mike_berger

A television show based on the excellent magazine, Consumer Reports should be great, but this talks down to viewers in an irritating and inane way. The actual knowledge they are transferring is fine, but is presented as if for kindergartners. The exact same information is useful for adults and could be presented in a less insulting manner. Why would kindergartners care about hydroplaning on tires anyway, and if they did, wouldn't telling them which brand tested best be helpful? Same thing with dishwashers, no brand or model is recommended or warned against, so how is this educating the consumer at all? It's like the first half of a review without any actual definitive advice or review. In the right hands, a Consumer Reports TV show should be interesting, but this just jumps from one subject to another without ever coming to any conclusions, all the while with hammy, unrealistic acting. A series that should be an easy 10 out of 10 is reduced to 1 out of 10. Not recommended.

The only hope of saving this version of the show is to scrap everything and retool the entire thing. Naturally, I'd much rather see Top Gear USA return, but without Adam Ferrara. With that being said, there is nothing redeeming about this version except maybe Antron. Bill Fichtner has no business being on a motoring show, as he offers no insights or intelligence at all, and usually seems more concerned with his vanity. The guest star segments are just painful, but perhaps worse of all is the really out of place canned laughter from the audience who are obviously even less amused and more uncomfortable at having to witness this atrocity firsthand. BBC America, if this is all you got, please don't bother. First Top Gear I actually didn't enjoy. Even the Chris Evans Top Gear was better than this.