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    #51
    New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

    Hmmm...

    My jury is still out.

    While not as bad as I expected it to be, it still felt like a bit of a 'pound-shop version of' the old series. LeBlanc seems to be setting himself up for an old age of doing 'calming voiceovers' for American nature documentaries.

    And that Harris bloke could become very annoying very quickly, I think.

    Now I know how the rest of you feel!

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      #52
      New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

      James McAvoy: "How long were you planning on staying a virgin?"

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        #53
        New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

        I think the first 58 minutes were worth wading through, just for the footage of the rocket.

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          #54
          New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

          Gerontophile wrote: I think the first 58 minutes were worth wading through, just for the footage of the rocket.
          Yeah, that was great!

          They had to come up with some stupid platitude afterwards, though

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            #55
            New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

            Patrick Thistle wrote: One thing that bugs me is when he offers 'experience' prizes (like come and eat food cooked by top chefs in my pub and then drive my expensive sports star) for children in need it's always in an auction.

            So if you don't have 200 grand to spare to give to charidee then you can't do the stuff he ends up going on and on and on about how fab its going to be.

            Makes him unlistenable to until the charity season is over.
            But that's down to the legacy of Wogan, and his years at the helm of CiN

            (I thought it was an "in joke" when they kept referring to "Wogan House" on Radio 2 btw, I didn't realise Western House really has been renamed Wogan House)

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              #56
              New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

              Gerontophile wrote: James McAvoy: "How long were you planning on staying a virgin?"
              In a programme full of smug twattish-ness, James McAvoy managed to break the smugtwatometer.

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                #57
                New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                Second episode better than anything Clarkson et al put out for at least half a decade.

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                  #58
                  New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                  Snake Plissken wrote: Second episode better than anything Clarkson et al put out for at least half a decade.
                  Yeah, that was much better. And yes - they do seem to be 'settling down into their roles' now ...and, mercifully, those roles are each very different from Clarkson and his pair of fluffers.

                  I liked that Alfa. A BMW-beater that isn't also German. A shame it's not prettier, though. (I thought it looked a bit lumpen, stylistically.)

                  On the downside, the show still seems to be in the pocket of the German manufacturers. I wonder when the last time was that Top Gear - in any iteration - went two shows in a row without any article centred around a BMW, Audi, Mercedes or Porsche? And this in a week when the French car industry has flexed its muscles by taking over a whole continent-sized chunk of GM, including the storied - and German - Opel brand. Almost every country in Europe has something of interest in their motor industry, these days, but Top Gear just goes Germany, Germany, Italy, Germany, Germany, Italy the whole time. Okay, they'll have an Aston on once a series, but that's about it.

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                    #59
                    New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                    evilC wrote: Yeah, that was much better. And yes - they do seem to be 'settling down into their roles' now ...and, mercifully, those roles are each very different from Clarkson and his pair of fluffers.
                    What I thought was quite telling is that they have been told to play sort-of character roles but get on so well that they can't actually do it. Harris is supposed to be hyper-competitive and angry but when he and LeBlanc had that (quite scary) downhill challenge and LeBlanc ad-libbed "It must be a typo because otherwise that means... I totally kicked your ass", Harris just burst out laughing.

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                      #60
                      New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                      Actually, although I sometimes find Harris irritating (like when he's instructing the celebs in the car) his wikipedia entry suggests he is not entirely without redeeming features:

                      "Harris was banned from reviewing Ferrari cars on 2 February 2011, after writing an article titled, "How Ferrari Spins." In his article, he criticized the firm for trying "to win every test [review] at any cost." and called it a "profoundly irritating" brand. He also gave his opinion that an automotive journalist is forced to please Ferrari with a positive review in order to maintain a relationship with the brand."

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                        #61
                        New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                        Saying it now and putting it out there.

                        This is now as good as anything that the previous three did.. Sure, you can pick individual moments or highs, but across a full hour - just as damned good, if not better.

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                          #62
                          New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                          Yes, I'd agree. Though the studio elements still seem a little stiff at times, most of the time they look like they're having fun and that's important.

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                            #63
                            New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                            What Chris Harris did previously.

                            (Warning: extreme car porn!)

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                              #64
                              New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                              Oh that's fantastic. Kankkunnen in an S4 is like an 80s dream. Always liked Juha best, but always preferred the S4 to the Peugeot. Was it an S4 Henri Toivonen was killed in?

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                                #65
                                New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                                Yes, it was.

                                The S4 was a very, very silly car by just about any standard, especially health and safety. (Driver sitting on top of the fuel tank?) Also, it was nowhere near as good as the T16, Matti Alamaki ran an S4 for a year in rallycross and switched very quickly to the Peugeot.

                                I have the Madness on Wheels Group B documentary available if people want that.

                                Comment


                                  #66
                                  New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                                  Some more info on the never-run Group S cars here.

                                  Footage of Audi's frankly bizarre Group S entry here.

                                  Comment


                                    #67
                                    New Top Gear: Same as the old Top Gear.

                                    Just caught up on the final episode.

                                    Jamiroquim aside, that was excellent. In fact, the Ssangyong 'piece' was the funniest and outright best article they've ever done ...until Eddie Jordan turned up, that is! Then, it went right downhill.

                                    Still...

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                                      #68
                                      The 34th series of Top Gear has suspended filming following a crash involving Andrew Flintoff back in December. It turns out he was driving a Morgan three wheeler (a new car in the UK) down a runway when he crashed and skidded on its roof. A member of the production team was said to be in the vehicle when it went over and they weren't wearing crash helmets. Oh and Flintoff has facial injuries and hasn't been seen on social media or indeed anywhere for over three moths now. I don't think we're in Michael Schumacher territory but it doesn't feel that Flintoff is not right and maybe has a brain injury.

                                      Really hope he is okay, Ashes 2005 was just incredible, Top Gear 2023 feels like not worth the risk.

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                                        #69
                                        Bloody hell. I hope they’re both OK.

                                        Perhaps this might be time to call it a day. Or perhaps that was a decade ago.

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                                          #70
                                          I’m guessing the silence may relate to possible legal action in some way.

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                                            #71
                                            I think there are echoes of the Noel Edmonds show being taken off air in the 80s after a stunt went wrong, that time fatally. There would be popular disgust if it continued. But of course they could just activate another car show and just give it a different title, as Edmonds ultimately did with his Saturday programme.

                                            I have no feelings about Flintoff other than hoping all the best for his health and full recovery, physically and mentally. I assume he's OK financially.
                                            Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 25-03-2023, 22:54.

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                                              #72
                                              Reports of a nine million quid settlement between BBC and Flintoff. I hope he’s OK going forward as that must have been some crash

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