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We can’t get excited about or honestly recommend any of the rubbish spewed forth by the WGA strike-hurting networks in place of actual scripted programs. At this point, we would like to never see the Endemol logo on air again. (Apparently Endemol is Dutch for “mindless garbage television.”) So we were a bit surprised when we heard that NBC actually was importing a version of one of our favorite British programs, Top Gear.
Top Gear, in theory, is a show about cars, complete with reviews of new models and automotive news. In practice, it has high production-value car reviews, stars taking a timed lap around the test track, and a mysterious unknown driver known as the Stig. There are also three hosts who go off and do insane things like drive to France in homemade amphibious cars or drive to the North Pole, all while über host Jeremy Clarkson makes fun of everything from environmentalists to safety to his co-hosts. In short, Clarkson is about 99% of the reason the show is very popular in the UK and gets huge ratings on BBC 2. It will be back on BBC America with new episodes on February 25th.
We fear the NBC version of the show is going to be a disaster like NBC’s version of Coupling was, especially since they are not importing the hosts who make show work. What's a crazy Brits-doing-crazy-things without the crazy Brits doing crazy things?
Then again, the NBC version of the Office worked and Top Gear is better than another imported fakeality show, some F-list "celebrity" version of a tired hackneyed reality show, or Simon Cowell (who incidentally has the fastest celebrity lap time on Top Gear) disparaging people. It shows some slightly out-of-the-box thinking for NBC. We’ll see if it is any good on March 4th.
BBC photo of British Top Gear presenters, Richard Hammond, James May, Jeremy Clarkson
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What the hell does this have to do with New York City?!?
is there's a large enough nerd audience for this show?
it's like sitting in a bar with guys asking if the pint glasses actually hold a pint?
I suppose if mythbusters is still around, there's a market niche for anything.
God, this is such a great show - the BBC version, obviously. I imagine they'll get some douchebags who drool over giant trucks and crappy American cars - the show will either be pulled after a couple of episodes, or it'll be wildly successful. I, for one, will ignore it and continue to download the British episodes!
I never understood why guys get a huge boner for cars that go 1-200 mph when they would never be able to go more than 70-80 mph in real life for more than 5 minutes.
"I never understood why guys get a huge boner for cars that go 1-200 mph when they would never be able to go more than 70-80 mph in real life for more than 5 minutes."
For the same reason we can't understand how a seemingly intelligent woman would faithfully read US Weekly and max her credit card on handbags and shoes.
The BBC version is great. I bet the Americanized version will be lame... to get to the american public they'll be extolling the virtues of Nascar I'm sure...
"You can never have enough hats, gloves or shoes."
American's just won't get British humor.
I never understood the appeal of this show. I find their corny jokes and the time at the beginning of the episode where they BS in front of an adoring studio audience to be contrived and lame.Oh, and I don't care about cars.
As a fan of the BBC version, I'm kinda scared to see who they're going to pick to host the NBC show. I love the ridiculous interactions between Hammond, Clarkson, & May- that's what makes the show good to me.
I love Top Gear, my crush on Hamster notwithstanding. I can't think of one potential host with the charisma of Clarkson, let alone 3-4 car guys with the chemistry of the British Top Gear crew.
By the way, it isn't just guys that love this show--I'm a girl and its one of my favorites on BBC America. Anyone see the episode on Thursday (?) night with the gorgeous Noble M15?