the US, with US cars, and the 80's US military/movie nostalgia, it's a forewarning of where the show is heading.
