Watching as I type. I think it keeps getting better and better as the three of them continually develop a relationship, and they finally had a short "news" section. I'm glad someone was actually critical of a car (Foust on the Mustang) and the moonshine challenge seems decent (even though the drinking was probably faked). Discuss.
It seems to be getting better show by show, but Wood needs better writers.
Look, they're driving challenge-priced cars with Challenge-type problems.
JFX001 is right, give it time.
Yeah I'm starting to feel like maybe the problem is Rutledge himself. At first I thought Tanner and Adam would be a problem. I thought wrong.
Either way, I hope for the best and that they continually get better.
so far it seems like this episode is the best so far, and it looks like the guys are starting to get more used to one another
Until I see enough repeats to convince me it's worth it, I'll stay with sunday night football instead. Will try to catch this one later in the week.
My cable doesn't work, so I'm waiting to download it off the internets. My main concern right now is what I like better: this TG USA E3 thread, or the other TG USA E3 thread?
Sorry, I didn't see that there was another thread.
FWIW, I think the challenge for next week is wrong....clearly, technicals use toyota tacoma/hilux trucks. That would be the low budget military vehicle of choice....It should be funny to see the el camino try, though.
[edit: there wasn't....it looks like we probably started posting at the exact same minute.]
Getting better. Watching the Caddy fly was a hoot. The next one looks pretty good too.
Yeah I'm happy with how its going.
RoosterSauce wrote: My cable doesn't work, so I'm waiting to download it off the internets. My main concern right now is what I like better: this TG USA E3 thread, or the other TG USA E3 thread?
Where will you be downloading it from? Finalgear I assume?
mtn wrote:RoosterSauce wrote: My cable doesn't work, so I'm waiting to download it off the internets. My main concern right now is what I like better: this TG USA E3 thread, or the other TG USA E3 thread?Where will you be downloading it from? Finalgear I assume?
Finalgear is good, or whatever torrent I can find first.
The Tiger Woods Buick joke was super lame and some of the laughs sounded canned. Other than that it had some strong points.
They broke stuff. Being silly and nonsensical is what TG its all about so thats a win.
Stig and Tanner in the same place at the same time? Who knew.
Star in a slow car should be given a little more time. It felt rushed and getting known folks on the show makes it feel like an established destination. This bit should not be an afterthought.
Why was the Mustang not on the test track? WTF? LET THE STIG EAT!!!
It's pretty clear that the three guys are playing characters based on popular stereotypes: Rutledge is the southern redneck, Adam is the Jersey shore guido, and Tanner is the boy racer/ricer/tuner kid.
I wonder if there are similar regional stereotypes in the UK version that are lost on American viewers like myself....subtleties that I don't distinguish between. I suspect this is the case. After all, James May has admitted that they are playing characters on Top Gear UK.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23893529-james-may-top-gear-is-turning-into-a-sitcom.do
Top Gear is no longer a show about cars and is on the verge of becoming a sitcom, its co-presenter James May has admitted. The 47-year-old confirmed what many viewers have suspected - that he now plays a "character" in the hit BBC2 TV programme. He told the Radio Times that the aspect of the long-running show which inevitably featured the trio of presenters - Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and May - getting in a pickle, did irritate him. May admitted: "It's really almost a sitcom now, so we are characters ... When I started, Top Gear was a car show about cars, and I was interested in the technology but also the sociology and the artistry of them ... the shapes and the colours. "That was something I've always been into. But it's a different programme now, it's turned into something else." May, who is nicknamed Captain Slow on Top Gear because of his driving style and his tendency to get lost, added: "Ultimately we do know what we're talking about and we do let that be known occasionally. "Very subtly, every now and then, you think, 'Oh, actually, they do love their subject and they do know a bit about it'. "And when we cock about and everything goes wrong and we laugh about it, sometimes it winds me up. "I think 'Oh, for God's sake, can't we do something properly that will work, not that has to catch fire or fall over'. But I think I'm probably alone on that." May said he understood why he could not be himself on the flagship show, telling the magazine: "If I played the real me with my slightly secretive love of really nerdy things and staring at things for too long, that wouldn't make a very good Top Gear because ... well, it would make a very late-night Top Gear for people who were interested in taking cars apart." As well as Top Gear, May is presenting James May's Man Lab for BBC2, a programme which aims to help men relearn vital skills. The TV presenter and writer, who has previously warned that men could end up having only one job - to keep sperm warm - unless they relearn practical skills, said: "I'm not the same person in the two programmes." Explaining his new show, he said: "The decline of practical skills, some of them very day-to-day, among a generation of British men is very worrying - they can't put up a shelf, wire a plug, countersink a screw, iron a shirt. "They believe it's endearing and cute to be useless, whereas I think it's boring and everyone's getting sick of it."
