Top Gear season 23 (2016)

[Kaos]

http://jalopnik.com/top-gears-second-host-is-matt-leblanc-from-friends-1757046887

Interesting. Never thought he was much of a car guy.

[Aleks]

http://interestingmarketingtidbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/joey-friends.jpg

[JustinMCS]

It just won't be the same. Even the preview clip in the article of Top Gear: The Races that Matt hosted showed the awesome dynamic of what was. It will never be like that again.

[redline]

BOOOOOOOOO

they should just change the name of the show and move on...

[JRSC00LUDE]

Weak.

[shakalaka]

He was on one of the episodes once, i remember hearing he was a big car guy. As much as I like him the show will never be the same and I probably won't watch it.

[Neil4Speed]

Might be okay. Didn't expect that one.

[lamp_shade_2000]

This may give me a reason to keep watching the BBC's Top Gear. I've always liked Matt Leblanc but found him really dry when he was a guest on Top Gear previously. I suppose only time will tell if he will become more of a personality or not.

[heavyD]

Wow he went full grey.

[sheik_yerbouti]

But will he always be stuck in second gear?

[sputnik]

Originally posted by heavyD
Wow he went full grey.

He was coloring his hair during Friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1312028/I-dyed-hair-time-Matt-LeBlanc-admits-going-prematurely-grey-Friends.html

[klumsy_tumbler]

you can actually catch glimpses of him in the Lotus pits in most F1 races. He gets my :thumbsup:

[schocker]

He is a car guy so I look forward to seeing how he works. I thought for some reason that they had already hired others though, were they just guests?

I believe Chris Harris is now tied into the show though as he is stopping his youtube car channel and had some cryptic messages that pointed to top gear.

[01RedDX]

.

[BavarianBeast]

Tough shoes to fill, but I think TG will be decent. Will it be what it was before? Of course not.

I still think it will be a great show for the car guy/gal!

[JRSC00LUDE]

He'll be there for you, will you be there for him too?

[btimbit]

I like him, he's funny and he's a car guy as well, but this new TG is going to be awful

[gregrego]

Only way it will work is if there is instant chemistry with the hosts. What about other famous "car guys" I think Leno could play a good "asshole" le blanc would be the funny one, maybe Seinfeld could join and be the "slow" one.. 2/3 of those guys would never do the show but just a thought..

[Sugarphreak]

....

[rage2]

Being a car guy isn't enough. Look at Adam Carolla, if anyone has watched The Car Show, you'll understand that it takes more than being a car guy and having a sense of humor.

[OTown]

Why wont they kill this show already and let the boys carry on with its legacy?

[jwslam]

Originally posted by rage2
Being a car guy isn't enough. Look at Adam Carolla, if anyone has watched The Car Show, you'll understand that it takes more than being a car guy and having a sense of humor.
So he wasn't car enough for The Car Show....
Was he man enough for The Man Show?

[jacky4566]

Originally posted by gregrego
Only way it will work is if there is instant chemistry with the hosts. What about other famous "car guys" I think Leno could play a good "asshole" le blanc would be the funny one, maybe Seinfeld could join and be the "slow" one.. 2/3 of those guys would never do the show but just a thought..

The casting budget for that would kill it in the first week.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2
Being a car guy isn't enough. Being a car guy isn't really necessary at all. It's well below "Being able to act" on the list of requirements, and only slightly above "Being able to drive". Now listen, if they did Top Gear Israel with Seinfeld, Larry David and maybe Nick Kroll I'd be all over that, but the Top Gear we know wouldn't work with guys like Leno and Seinfeld.

The problem with having Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc as hosts is that I will probably never believe that they are friends outside the show.

[killramos]

Originally posted by OTown
Why wont they kill this show already and let the boys carry on with its legacy?

The show and magazine revenue are a cash cow. They will continue to produce the show and sell the magazine until that changes.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/11/top-gear-bbc-jeremy-clarkson


Top Gear is the BBC’s biggest global brand with sales of the TV show, DVDs, books, live shows and other merchandise worth more than £50m a year.

The motoring show can lay claim to being the most popular factual television programme in the world – complete with a Guinness Book of World Records entry – watched by an audience of 350 million in 214 territories.

The show has also been remade as a local version in the US, China, Russia, France, South Korea and Australia.

