Both US shows last night were terrible...cheap imitations of the original superior product...What did they do with Robert Llewelyn? The new host is irritating as hell and belongs on MTV or Nickelodeon. He is nowhere near as Charismatic as Robert. I am not a rabid Red Dwarf fan, but it is obvious he worked well with the concept of the show. In my opinion the quality of the show has dropped considerably. Here's what I picture is going on...They obviously use the same Junkyard for both a US and a UK version of the show. They shoot the UK Version on Monday thru Wednesday and the US on the rest of the days. They use that American git in place of Robert Llewelyn because when they surveyed the average American wrestling fan he felt intimidated. The Dragster and the Launcher were both the same as the UK version right down to the tactics used. The experts are obviously steered heavily by the producers based on how the scrapheap is stocked, or they consult the experts decide who is going to use what tactics then load the junkyard appropriately. They bring in the prime US or UK Vehicles as needed per day. That Junkyard is so obviously peppered...."Gee look what I found in the boot of this Capri...2000 sq. ft. of Mylar!". I also think it was obvious they loaded the scrapheap with purchased US vehicles. The Oldsmobile they used for their dragster was road ready...I would have simply cut it down and ran it as is. Remember the Rover..they cut the top off and drove it to the scales! Its too bad...I used to really like the show. Give up on the US version, it's insulting...we were happy with the UK version. Phil POC

-- Phil Waters (POCphil@mediaone.net), January 04, 2001

Answers

Please go to the NERDS website www.the-nerds.org/ they have answers to many questions about the seeding of the junkyard. Next...get real, of course the producers work with the experts, they could not do a show otherwise. Third, if you had just "cut down" the Oldsmobile, I doubt you could have won the challenge since the "Chicago Fire" team did not win even though they hit speeds of about 90 MPH on a 1/8mile track! That's flying! Consider that the British teams bearly got to 50MPH. As for the American host, he was not as good as Richard. But let's don't look a gift horse in the mouth; the show is still ten- times better than anything else on the tube! I won't miss a minute and I'll bet you won't either.

-- El Kid (sizzl@minspring.com), January 04, 2001.