"Imagine, if you will, an 'Ultimate Cop Car' ... challenged by a wall of paper boxes..."
When I saw the promos for Mud, Sweat and Gears, I was one eager BBC viewer. I'm a devoted follower of MythBusters, used to love 'robot' demolition, and was heartbroken when they cancelled Junkyard Wars.
And oh, man, am I disappointed...
I'm a huge fan of BBC programming, from intelligent news to great drama to the silly stuff. But if I didn't know better I'd've thought this was a product of one of the Basic Cable ad-server networks.
In succinct American vernacular: Lame.
Also, Highly Contrived and an Opportunity Pathetically Missed.
The hosts' 'rivalry' is trite and transparent. The contestant introductions are brief, shallow and boring. The 'Grand Revelation' of the subject vehicles is just poorly contrived pseudo-drama. The whole set-up of each episode is utterly, stunningly, embarrassingly Lame.
The teams haven't the time (one day) or resources to do something actually interesting. There's no demonstration of expertise, no clever design shared with the viewer, very little is shown of the build, and what little is shown is of the distinctly seen-that- before variety. The resulting 'Ultimate' creations are ultimately underwhelming.
(This time, BBC, you've failed at the very Standards you so proudly market: you're not only shamefully ignorant of your audience, you're bloody disrespectful. This tripe is the antithesis of BBC Programming Standards.)
The 'challenges' -- billed as real-world tests of achievement -- are anything but. Imagine, if you will, an 'Ultimate Cop Car' that is challenged by a wall of paper boxes and then must drive around under an overpass. Srsly.
Or an 'Ultimate Wrecking Machine' that must knock over a pole on a thing like a Christmas-tree stand and then haul a few bits of concrete rubble like a wheelbarrow (some blokes racing each other with wheelbarrows would have, in fact, been more entertaining and done a better job).
All that, un-dramatically punctuated with small, gratuitous effects cannons shooting flame (episode 1) or dust (episode 2). (My episode 3 prediction: blowing manure.)
I'm sorry, BBC -- no, really -- I seldom bother to write negative reviews (folks know when they're seeing crap, and don't need me to tell them about it). And I'm not writing this because I hate the show.
I'm writing because I am so damned let-down.
So BBC, please take this in the intended spirit. This idea could've become a great show; at least another Monster Garage, maybe even a Junkyard Wars; but you blew the opportunity through an unimaginable lack of imagination, cheap execution, and really bad acting. Sorry.
So very, disappointingly, crushingly, sorry.
/s/ Galena Alyson Canada
P.S. BBC-am -- how come you keep replaying the same handful of Star Trek TNG episodes, over and over again? You know they did more than two seasons, right?
When I saw the promos for Mud, Sweat and Gears, I was one eager BBC viewer. I'm a devoted follower of MythBusters, used to love 'robot' demolition, and was heartbroken when they cancelled Junkyard Wars.
And oh, man, am I disappointed...
I'm a huge fan of BBC programming, from intelligent news to great drama to the silly stuff. But if I didn't know better I'd've thought this was a product of one of the Basic Cable ad-server networks.
In succinct American vernacular: Lame.
Also, Highly Contrived and an Opportunity Pathetically Missed.
The hosts' 'rivalry' is trite and transparent. The contestant introductions are brief, shallow and boring. The 'Grand Revelation' of the subject vehicles is just poorly contrived pseudo-drama. The whole set-up of each episode is utterly, stunningly, embarrassingly Lame.
The teams haven't the time (one day) or resources to do something actually interesting. There's no demonstration of expertise, no clever design shared with the viewer, very little is shown of the build, and what little is shown is of the distinctly seen-that- before variety. The resulting 'Ultimate' creations are ultimately underwhelming.
(This time, BBC, you've failed at the very Standards you so proudly market: you're not only shamefully ignorant of your audience, you're bloody disrespectful. This tripe is the antithesis of BBC Programming Standards.)
The 'challenges' -- billed as real-world tests of achievement -- are anything but. Imagine, if you will, an 'Ultimate Cop Car' that is challenged by a wall of paper boxes and then must drive around under an overpass. Srsly.
Or an 'Ultimate Wrecking Machine' that must knock over a pole on a thing like a Christmas-tree stand and then haul a few bits of concrete rubble like a wheelbarrow (some blokes racing each other with wheelbarrows would have, in fact, been more entertaining and done a better job).
All that, un-dramatically punctuated with small, gratuitous effects cannons shooting flame (episode 1) or dust (episode 2). (My episode 3 prediction: blowing manure.)
I'm sorry, BBC -- no, really -- I seldom bother to write negative reviews (folks know when they're seeing crap, and don't need me to tell them about it). And I'm not writing this because I hate the show.
I'm writing because I am so damned let-down.
So BBC, please take this in the intended spirit. This idea could've become a great show; at least another Monster Garage, maybe even a Junkyard Wars; but you blew the opportunity through an unimaginable lack of imagination, cheap execution, and really bad acting. Sorry.
So very, disappointingly, crushingly, sorry.
/s/ Galena Alyson Canada
P.S. BBC-am -- how come you keep replaying the same handful of Star Trek TNG episodes, over and over again? You know they did more than two seasons, right?