As a money spinner, Top Gear outperforms the clutch of mega-brands that the BBC considers to be its international crown jewels: Doctor Who, BBC Earth and Dancing with the Stars (Strictly Come Dancing in the UK).

Up until late 2012, the Top Gear franchise was a joint venture between BBC Worldwide (50%), Jeremy Clarkson (30%) and producer Andy Wilman (20%).

The arrangement helped make Clarkson more than £30m from annual dividends of millions of pounds from the global exploitation of the brand.

While Clarkson’s presenting fee was the only expense footed for by licence fee payers, headlines about his mounting riches and the inability of the BBC to maximise returns from Top Gear made for an increasingly embarrassing situation.

In September 2012, BBC Worldwide paid Clarkson £8.4m for his 30% stake, and £5.6m for Wilman’s, and now own all of Top Gear’s intellectual property rights and consolidate all the revenues and profits from the show’s global commercialisation.

I didn't know Clarkson used to own significant rights. That must have been mad money for a few years...

After selling the rights no wonder BBC had issues relating to him. Go from being primary shareholder to strictly employee. Hard to adjust.

See it with founders of companies that go public to.

[OTown]

Originally posted by killramos


The show and magazine revenue are a cash cow. They will continue to produce the show and sell the magazine until that changes.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/11/top-gear-bbc-jeremy-clarkson



I didn't know Clarkson used to own significant rights. That must have been mad money for a few years...

After selling the rights no wonder BBC had issues relating to him. Go from being primary shareholder to strictly employee. Hard to adjust.

See it with founders of companies that go public to.

Yeah but at a certain point the trainwreck has to stop :dunno:

[01RedDX]

.

[killramos]

Originally posted by OTown


Yeah but at a certain point the trainwreck has to stop :dunno:

When you have something that works so well why would you toss all that money out the door just because of a wrench in the works.

Even without Clarkson they still own the naming rights, other trademarks, fan base ( not everyone will bail completely ).

The new show is very likely to be profitable even with a huge drop from their peak.

If they were going to close up they would be better to just sell the rights to Netflix or Amazon and be done with it. But that is just proving to everyone that Clarkson can do whatever he wants and get away with it. The BBC is pretty wealthy as well, they don't need to sell anything they don't want it.

I personally still maintain a subscription to Top Gear magazine through all this. I still immensely enjoy it.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
Not sure which famous lines Kroll is known for I didn't like his solo show but I think his League personality could do pretty well.

Just that shit-eating Jew grin he gets when things go wrong for other people.

[Neil4Speed]

The rest of the presenters are introduced... Seems like too many to me.

http://www.topgear.com/car-news/top-gear-tv/meet-your-new-top-gear-presenters

I obviously love most video material on cars, and I'm sure that this will be decent, however, the real magic of Top Gear was the chemistry of the three.

[dirtsniffer]

Seems the plan was to throw a bunch of shit at the wall to see what sticks

[bjstare]

I still think this has potential. Will definitely keep watching.

Top Gear US sucked huge balls the first season or two, but once they got into their groove, I found it pretty entertaining. No TG UK, but still decent.

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by rage2
Being a car guy isn't enough. Look at Adam Carolla, if anyone has watched The Car Show, you'll understand that it takes more than being a car guy and having a sense of humor.

That's what I'm wondering about Leblanc, Reid, Sabine and Jordan. Harris has the experience already but on a serious side and Evans is already a popular presenter with BBC, will still check it out though but just not the same at all already:

bTWcEjj0w3s

on the other side of the grass:

4zXzRWAshZw

[killramos]

It was funny, in the last issue of the magazine they asked Sabine who she most wanted to have on the show as a guest. She said Jeremy Clarkson.

That would be awesome.

:rofl:

[Maxt]

That new clip...Looks like Top gear trying to hard to be Top Gear... like watching Dumb and Dumberer instead of Dumb and Dumber.. Show might be better than clips mashed together.

[Dumbass17]

Rip Top Gear

[Sdeibert]

Originally posted by Maxt
That new clip...Looks like Top gear trying to hard to be Top Gear... like watching Dumb and Dumberer instead of Dumb and Dumber.. Show might be better than clips mashed together.

No reason it won't be exactly the same, production crew & formula haven't changed. Just gonna have different banter and a lot worse jokes.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Sdeibert
different banter and a lot worse jokes.

