Agreed, better than watching Karaoke, dancing or some other freak-show filled with false drama. I will be back.
Agreed, better than watching Karaoke, dancing or some other freak-show filled with false drama. I will be back.
rob_lewis wrote: "you're the Brian Boytano of racing" Ok, that was funny. Glad to see them making fun of his drifting background. -Rob
Yeah, I liked that. :) The clips from future shows look interesting, too.
One thing that occurred to me is even though this show is being filmed in the US, the producers didn't make them wear helmets and fire suits for the Lambo high speed runs. Heck, even on Leno's ill fated prime time show they had to wear helmets in that stupid electric car on the go cart track.
I think it has some promise, and I'll watch it again. Hopefully the hosts will develop personalities as time goes on.
Sure did stick to the original formula......not that that is bad. As previosly mentioned, a lot of vibration in the in car camera shots. Overall better than I thought it would be.
Show over....hm, that didn't feel like an hour. That whole lambo comparison the three of them did was really boring.
Best part of the show was the last minute with Stig taking the Superleggera on the track.....
Will give it another chance next week, in the hopes that it will be more interesting. That, and what else do I have to do on a sunday night....
This show would be far more entertaining with Adam Corolla in place of Adam Ferrara, and maybe someone like Xzibit in place of Rutledge, lol. I actually think it would be pretty entertaining to have a black comedian or rapper or something or maybe an Asian or Hispanic guy as one of the hosts. Not to be P.C., but because these three guys are equally bland "whitebread" and are all pretty much the same person with different physical builds, it seems. Someone who could bring a bit more "flavor" to the show would improve it.......
All in all, it was about what I expected, honestly. Which is to say I'm not necessarily disappointed, but neither am I particularly impressed.
rob_lewis wrote: The last 10 minutes were much better. My nine year old and I were laughing as soon as Adam started driving. -Rob
Did you notice he yelled "Berkely!" every time he shifted?
Interesting that the Viper put down a better track time than all 3 Lambos.
MEH . . . .
I think it needs a cool British woman who makes nice sounds when she gets excited by a car. (Sorry, just got done watching a 5th gear clip)
I'll watch it again next week. I sure hope it gets better. I was a bit disappointed.
when is the episode scheduled when the three of them go to China, buy cheap cars, and decorate them with artwork expressing "FREE TIBET," TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE," and "Communism Sucks"....and then stop for gas at a Chinese Army base.?
THAT I would want to watch, lol.
irish44j wrote: I actually think it would be pretty entertaining to have a black comedian or rapper or something or maybe an Asian or Hispanic guy as one of the hosts.
How about a black race car driver like Willy T. Ribbs? He always seemed to have a bit of a 'tude. Now that would be interesting.
http://www.willytribbs.com/
irish44j wrote: when is the episode scheduled when the three of them go to China, buy cheap cars, and decorate them with artwork expressing "FREE TIBET," TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE," and "Communism Sucks"....and then stop for gas at a Chinese Army base.? THAT I would want to watch, lol.
Or the episode that they were heavily promoting in the commercial with the giant old Cadillac sedan jumping the hill resulting in the frame getting bent.
I'm writing this as I watch the show.
The voiceover and script on the lead in is LAME!
The initial scene seemed more scripted and had less energy than TG UK, but this is the first show ever. The original TG wasn't as good. Look at the shows online and you'll see what I mean.
Tanner's stint in the Viper as he gave his impression was definitely TGlike. The car vs. helicopter is exactly like the TG UK bit. It was good in the UK and it's good here.
I wasn't a fan of going into town, seemed to set a safety precedent and possibly a point of contention for some do gooders (or sponsors) to try to get it cancelled.
Too many cuss words & bleeps!
The dark headed guy has GOT TO GO! And they all need to loosen up.
I like all 3 guys in the Suzuki all the way up to the contrived STOP STOP STOP has everyone had lunch?
I loved the Lambo segment except for the dark haired guy again. Could he talk in more of a monotone? I don't know his name and I don't even want to!
I've seen people complain about these shows testing the expensive cars, but I love that. Where else would we see them perform. We're none of us ever going to be able to do or see this any other way.
I cannot believe they didn't have instrumentation on the tests and I can't believe they didn't at least wear helmets
All in all not bad! I found myself smiling at the end of the show and wanting to see another episode.
Not...that...bad. Once I turned off my brain and forgot the original, it wasn't that bad.
My biggest beef: Get the car position "track" of the power lap. I just want to see a clear shot of the car.
I give it a B.
I'm thinking the camera vibration issue will be solved in the future and also the vibration was more a factor of the car and suspension rather than a camera issue itself. You can bet they won't let that continue.
Needs more energy between the hosts, but that should come with time.
carguy123 wrote: the vibration was more a factor of the car and suspension rather than a camera issue itself.
