The American version of “Top Gear” made its debut on the History Channel on cable last night. In reviewing the first three episodes — the only ones made available by the producers — Mike Hale of The New York Times wrote, “The result — for the person with a casual interest in cars, anyway — is a show that at this point lacks the character of the British original but is, particularly in its second and third episodes, reasonably entertaining by American reality-TV standards.”
John Krewson of Jalopnik.com, an enthusiast site, offered a similar point of view.
“There’s a bit of a touring-company feel to the whole thing, a vague sense of wedding-band cover-version, especially at first,” Mr. Krewson wrote. But the hosts gain better footing in the later episodes, he found, and “by the third episode you should have the snack tray full and an hour free, because this show has a damn good chance of being, if not lightning in a bottle, then white lightning in a jar. Rougher, at least at first. But no less fun.”
A Twitter search for #topgear found that most of the criticism was aimed squarely at the hosts.
“It’s a total carbon copy of the UK show isn’t it… except for the presenters who I found very weak,” one user wrote. “The American hosts just don’t have the chemistry that the Brits do,” another wrote.
Some viewers on Twitter said they were willing to give the show and its hosts some time to work out the chemistry. What about you? What did you think of the first episode? Join the conversation below.
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