Or just different jokes... after all of the seasons of Top Gear the jokes between the original trio were pretty predictable.

[OTown]

Originally posted by sheik_yerbouti
But will he always be stuck in second gear?

Quoted for laughs

I think Eddie Jordan would be the only one worth watching out of that crew

[Feruk]

First episode's out. While parts of the episode seemed very scripted and forced (especially Chris Evans trying way too hard), overall the content made it a pretty good episode.

[btimbit]

LeBlanc was actually the best part imo. Evans was just terrible

[beyond_ban]

Wow, a lot better than i figured it would be. Better than Top Gear USA, although an admittedly small sample size.

Anyone else surprised by the bit about the LaF?

[flipstah]

Where did you all watch this?

[Bladeh]

It was ok, nothing special, Matt LeBlanc was much better than the red dickhead. If you thought the old Top Gear was scripted wait till you watch the new one.

I watched the Extra Gear with Harris, he should be on the main show rather than ginger tosser!

[Xtrema]

I cannot stand Evans' high pitch voice.

LeBlanc actually works well in scripted segments.

Studio audience looks bored.

[schocker]

Watched a bit so far. Super cringey and worse then I was expecting. Evans is also a bit annoying though hitting the rev limiter vs the plane was pretty amusing :rofl:

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Hate Evans, Leblanc seems out of place unless he's told exactly what to do.

Eisenburg was a terrible guest. I hate a non-enthusiast being on the show, many celebs would die to be on any top gear.

The old top gears took time, so I'll give this time, I'm still just sad over the old series :(

[Neil4Speed]

Yeah need to give this a bit of time. The first episode was rough.

I didn't find any of the challenge sequences any good, and it just struck me as having poor chemistry overall.

Hard to believe that Matt Leblanc was an actual actor for so long....

Wtf was with Jesse as the SIARPC? Didn't even own a car? Pitching some two bit movie?

[jacky4566]

Originally posted by Bladeh
It was ok, nothing special, Matt LeBlanc was much better than the red dickhead. If you thought the old Top Gear was scripted wait till you watch the new one.

I watched the Extra Gear with Harris, he should be on the main show rather than ginger tosser!

Agree with this. Extra Gear was good and felt less forced. LeBlanc was good but it looked like he was scared shitless to make any real comments/quips or deviate from the script.

WTF was Jesse doing there? Gordon could have easily filled the segment, had so much to say and they focused on the kid.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by Neil4Speed
Hard to believe that Matt Leblanc was an actual actor for so long....


Calling what he did "acting" is a bit of a stretch.....

[lamp_shade_2000]

I felt matt did ok. He did seem a little out of place but I think that could improve with time as he settles in and some chemistry is made. Chris Evans was awful. As mentioned before, his jumping around and his yelling with that awful screech of a voice was painful to endure. I was confused when I saw the extra gear be announced so I had to check it out. To me it seems like a waste of time. The extra gear hosts did seem more comfortable though and had better chemistry i juat dont see the purpose of having an exTra 30min show. I think they should ditch the extra gear show and ditch evans. Let the other hosts join the full length program. Hopefully it improves as they go along. Still better than fifth gear or top gear usa. Can't wait for Grand Tour to come out and see what the guys can do now that they arnt limited by the BBC.

[tha_bandit]

Exactly how I felt during the segment...


The audience got the faintest glimmer of hope when she called the Z06 a “piece of shit”, with “awful” suspension that is “like a Ferrari.” That was a hot take that was not only unexpected, but sorely missed, as it’s what made old Top Gear great—the ability to crap on a car that many highly regard and back it up with snarky yet substantive argument. As I imagined the audience leaned inwards and though “What did you mean by that, Sabine? Tell me more,” the segment ended, with Sabine losing a track battle with to a radio host
from: JALOP (http://jalopnik.com/what-the-hell-top-gear-1779481253)

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by Neil4Speed

Wtf was with Jesse as the SIARPC? Didn't even own a car? Pitching some two bit movie?



Originally posted by jacky4566

WTF was Jesse doing there? Gordon could have easily filled the segment, had so much to say and they focused on the kid.

I can't remember where I read it, but Brad Pitt was supposed to be the second guest and had to cancel for some reason. Jesse was a last-minute replacement.

[K3RMiTdot]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
Wow, a lot better than i figured it would be. Better than Top Gear USA, although an admittedly small sample size.