My problem with the new TG2 is Tanner. His TV persona has always bugged me. Hence just about every TV show he does I just can not watch. He needs his TV persona re made. I dont blame him for this I believe it is a casting rut that he needs to get out of.
I have tried to sit through the show 2x now and have never made it to the second commercial brake.
Hay I know why not bring the original hosts on TG2 every now and then as guests? Not that I am any fan of Clarkson but a good verbal beat down from him would at least get me to watch.
I also think it is an age problem. The cast of TG1 are all about my age where as the cast of TG2 are much younger. The cars that TG1 reviews are ones that their audience can afford. TG2 seems to be geared (bad pun) towards a much younger audience hence the type of cars they review are what they are.
Overall better with each episode.
JoeyM wrote: I As well as Top Gear, May is presenting James May's Man Lab for BBC2, a programme which aims to help men relearn vital skills. The TV presenter and writer, who has previously warned that men could end up having only one job - to keep sperm warm - unless they relearn practical skills, said: "I'm not the same person in the two programmes." Explaining his new show, he said: "The decline of practical skills, some of them very day-to-day, among a generation of British men is very worrying - they can't put up a shelf, wire a plug, countersink a screw, iron a shirt. "They believe it's endearing and cute to be useless, whereas I think it's boring and everyone's getting sick of it."
This+++millions If ever there were words that educators needed to hear it's those. Educators include parents, too. I realize we are more of a "it's broken, throw it away" society, instead of "let's see how to fix it." so maybe it's time for a parallel program to air over here. I asked a nephew to give me a phillips screwdriver, he laughed and asked if I was giving my screwdrivers names....now, he's only 8, but still. there's a trend there. Sorrry to threadjack, but, I find the comments by a TG host most telling.
Toyman01 wrote: Getting better. Watching the Caddy BEND IN THE MIDDLE was a hoot. The next one looks pretty good too.
FYP.
As I posted in the other thread- this show is getting better every week. Not to say that there are not issues- but by the end of this season, they should be pretty comfortable. And if we are lucky, sometime in season 3, the will allow the hosts to turn the show on an American swing. Don't need it to be a dead copy of TG UK.
I enjoyed it. The hosts are getting better and I agree the Buick/Woods joke was beyond lame... especially after the first two, which while stereotypical, was at least funny.
Watching the Caddy fly was awesome.
Not doing a full test (with a Stig lap) of the Mustang was full-on FAIL, but I guess they ran out of time, although I would have gladly traded some moonshine foolery for that.
Oh... and Top Gear US is not "TG2"... it's at least "TG3".
Like I said in the other thread, more or less.
It's much, much better. I agree with the May quote up there as well; it's one reason I won't watch TGUK anymore. It's become a sitcom.
DoctorBlade wrote: Like I said in the other thread, more or less. It's much, much better. I agree with the May quote up there as well; it's one reason I won't watch TGUK anymore. It's become a sitcom.
There have certainly been times in the last three series of the UK show when I've thought, "That's it, they've jumped the shark." The bolivia episode and the vietnam one, however, gave me hope.
I think the biggest "problem" with the show is that the UK writers are writing the show. Their weak dig at themselves during the Aston Martin segment on episode 2 was terrible. Some of the dialogue is bad because its badly written. Everybody is blaming the hosts but really I think the writers are doing the most damage. It needs writers who can write jokes for American comics and an American audience.
I think dropping Adam would help, i think time will help, I think even though it pales in comparison to TGUK it is worth my time, and I do find myself laughing out loud at points...
I think you have to ask yourself what your standard is going to be.... TGUK, or whatever else you would be doing at that time on sunday.... I see it like this....
The miller light girls arent as hot as this months playmate... but I would still pick up a miller light girl and be pretty please with myself.... TGUK is playmate material, TGUS is local talent and maybe it wont EVER be as good, but that does not make it inherently BAD....
bigbens6 wrote: The miller light girls arent as hot as this months playmate... but I would still pick up a miller light girl and be pretty please with myself.... TGUK is playmate material, TGUS is local talent and maybe it wont EVER be as good, but that does not make it inherently BAD....
Your average Playboy Playmate has also been pretty much photoshopped to hell and back by the time you see her in the mag. Just a thought. 
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