American (TOP GEAR) starts tonight

New (American version) of the BBC's popular car show series TOP GEAR starts tonight on the history channel. I hope it lives up to the hype. I love the orignal TOP GEAR just hope it's not Lame like other American car show's.

Arrrg. If its anything like the Ausy Top Gear, don't bother, Its terrible.

They made a pilot about a year ago with Adam Carrolla but it came out right before the Auto crash so they decided to not release it. When it came time to do it again none of the original announcers were available so this is going out with a cast of second choices.... I'm not holding too much hope of this being any good.

I liked it a lot. That viper is insane on the track and the Merci is just plane sick!

I'll have to give it a couple of more watches. I didn't really like the first episode, but I didn't hate it either. I think the 3 hosts will ruin it for me though. Still, better than most of the crap on TV these days.

I thought it was terrible. I have never felt like the hosts on the real Top Gear were actors trying to do something. Yes, they were involved in bad skits and such, but I felt like these guys were just terrible at trying to be like the Brits. I ended up turning away from it and watching real Top Gear that I had already seen from a few season ago on the DVR...

I was some what taken back at the complete lack of creativity. They took the best AND worst part's of the orignal and morphed them into the Americian version.

I would have liked the show to be hosted by profesional race car drivers. Tanner foust is a pro but that's it. The other 2 guys seemd to have taken on the same dorky rolls as the BBC show has.

Travis Pastrana and Danaka Patrick would have been cool host's IMO

The American Stig looks a bit short and thick. But like jaegermaster said better than most of the crap on TV these days.

Thank god the days of COUNTLESS chopper Build offs are long gone

I was less than impressed. I think what made the Brit show so good was the three hosts.

agreed, the helicopter and viper thing was soooo incredibly staged it wasn't funny. Why would they stop on the bridge? It was dumb. The three lambos... well it seems only one person is really qualified to give a worthwhile opinion on the cars, and that's foust. I too was disappointed in the driving skill of the other two. At least 2 of the guys on the original can drive pretty good. From what I've read it does get better but so far I agree... not too impressed.

Also, can't believe the reasonably priced car isn't American made.

I liked it. It will go through some growing pains. Hopefully the hosts get more comfortable and in sink. I was not expecting it to be a carbon copy of the uk show like it was but overall it should be good tv. At least we don't have to hear about how crappy all american cars are or watch a tiny renault drive around on cobble streets.

You cant duplicate the chemistry of Jeremy, Richard and James. However, I will say that these American guys are just getting strated. Hopefully they will get comfortable in their roles and make for great TV......but I can't ever see it being as good as the original!

watching the show now. those other two hosts gots to go.

hopefully they'll bag on europe as bad as the original bags on the US. I used to like the original for it's cinematography, cleverness, etc (and of course the cars)... but caught one episode where they bought some beater cars and then painted stupid isht like "NASCAR Sux", "Man-Love rules" etc on them and then drove them thru Lousianna, Mississippi, Alabama. Basically provoking people to stare, flip them off, and generally be mean to them. This episode had nothing to do with cars (oh, except for the constant bashing of the pieces of crap they were driving). Not entirely sure what they were trying to accomplish except reduce the number of Americans who watch the show...by at least one!
Even though it may not be this way for long, but their American audience has the largest population of people who can actually afford many of the cars they test drive! eff-em!
Sorry for the tangent rant.

Robert, if you watch the show you will see they take the P155 out of the U.S., Europe, Australia, each other,themselves and anything and everything. This is what makes the show. There are and have been countless 'car shows' that are mundane and sterile after a few episodes because all they give you are stats.
I hope the U.S. version doesn't go the same way as our Aussie one - trys too hard to be like the original and it didn't get any better this year either. I cringed when I watched the few episodes I could stand.

My biggest complaint is the lack of passion for cars by the hosts and the forced banter.

They actually did that with the intent of getting their fellow hosts in trouble with the locals. It was a joke that the producers came up with (it frequently shows up in the specials like the U.S. one), one that backfired dramatically when the camera crew was attacked by a group of rednecks at a gas station. Which guess what that did? It proved the stereotype, the one that you're pissed about them making, correct. And throughout the series, they make fun of everything, so the fact that you can't take lighthearted ribbing by the hosts on the United States means that you're probably taking things a little bit too seriously.

Saw an episode last night. Wow it was BAD. Tanner was the only one who knew anything about the cars, moreless how to drive it. None of them have the off the cuff, throwback comments the Brits have. Everything is scripted and forced. I'll probably mute the next episode. They should put 3 old college friends who just rip apart eachother on there, the cars and skits will handle themselves.

Agree with Nick, the Brits make fun of every stereotype and mostly themselves so it's all good fun if they spread the love.

My favorite Brit episode is going camping.

^^^ Is that the one where they built their own Motor homes?
That was pretty darn funny. I was cracking up. (remember this is a Car show) so thats pretty cool

Hey have any of you caught (James May's Toy Story's) Its James from Top Gear. The show has him super size child hood toys. Like a real Lego house or a Slot car track that stretches across a town.
The show is pretty fun. If you have a kid it would be a cool show to watch with your kid.