Anyone else surprised by the bit about the LaF?

Couldn't finish the episode without falling asleep each time.

I hope the next epsiode is better.

LaF spider key has been circling social media for the last few months.

interesting to see how it looks..

[beyond_ban]

Originally posted by K3RMiTdot


Couldn't finish the episode without falling asleep each time.

I hope the next epsiode is better.

LaF spider key has been circling social media for the last few months.

interesting to see how it looks..

I split the episode into two parts, maybe that's the key :rofl:

I hadn't seen anything on social media other than some really iffy renders. Pretty excited to see the final result.

[Gman.45]

I agree that LeBlanc wasn't awful, but man, the new Amazon series featuring the "real" Top Gear crew can't happen fast enough.

[Bladeh]

2nd episode was much better, plus extra gear was pretty funny.

[rx7_turbo2]

I expected the first episode to be worse based on what I'd read. It wasn't completely unwatchable.

They're trying to hard that's my biggest observation. Evans needs to stop yelling and un-tuck his pants from his boots and Leblanc needs to make it look like he actually wants to be there.

It wasn't bad enough that I'd never watch again, I'll give them some time and see if they can't build some chemistry.

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by Bladeh
2nd episode was much better, plus extra gear was pretty funny.

I agree! :thumbsup: Extra gear is pretty good! I hope they keep it around. :)


Originally posted by rx7_turbo2
They're trying to hard that's my biggest observation. Evans needs to stop yelling and un-tuck his pants from his boots and Leblanc needs to make it look like he actually wants to be there.
That's my only complaint tooo! :banghead:

[D88]

I find the car reviews so far to be really lacking. Chris Evans' reviews consist of "OMG this is the best car I have ever driven!!!". Very little substance and basically zero criticisms which amounts to "watch us have fun in this car our producers managed to get on the show this week".

Also the fact they kept the reasonably priced car segment but no longer have any weekly news makes me sad. That being said, it was the interactions between the old hosts that made the news segment entertaining so maybe that's why they dropped it. The reasonably priced car always sucked though.

[pheoxs]

I'd really like to see the show dump the two of them in a foreign country and force some one on one time and see if it can build chemistry. So far they seem so far distance and almost against each other.

Throw them in a sketchy country, have one of them break down and they have to work together to get through it. Build some respect for each other and shit.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by D88
I find the car reviews so far to be really lacking. Chris Evans' reviews consist of "OMG this is the best car I have ever driven!!!". Very little substance and basically zero criticisms which amounts to "watch us have fun in this car our producers managed to get on the show this week".

Also the fact they kept the reasonably priced car segment but no longer have any weekly news makes me sad. That being said, it was the interactions between the old hosts that made the news segment entertaining so maybe that's why they dropped it. The reasonably priced car always sucked though.

Review is not up to par of the old but still watchable. I still can't stand Evans' voice and the hyper ADD style.

The interview segment also sucked and I don't think they have the chemistry right for the new segment yet or I don't think they will ever do such segment.

[Neil4Speed]

Matt Leblanc is the best part of the new series so far... that's saying something.

I really liked Chris Evans before this, enjoyed his interviews etc, but he is really annoying to watch on TV.

At least the production values are still there, some great video from South Africa.

Something about this new series just feels wrong.

In lots of ways Motor Trend TV on youtube has helped me get my Top Gear fix really well. Good presenters, and I feel, great journalism.

[The_Rural_Juror]

It's a shame that the Extra Gear hosts are so much better than the Top Gear hosts. Harris is miles better than Evans. I can't stand Evans. Harris talking about the car while ripping it around the track is fun to watch.

I would like to see Harris, Reid, Schmitz and maybe LeBlanc as the four main hosts. I think LeBlanc would have much better chemistry with the younger guys.

[b_t]

Where can we watch Extra Gear? The BBC stream is blocked for me. Do I gotta DL?

Does Chris Harris get to do a proper review like he had on his own channel, good duration and everything?

[ExtremeSi]

Originally posted by The_Rural_Juror
It's a shame that the Extra Gear hosts are so much better than the Top Gear hosts. Harris is miles better than Evans. I can't stand Evans. Harris talking about the car while ripping it around the track is fun to watch.

I would like to see Harris, Reid, Schmitz and maybe LeBlanc as the four main hosts. I think LeBlanc would have much better chemistry with the younger guys.

