i think the biggest problem is they are trying too hard to make it the old top gear (as much as the expectations from audience), they just can't

 

Third episode was really good except for the Rally car segment. The rest was great. Really enjoyed it.

 

3rd Episode was good, it was all about cars none of those boring challenges.

 

ken block and ferrari f12 were good

 

Getting better, bit by bit - Evans wasn't as shouty and didn't do any Clarkson impersonations, LeBlanc looked a lot more comfortable, and they brought Rory Reed and Chris Harris on to the main show. Harris has always been one of my favorite reviewers and his take on the Ferraris was spot-on, just like his old Evo vids. The man is a car nerd, supreme auto journalist and tame racing driver, all in one. Too bad he looks a bit stilted in front of a studio audience.

 

They won't pull the plug out of smug pride.

 

Haven't watched...just no desire...but I think if they're going to make it work they're going to have to give up on the challenges and such and just stick to cars. They are what was so good with the old TopGear, but that was because of Clarkson Hammond and May...when you try and create the same experience with new people it doesn't work, and thats where you have these comparisons made.

They did loose another 500k viewers for Episode 3.

 

I agree that they won't do that since it is the BBC after all. But recent history also tells me that they're not above shuffling the deck and dealing some new cards. They pulled the plug on Clarkson didn't they?

 

The less of Evans the better. Reid and Harris could carry the show with Schmidt doing the supporting role. Really, it's only the third episode. The previous trio had a long history to bank on - the show was faltering but had been around for a long time before Clarkson rebooted it. But he didn't have to deal with a sudden decompression based on an assault and a previous history of being constantly in conflict with the management.

Now you have a reboot of a reboot. Leblanc will exit as soon as there's no more money in it for him or he gets tired of living in England.

 

Ken Block segment was pinnacle of BBC production. It was never, ever good as this.

This should have been the first episode really. No nonsense challenges, just new cars being driven by one host at a time. Thats a proper way to introduce new hosts and show their characters.

 

If you are not a fan of the new Top Gear I have noticed Jay Leno's garage on CNBC is a little like Top Gear now.

 

I think everybody just has to understand that the show is not going to reach the heights that it did before. What happened before arose naturally, it grew out of the chemistry between three hosts, and the rare personality of one. That sort of "lightning strike" is a very rare thing, and it can't be forced or created. What I saw in what I have watched is Chris Evans trying to force that, and it's come across as forced.

The challenges and trips and all worked on the old Top Gear because of the characters, much of it was ad libbed, it was a natural exchange for them. Like I said before, best thing to do is to axe those and concentrate on cars, and find what is special about these hosts, and then explore that. May not be challenges or trips. May not be "ambitious but rubbish".

And we all need to understand if they only get half the audience that's not failure. I know lots of people who are not car people but liked Top Gear, like my wife. My sister in law and brother in law loved it and they are not at all car people. They're who turned me onto it. These people probably aren't going to tune in for the new Top Gear because that comedy of the trio isn't there. And that's got to be okay.

Even me, I preferred the challenges and the trips to the car review segments. But, the reason I liked them was the hosts.

 

True. I think the Blessed Trinity could host a show about office supplies and it would be a spectacular hit.


I think the new TG with the current hosts can only work if they either A: Fire the current hosts and find ones that fit the format or B: Reformat the show. Build it around the talent that they have now.

 

C. Fire the current hosts and offer Jeremy and crew $1,000,000,000/season to come back.

 

Blessed Trinity? I respectfully disagree

I stopped watching those three years ago when Top Gear became a series of pointless stunts that were made to look adlibbed but were probably scripted down to the second, along with Clarkson doing his best potbellied baboon impressions while pretending to know how to drive a car. I don't think there was much chemistry between Clarkson, Hammond and May - the latter two were always sidekicks getting dragged along to make JC look good.

IMHO Evans is less shouty and less Clarkson-like in these new episodes but Tiff Needell would have been a better host. Keep LeBlanc for his deadpan delivery and more of Schmitz, Reid and Harris please.

And did LeBlanc spend a lot of time in the gym recently? His forearms are huge.