Has Top Gear jumped the shark?

That isn't the most recent episode, there were a few good episodes that came out after the African episode.

 

I think BBCA airs episodes weeks or months after they appear in the UK.

FWIW, I thought it was pretty entertaining.

 

www.finalgear.com


They have links for all Top Gear episodes since 2002 or whenever it came out...about 100 episodes in all!

 

It may be impossible for an intentionally OTT series like Top Gear to Jump the Shark. In any case it was hilarious!
I believe that the BBC America airings of T.G. are a season behind those in the U.K.

 

About them and BY them. Wearing about as thin as Carroll Shelby helping Orange County Choppers design a tribute bike.

 

hasn't this always been their format...where they devote a few entire shows to "treks" like the one where they took the junkers accross the Southern US. Then there shows where they do "builds" are inter-woven with reviews of new cars and "celebrity laps". I've only been watching a few years but doesn't seem like anything has changed to me. I rather enjoyed a few episodes ago where the took the sports cars across the Alps.

 

Now I would hardly call the Veyron in last week's episode an old junker

 

I love this show and so does my girlfriend, I think we both like it because it is entertainment. She likes when they build project cars into boats, or try and grow their own gas. I like when they test the latest sports cars. It is a good show when looked at it for what it is entertainment. No one is going to make a purchase decision because Hammond likes Porsche, or what Clarkson says. For a car show it is great, because on the internet you can find out all the stats that you want on a vehicle, but to find something entertaining with cars in it is hard to do online. In order to keep that wide appeal they have to do this crazy challenges, besides this show where else can you see a Veyron taken to 253mph or even a review for an ENZO on TV! I am glad I am able to watch top gear.
Erik

 

I sadly say it has IMO....

 

This is the truth. I think that they might also actually only be able to get a limited number of "interesting" cars to test every season. Not every company *cough* Bugatti *cough* will let them take their cars to do a review around their track etc, so when you see these episodes I think they might just be fillers that have to be used to make a complete season. It could also just be because they feel like some find this format to be more entertaining but that is just my theory. I certainly find it hard to believe that clarkson or hammond would have any issue with getting to tool around in more exotic cars, so maybe a network decision too.

 

Probably has.....Like most shows that have been on too long!
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+1 on that. It's car focused entertainment. I watched the Africa episode twice with my kids and they loved it. Part of the appeal is also that they have such a huge audience that no matter what they say or do with the cars, the car companies will anyway bend over backwards just to get their cars on the show. They also have the budget to do stuff most other motoring programs couldn't afford. The only part wghich is wearing a bit thin for me is the whole "Stig" thing/story.

 

Too right ... but they let them loose in a Veyron at another track where they could actually hit the 252 mark, with Captain Slow driving too!

However, i think the show is a shadow of its former self from 4 or 5 years back. I'm interested in cars, not cars trying to be boats, rockets, husky sleds et al. That's why I prefer 5th Gear. True, Tiff Needel is a pain, but they do have Vicki Butler-Henderson to correct the balance