Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: mg1942 on June 16, 2008, 06:40:17 PM
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This is for real!
Top Gear is coming to America!
START YOUR ENGINES!
NBC'S 'TOP GEAR' BUCKLES UP ITS HOSTS FOR HIGH-OCTANE PILOT FROM BBC WORLDWIDE AMERICA BASED ON INTERNATIONAL HIT FRANCHISE
BURBANK - June 16, 2008 - Television and radio comedian Adam Carolla, champion rally and drift racer Tanner Foust, and TV construction guru Eric Stromer, will lead NBC's pilot of the international smash hit series "Top Gear." The production will begin later this week.
Produced by BBC Worldwide America, the U.S. version of the hit franchise will mirror the UK show's irreverent humor and camaraderie between the three presenters, epic races, outrageous stunts and challenges, unique celebrity guest participation and eccentric methods of testing cars.....
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/16/top-gear-usa-hosts-announced/
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It'll suck, american's (generally) don't get brit/aussie/nz humour. Every US version of brit sitcoms 'franchised' to the US has sucked.
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There is only one Top Gear, and it isn't Made in America.
I wish they would show the Brit version over here unedited. They few episodes they had on discovery were edited for the US audience, and weren't nearly as good as the originals.
I won't watch the American version. Adam Carolla? Are they serious?
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The original BBC production is one of the best shows on TV. I am fearful of what kind of monstrousity they will come up with here.
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It'll suck, american's (generally) don't get brit/aussie/nz humour. Every US version of brit sitcoms 'franchised' to the US has sucked.
Sad but true.
Coupling was a prim example. They took a brilliant show, put American actors in it and it sucked.
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they just need to air the brit version more. I love british humor lol. only down side is how down they are on american cars lol
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Adam Carolla? Are they serious?
Yes . . . unfortunately.
Adam Carolla for some reason has always struck me as someone trying too hard to be like Norm MacDonald.
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I'm afraid this is a case of Vive la Difference. The only show transported across the Atlantic that was even vaguely funny was The Office. And that was because they were very faithful to the original characterisation and Ricky Gervais had a
I'm not saying American TV is rubbish - there's some good stuff - but I think transplanting ideas from an island Americans don't really 'get' isn't the answer. The networks should stick to making great TV like Heroes, 24, Battlestar Galactica - they do that kind of thing really well.
BTW, the BBC has won the contract to braodcast F1 next season. There is talk of the Top Gear team being involved in the commentating to attract new audiences.
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American TV is so sterile it belongs in an operating theatre.
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They hate boobies as well. Love blood, violence and semen samples from rape victims (a la CSI)... but hate boobies. Curious.
Americans should revolt against their networks and demand more boobies!
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LOL I had to laugh at the last episode of survivor I saw... the yanks blurred out the butt of some competitor even though it was clothed!
:rofl
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Actually you're all wrong. It's only recently that British exports have been butchered by the Yanks.
Most of the really great American comedy heroes are British exports. For example, even the great Archie Bunker was based on a British character called Alf Garnet. Truly original (and good) US comedy is actually quite rare. Scrubs maybe.
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Never have understood the American attitude to nudity. It's as if it as seen as more corrupting than violence. CSI is a case in point - I find that far more disturbing than a bit of flesh.
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Never have understood the American attitude to nudity. It's as if it as seen as more corrupting than violence. CSI is a case in point - I find that far more disturbing than a bit of flesh.
That's only TV
TV stations here are scared of uptight mums calling the F.C.C.
Now go see latest American movies... such as Harold and Kumar 2 and Sex and the City. I heard they contain full frontal scenes :devil
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bahhh full frontal is nothing
Check out some of the stuff SBS here in Oz is showing, once America churns out that sort of content I'll be content :p
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Actually you're all wrong. It's only recently that British exports have been butchered by the Yanks.
Most of the really great American comedy heroes are British exports. For example, even the great Archie Bunker was based on a British character called Alf Garnet. Truly original (and good) US comedy is actually quite rare. Scrubs maybe.
heh "love thy neighbour" was one brit comedy that didn't get retreaded on the other side of the atlantic
i agree, there's few to pick from and scrubs is the pick of a lean bunch i think. i actually prefer most of the older american comedies anyway... beverly hillbillies, gilligan's island, get smart, green acres, f troop, the ghost and mrs muir, even petticote junction had it's moments
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brit humor gets boring pretty quickly.. lots of people just standing around in really drab places.
lazs
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brit humor gets boring pretty quickly.. lots of people just standing around in really drab places.
lazs
(http://wiki.fifo.sh/images/1/17/O_RLY-Quite.jpg)
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Americans did a fine job with the office. Different from the original, it has credibility all its own, it works, and it's already classic. If you don't like either version, it's understandable, but both have earned their status independantly.
As for Top Gear, I love the show, but doubt it would work.
