Top Gear is unique. There are many “car shows” but Top Gear alone breaks through to become “entertainment”. The personalities, love them or hate them, and humour make it appeal to an audience far beyond the usual car nutter crowd (viewers reported at over a billion worldwide). Prime TV, a fledgling channel in New Zealand, scored a hit beyond their expectations when they screened Top Gear and it’s been in virtually endless repeat mode, between new series, ever since.
Unable to cope with the truth, nearly all American cars are rubbish, American versions of the U.K. show screened on Discovery had Jeremy, Richard and James re-record bits of audio to make the show less insulting – “Basically, getting Jeremy not to call them fat and stupid”.
Now they are going to make a US version…
“Instead of a shabby hangar and a track built around airfield taxiways, they got a pit garage and a proper circuit. Instead of filling the studio with 200 grunting Subaru drivers, they did without an audience. And instead of The Tall One, The Short One and The Other One, they hired three rather different American presenters. Bruno, a professional drag racer with casual tales of crashing at 230mph. John, the super keen jock, blessed with quaint ’sir and m’am’ good manners that only Americans can do. And, Johnny, a former reality show winner with a nice line in weird humour.”
So you remove most of what is Top Gear then add American humour (probably with a dose of Political Correctness).
Oh dear, I doubt it will be seen on the cool wall…
Top Gear America in the works by Discovery Channel - Autoblog.
Top Gear USA (extract from Top Gear magazine article) - www.finalgear.com