Not a terrible episode, if judging by the standards of TGUSA. The studio segments are a bit stilted, and I don't really understand why a) the 'star in a reasonably fast car' is introduced so early in the show, then essentially forgotten about until after a film or two, b) why they switched from a 'reasonably priced' car to a 'reasonably fast' car - wasn't the whole point of that segment to get celebrities into cars they'd never drive?, and c) why the role of The Stig has been minimized (he used to be the kayfabe "trainer" for the SIARPC lap, now it's one of the presenters). The films, while maybe not quite up to the standards of old TG/The Grand Tour, were quite good, and (much like TGUSA) was where we could really start to see the camaraderie between the presenters. (That being said, I could have done without another film on an exclusive Ferrari that you can't actually buy - TG did basically the same film several years back about the original FXX.)
If they're going to have Leblanc lead the interview portion (as Clarkson did during his tenure), they need to have him take a crash course on interviewing, because those segments with James McEvoy were just PAINFUL. The studio looks "too slick", if that's a thing. I get that they're trying to create a visual separation from he Clarkson/Hammond/May era, but I feel like they've gone too far in the other direction. On Monday, March 13, 2017 at 3:00:32 AM UTC-4, Kevin M. (RPCV) wrote: > > So, Top Gear has returned, and they made it to my Central Asian home away > from home: Kazakhstan. The new trio of Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, and Rory > Reid (LeBlanc is the only one credited as the presenter... the other two > get a "with" credit, which seems unfair to me) took cars with 500k miles > across the Kazakh Steppe. They redid the studio but brought back the old > track for its final season before being turned into a new housing > development. > > The chemistry is better in this series premiere, or at least not as > forced. There are still elements the show lacks -- say what you will about > the "Cool Wall," but there's nobody on the current roster of Top Gear hosts > who could debate what is cool -- but they put in a good faith effort to > bring back some of the magic. > > As for Kazakhstan, seeing it again made me nostalgic, which is silly since > they really only showed the vast wasteland of the desert between the cool > places. But they did go to the Cosmodrome, and when I was a Peace Corps > Volunteer 15 years ago, any American who tried to go near the place without > permission would never be heard from again. > > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
