Let’s face it, Top Gear Australia season one wasn’t too flash. Our readers were widely critical and the internet buzz wasn’t flattering… at all.
For season 2, it was obvious that SBS took the criticism of season one on-board and the result is a revamp and a much improved show.
The ’shark cage’ Moke was dropped on the “What Were They Thinking” board. We’re grateful, because it sucked.
We’ve finally had the Top Gear test track explained to us in detail, and can now appreciate what is involved when the celebrities or The Stig take to the track.
The challenge? Well, TG Australia challenges still need a bit of work.
Driving a Lamborghini Murcielago from Melbourne to Portsea doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as say London to Paris. Then there is the 50 - 70 km/h speed limit and Victoria’s zero tolerance speeding policy, which took the edge off the Murcielagos involvement, but it was better than some of what we saw in series one.
But better than all of these incremental improvements is that SBS chose to tick the Charlie Cox ‘delete option’ box for series two. Charlie “was not able to give the time to series 2…”, but our readers thought differently, including Gary whose comment below summed up the thoughts of many at the time;
Thank god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The guy was a complete tosser.
There is no way he walked without being pushed. SBS would have realised that he was the weakest link and told him to take a hike
Charlie was replaced by James Morrison, trumpet player and well-known petrolhead for season two and what a difference. James is a natural behind the camera.
He can talk without shouting and appears to keep his arm waving to a minimum.
Morrison and Cox are like chalk and cheese. One feels as comfortable as an old pair of jeans, the other was more like a loose pair of jocks: uncomfortably irritating.
Kudos to Warren, who conducted the first sensible Top Gear Australia celebrity interview.
It’s not perfect yet but episode one of season 2 has the smell of what just may be success about it. I suspect it may have been the first episode of Top Gear Australia that we could all sit through without cringing every few minutes.
Well done SBS.
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Great show, welcome the oz humour
that is what the first episode should have been, and proper introduction. everything that was wrong has been fixed. massive improvement. i agree it does have the smell of success.
Fantastic second round!!! had a real laugh like you do at the UK version… its was just sooo much more polished and funny… great challenge too, cant wait till next week
well i didnt think charlie was that bad he isnt clarkson but no one can be
i didnt think series one was that bad there was stuff every episode which could have been better but i found it entertaning none the less
if it didnt use the name & set “top gear” there wouldnt be all this bitchin!!!!
a direct comprassion from the orignial the new version is always goin to feel like a copy
keep goin sbs and i wish u all the best
I reckon Warren still has a way to go in his Michael Parkinson role. Until seeing him and Charlie interviewing the celebs I never realised what a good job Clarkson actually does.
Yup, certainly an improvement over last years effort. The track walk around was spot on, glad they finally explained that. I thought the interview with Skaifey was quite well done and geez….wasn’t he giving it some on his hot lap. Great stuff. Looking forward to next week.
Definately getting there. I wasn’t a Charlie Cox fan but he was better Steve Pizzati. He was irritating on TG Live and TGA series 1 and still irritating on series 2.
Much much better. The show had a lot of genuine humour.
The hosts didn’t look like they were ‘trying’ as hard.
Keep it up.
I actually thought Charlie was the best of the 3!
I don’t know why they try to copy the UK show so closely. It is personality based and these guys are trying too hard and it misses. Last night they were driving a Lambo - did they show the interior and its functions?, its engine, anything? No No No. I have seen one of these cars on the road and they look amazing. There was nothing entertaining or informative on this article.
Aye carumbah! - I think many of us are still missing the point. No matter how well the hosts try, THEY WILL ALWAYS BE COMPARED WITH THE UK GUYS! - Clarkeson et al have become icons beyond the TV show. Simply put, their shoes are too big to fill. Furthermore, the Aussie show will never have a fraction of the budget of the UK original so any stunts or challenges done locally will seem lame (despite best efforts of the hosts and crew). Note to SBS Executives: drop the clone show nonsense and get cracking on an original ‘unique’ format. The audience is there waiting. Go back through all the videos from the poor bastards who took up your challenge of “becoming the Aussie Top Gear Host” for some original ideas and concepts and use this as a starting point. Aussie humour is a powerful thing - Condescension in the form of a per-fab British format will never work with a cheap “made in Australia” sticker on it.
I thought it was a huge improvement on Series 1. And the interview with Skaifey was a welcome relief from some of the guests they had on before.
To Required - arguably though, the format has worked for SBS as all they had to do was put the Top Gear name to the show and they had “instant audience”. For a new show off a blank canvas, the initial interest would not be anywhere near as high.
They can still succeed; to do so I think they need to avoid as many references to the UK show as possible. e.g. NOT having the lead-in to the Stig - “Some say…” - was a huge help for Ep 1, IMO.
Have yet to see James Morrison’s character develop, though at this point he’s an immediate improvement on Cox.
What the hell? It’s just as bad as season one!
Last year, they had three presenters who didn’t know how to deliver a line, poor scripting, and not a bloody clue about the cars they were reviewing.
This time around they have, again, three presenters who can’t deliver a line, poor scripting, and not a clue about the cars they are reviewing!
Top Gear Australia is the biggest fail!
If they were serious, they’d give people with half a clue how to drive a shot. What was that tosser doing trying to get the Evo X off the line by simply stepping on gas and expecting it to take off as fast?
Second, if you can’t get presenters who can drive (Top Gear UK gets away with it), get people who are genuinely funny and who can interact with one another on camera.
If I were Pepsi, I’d be trying to find an escape clause in the advertising/promotion contract. The Top Gear presenters are NOT aspirational characters for your market! To the majority of under 50s, Top Gear is tosserville.
Was it better? Well.. yes… it couldn’t have been worse. Is it good? Sorry… no, it isn’t.