I agree completely.

[Bladeh]

I need a Focus RS!

[rage2]

The Chris Harris segment is the closest you're going to get to the old new Top Gear. It's too bad that he doesn't have the time to commit to the show full time.

edit - get rid of Chris Evans. Get rid of Eddie Jordan. Hell even get rid of Sabine Schmitz. That gets rid of the dull personality problem of the show. Give the show to Chris Harris, random black dude, and Matt Leblanc and give them a season to develop some chemistry and you'll have a show that's worthy of Top Gear. This was a really good episode that was reminiscent of the old presenters. Fast forward through the Chris Evans Audi R8 and guests bit and the show is even better.

[03ozwhip]

Where are you guys watching this?

[rage2]

BBC iPlayer through any dns service. Just sign up for a free trial, go to iplayer and watch shit live.

[Bladeh]

I use Smart DNS, $12 for 3 months, probably cheaper out there but I can watch UK, US and Netflix US, although it did stop working for Netflix US for a time but it was working last time I tried.

[Mibz]

Didn't like Rory's RS segment simply because he laid it on too thick, but I think he'll get better.

Harris's segment was perfect. When he was first announced I didn't his style would mesh with Top Gear but I was 100% wrong. It was a normal Chris Harris Youtube video but with Top Gear production style and it was fantastic.

I think Sabine is great at talking about cars, but struggles with the forced humour.

Also, Kevin Hart should probably just host the show.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by Mibz
Didn't like Rory's RS segment simply because he laid it on too thick, but I think he'll get better.

Harris's segment was perfect. When he was first announced I didn't his style would mesh with Top Gear but I was 100% wrong. It was a normal Chris Harris Youtube video but with Top Gear production style and it was fantastic.

I think Sabine is great at talking about cars, but struggles with the forced humour.

Also, Kevin Hart should probably just host the show.

This absolutely, that segment was actually pretty hilarious - "This is racism!! RACISM!!"

That entire episode was really well done I thought.

[Feruk]

At least the old hosts would say both the positive and negative stuff about a car. "Everything is great" Evans appears to have no balls.

[Wrinkly]

Couldn't get it to embed :dunno:

v=87WmXg3ILHIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87WmXg3ILHI


Mod edit:

87WmXg3ILHI

[NoSup4U]

Leblanc is threatening to quit over Evans.....

Link (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/26/matt-leblanc-is-planning-to-quit-top-gear-if-co-host-chris-evans/)

[rage2]

The NSX film. Damn. I want one. When's the last time a TG review changed your mind about a car?

[K3RMiTdot]

Its the last episode too

[spikerS]

749969917055799296

:clap: :rofl: :clap:

[schocker]

^^^ Finally finished a full episode last night, this makes S24 much more exciting to see what the team without him can do. Hopefully they don't try and replace him but just give an expanded role to chris and rory.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Originally posted by spikerS
749969917055799296

:clap: :rofl: :clap:

Very nice. His rant on the Rolls in episode 5 was cringe worthy.

[Bladeh]

Good! ginger tosser!

Went from 4 million viewers to 1.9 million for last nights episode. I believe the rest are returning..... although Eddie Jordan is a waste of space.

[Feruk]

They're all a waste of space besides Matt LeBlanc. Why try to mask a lack of chemistry by bombarding us with SIX presenters? Hire two guys LeBlanc can work with and call it good.

[austic]

The old guy was pretty boring, trying to create a new James May.

Sabine had one funny line in the whole series talking about how crappy the zo6 was compared to her Ferrari.

[Xtrema]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/04/chris-evans-to-leave-top-gear-after-police-launch-sexual-assault/

This may be why he's quitting/fired.

Conspiracy theory says The Beeb had this in their back pocket in case they want to get out of the 3 year contract with Evans.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by Feruk
They're all a waste of space besides Matt LeBlanc. Why try to mask a lack of chemistry by bombarding us with SIX presenters? Hire two guys LeBlanc can work with and call it good.



Originally posted by austic
The old guy was pretty boring, trying to create a new James May.

Sabine had one funny line in the whole series talking about how crappy the zo6 was compared to her Ferrari.


