The Pompey Chimes Forum

....oh...no one there. You're all too busy being disappointed by the new Top Gear.

Given up on it after 25mins. Cannot stand Chris Evans, never ever rated him & find it a complete mystery how he has got to the position he finds himself in. Matt LeBlanc, if he reads the autocue any slower he'll sound like a 45rpm record being played on 33.
I do think that under the old team the format was getting tired so maybe the Beeb should have, when given the opportunity, binned it.

I must be in the minority that actually enjoyed it.

It was always going to be a thankless task following on from the previous presenters but i thought they did an OK job of it, only real beef was the sound quality in the studio, sounded really echoed and tinny.

I liked the change in the start in the reasonably priced car, makes it a bi different having the off road sections.

Some reviews here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36411485

Oh Dear, oh Dear, oh dear oh dear......if it were possible to bury a show after just 60 minutes, Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc succeeded. Top Gear may have needed a face lift, at least Clarkson, Hammond and May were very slick motoring journalists who were believable when talking to camera - there was something for everyone. Head Prefect Clarkson, bullying the class midget Hammond and Captain Slow playing his part to perfection - they knew their subject matter and it was applied with shed loads of gloss. They were believable petrol heads who entered our homes once a week and shared their motoring jokes with us.

Evans and LeBlanc patently do not fit - Evans because of a childish delivery and forced enthusiasm and LeBlanc because he's an actor not a presenter. It is toe curlingly awful from a toxic twosome. Nurse - fetch the sceens!

pomp 'n circumstance wrote:Oh Dear, oh Dear, oh dear oh dear......if it were possible to bury a show after just 60 minutes, Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc succeeded. Top Gear may have needed a face lift, at least Clarkson, Hammond and May were very slick motoring journalists who were believable when talking to camera - there was something for everyone. Head Prefect Clarkson, bullying the class midget Hammond and Captain Slow playing his part to perfection - they knew their subject matter and it was applied with shed loads of gloss. They were believable petrol heads who entered our homes once a week and shared their motoring jokes with us.

Evans and LeBlanc patently do not fit - Evans because of a childish delivery and forced enthusiasm and LeBlanc because he's an actor not a presenter. It is toe curlingly awful from a toxic twosome. Nurse - fetch the sceens!

Complete nonsense.

This was an entirely enjoyable romp around motoring topics with some new and some familiar ideas. The presenters were different: one with great enthusiasm and the other with greater ability to deliver lines than any of the earlier trio.

"The most fun without being naked," from Le Blanc was a magic line and one that could never have been delivered by any of the older trio.

The 'Top Gun' pilot forced to throw up by the driving skill of Sabine Schmitz in the Nevada desert was something that I doubt any of the three previous presenters would have been able to achieve.

It wasn't perfect but it was slickly made, entertaining and a worthy successor to the earlier shows. In six months time, Jeremy Clarkson will be firmly parked on the minority Amazon channel and largely forgotten by the majority of Top Gear enthusiasts.

Incidentally, the Extra Gear programme afterwards on BBC 3 was also good.

I suspect the tv ratings will have the final say. Seems to me Evans is a bit like Marmite. But it was awful imo.

I understand from my eldest that there was something like 4.4M viewers.

I thought it was ok but the Beeb missed an opportunity to freshen up the format, still it a show that petrol heads like me enjoy so I'm not complaining too much

I'm also looking forward to the new Amazon show from the old Top Gear trio

I went to watch a recording of QI last night. Really good fun. Heir Clarkson was one of the guests. He is SOOOoooooo non-PC; I loved him. Not sure you'll end up seeing anything of him though, once they've edited out the swearing and non-PC comments! The show was really well done, even if Stephen Fry has now stepped down and Sandy Toksvig has taken over. Clarkson even taught us a new word: Swaffelen. Not sure where you can use it in normal conversation, but a good word none the less.

There were a few Top Gear comments, although to be fair, mainly from Jason Mansford and Alan Davies. Clarkson started off (off air to be fair) saying he hoped the new host would do a better job than another new host.

RubiconCSL wrote: Swaffelen

Kinda wished I hadn't looked that up at work!

You should know me by now!

blitzoid wrote:

RubiconCSL wrote: Swaffelen

Kinda wished I hadn't looked that up at work!

He also told a lovely little anecdote about knob cheese - not sure that'll make the final cut either!

I didn't watch the first two series of old Top Gear as I hated the studio audience format and I thought the two new hosts were wooden and dull.