I've only regularly watched Top Gear on BBCA since sometime in 2008 (I think). Speaking strictly about BBCA broadcasts of the show in the last couple of years I've caught episodes from all the series, though just a few from the first 5 series. That suggests to me that disc availability in the U.S. is different from broadcast availability.
In terms of changes in the show, the challenges get more involved in later series, no doubt because they can afford to do more, go more places (the big trips are decent travelogues), etc. Also, the presenters are more willing to go for broke (prime example being the ruckus in the U.S. highlighted in the recent 60 Minutes piece). Not that they weren't being silly early on, but I think the show plays more to their personalities than it did in the beginning. When the show does segments on specific cars, it's frequently on a supercar - Porsche, Ferrari, high-end Mercedes, Lexus, etc. The U.S. show probably won't be any different on this point (the Viper was featured at the start of the first episode). There's not a lot of time under the hood, unless someone breaks down. The show's more for car fans than weekend mechanics. I enjoy watching them put cars, trucks and other vehicles through their paces, even though I'm not likely to buy or rent much of what's on the show. I also like watching celebrities racing around a proper track (not that go-cart conversion rink in the back of The Jay Leno Show). David ________________________________ From: PGage <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, November 22, 2010 1:39:15 AM Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Top Gear US On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 9:09 PM, David Bruggeman <[email protected]> wrote: A solid start to the US edition, IMO. The chemistry between the co-hosts is getting there, and they're more entertaining together than by themselves. Tanner Foust could loosen up a bit. At least May is in on the joke with his pedantism. > Okay - I made a promise I would jump in with this question the next time I noticed a Top Gear thread here. I have never seen Top Gear. I have a friend who can't shut up about it, and I usually tune him out, as I have almost all of the traffic about it on this list. Recently he lazered through my shields and said I should give it a try. I might. But I notice something a little odd. On Netflix they have Top Gear seasons 1 - 8 (I believe) listed as available for saving, which seems to mean that they will not yet send out the disks, but they expect to be able to at some time in the future. Then they have Top Gear 9 - 12 available for instant viewing and disks. 13 is available for disks only, 14 is only listed as save. Why would the first 8 and last 1 not yet be available in any form, 9-12 be available for instant viewing, and 13 on disk only? (I guess the pattern for 9-14 makes sense, with more recent seasons either only available on disks, or not at all). Are Top Gear seasons 9 - 12 inferior in some way (Second Darren syndrome?). For a skeptical newbie, am I better off waiting until I can start with the earlier seasons, or should I jump in with season 8 to get a fair exposure? Frankly, I don't even know what the show is about - I take it that it has something to do with cars, and fixing and indulging one's passion for them. I am not a car guy in any way (I mean, I did grow up in Los Angeles, and I do own 3 cars, so I like having a car, but I sublimate my sexual passions in other ways). But my friend insists that I will still like the show, so I guess there is something else to it other than geeking out over a hemi (whatever a hemi is). Or maybe my friend is just trying to make me waste an hour of my time with a show he knows I will hate (I can not put that past him). -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
