A mitten state expat and child born of the automotive industry’s greasy womb, I have always found myself preoccupied with cars. The only one I ever owned met a sticky end just before I moved to the land of public transportation, but my love has never diminished. In fact, it’s grown. Moving to a city that demands a car ranks high on the list of things I’d like to accomplish in the next couple of years. Few understand my motives, because car culture in America is not what it used to be. Unless you’re a fan of the less cerebral offerings of NPR, there isn’t an entertaining pop culture forum for car talk. (I’m not counting anything relating to NASCAR because I find it suffers from a complete lack of verve.) Fortunately, in England, where I recall the cars being either black cabs or double decker buses, there exists a strong fascination that’s been put to good use for over 30 years in the form of a world’s greatest talk show. That show is Top Gear, and since its most recent incarnation debuted in 2002, it has made for some of the most ridiculously entertaining chat, celebrity interviews and vehicular shenanigans on TV.
The new season (which aired in the UK in Autumn 2007) premiered last night on BBC America, but based on the show’s popularity, this may be nothing new to you. There are an estimated 350 million Top Gear viewers across the globe. It airs on a 5+ month delay in the US, but it’s status as one of the most pirated series online means that few fans are willing to wait.
You are missing out if you haven’t caught it. In any given episode, the three hosts (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) could construct limousines out of cardboard, strap a coupe to a rocket, paint liberal propaganda on the sides of trucks while driving through Alabama or ask Helen Mirren about her sexual proclivities. They are arrogant, obsessive, obnoxious alpha males who also happen to be hilarious. Their antics have earned them constant comparisons to the boys of Jackass, but that is something I can’t abide. They may goofy, but they’re also British. And British means classy.
One of the biggest selling points for Top Gear is also the number one reason why the proposed US version is a horrible idea. These guys are not fans of America. It’s hardly a running theme in the show, but Top Gear is the only series in BBC America’s Yankee-friendly lineup that opening challenges our status as global bully and egoist. The hosts’ lack of bias also means that they drive more foreign cars and feel free to rip apart anything they please. The impending NBC version will feature less inspired rides and steer clear of criticism to avoid offending advertisers. It will be a completely different beast, and I can’t imagine the folks they choose to host it will be anything short of repulsive. It had originally been proposed that the hosts of the British version host the US outing, but ringleader Clarkson wasn’t too keen ons spending substantial time in the states. No worries though, because we always have the original. And unlike their scripted siblings, British talk and reality are highly prolific.
Top Gear airs Mondays at 8pm on BBC America
Im sho happy to see a post like that, i love top gear it’s the only show that make me laugh every time, and the last season was great, lots of great stuff in it you will see, the first one is so beautiful that it’s a real treat for the eyes
I hope Richard will feel better for the new season since he said in the press that he still has a lot of issue because result of his crash…