FTA-TV Top Gear Australia (Reboot)

[ibd77]

Not sure if BBC are flogging a dead horse but TGA is coming back featuring Moog from Mighty Car Mods.

I hope they give him some creative freedom otherwise this show will flop again.

RISING TIDES AND SUPPORTING YOUR MATES

By now you may have heard the news that our favourite tofu-sculpting, internationally renowned yodelling ninja Moog has been given the opportunity of a lifetime: he got to drive Marty’s Mira after consuming two greasy KFC slop boxes! Actually, he’s also been named as one of the three hosts of...

mightycarmods.com

 

[Colonial]

hmmm enjoyed the original. The Aussie one was always poor, looks even worse since the killed the manufacturing in this country.

 

[Jatz]

That's surprising. The British one has been axed after the incident with Freddy I believe.

 

[No Quarter]

Literally without Clarkson, Hammond & May this show just doesn't quite work. Either it needs a completely individual format to work or I dunno.. the show only works because of the chemistry of the hosts and this takes time to develop. Look at the early seasons of the original Top Gear pre May etc, they sucked. it took quite a while before it all started to click.

 

[Plugger35]

I only watched Top Gear when Clarkson, Hammond and May were hosting it, it was their chemistry and quality banter that made the show.

It didn't matter if you were a car nut or not, the show was more like a comedy show when they were hosting it, their road trips were a hoot.

 

[No Quarter]

I only watched Top Gear when Clarkson, Hammond and May were hosting it, it was their chemistry and quality banter that made the show.

It didn't matter if you were a car nut or not, the show was more like a comedy show when they were hosting it, their road trips were a hoot.

Yeah, it definitely evolved way past reviewing cars and this is precisely what other attempts will fail so dismally at.

Even watching any of the Grand Tour episodes, the chemistry these blokes have is simply unmatchable and I'd probably even add that there's that 'britishness' to it too, that gives it a tiny flavour that Americans/Aussies cannot replicate. I thought this was pretty obvious when Matt Le Blanc took over.

 

[Vader]

I have 2 questions...

• Why would you even think of rebooting TGA?
• Given the (stupid) decision to reboot TGA, why would you employ the awful Beau Ryan as one of the hosts?

 

[edgie]

This is one of the most pointless things I can think of. Now there's no actual Australian cars, there's pretty much nothing left to give this any local reverence beyond what you can already see on drive.com.au or something.

 

[edgie]

The uncomfortable truth about classic Top Gear is as well, the chemistry of the hosts worked because you had three kinda similar people all bouncing off each other. Three... middle aged white men of middle-upper class. Speaking their middle aged white men language leaning on their life experience as middle upper white men for humour and context.

No longer are shows cast for 'passion for the topics and chemistry with each other'. The moment you compromise that, you are less likely to find it.

 

[Vader]

Just watched the first episode of the new TGA. It's bad... really bad.

Beau plays his usual self - the dumb idiot with no charisma. It doesn't help that he knows nothing whatsoever about cars, while hosting a show that's all about cars. Surely one of the main pre-requisites for hosting this show is a knowledge of and/or enthusiasm for cars?

LaPaglia is like Hayden Christensen - completely wooden and uncharismatic. Like Beau, he knows nothing about, nor has any enthusiasm for, cars. At least, unlike Beau, he's not a complete and utter idiot.

Blair is the one host who has charisma, enthusiasm for and knowledge about cars. Unfortunately, he's completely lacking in anything resembling driving skills. His attempts at drifting the GR Corolla and Civic Type R were embarrassingly bad and completely cringeworthy... and that's before he prangs the Maserati due to his own incompetence. Blair could have been OK as host, if someone had sent him on a high performance driving course. Unfortunately, they didn't, and the truly embarrassing results are there for all to see on the screen.

Beau & LaPaglia were clearly cast because it's a Paramount+ production, and they're on staff contracts at Ch10. They're woefully unsuited to hosting TGA, but they're what we get because they're cheap and available. Blair is apparently a well known youtube car enthusiast - he'd be a good host, if only he knew how to drive.

Safe to say that I won't be watching the rest of the series. Think of me as having taken the bullet, so you don't have to suffer through this dross yourself.

 

[edgie]

Just watched the first episode of the new TGA. It's bad... really bad.

Beau plays his usual self - the dumb idiot with no charisma. It doesn't help that he knows nothing whatsoever about cars, while hosting a show that's all about cars. Surely one of the main pre-requisites for hosting this show is a knowledge of and/or enthusiasm for cars?

LaPaglia is like Hayden Christensen - completely wooden and uncharismatic. Like Beau, he knows nothing about, nor has any enthusiasm for, cars. At least, unlike Beau, he's not a complete and utter idiot.

Blair is the one host who has charisma, enthusiasm for and knowledge about cars. Unfortunately, he's completely lacking in anything resembling driving skills. His attempts at drifting the GR Corolla and Civic Type R were embarrassingly bad and completely cringeworthy... and that's before he prangs the Maserati due to his own incompetence. Blair could have been OK as host, if someone had sent him on a high performance driving course. Unfortunately, they didn't, and the truly embarrassing results are there for all to see on the screen.

Beau & LaPaglia were clearly cast because it's a Paramount+ production, and they're on staff contracts at Ch10. They're woefully unsuited to hosting TGA, but they're what we get because they're cheap and available. Blair is apparently a well known youtube car enthusiast - he'd be a good host, if only he knew how to drive.

Safe to say that I won't be watching the rest of the series. Think of me as having taken the bullet, so you don't have to suffer through this dross yourself.

I haven't watched it, but you nailed it in your reasons why the hosts who are who they are ($$$), but why not try get Shane Jacobson back at least? He has passion and charisma. There's plenty of well known revheads in Australia that are famous from other things (Barry Hall for example), or scour social media for more people, I like a channel called Hackshop Garage, two blokes not employed in car related industries doing unremarkable stuff with good mateship and it's natural.

Anyway though, it's a ridiculously pointless production. The Top Gear brand name is pretty much deceased now, as is the local car industry. Why does this exist? What point of relevance does an Aussie version have?

 

[Vader]

The one thing I did take away from the show was the reason why inexperienced drivers (read L & P platers) should not be allowed access to powerful and/or high performance vehicles. Blair is by no means young or inexperienced, but he simply didn't have the skills required to drive a supercar fast, up a windy mountain road. His lack of skills resulted in him crashing a $500K supercar. These cars are magnificent machines, but they can be deadly in the hands of people who don't know how to drive them properly.

 

[ibd77]

The Top Gear concept is old and outdated and rebooting a series with no changes to that formula just doesn't work.

I do like Blair (Moog) from Mighty Car Mods, but he doesn't look genuine in a scripted form that wasnt written by him. TGA would have been better served to allow Moog to work within his strengths instead of contriving his character.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

The Top Gear concept is old and outdated and rebooting a series with no changes to that formula just doesn't work.

I do like Blair (Moog) from Mighty Car Mods, but he doesn't look genuine in a scripted form that wasnt written by him. TGA would have been better served to allow Moog to work within his strengths instead of contriving his character.

IMO Top Gear ended up sort of like the Simpsons in that seasons 2-11 were the best, 12-16 were okay and everything afterwards was mostly garbage. Shark jump moment for me was that "The Ashes" episode they did when TGA got new hosts. The concept is tired now and it's hard to do something new and engaging without it being completely ridiculous like the later Top Gear seasons and TGT ended up being.

They would have been better off giving Mighty Car Mods a proper production budget and film crew for a season