After months of teasing and spy shots, the American Top Gear finally premiered in History Channel this past Sunday. So how was it?

First, a brief history lesson about American Top Gear. NBC first tried to translate the successful British Top Gear formula to America back in 2008. The original hosts (after Jay Leno turned it down) were Tanner Foust, Eric Stromer, and Adam Corrola. The show had just a single pilot episode before NBC canned it, and things weren’t looking good for American Top Gear.

Then the History Channel came along. Flush on the success of a number of its reality shows, History Channel picked up Top Gear in 2010. Stromer and Corrola were replaced by Rutledge Wood and Adam Ferrara, two relative no-names, while Foust was retained.

History lesson aside, the first episode premiered on Sunday to much fanfare and anticipation. Rather than critique the entire episode, I decided to break it down into segments, grading each on its own merits. So how did it stack up?

Season Preview:

It looks like these guys are doing a lot of Top Gear-like antics, including an off-roading adventure, moonshiner-mobiles, used car challenges, the SVT Raptor, a lot of supercars, and some sly humor. Lots of potential.

Opening Act: Viper vs. Cobra

American Top Gear’s opening act was to pit a 2010 Dodge Viper against an AC-10 Cobra attack helicopter. It was a smarmy nod towards the original Top Gear, which has a habit of pitting supercars against various military vehicles, like the Bugatti Veyron versus the Eurofighter Typhoon, or a Lancer Evolution against the British Army. Tanner Foust, with Rutledge Wood as co-pilot, have to pilot the Viper 10 miles across town, as the Cobra helicopter tried to get a missile lock on them.

The dialogue felt very forced between the two hosts, and there weren’t any “ha ha” moments. Foust can drive, but we already knew that. It was a great pretense for some slick driving and helicopter antics. I was more interested in what the helicopter was doing than any of the dialogue between Foust and Wood though. That thing can fly, but overall I was just bored.

Rating: C

The Stig: Test Track

The Stig can drive, the course looks pretty good and is set up for some high speeds. The initial introduction of the Stig was lame though.

The Viper set a good time, and it’ll be interesting to see how well this Stig integrates into the show.

Rating: B

Interview: Big Star, Small Car

The lead in from an action packed Viper versus Cobra was Buzz Aldrin. Here, History Channel shows its age. Yes, Buzz is an American hero, but he doesn’t exactly resound among today’s 18-35 year olds. Astronauts, especially old ones, just aren’t as cool as they used to be. There, I said it, and I feel horrible. But it’s true. Let’s get with the time, people!

He was pretty interesting overall, and the man has had a couple of interesting (old) cars but Ferrera, who did the interview, looked like he was reading from a script. The driving segment with Buzz wasn’t half bad either.

Rating: C

There isn't anything wrong with Lamborghini's...but this is America!

Outro: Three Bulls

Compared to the rest of the first show, this was definitely the strong foot to leave on. Each of the guys took a different, ridiculous Lamborghini to a top-speed run over the course of a mile. On their own, the hosts seemed a bit more comfortable. All together, they seemed even better. There was good banter. Some of it was even funny. It felt short and sweet, even though it took up a 1/3 of the show. Or maybe the Viper/Cobra battle just felt twice as long. It was just a simple race with three really fast cars. More of this please.

Rating: A-

More of this please

Overall Verdict: C+/B-

You can’t help but compare this trio to the merry band of misfits that host Top Gear. By the end of the show I could see some potential, but the best part of this first episode was the preview. It looks like they tackle a lot of original Top Gear Challenges, but a lot of their own twists on the challenges too. The banter wasn’t very good but it picked up in the end. That’s the thing about Top Gear, the original I mean. It isn’t so much a show about cars now, as it is a show about three friends. Their chemistry is real. You can’t force something like that, but it didn’t just happen overnight either.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Give these guys a few weeks of working together and it might just come together. There is enough potential here to tune in again.