Top Gear USA

I wasn't surprised that i was disappointed, but i was surprised at how awful the hosts are, Foust is the only one that deserves to be anywhere near this show, at least In TG UK, the guys are all car nuts, not some washed up comedians. This reminded me of a bunch of kids who stole their dads viper and only know stats about the car through the sales brochure. Not only was the hosting pretty terrible, the Lambo caparison at the end was the most boring, monotonous and uncreative thing I've ever seen on TG. TG UK could have made a comparison test with 3 Toyota Corollas far more existing and witty. The Brits just do some things better like tea, accents and Top Gear, I'll pass on the rest of the season and wait till January for the real Top Gear to come back.

I just rewatched the entire 6 seasons of Top Gear US and it was so much fun! These 3 were developing some fun chemistry and the format was perfect. 3 dumb guys buy 3 cheap cars and compete in challenges or show up with the most over the top vehicles. Either way it took the best of the UK Top Gear (Clarkson and crew) specials and had a US flare to it.

Why does BBC screw up everything they had done well?!?

I do tend to agree with most of the reviews on here, but I would say that they only hold true for the first couple of seasons. I think I probably watched season one and two and remember the cringe worthy lack of chemistry between the presenters and the complete copy and paste job from the UK Top Gear, but what can you expect so early on? Now watching season five and I have to say it is a much better show, yes each episode is now just one long special/expedition, but I really like it. Yes it may be incredibly scripted and impossible to believe at points, but so is the UK show and it doesn't take away from the fantastic places they drive their high performance vehicles through! One problem with removing celebrity guests, fast lap time etc is that if you don't really enjoy the subject matter (for example drag racing, which I have zero interest in) there is nothing to give you a small break from it. Although it is many times better in its current iteration I hope they bring back something from the UK series.

So every other review you read about this show talks about how it is not nearly as good as the British version, and it isn't but think about it, the UK version is in its 20th season. The UK series has has a lot of time to shape and grow into the amazing show that it is. The US version has taken the raw formula of the UK version and started with that. I think people need to give it some time to find what works for the US audience and settle in. As the hosts get to know each other better like Jeremy, James and Richard do the dynamic, and in turn, the show, will only get better. It is like comparing a seasoned veteran in any sport to a rookie, obviously they're not going to have everything figured out from the beginning. As a stand alone show though it is pretty damned entertaining and fun to watch.

My friend said "you've got to watch this show called Top Gear. You'll love it even though you're not a car freak. It's awesome".

So I watched a couple and told my friend he was sadly mistaken. I didn't like the show at all. He was perplexed. What had I become?

It turns out that he was only referring to the UK show (and had never heard of the American show). I had never heard of either, and only stumbled upon the American show.

Now that I have since seen the excellent UK version, and he has since seen the wretched American version, the Universe has become stable again. My friend is no longer convinced I had become compromised by a body snatcher.