IDK....I've never noticed that much vibration on TG UK in-car shots, and they test the same kind of stiffly-sprung cars at the same kinds of speeds..
irish44j wrote:carguy123 wrote: the vibration was more a factor of the car and suspension rather than a camera issue itself.IDK....I've never noticed that much vibration on TG UK in-car shots, and they test the same kind of stiffly-sprung cars at the same kinds of speeds..
And they've had years and many episodes to correct the problem. I'm betting it won't be like that in many episodes. Technical problems don't last long in American TV.
Some Notes:
Test track is MUCH more technical then the UK version.
Hosting is still a bit stiff, it really could use Adam Corolla
Cinematography is good, UK version is of course excellent
In general, good, hopefully the hosting improves
What the hell is with the 10 o'clock time stop!!! (the HD was available at 7 for me though). There was lots of advertisement for it! The History channel just CAN'T give up one of their other time spots!
Buzz drove a Corvair convertible. I think the picture was wrong though, he mentioned it was early in his career and he started as NASA in 63. The convertible shown was a late 65+.
I think it's a great start..not a Adam Carrolla fan, so I'm glad he's not on there...Aldrin was cool..what else is there to watch anyway?
Well, as a huge BBC-TG fan I am left a little cold. Show seemed to loosen up a bit toward the end when they were cracking on each other but much of the the rest of the show felt plastic, fake and forced.
My hope was ALWAYS that they would get Jay Leno on the show as he is without question a car guys car guy. Witty, fun and has enough cars in his own garage to keep the show going for years. We end up with some guy who seems like he may be the older brother of one of the Jersey Shore folks, Tanner (who is obviously the new stig) and some other dude who is not near geeky enough to fill James Mays shoes.
The cinematography is a shell of the BBC version and I do not think we will see the sort of absurdity that is common on the BBC version in this show... I just don't think the History folks have the budget.
Interesting that the Viper put down a better track time than all 3 Lambos
I guess it never ceases to be interesting, but it stopped being surprising about a year or two after the viper launched 15+years ago. Lol
I usually think any car show is good, but this one didn't do anything for me. Since they have run the show a few times tonight, I actually caught the ending first, before seeing the beginning. I almost didn't bother to watch what I had missed.
Car races helicopter? Motortrend, Car and Driver do that kind of crap usually once a year, usually its car races plane, just as boring.
These guys should be forced to watch the chase scene in Bullitt for as long as it takes to get them to stop playing lame music over top the engine sounds.
As already noted, 180 miles an hour, no safety equipment, no helmet is just stupid. Absolutely just stupid.
I never watched the British version, not on my cable plan. Is this lame infomercial format what they use over there?
I see people complaining about blurry video....not sure what you are complaining about, open any car magazine today (maybe except GRM) and you will see the handiwork of stupid artists, when they're not working for Vogue, This Old House, etc, they work for car magazines. Most of the photos, except of the extreme closeups of some silly air vent or other minor detail, are usually blurry, you know, to show that the car is in motion and moving really, really fast!!!! Don't you guys get that? They're artists you know....
I shouldn't knock it since I didn't even see it but somehow I just KNOW it's bad.
I got rid of cable 5 years ago because I saw it sliding down hill fast. It seems to me like '99 or '00 was a sweet spot for us gear heads on TV..pretty much started heading south when Speedvision became Speed Channel.
IMO anything on a non-premium cable / dish channel is gonna suck. Even the stuff that isn't that bad is so watered down with commercials as to make it unwatchable. It became totally insufferable when channels like History and Travel started repeatedly playing shows like IRT and Poker Championships...WTF do either one have to do with their respective channels? Not enough bandwidth for all your garbage?
Rabbit ears and PBS...that's TV for me.
Rant over
irish44j wrote: And now they just explained who the Stig is, but without the witticisms found on the UK version. They just basically say that he is mysterious and we'll never know who he is. Shouldn't that go without saying?
Well you and I know that "Some say" the Stig UK is an alien who's knees bend backwards, who has a nipple shaped like the nurburgring, and that he forages for wolves in the middle of the night.
If they go for similar silliness with the Stig USA, it may build up over time.....start with talking about "super human reflexes" in one episode, then "alien reflexes" in the next, then, a few episodes later, "Some say that he must be an alien...."
After everyone everywhere on every blog and forum talking so much E36 M3, I actually liked the 1st episode much more than I thought I would.
I agree with the notion that the show is way better than a lot of the reality/celebrity crap we recieve from most of the major networks. Its a big part of why I generally dont watch much tv.
I was a little disappointed to the extent that its still blatantly a rip off (same opening theme song? really guys?!). I hope with some more time the show will evolve into its own. Ill be watching every week.
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