The camera angles have improved somewhat but the track segments still insist on that stupid “wide angle lens” shadowing in the corners and the darkened top of the picture - utterly pointless and annoying.
James Morrison is an improvement but couldn’t whip up the energy or sparkle that driving an EVO should have - and why the EVO? TG (UK) did that last year, didn’t they? Cox and Warren still come across as wooden rea-ding-the-words-from-the-tele-prom-pter.
As mentioned, the “challenge” was a lame attempt to mimic the cross-London challenge of the previous UK series, which fell flat on its face. The challenge for us was to stay tuned in… and we failed, turning it off before the Lambo reached 30kph.
Nope, there is still no charm, energy or sparkle - it’s now Wannabe, Rat and Capt. Boring but it will never live up to the original and it won’t get watched by us again.
Yeah, it is still crap. James Morrison doesn’t do it for me and the other 2 are still dribbling idiots.
Seven yer old rpeats of the pommie version would be way better.
The good
James is an improvement over Charlie.
It was really entertaining to watch Skaifey trying to squeeze every last millisecond out of the Proton.
The takeoff of the Lancer commercial was funny.
Admitting that “What were they thinking?” was a bad segment was nice to see.
The bad
Lambo “challenge” was really boring.
Obvious lack of knowledge in the Evo X/135 comparison. $40 difference? huh? Try $13,000 between Evo X manual and 135 manual, or $13,000 between Evo X MR and 135 with a similar level of options. The Evo X has launch control - use it! Then it won’t bog down at the line. Don’t set the “Traction control” to “Tarmac” - turn it off!
Absolutely dreadful! I couldn’t watch all of it. The presenters simply are NOT funny. All their attempts at humour came across as exactly that – attempts. The forced jocularity was like fingernails down a blackboard.
On top of that, we had the silly ‘challenge’ which was so overproduced and scripted, but poorly executed, that I simply couldn’t continue watching.
They should get hosts with genuine chemistry, spend more time reviewing actual cars (without pulling any punches) and reduce the pointless challenges/stunts, or at least make them half plausible and/or interesting.
i was totally appalled. not only did you dunk a great ossie car in the sea in season 1(mini moke). You now add insult to injury in this season by dropping it from a height in the studio. Automotive idiocy!! Get with it guys australia has produced more than just fords and holdens. And to just trash an irreplacable car just for cheap laughs is discusgusting. I for one wont be watching again.
great start not perfect
the stig thing crap
good intro for james
killing the WWTT board was a bit forced by warren i think he really liked that
finally the proper tour of the track big tick here
show how useless a lambo is in a city is in the challange and the male bonding on the jet ski made me laugh
re make of the mitsuibishi ad clever and well done there …… the should have done the double chello
evo vs bmw road test at a track very good
the chemistry between the 3 is good still awkard in parts but there none the less
just ignore the whingers sbs and keep going
Crap ! Crap ! Crap ! What a load of Bulltish. Try hard presenters with annoying voices….espeacially from the bearded dwarf one. Get this crap off our televisions and bring back Top Gear UK (even if it’s repeats)….NOW !!!!!!
I grew up underneath a freeway on -ramp leading out of town…I spend 12 years living in a cardboard box..slowly I worked my way to the point where I was living in a better underneath a bridge..after watching the second episode of series two I wished I wanted to be back under the on-ramp…everything became pointless…I have lost the will to better myself…
This show is so bad …even the couch doesnt want to be in the same room as the TV.
I think there isnt enough ethnic diversity on the programme..I would like to see a person of colour in the cast. It wont make it any better but SBS will feel better about squandering the cash.
jesus h christ
all this whinging and moaning i wish u were back under the bridge with your couch too mike with no pc or internet connection
right all whinging moles get off the internet drag your sorry asses back to the tv and watch “a current affair” or “home and away” or the bleeding soccer or what ever u lot done before u had a connection and get over it its not tg uk
go to bed and have a cry and a sleep and when u get up in the morning and head off to “work for the dole” in your 10yo hyaundi excel or 20yo vl commadore
spend a moment and GET A LIFE !!!!
seriously
What a load of rubbish. Boring Boring Boring. Too much dialogue and not enough action. The challenges are lame and the scripted “gags” are just downright embarressing.
SBS are full of self praise when it comes to this tripe and I therefore expect any email with even the slightest amount of negativity to be automatically deleted.
On the Oz Top Gear forum (through the SBS site) there was ,at last count, 63 comments and NOT ONE was slightly negative. What a surprise.
P.S : Steve, you have the most annoying, try hard Okka accent ever known to man. Grow up you geeky little bearded dwarf.
TG Australia totally and absolutely SUX!!!!!
It is boring…oh so over rehearsed (and they still can’t make it sound believable), it is not in the least bit funny, entertaining or informative.
FGS get rid of the THREE TG LOOGERS!!!!
I agree with the comments above, they have the most irritating voices and they are Australias Biggest Losers!!!!!
They are an embarrassment, talentless, annoying, the least funny people I have ever seen in one group. What’s with SBS???
They make you wish you could just smack them….
Yep….bring back re-runs of TG UK.
I am grateful for one thing though, that I’m not married to any of them!!!! Eeeeew………….now that’s stomach wrenching stuff.
Too stage still,nothing seems to be off the cuff . They still try too hard to be funny .Who writes their stuff,sack him/her may help!
Thank God the light fittings wont support my weight, my fingers wont fit into the powerpoints and viewing induced lethargy quelled my desire to venture to the kitchen in search of sharp objects. I am so dissapointed with these three stooges pathetic attempt at humour, that I am going to take up patchwork quilting on Monday nights to recieve more entertainment than I get from this show.