Top Gear Australia: what did you think?

[ptooey]

i thought it was pretty shite.
jokes seemed forced and unfunny.
the track looks short and lame.
stig looks like a slouching neanderthal. in fact, they shoulda just had him wear a different coloured suit.
and overall they really should've stopped chasing after the style of the uk show and come up with something more distinctly aussie.
eg. not that i'm a v8 meat-head, but wouldn't it have made sense to start the series with a ford/holden comparo?

[brimo]

Yep, big pair of shoes to fill, seemed a bit lame and "try hard"
I like warren Brown though, I remember he was pretty good in that Peking to Paris show.
It does take a long time to establish a rapport like the poms have done, so will give it a chance
but given the limited market and the obvious expensive production costs, I can see it sinking like those cross channel
amphibious cars.

[Dannog]

I with you craigo and brimo, part of the show were lame and forced, some of the scripted jokes were total cringe.

Have you seen some of the reruns of the original.... they are exactly the same. They even changed out a presenter.

I think the shows got a chance.... I'd like to think so at least.

I thought the soft roader trial was OK for a start and they're lined up the V8 Ford vs Holden battle for the day after Bathurst. Probably should have aired that this week come to think of it.

I was supprised that the set looked identical and was disappointed about the track.

I liked Warrens moke - shark segment but I reckon Steve Pizzati is the weakest link.

[mattyvas]

Lot's of good points.
Had a long chat with a friend after the show last night.
We decided there was too much in the first Ep.
The Maybach had such a huge intro and build-up and the segment was shorter than the build-up.
The Mini Moke shark cage was funny but said nothing about the car, no history, no place in motoring history. Nothing just a Hmmm wonder if I can do something silly.
As I said before, aside from knowing Warren and what you saw was him, the other seemed to be over acting as stated.

They could have lost the Maybach, all the extra hot laps and cut Vince Colosimo a little (bit boring)
It would have left more time for the Soft roader story and introducing us to the TG track.
We had no idea where the plain white Stig was going, there is a corner called Clarkson! but who knows which one it is.

There is 8 Ep's in the first series and I know Warren is doing another Peking/Paris type journey at the end of the year.
All that being said, the very first series of TG-UK before James May came along was pretty average also.

Judgment not yet fully passed.
Lastly I have to say it shite's all over "The Car Show" with Glenn Ridge.  

[CairnsDuc]

I have to say, I enjoyed parts of it, but most of the time it just seemed forced, they were trying to hard to be funny and silly.
I like the pommie show, but why copy it?
Do we need the set to look the same?
Do we need to have a dick in a racing suit called the Stig? Try a different name guys.
To copy cat for my taste, yes I know they are trying to replicate the success of the UK based show, but when you bring something over here from the UK, I would suggest tweak more for the Australian market.

Seen 1 episode, I'll try a couple more, but to me the original is better.

[bazz20]

yep

[wraith]

IT WAS SHIT 

[EGAS1]

+1 on ALL of the above comments, I too wish we could watch the UK one as well, why have they stopped it? 'cause it would take away from the AUS one? there is no comparison..........................the older guys voice is sooooooooooo annoying, they seemed to jump from one segment to another, and you did not know what was going on half the time. I agree also on the Maybach a 1mill car and we got him sitting in the back saying how many buttons there were, and then showed us a gigantic set of ear phones that came out of the Arc? BLAH BLAH BLAH I could keep going but I won't It's  SHIT...............BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL..........PLEASE 

[techno]

After watching so many of the UK shows I didn't really feel comfortable watching the aussie take on it. Somehow doing the same things with different presenters just doesn't cut it.

I think they need to develop their own style which they might do over the first series. I suppose it is a franchise so they are probably stuck with a certain formula to follow.

Judgment is reserved at this stage.

[wraith]

Shit

[Six95]

If you look past the fact that they did not intend to be like the UK presenters - the show was actually OK.
It would be interesting to see how the huge BBC budget actually influences the types of cars on the show compared to the OZ variant.

You only have to watch some old season UK episodes to realise that they were not really that crash hot compared to what's on now.

I'm not much of a V8 person - but I hope next weeks Holden v Ford challenge lives up to expectation

[dragonworld.]

Shit

Brief, concise and above all accurate!!     You gotta stop beating around the bush Wraith.

[Jukie]

Im not sure what to make of it, I didn't like it at first , but maybe it will grow on me. need to see more shows and see how it goes

[Spider]

we don't know the politics involved and what decisions they got to make but...

remix the title track....that way it starts of different, but a little familiar...not so 'British' a bit funkier and dirtier.

then - the set HAS to be different - having an identical set with 3 guys that mirror the ages of the UK presenters and then saying "we're not trying to copy" is straight up idiotic....it sets the whole thing up as a facsimile, so don't blame viewers for making comparisons (and losing when you've got 1/5 the budget!).

However SBS was well and truly bent over a barrel, if they didn't pay for the franchise then they would have lost there number one show and channel nine would have come in bought the franchise and destroyed them....so really if we're pregnant doging about why we don't have the UK version - I'd suspect we have no one to blame but the BBC for forcing this upon us!

I do suspect that if the local flops that the BBC will do a good will gesture and let SBS have the UK version - 'oh, sorry for having you spend 3 million on a show that only attracted 250,000 viewers for half the season!' sort of thing.

[mattyvas]

Just a further note to budget etc....
The TV company doing it Freehand TV is 40% owned by the BBC so I think budget is pretty okay for now.
But they are not going to keep piling $$$ into something that isn't attracting the same viewer base.