The "Top Gear", Season 24/25/26 thread
- Thread starter Django x2
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Soldato
I've been watching maybe 10 years, that's all I know it as?! Yeah, I quite enjoyed it. You can see they're all genuinely having a great time.
Man of Honour
Same here, I've never known it to be anything else.
Soldato
I found it funny, surely by now anyone expecting a car review program must realize they are watching the wrong thing? 
I don't expect a review. I just expect the car, in some form or another, to factor into the program. 45 minutes of the program was dedicated to the BMW, Tesla and Volvo and what did we get from that? Or to put it another way, swap those for a 2005 Mondeo, Vectra and Passat and what would the difference have been? Nothing, because the cars were just something to clamber over and **** in.I found it funny, surely by now anyone expecting a car review program must realize they are watching the wrong thing?
I know they are only press demo cars but the wanton damage reminds me of when I used to work with kids who got kicked out of school. Stamping all over them, whacking the doors into each other while playing 'hot lava' with the floor
, coating the inside with coke and bodily fluids, driving it like an ape and smashing the side off it. Even the hot laps which might have given us the slightest insight into something car related were ruined by tooling around.The script having Harris as the bullied nerd because he's into cars seems an odd direction to take... in a car show
Its only a TV show so I don't really care, my biggest annoyance was that it was this or Long Way Up with my hour of TV time and I definitely picked the wrong one!
Soldato
But as said, where have you been for the last 10 years? You're posting like you're surprised or this is some new direction they've gone in?
Man of Honour
I started watching it because it wasn't about cars, it was about Clarkson and his mates messing about.
I don't expect a review. I just expect the car, in some form or another, to factor into the program. 45 minutes of the program was dedicated to the BMW, Tesla and Volvo and what did we get from that? Or to put it another way, swap those for a 2005 Mondeo, Vectra and Passat and what would the difference have been? Nothing, because the cars were just something to clamber over and **** in.
I know they are only press demo cars but the wanton damage reminds me of when I used to work with kids who got kicked out of school. Stamping all over them, whacking the doors into each other while playing 'hot lava' with the floor
The script having Harris as the bullied nerd because he's into cars seems an odd direction to take... in a car show
Its only a TV show so I don't really care, my biggest annoyance was that it was this or Long Way Up with my hour of TV time and I definitely picked the wrong one!
Totally agree with you.
There is definitely a difference between an entertainment show that uses cars (as opposed to any form of review), and the puerile behaviour at times in the first episode.
Soldato
Agreed. If it was all about car reviews, I probably wouldn't be watching it.
I think the level of humour is on par with the 15 year old kids in the Inbetweeners. I enjoy a bit of stupid humour from time to time but this was just absolute tosh. At least the old trio had a bit of charm and intelligence about them.
It is still a car show though. I don't expect relevant consumer advice but I do expect the vehicles used to be of at least some relevance. You could have completed half the stuff in that 45 minute segment with three cardboard boxes for them to clamber over and for Flintoff to take a **** in / McGuinness to cover in coke. What really was the relevance of the "company car" aspect of it? Again I'm not looking for consumer advice, just some comprehension of what the narrative was meant to be. All I got from it was that Bolton can remain on my list of places I don't need to visit and that randomly picking things from previous episodes of Top Gear doesn't automatically translate into something entertaining.
Some of the intro clips looked quite good and interesting so I hope that they just got that episode out of the way early and now they can show something entertaining.
Honestly their biggest mistake is to try and copy the Clarkson, May and Hammond trio. Flintoff and McGuinness playing the school bully to a rather sad car nerd character in the form of Harris doesn't really translate in the same way. Plus rehashing the same old features is just tired now. They need to innovate and mix it up a bit.
You're all so old, Top Gear put out car reviews all the time on their website, YouTube etc. their 1hr slot on TV is purely entertainment for all ages.
I liked this episode, had me creasing quite a few times although the childish behaviour is a lot less infantile and a lot more laddish than the original 3 which is much harder to watch.
Doing good these 3 together, consistently a good watch
I liked this episode, had me creasing quite a few times although the childish behaviour is a lot less infantile and a lot more laddish than the original 3 which is much harder to watch.
Doing good these 3 together, consistently a good watch
Soldato
Again, I don't get how you're surprised by it's contents? It's been like this for years and years. It's a show based around cars, yes. It was.
Soldato
It's gone too northern for most people I think. Paddy and Freddy and really strong personalities that really mostly appeal to us indigenous north westerners. Personally I've really enjoyed it.
The problem is even with the old gang the formula was getting stretched a little thin with the viewers but there's only so much you can do when arsing about in cars which is the whole premise of the show. Even the super car pieces don't impress as nearly all of them go sideways fast and sound good doing it, you could put Harris in any car and the "review" would be the same
I hope they do more informative pieces such as celebrating certain cars, drivers or teams from motorsports. I have always liked those as a detachment from the foolery. Clarkson did them well. Otherwise it's the same show with stunts, challenges and spotlights on the latest cars we mostly can't afford and I enjoy that.
The problem is even with the old gang the formula was getting stretched a little thin with the viewers but there's only so much you can do when arsing about in cars which is the whole premise of the show. Even the super car pieces don't impress as nearly all of them go sideways fast and sound good doing it, you could put Harris in any car and the "review" would be the same
I hope they do more informative pieces such as celebrating certain cars, drivers or teams from motorsports. I have always liked those as a detachment from the foolery. Clarkson did them well. Otherwise it's the same show with stunts, challenges and spotlights on the latest cars we mostly can't afford and I enjoy that.
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Soldato
It’s borderline between hilarious and cringe... with some cars. Perfect TV for me.
I'm sure the car challenge episodes will be much better but for me the main feature was just 45 minutes of nothing interspersed with 15 minutes of generic 'doing skids' by Harris.
This trio can work well when they all pull together on the challenges. The Christmas special I thought was pretty good for example.
Yeah, I really like those too. These and the challenges are why I'll carry on watching. Not to LOL at Freddy Flintoff rubbing his urine soaked crotch against a wincing Harris.
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Associate
It really hasn't. I don't think any of us are expecting it to go back to the "old" top gear or even fifth gear style of drab reviews, but it hasn't been like this for 10 years at all. It's got massively more childish since these three took over, and whilst I had hoped it would improve as time went on, if anything it's going the other way.
The jokes are fine, and I could even cope with the wetting himself gag. But as others have said, the BMW, vs Tesla, Vs Volvo might as well have been a bunch of 20 year old £1000 saloons and you wouldn't have been able to tell the differnce. Keep the silly karoke, keep the wee wee jokes, and remove the stupid ripped pants climbing from car to car scense and give us a bit more about the cars! It could easily go back to a middle ground giving us just a bit more information about the cars thmeselves and keeping the gags without having to be as over the top childish as it is now.
Associate
I really enjoyed it. Just easy watching, entertaining tv perfect for a Sunday night. Maybe it helps I'm northern and from God's county as Freddie describes it, but I think the trio are entertaining. I laughed quite a bit even if some of it was a bit childish. If it's not for you, just don't watch?
Soldato
Didn't Clarkson and co write 'I am gay' or something along those lines, on each others car while driving through the deep south of America? I think perhaps we need to agree to disagree and move on?
**EDIT** You know what, I will concede though, it would have been nice to have a little more information on the cars. I still stand by the format and silliness, but give us 20 seconds or so about the car, how much they are, were the Volvo and BMW hybird? They didn't charge, just fill up with petrol, but surely the Volvo needs to elec power to get to 400bhp, or whatever it was?
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