Top Gear producer talks about foreign editions
Top Gear Executive Producer Andy Wilman is aware of the acrimony that surrounds the apparently not-dead-yet U.S. edition of the show, and makes a case on the Top Gear blog for both the Yankee and Australian spinoffs that are marching their way towards prime time audiences soon. Wilman points out that Top Gear's success is not formulaic like other shows that have been churned in different locations all over the world. May, Clarkson, Hammond and the Stig aren't generic slots on the show that can be easily filled. Plugging people into positions like "here's the guy who used to play in Journey, sitting next to the pop star, who's seated next to the jaded British record executive who's clearly having his time wasted while making enough to purchase a Veyron," won't hold water.
Not only can the hosts not be duplicated in a Dick Sargent/Dick York fashion, the shows themselves have to be aware of each other and find ways to fit around what the other is doing. So, the uphill battle facing the localized versions of Top Gear is finding the proper personalities (the Australians already have) who will genuinely fit together and have chemistry, while also getting those people to do and say things that are compelling without just repeating the schtick of the original in a different location.
Wilman acknowledges that those who know about the original Top Gear in North America are fanatics who won't stand for a watered down retooling. Just because there may someday be a homegrown version of TG doesn't mean they'll stop watching the original. One thing that's skirted by Wilman's post is the writing. It's been said many times that the unvarnished opinion that flies on the original won't work on an advertising-dependent network like NBC in the U.S. If the presenters aren't given good material or allowed to riff with leeway, the U.S. Top Gear is dead in the water regardless of the personalities on camera.
[Source: Top Gear]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Geeky1 2:04PM (6/06/2008)
The solution for the issues presented by separate US/AU versions seems quite simple to me:
Start showing current episodes of the UK show in the US, consistently and at a reasonable time on BBCA or some other network.
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Allan 2:05PM (6/06/2008)
There are fairly recent episodes airing regularly on BBCA. I usually don't bother to watch b/c I've seen most of them... but I see them on quite often. Don't know how many people outside of tight automotive circles know what the show is though... or just don't bother to watch anything from the BBC.
steveo391 11:23PM (6/06/2008)
I've always wondered, if NBC want's a Top Gear so bad, why don't they just buy up the american rights for the show, and air that??
TGFAN 7:47PM (6/07/2008)
The problem behind all of this is that BBC still fails to realize that Top Gear, whether they intended it or not, has become an international show. The fact of the matter is that watching middle aged British men race around in supercars, drive to the north pole, and try to survive the African desert is fun no matter where you're from, even if they habitually bash your homeland on occasion. The sooner they realize this the better.
Allan 2:04PM (6/06/2008)
"If the presenters aren't given good material or allowed to riff with leeway, the U.S. Top Gear is dead in the water regardless of the personalities on camera."
I really, really, really hope that someone high up with the show realizes this. I just feel like they'll try to shove something inadequate out the door and it will be really lame without honest opinions and truth in the show.
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TriShield 2:10PM (6/06/2008)
What is Top Gear without the things that make it Top Gear, the hosts, the humor, the no-holds-barred opinions?
It isn't Top Gear.
That's why any American knock-off of it will fail, it literally is not Top Gear.
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Steve 2:17PM (6/06/2008)
Hamilton = Hammond?...Richard Hammond? The Hamster?
come on people. no wonder they are delaying the US version.
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Mike Danks 2:22PM (6/06/2008)
Why don't the Top Gear guys just do a couple of US and Aussie shows? I love Top Gear and think it would be great if once in a while they would throw in a Corvette or Mustang as well as do a stint of filming for a few weeks here in the states. They could do it in conjunction with an IRL race (I'll bet Gossage at TMS would put them in the Stadium Club) or a NASCAB race, or maybe even something like Barrett Jackson or The Pebble Beach Concourse de Elegance.
I'd like to see them all climb into legends cars at Atlanta and bang each other around.....could be fun.
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Kayne001 2:32PM (6/06/2008)
That's why i like 5th Gear, cause they did something like this. (NASCAR)
Top Gear has been in the US though. (I didn't like those episodes much, though they were funny, kind of.
Hootan 3:03PM (6/06/2008)
They tried, they wanted the guys to live here for a while, but Jeremy refused to live in the US. Remember, we don't have a clue about anything on earth as far he's concerned. :)
Pacman 3:53PM (6/06/2008)
Clarkson is a giant deuche nozle.
mk 2:36PM (6/06/2008)
"Dick Sargent, Dick York.... Sargeant York!"
"Sheaaaah, AS IF we wouldn't notice!"
Seriously... AS IF we wouldn't notice, if the BBC Top Gear is it's irreverent self, and we get a wussie-fied American version.
The world is becoming a smaller place, and we know what goes on in other places more now than ever. Just like we know what good cars other places get, and we never see.
It is kind of insulting, and if an American Top Gear insults my intelligence, I certainly won't watch. Just like I don't bother reading US auto rags anymore. The information is available freely here, and elsewhere, without paying for biased opinion, and wussie, pandering comparisons.
Do it right, or don't do it. We know what the chances of it being done right are...
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why not the LS2LS7? 2:39PM (6/06/2008)
I agree the unvarnished opinions are important. I think they're also what's turning me away from the show lately.
The opinions are overly opinionated on purpose, with little regard for fact or such. This produces interesting chatter, but it also make the show more similar to the Gong Show (or its modern version, American Idol) than an informative car show.
I still like the production values and most of the humor. But I'm tired of the the chest thumping and formulaic "let's race a car against a rocket ship" crap they've fallen into.
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Steve C. 2:41PM (6/06/2008)
Please, a US version?
All I care to see is the UK version -- not see see Eurocars but to see those three crazies (plus the Stig) do their thing. That all the quirky Brit celbs that appear on their show.
Any attempt to have a US clone would be like the equivalent of a US clone of Monty Python.
I could just see it now. Sam Posey, Jay Leno and that chubby guy from Motorweek test a few cars and then let Lindsay Lohan see how fast she can lap a track in a Chevy Cobalt.
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tankd0g 3:00PM (6/06/2008)
Drunk or sober? Or maybe two seperate boards?
Allan 3:01PM (6/06/2008)
Well that last part is pretty much spot on. A "star" in a reasonably priced car. Of course everyone's opinion on each of the "stars" may vary, but she's some level of famous. Though I think they'd go for an even cheaper car. Hell, they could just use the Suzuki Reno and keep it the same.
Oscar M 3:05PM (6/06/2008)
"I could just see it now. Sam Posey, Jay Leno and that chubby guy from Motorweek test a few cars and then let Lindsay Lohan see how fast she can lap a track in a Chevy Cobalt."
I might actually enjoy watching that train wreck happen...
tankd0g 3:00PM (6/06/2008)
The BBC's not for profit, it's for BIG profit. If only they could get someone to make a Top Gear feature film...
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jon 3:09PM (6/06/2008)
im glad that he acknowledges that the top gear fans in the USA who will patronize any US version of the show are true gearheads who wont settle for some crappier US port
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Bam 3:12PM (6/06/2008)
some TV executive team right now is trying to figure out how to make the selection for the US hosts a reality show I bet..
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