A staged photo*
It is quite refreshing to hear an honest, spin-free review of BMW's foray into the all electric
car market with the MINI-E. And while I never liked him on the Tonight Show, I certainly respect Jay's opinion when it comes to cars.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=1052621
I'm pretty confident this Guiness World Records attempt is legit. (Captured from a spanish-language* TV show)...
"I'll take "Cheesy Late Night Infomercials" for a hundred, Alex".
Actually, it's only a 60-second spot for the Escort Passport 9500i. ("the i is for intelligent") New school quality, old school cheese. Classic.
DISCLAIMER: I hate mainstream media. I never listen to the radio, rarely go to the movies, and I canceled my Cable subscription 4 years ago and haven't looked back. I'm certainly not the guy you want to review a TV show! 
However, now three episodes into "Street Tuner Challenge", I think I've got a pretty good idea of the show enough to provide a few comments. Good or bad, I already know what the finished cars will at least look like, which makes it interesting to watch the show for "show's sake".
Episode One struck me as very MTV-wannabe, very "16-28 male", visually speaking- plenty of seizure-inducing jump-cuts and "ass-high" camera angles (not my word) to suit the Red Bull generation. "Certainly not produced with diehard tuners, racers, or even show-car fans in mind" I said. I found myself hoping for a couple commercials just to remind me I was watching mainstream media.
Episode Two toned it down a bit- Having met most of the FBR guys on many occasions- and I'll admit they're not the staunchest crew out there- in my opinion the production thus far taints the seriousness in which they take the actual under-the-hood aspects of their products in favor of the over-the-top visual designs Hollywood loves so much (the fact that they insist on referring to the FBR team as "the hollywood team" kinda says it right there). Fireball Tim certainly knows how to work the camera and certainly ads to the entertainment value of the show, so it makes for good TV I guess. I really wish I knew more about the other crews and could compare their "treatment".
This week I saw Episode Three and what I percieve as a huge change in direction- Namely, semi-educational? Watching folks remove and disassemble brand new engines and trannys, just to rebuilt them- explaining each step in detail? My friend walks in from the kitchen, stands there for a sec, and says, "Is this the same show?" I was thinking the same thing!
As a fairly new car "enthusiast", I like the different directions each shop is taking their cars and the persona to match is cool too (can you say "executive pre-production meeting"?). As each episode focuses on a different aspevct of building a tuner car- from what I've seen thus far, I think the show will get better (i.e. less camp, more technical) as the season progresses.
At the end of the day, it's just another "reality" TV show designed to space out the commercials and make me think Smirnoff Ice isn't just another flavored malt beverage. If my friend remembers to TiVo them I'll probably watch the rest of the episodes just to give STC/Speed Channel the numbers and validate the MINI brand. (Wow- I could be blatantly pimping my own online show right now, but I got C+ in Marketing!)
As a non-TV-watcher I am interested in other "reviews" of the show as a whole, and if possible, from some of the folks who may be associated with the other teams. As per NDA terms of course.
Seems MINI is the latest to jump on the reality show bandwagon. Let's take a look...
www.MINIBrother.com
