Top Gear Australia

Gad, what an abomination. They hold an open casting call, creating the impression they're actually looking for good presenters, and instead they overlook all presenting ability and go for 3 dreary motoring columnists with all the wit and charm of Peter Lorre and all the dashing good looks of George Formby. Where was the humour? All we got was three ill-at-ease middle aged twits with no personality hooning around on some sand dunes, pretending to enjoy themselves and guffawing hysterically at every whimsical comment. How about Charlie explaining the technical details of a car's transmission by doodling a diagram in the dirt? I mean really, does your average Top Gear fan give a Peter Luck how the car works? And what exactly was the point of the shark stunt, and what did it have to do with cars?? About the only joke I can recall from the entire show was some nauseatingly unfunny quip about Victoria Police "busting a cap in someone's ass", which was followed by a round of self-congratulation and an appeal to the bemused audience for applause. Oh and of course there was the obligatory attempt to imitate some of Clarkson's outspokenness, by taking a cheap and unfunny shot at the government over their luxury car tax.

Maybe if they'd tried to do something a bit different, rather than just imitating all the personality traits of the original hosts, it might not have looked so bad. As it is, they look like really bad Cliff Richard impersonators in an Elvis impersonator's competition. The bloke who plays Richard Hammond, Steve Pizzati, got on my nerves too. I can only imagine how grating that whiny soprano and irritating cackle will be by the end of the series.

I was actually considering auditioning for the James May role when they had the casting call, but I wouldn't have gotten it as I'm way too funny.

I'm sure the BBC execs are sharpening their axe as I type. It's rather amusing that the only original segment was titled What Were They Thinking, as it summed up my reaction to the BBC's decision to commission this steaming pile.

Im glad there is some people sticking up for this show here.

At the same time i am saddened by all the bashing and comparison to TG UK by these "armchair" critics.

Do you have any comprehension if the budget per EP for TG UK? Its either 1 or 2 MILLION UKP per ep! I doubt you will find ANY Australian show with such a budget, especially not on a channel like SBS! On the same note, the amount of footage that ends up on the cutting room floor for TG UK is as astronomical as the budget, its like 100 or 200:1 For those that do not understand that means for every one minute of footage aired there is over 100 minutes shot, this all costs money and is HUGELY relevant to the quality of the show.

To put it simply SBS do not, and most likely never will have the time,money or resources to so what the BBC do for TG UK, so to compare the two is HUGELY unfair.

I agree our Top Gear is not anything flash just yet, but i have seen a lot worse shows on Aussie TV. Im sure given some time for the cast,crew and writers to all get used to the job it will improve, and hopefully some advertising income will increase production values.

I have no doubt the vast majority of the current budget is being spent just to secure the rights to use the name.

Lots of room for improvement yes, but please don't bash it so much and give it a chance. And as hard as it is don's try to put it up against the mega budget UK incarnation, its just not fair.

With great expectation I awaited the arrival of our home grown version of a wonderfully entertaining programme. Lo and behold what we got was a gallingly scripted piece of bile. Sure looking at cars that we can purchase here was interesting, prob more so than the exotic versions tested by the English counterpart, there however ended the enjoyment. Where did they dredge these presenters (well two of them anyway) up from, Charlie COOK, the Jeremy wannabe, without any presence, any semblance of humor, quite frankly he would be better suited to hosting one of those makeup shows gracing our screens mid morning. Steve Pizzati is immensely annoying, and dare I say it, that is prob his most redeeming feature. He constantly clamors for camera time, interrupting the others with feeble attempts at humor, then having the audacity to laugh at the unfunniest of unfunny jokes. Is that whining voice of his natural, surely not. I found Warren to be the most likable of these characters, shark stunt aside. On the face of it he appears to be the only candidate available with an ability to ad-lib. I can only hope that when a pecking order is established within this trio that they can then stop competing with each other. "What were they thinking" is original, and prob should be explored further on the programme. I know it is early days and I sincerely hope that these issues are addressed, if not this show could be destined for the "also rans" bin very quickly, a shame given the lack of a decent motoring show in this country since the halcyon days of "Torque" with Peter Wherret

Tonight on SBS saw the debut of the local version of the hit U.K motor show Top Gear.

I'm a big fan of Top Gear. I love the antics of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May oh I should mention The Stig as well. I love the fun segments and especially and this is the key here I love the sense of humor of the show. You see the main reason the UK Top Gear is so popular is because of the personalties and the wit of the hosts.

Top Gear Australia has none of that. The hosts of TGA (Charlie Cox, Warren Brown & Steve Pizzati) have no charisma and have the sense of humor of a office manager. Plus they trying too hard to be like Clarkson, Hammond and May with embarrassing results. SBS has put a lot of money into this show and left out the main ingredient on what made the UK version popular. I knew they would do this. I just knew that some suit at the network said 'Hey that car show is popular lets make our own version. It will be great cause it has Aussie cars and content and we will measure in Kilowatts' without sitting down to watch the original.

The U.S have done the right thing and have the UK crew film exclusive content just for them (With a lot of fat jokes I'm guessing). What SBS has done have taken a show and lot of people liked and what they have done is made a piece of junk that no one really asked for in the first place. A disaster.

I can imagine Jeremy Clarkson seeing this show and making fun of it in the latest season of the UK Top Gear (To air in Australia sometime in 2022) A huge thumbs down.

The original UK Topgear took a bit of time to find its feet, the first season was very little like it would later become. In season 2 they dumped the big guy who did the used car prices bit, (few even remember him) over a couple of seasons it evolved, the last few seasons (with the original hosts) continued to evolve. Till the BBC killed the golden goose, firing Clarkson led to the other two hosts leaving as well as the producer/creator. The UK version floundered after that with a string of hosts trying to keep it alive. There where also German, French, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Russian and American versions most, only lasting a season or two with the American version lasting longer than most, but still just a pale copy of the original.

The Australian version floundered from the start, a couple of seasons on SBS Australia, replacing most of the cast each season, then channel 9 had a go but despite putting in a lot more money even importing the UK hosts for the pilot with just 4 episodes in that first season, 9's second season was just 6 episodes, then they cancelled it.

Then a 12 year gap to the current version, now on it's 3rd host (Paramount+), coming out the same year as the BBC finally cancelled the original version, this new version is just the same tired old copy of what the original was doing at it's peak well over a decade ago, now in fact it's also going to air on free to air network 10, which will come as great news to anyone who actually paid to see it on Paramount+. With the ending of the Grand Tour (also really just Topgear) this year, the Australian version is now the last version of the show, and sadly doesn't look like it will last long either. With the drastic changes coming to the car industry over the next few years, you would think someone could come up with an original idea for a car show.