It's not so much that Americans can't get British Humor. They can. The biggest hurdle is understanding that there's often nothing to get, and that they, as the audience should respond naturally to the tone and language rather than trying to find the hidden meaning.
Top Gear won't translate because about 75% of Clarkson's humor is derisive to Americans. American cars, diets, waistlines... It's all fair game for him, and it would all be lost when they try to Americanize it.
That and the fact that praising high-priced superexotics over American rides like the Vette and Viper sounds better with a British Accent.
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Just because they're taking the same format of the original show doesn't mean the presenters have to express the same opinions as the originals as well. A US version of the show for a US market will follow US trends in motoring, not Clarksons.
Who is going to be the lead presenter of the US show?
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Just because they're taking the same format of the original show doesn't mean the presenters have to express the same opinions as the originals as well. A US version of the show for a US market will follow US trends in motoring, not Clarksons.
Who is going to be the lead presenter of the US show?
True, of course... However, for me at least, Clarkson is one of the main if not THE main selling point. His dry wit and predisposition to speak in superlatives about every 4th car he drives makes me want to watch the show... His taste in cars, namely his love for European sports cars, seals the deal... Clarkson, with his two partners bouncing off him, tends to make the show.
If they put on some golden-haired frat boy and have him rave on about how the latest vette can get under 11 in the quarter mile, I'll end up watching British Top Gear reruns on BBC.
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Americans did a fine job with the office. Different from the original, it has credibility all its own, it works, and it's already classic. If you don't like either version, it's understandable, but both have earned their status independantly.
:aok didnt think it would work but the US Office is very funny, maybe because Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson have made their own characters rather than trying to copy. never miss it :)
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Every US version of brit sitcoms 'franchised' to the US has sucked.
Norman Lear begs to differ.
(http://sally-struthers.com/db4/00397/sally-struthers.com/_uimages/All-in-the-Family.jpg)
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However, for me at least, Clarkson is one of the main if not THE main selling point.
Agreed on that point.
The success of the new show depends HUGELY on the charisma of the main host. Not only has he got to be the same as Clarkson, he's gotta be different as well.
I mean, look at Top Gear's competition here in Britain: 5th Gear. For a start they dont seem to realise that most supersport machines have 6 gears these days.....but the whole show is presented by presenters that'd be more at home on childrens TV.
And Vulc, read the thread mate, I said that earlier.
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5th gear's host is perhaps the only human in existence that makes me not want to watch and listen to a Ferrari f430 squeal around a track.
While Clarkson drives, manhandles, and often is manhandled by cars, the guy from 5th gear acts like he's a second away from felating them.
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I watch Top Gear for entertainment (biiig budget too so they get great locations and production values too) but if I want to know how good a car really is I'd rather take the advice of Tiff and Plato (both of whom have made a decent living from racing) than the TG clowns. plus VBH isnt too hard on the eye :)
edit: if its Tiff u mean slipknot I know what you mean, a bit creepy. he is however one of the best drivers out there.
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I must say that even if its very different i liked the american version of The office. I do not thing an american version of Top Gear will be as good tho. Those annoying yet very funny guys at Top Gear are a bread of their own and can't be copied. American Top Gear would have to go down a very different route i think.
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not sure how the show will do, but I think it would do much better on ABC, where Carolla's best pal Jimmy Kimmel gets what he wants and could have pitched for great time slots and schedule....as well as cross promotion to the male 12-24 year old demo I'm sure they are gearing to.
I bet it ends up on NBC owned Bravo in a year.
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but if I want to know how good a car really is I'd rather take the advice of Tiff and Plato (both of whom have made a decent living from racing) than the TG clowns.
I bloody wouldn't!
For a start, racing drivers think in single sylable words and generally communicate in "Ugg"'s. And the TG "clowns" view a car on how it'll perform in the real world.....like, does the boot (trunk to yoo yanks) have enough space for a full set of golf clubs, etc.
And as for Vicky wossname, jeez man, you gotta make a point of viewing more wednesday babe's if you think she's a stunner.
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For a female racing driver she isn't half bad.
Top Gear isn't really a car review program anymore. 5th gear is. Both serve different audiences.
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For a female racing driver she isn't half bad.
Top Gear isn't really a car review program anymore. 5th gear is. Both serve different audiences.
Tiff Needle, for all his racing experience, just sounds like a fruit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWF5joiiua0
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Now my only hope for the US version is they get their own STIG and use Buttonwillow Config. 13 as the place to benchmark cars
(http://www.maxrev.net/Icons/RedlineTimeAttack4/race_13_config%5B1%5D.gif)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_i3j_Ix3gE
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Even better news is that the real Top Gear is back for the new series on Sunday... YAY!
I'm sure you yanks will be able to see it on You Tube unedited soon :aok
http://www.topgear.com/content/videos/videos/148/chooseconnection.html
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I'll most likely continue just watching the BBS version.
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http://www.topgear.com/content/features/stories/2008/06/stories/08/1.html
:lol
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put her to F1 NAO!