“Top Gear” is a show that originally started in Great Britain during the 1970s and after thirty years it was revived into what it is today on the British Broadcasting Channel, BBC America. The remake brought three witty hosts together to talk about cars, drive them fast and put them to the ultimate test. From the show’s website ‘”Top Gear’ takes extraordinary and ordinary cars to the limit and beyond to find out if they are half as good as manufacturers claim.” The show also has excursions where the cast and crew go on week-long adventures to cross an African delta, reach the North Pole, Bolivian rainforest, and many more to test cars the hosts think would last the length of the trip. This past November, America finally got an Americanized version of “Top Gear”, with low ratings many are reluctant that the U.S. version will ever live up to the original U.K. “Top Gear”.
Many American viewers of the British car show had high expectations for this new version. The Americanized “Top Gear” had a lot to live up to. The original “Top Gear”, while it is more seasoned, having a much larger fan base after fifteen seasons, “Top Gear’s” official website says the show brings in 350 million viewers from 100 countries. The History Channel says the show’s premier of November 21, 2010 brought in 1.9 million viewers. Many speculated the low number was due to football games airing at the same time but ratings stayed about the same throughout the season. As an avid watcher of the British version I was disappointed with the first episode. Everything was virtually similar, the cars, the challenges, the Stig (a former racing driver that remains anonymous; he test drives all of the cars around a track to be timed), the “Big Star in a Small Car (a celebrity comes on the show, talks to a host and does a lap around a track in a small car),” but there was just something missing. Many critics and viewers accredit that to the hosts.
On America’s “Top Gear” the hosts are a little different than the U.K.’s because two of them have actual car experience. Tanner Foust is an X-Games rally car winner, Rutledge Wood is a reporter for the Speed Channel and also writes for NASCAR, and Adam Ferrara is a comedian. In an article in “The Telegraph” James May, one of the British hosts, said the American hosts were “destined for greatness.” Why? His conclusion was because of their names. He said their name sounded like a novel about an American hero (Rutledge Wood), a human supercar (Adam Ferrara), and severe damage done to a car (Tanner Foust). As stated before, the first episode of the Americanized version was a little lack-luster, which most viewers accredit to the lack of hosts’ personalities. One viewer commented on a website saying, “Wasted an hour watching “Top Gear” U.S. Sucks compared to “Top Gear” U.K.” Even though this was the case for the first episode, as the season went on the hosts and series did show some promise.
The hosts of the U.K. version have been together for most of the sixteen seasons. Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond have been together on the show since the revival back in 2002 (they do two shorter seasons per year), and James May was added to replace another host in the third season. The three hosts are known for being journalists or and broadcasters. Richard is more known in Great Britain for doing a multitude of shows, some about cars and some not, while Jeremy and James specialize on cars. Something that was definitely missing in the American series was the loathing of each other. In a traditional episode on the British version the hosts go completely out of the way to annoy one another. Whether it is buying a small but hefty marble statue to slow May down even more on his motorcycle in Vietnam, or rigging Hammond’s car stereo to only play the one band he truly despises, Genesis, they show their hatred. Of course it may all be for television. In 2006 Richard Hammond was in an extremely horrific car accident. He was going 288mph while doing a piece on a jet-packed drag racing car for the show. Cast and crew patiently waited for Hammond’s return while BBC, Clarkson and May stated that the show wouldn’t continue if Hammond was unable to return. The thing is the three know that they work, they joke around and they can relate to most viewers.
After sixteen seasons together there is bound to be more to the show than just the cars and hosts, with 350 million viewers from 100 countries, the show has to be doing something right. They are. The revival of the British “Top Gear” series has brought in many awards. It has won an International Emmy in the Non-Scripted Entertainment Category in 2005. The show also has a BAFTA award, which is the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, in the Best Feature category. Aside from these awards they have been nominated for countless other awards in Britain.
Continuing the theme, the American version of “Top Gear” has a lot to live up to. Though they haven’t won, much less been nominated for any major awards my hope is for many in the future. The series that has been airing on the History Channel was just renewed for a second season. This second season will give the show more time to adjust to the American audience, have the hosts playfully loathe each other and be nominated and hopefully win awards.