I expressed the same opinion elsewhere, this is what I wrote (pre-Evans quitting):

I hate Evans. He feels forced and over enthusiastic. I enjoy Leblanc, and how stoic he is in comparison. I like Harris and Reid, but I feel like neither of them would do well in front of the audience. They're great in the car, but they're not performers. I really like Sabine, and feel like she could take over for Evans, but I feel like she may get frustrated with the language barrier from time to time. Eddie Jordan straight up bores me. He's like the worst part of James May stripped out into a boring person.

I straight up hate the change to the star in a reasonable priced car. There's no point to the whole "vote for one of the guests" because Evans will just award a point to make it a tie before the race anyways. And when they do the "explain what Guest B is doing right now" is super forced, especially when you realize they're straight up reading off a teleprompter. You always knew they were there to push a movie, album, or something, but at least there was some kind of conversation there. Now it's just shilling between clips, and there's no news bit anymore. The actual change to a Rallycross race is fine.

That being said, I'll still watch it. I do enjoy the pre-recorded clips.
Modify message

[bjstare]

Finally got around to watching this. Agree with everything posted above by Smurf.

Chris Evans is a massive douchebag. Matt LeBlanc is great.

[Bladeh]

Enjoyed the first episode of the new series 24, much better than the last series, got rid of Evans and now just Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid.

Back to the old formula and back to the old Top Gear race track with a decent car.

[NoSup4U]

Has anyone seen a premiere date for BBC Canada?

[VaN_HaMMeRSTeiN]

Haven't seen but a stream link was posted on Reddit.
It's much improved. In fact I kinda like it more than The Grand Tour.

[alanaround]

Just watched episode 2 of season 24 and given that they're only 2 episodes in with the new, new format I think they've got a great thing going - Harris does a good job of commentating while doing the reviews, brings it back round to being more car-orientated with his humour and descriptive comments (almost like Tiff did when he was on TG), leblanc seems a bit more relaxed and the guest this week fitted in well as they went back and forth on the sofa regarding what he drives and his lap experience. :thumbsup:

[rage2]

Grand Tour has morphed into something completely different, but still entertaining in a different way. TG S24E02 has Top Gear almost as good as it used to be and the 3 are getting along well. The presentation is awesome and classic TG, made me want to drive all the cars on the episode.

[alanaround]

Originally posted by rage2
Grand Tour has morphed into something completely different, but still entertaining in a different way. TG S24E02 has Top Gear almost as good as it used to be and the 3 are getting along well. The presentation is awesome and classic TG, made me want to drive all the cars on the episode.

totally agree, I laugh a bit more at GT for the antics, but last night's TG had me excited and totally engrossed during the Alfa and 911/Huracan segments.

[95EagleAWD]

Yeah, the 911/Lambo segment was wicked.

[klumsy_tumbler]

Am I the only one that was hoping that LeBlanc would be the one driving the 911 so that he could don his famous Porsche outfit?

jJrkTHG29gU

[ExtremeSi]

10x better than last season. So glad Chris Evans quit.

The driving segments are great, but the studio bits still seem a little uncomfortable. Having the guest on for half the show is weird and it feels like they scripted everything they were going to say. Oh well, still enjoyable. I'm glad we have TG and GT now!

[J_P]

Originally posted by ExtremeSi
10x better than last season. So glad Chris Evans quit.

The driving segments are great, but the studio bits still seem a little uncomfortable. Having the guest on for half the show is weird and it feels like they scripted everything they were going to say. Oh well, still enjoyable. I'm glad we have TG and GT now!

I agree on the heavy script. Bang on with the guest for half the show. Anything that is spontaneous is awkward at times as the chemistry needs to brew a season before it will become better, as it did the first season of TG with the original trio.
I really hope they push to get some of the top drivers from the previous reasonably priced cars back on to prove that it wasn't a fluke, and for us to gain some reference.

[Bladeh]

The muck spreader was pretty dope!

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/machinery/watch-matt-le-blanc-shredded-a-car-with-a-muck-spreader-on-top-gear-35551530.html

[Xtrema]

The guest portion, it seems like they want to be like Graham Norton but fails a bit. But so far, I prefer this over the old guest segments.

Season 23 is enjoyable so far, except Joey trashing the 124 Abarth, that little thing is tugging my heart string lately. Especially for how much cheaper and more tunable than the MX-5 it is. And unlike Mazda, they don't force you back to dealership every 6000km.

But I guess it super expensive in UK vs the MX-5.