I hate this new series.
Top Gear's old presenters were well loved by the TG fan base. For Chris Evans to come out and make jokes about why the old series got cancelled 30 seconds into taking over came across as being a real c***. Evans' shouty delivery of his lines comes across as irritating rather than enthusiastic and he seems to have real difficulty driving and saying something meaningful at the same time. The review of the Viper ACR was pretty telling of this fact. He went on about downforce for most of the segment. It makes a ton of downforce FINE, stop labouring that fact. I would like a description about how the car FEELS to drive, what the steering is like, how rowing through the shifter feels, how the brakes feel and a good lot about how the car handles. We got none of this. Just some bulls*** about downforce on a roadcar where downforce mostly doesn't matter. The videography actually seems to be better in this series than the old ones, there are some really great setpiece shots in all of the segments but they seem utterly ruined by some abysmal driving. The rapid cuts try and make up for the fact that Evans' just isn't very good at driving fast cars, they try and make boring driving seem interesting but the piece ends up feeling disjointed. The race between Sabine and Chris should have been a cakewalk. Evans is running track slicks and Sabine only has the stock supersports on the Vette and yet Evans actually has trouble outrunning her. Pretty pathetic.
Matt is fun to watch, he brings some good humour into the show and seems genuinely likeable. I liked that he actually brought some description into how the Nomad felt and what the point of the vehicle was. Clever use of the Stig in that segment.
The interview, very little in the way of actual interviewing in the SIARPC segment for 2 very different and interesting people. Jesse Eisenberg was badly underused and Gordon Ramsey seemed really ready to have a real car discussion that never eventuated.
Sabine Schmidt was very likeable but seemed awkward on camera. I felt like she was underused.
The cutaways to the audience clapping and laughing during the midsegments felt awkward and made the show feel disjointed. Yes we f***ing get it, it's a live studio audience. No one cares, focus on the presenters. The studio itself felt too brightly lit and cameramen kept walking into frame. That felt amateurish for a BBC production.
The Willys vs Landy challenge/Reliant challenge. Felt forced and very boring. The Top Gun sequence was done by Clarkson/May/Hammond using REAL aircraft in the USA Roadtrip. Meh.
Overall thoughts? It's a shitty version of what the old show was. Chris Evans is an awful car presenter (Why are they not using Chris Harris? What the f***? Really?). He is actively unlikeable in the way that he bags on the old TG crew and yet does a horrible job of imitating them. He doesn't seem to know how to drive properly either. Matt LeBlanc is likeable but he doesn't have someone good to play off. Sabine was always great but she needs more screen time. Also where the hell is Chris Harris? I very much doubt I will be watching this show from now on and I'm hoping the BBC bury the Top Gear brand and give it a dignified death.
Bring on The Grand Tour.