Brit episode where they burn down the camper and the campsite next to them.

I'll have to check out the other show with my kids.

^^^^ LOL they burnt down their own camp site in the show I was talking about. Ill have to check it out

The complete lack of originality is really making me hate the US show. I have missed a few of the British versions and have recorded them on the DVR to catch up. I just watched the one where they raced the 2 skiers with an Audi, then guess what the US version did? You would think they could come up with something more original. I will probably keep watching but only because it is marginally better than the other crap on tv these days.

Evolution FTW! ^^

The show was awful. Tanner knew a lot about the cars but is really dry as a host. The NY guy could be a good host if he could drive. He couldn't even do a burn out on the second show. The fat guy is just annoying, and his joke aren't clever like say Jeremy Clarkson. Leave it to the pros. It's just like when they Americanized ultimate warrior or whatever from G4 and put it on ABC. Horrible

Here's a thought, just broadcast the Brit version on History and save the production of the enitre show and risk of failure and tarnishing the brand name With that said, the second episode was a bit better than the first. I'll give it 3-4 more episodes before I write it off.....however I'll probably still watch it b/c there is nothign else on TV. Damn Dish took my BBC HD!

It was terrible. The producers blew it when they rejected adam carolla (who (a) races cars, (b) IS funny, and (c) shot a pilot for the US version). The two fat guys are just lame. The whole show tries way way way too hard to BE the UK version. That's not going to happen... what they should have done is taken the concept and Americanized it, not put three Americans in as substitutes. Even watching the reasonably priced car segment was painful. The EVO challenge was so staged I wanted to cry.

I've got to admit, I pretty much knew it would blow. Tanner is the worst car guy ever and usually just irritates me just to even see him on anything now. He came across as a total dbag on his other show. Never really seemed to fit in exotic cars - meaning he is a dope in a really expensive car. Remember him losing the registration papers out of that sister car to the enzo he drove (I think it was that car), he was always just looking like such a boner.

I actually was flipping through and thought it may be the regular "top gear" so I turned it on. Hearing Tanner say just one sentence describing stigs driving (they have their own stig...) was enough for me to jam the remote to any other station but that one. Painful.

I have no idea who thinks Tanner is capable of entertaining anyone.

I must say, though, that I didn't realize that Adam Corolla was a candidate. Actually...I would have tuned in for him.

^^^^^

That is a pretty tough review for only watching enough to hear Tanner say one sentence.

I think a lot of people decided this show sucked before it ever came on and if they would give it a chance they might actually like it.

Can anyone name another car show on tv that is better other than the original top gear?

I can't and as a guy that likes to see cool cars I think we should be trying to save this show instead of trying to get it thrown off the air.

Ok...then just ignore my review and go with EVERY one elses...

Did you actually hear him talk the sig through his lap??? it was pathetic!!!!!

They should let me flog the wheels off those cars.

I do agree, though... Tanner is the only one that can even remotely drive and the other two guys are boners. That track sucks for comparisons, too. Why not use a real road coarse (like Willow Springs) so they could get real world comparison numbers.

Oh well.... Car shows get a nod from me. It's much better than watching Keeping up with the Kardashian's re-runs.

I don't care if they can drive, I just want them to sound like they are actually passionate about cars.

Funny it's actually on right now.

It doesn't compare to the real Top Gear in ANY way. Super scripted, and not funny. Tanner is the only one that can drive, and the others are just d bags. The hosts of the other show just have a chemistry that can't be matched. Adam Corolla would have been a much better choice as a host. I will watch it if there is nothing else on because I love cars, but I won't record it like I record the other show.

We'll see if it gets any better, but I doubt it.

Watched it again last night. Came to one conclusion; what the show needs is to go MST3K style. Put the Brit's at the bottom of the screen watching the show while making fun of it the entire time for being such a poor copy of the original.

I'd watch that, but as is I'm not watching again.

The original didn't get it right at first either. In season 1 and maybe season 2 before they hired James May they had some lame fat guy that didn't fit the chemistry. Maybe the US version can do some host changes and make it worthwhile?

I have been pretty impressed with this show until tonight.

Stupid challenge and no supercars.

For me they really need to do more than challenges with junk cars. This is the thing that I also get tired of seeing on the original.

So far I have watched all the episode up to this week. They are at least a bit entertaining, but there are still a few problems. Tanner Foust is totally full of himself, and it shows in every episode. He lacks a certain amount of "funny" that totally clashes with the other hosts. For me, they either need to dump him, or figure out a way to make him more entertaining. He does have some good driving skills though, and his race against the sky-diver in the Ford Raptor was pretty cool.

The show in general needs to slow down some of the editing. It flashes so fast at certain points I'm afraid I am going to have a seizure. Let us see the cars, (similar to the argument, let us see the girls in the Vicky Secret ads)

The segments are good, but I'd like to see a little more a Jalopnick type show. Nearly all of the cars are completely unattainable by 99% of the population. And I do understand it's called TopGear for a reason.

Just my $.02