The Top Gear Thread [Mixed Reviews]: Matt LeBlanc quits Top Gear

I thought the last series was fine, though Evans didn't really fit.

First episode of this new series: also fine. I won't go out of my way to watch it, but it's a perfectly acceptable programme. Time to stop comparing to the old show, and just take it for what it is.

Studio bits - crap, celeb - crap (as usual), features - decent. That Rory dude is a bit annoying because he really hams it up with the whole 'Im supposed to be young and cool' thing, despite being not that.

Ill give it a few more episodes to ease in. Though tbf, this kind of thing needs at least a season to gel and tweak.

The studio bit was average, not terrible but just seems very unnecessary.

I like McAvoy so the guest didn’t grate on me too much but the whole lap thing just seems tired now. I don’t need to see a celebrity guess on a car show and I don’t give a gooseberry fool if some bird out of TOWIE is faster than the bloke that play Professor X in the movies.

I enjoyed the episode as a whole though. Top Gear and the Grand Tour are at their best when the presenters are out driving around an exotic location or competing in a silly challenge.

Rory and Chris were good, Matt is a little wooden but not enough to really bother me.

I thought it was fairly by-the-numbers but entertaining nonetheless. Certainly better without Chris Evans and it didn't descend into some of the staged bollocks in the Grand Tour that I skipped through every week like the fake celebrity deaths.

It was alright, but I am hoping it will be improving in time.

As I said in the car thread last week:

rinks wrote:...On a more positive note: I kind of want an Alfa Giulia.

It was alright, but for it is a little too much car show and not enough entertainment silly. I like the more entertainment thing with cars in there as a I don't really give much of a crap about cars so it was very really about that.

Not a bad start point though so maybe as they build some friendship it will work.

I really enjoyed that.

Alfa bit was ace, the slide was beautiful, celeb segment didn't suck the life out of the show and the Porsche Lamborghini face off was just a celebration of two cool cars.

A definite step up on the first episode and I was generally positive about that already.

Errkal wrote:It was alright, but for it is a little too much car show and not enough entertainment silly. I like the more entertainment thing with cars in there as a I don't really give much of a crap about cars so it was very really about that.

Not a bad start point though so maybe as they build some friendship it will work.

>Watches Car show
>Complains it's about Cars

In fairness, old top gear made a huge shift towards being about the humour and banter..
I'm glad that new top gear is about cars again.

The guys have gelled pretty well and it is so, so, so much better without Chris Evans.
I even prefer it to the Grand Tour, so the BBC have nailed it in my opinion.

LewisD wrote:
Errkal wrote:It was alright, but for it is a little too much car show and not enough entertainment silly. I like the more entertainment thing with cars in there as a I don't really give much of a crap about cars so it was very really about that.

Not a bad start point though so maybe as they build some friendship it will work.

>Watches Car show
>Complains it's about Cars

In fairness, old top gear made a huge shift towards being about the humour and banter..
I'm glad that new top gear is about cars again.

The guys have gelled pretty well and it is so, so, so much better without Chris Evans.
I even prefer it to the Grand Tour, so the BBC have nailed it in my opinion.

I'm not complaining, it isn't bad at all, but it is shifted more that way and it's just not why I wanted top gear, for some you for example it's a good move, for others not. Each to there own and all that.

I like seeing and hearing the cars so I'll probably still watch, and I'm glad they found something that worked, Evans changed too much this feels about right, it has shifted to better match the presenters strengths.

LewisD wrote:In fairness, old top gear made a huge shift towards being about the humour and banter..
I'm glad that new top gear is about cars again.

Old Top Gear was all about the cars.
Old New Top Gear was mostly entertainment.
New New Top Gear is a bit of both but is still closer to Old New Top Gear than Old Top Gear.

If you want a car show that's not about cars then watch The Grand Tour.

Or if you want a car show that is not about engines, just watch Matt Leblanc roll down a hill on Top Gear.

I think they've got a good balance.

I liked the first episode and Im looking forward to watching the rest of the series. As said its much better since they dumped Evans and a further improvement would be to dump or seriously revamp the celebrity bit. One of the reason I Sky+ it is so I can skip the celebrity lap. If they absolutely have to do celebrity stuff Id much prefer they include them in challenges or some other taped segment, the lap stuff is a bit gooseberry fool at this stage.

I still haven't watched a single episode of the last series, was it any good?

Rax wrote:I liked the first episode and Im looking forward to watching the rest of the series. As said its much better since they dumped Evans and a further improvement would be to dump or seriously revamp the celebrity bit. One of the reason I Sky+ it is so I can skip the celebrity lap. If they absolutely have to do celebrity stuff Id much prefer they include them in challenges or some other taped segment, the lap stuff is a bit gooseberry fool at this stage.

It might just be a GRcade thing, but the most complained about part of Top Gear, even in the Clarkson days, was the celebrity lap. Which they seem to have extended in the new series, by making them a studio guest and showing their training.

I find it a bit dull but it has been helped by McAvoy and Tennant being decent guests.

Moggy wrote:
Rax wrote:I liked the first episode and Im looking forward to watching the rest of the series. As said its much better since they dumped Evans and a further improvement would be to dump or seriously revamp the celebrity bit. One of the reason I Sky+ it is so I can skip the celebrity lap. If they absolutely have to do celebrity stuff Id much prefer they include them in challenges or some other taped segment, the lap stuff is a bit gooseberry fool at this stage.

It might just be a GRcade thing, but the most complained about part of Top Gear, even in the Clarkson days, was the celebrity lap. Which they seem to have extended in the new series, by making them a studio guest and showing their training.

I find it a bit dull but it has been helped by McAvoy and Tennant being decent guests.

I used to like the celebrity lap, I would never have called it the highlight but there were times when it was interesting but I think it has just run its course. Its become stale and predictable, last season when it went to a rallycross circuit just seemed like desperation, trying to inject some interest into a bad idea. If they have to do some celebrity nonsense then why not mix it up, have them do some stunt driving or some precision maneuvers. It might not work but it would at least show theyre trying and its better than yet another celebrity doing a lap in a stupid car.

In the latter years of the Clarkson era, it just became a vehicle (ha!) for the celebs to plug their latest movie/book/show, which was always boring.

They need the celebrity bit because the production companies pay the BBC to let them plug their new film or album or whatever.

The Top Gear Thread [Mixed Reviews]: Matt LeBlanc quits Top Gear

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