The Rumour Is That NBC Wants Its Own Top Gear

Anything car related in this country will quickly turn to good ol' boy dominated crap. That show's magic formula wouldn't work here without changing the formula and in turn making a different show than the one we all know and love.

NBC has to get big ratings... their not a botique network. The formula will quickly turn to pimp my ride, wigga's in Honda civics or to some type of mud swampin' NASCAR hee haw ho down.

It will be like reading a great book then being let down when the movie comes out.

 

PBS should do the show. It might actually triple the audience... even if it will be just car nerds.

 

It will suck. Apparently the American entertainment industry has run out of ideas. BBC's Top Gear is unique and excellent. They should leave it at that.

 

1. ho down

Noun or Exclamation

1.) Ho down- A ho down is a ceremony in which drunken hicks run around clapping, yelling, sloshing hard liquor and banging the **** out of their siblings, all whilst listening to the ****tiest type of country music

2.) Ho down- When a prostitute has been killed or injured to the point where they cannot stand nor move. Usually lying on a street corner, in an alleyway or on the bed of a SICKO!

1.) Jack and Jill were brother and sister. Jack and Jill decided to get drunk and dance a stupid jig at the ho down. The ho down resulted in the conception of their inbred child, Jilk.

2.) I still have nightmares about my time as a pimp in Toronto, losing hoes left and right. The calls of the other prostitutes "HO DOWN, OH **** MACKDADDY, WE HAVE ANOTHER HO DOWN!!!!!" still haunt my dreams

 

Part of Top Gear's appeal is that it's thinly veiled reality TV with a veneer of cars. Much like NPR's Car Talk is popular for its entertainment value, Top Gear must be drawing a broader audience than petrolheads in the UK. I've watched it with a friend who drives a Honda Accord (his second in a row, thus zero interest in cars...) and he was laughing his a$$ off at the time they TG guys went 'caravaning' and torched the mobile home park.

The brilliance of the show is having guests like Hugh Grant, Gordon Ramsey and others. If an American version had Nic Cage, Charlize Theron and other guests, the ratings would be there just because viewers like to see celebs interviewed. Stunts like the space shuttle and amphibious cars would be just as funny here as they are over there.

 

See my post above.

 

http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/suck-or-not-suck-american-topgear-on-the-way-145679.php

Somebody's already failed once.....let's see if NBC can do better.

 

Hey, I've owned 3 Accords and an Odyssey van, BECAUSE I'm a car guy! You don't get a better car than an Accord or Odyssey for what they are. Of course, I have the Lotus too *S*.

I tell everyone that Top Gear is the best comedy on television. Rarely am I not buckled over with laughter at some point during each show. I would welcome a US version, albeit with low expectations.

Ken

 

Top Gear is Monty Python does cars IMVHO.

You need good hosts. If a car is lousy or has faults they say so. No sugar coating.

One of the things I like about Top Gear is they review exotic cars and cars that usually don't get imported into the US. Unless they really pan the US cars when they derserve it, the show will be boring. Very boring indeed.

 

Well, I will say they DO have a pronounced bias towards British cars. I remember an Aston Martin up against the Ferrari 430, and they gushed over the Ferrari for power, handling, pretty much everything about it, while saying how stupid the Aston gearbox was. Then in the end, they said, "Well, in spite of the gearbox we'd buy the Aston." I almost threw something at the TV!

I've seen tha British bias in other comparisons too. It doesn't bother me though since I have my own British bias!

Ken

 

The bias is part of why it works. JC "hates" Porsches and Richard "loves" them. It makes for a more interesting storyline than hearing everyone pretend to be objective.

 

The magazine problem is not the writers it is the publisher. For those that do not understand the "business" of publishing the writers are the editorial side while the publisher is the money side. All the sales efforts report to the publisher. There are wonderful/tragic old stories of the inherent conflict of the two sides of the magazine. Motor Trend selecting a Car of the Year based upon one GM division being willing to commit to a higher annual advertising budget than another division (that was the actual winner). How about an editor being fired by the publisher because he wouldn't rewrite a review to make a POS sound less like POS-like. Then there is the first Motor Trend Import Cay of the Year winner (Citroen SM) that caused an outburst by Bob Petersen because there were no advertising opportunities wigth Citroen. Rules in the following years were changed so non-advertising candidates were excluded.

Advertising dollars are the lifeblood of the magazine world. It won't change there or in television. Just don't blame the writers for being too PC; blame the publisher side when they do not allow enough latitude to call a POS a POS.

Jeff

 

Car Talk is supported by tax payers not the marketplace. This show will have to pay it's own way.
I don't doubt that if done right the formula could work here. I just doubt it will be done right. Nick cage will turn into Kasey Kahne. The crafty inventions of top gear become Pimp my ride or Jessie James type projects when the show hits our shores.

 

My dad bought a 1977 NOVA based on the Motor Trend car of the year ranking. He still in his old age *****es about that car and the magazine. It was his last American car and his last year of subscribing to that magazine. The worst car ever!.

 

At one time even the staffers at MoTrend thought of the place as "the land of the living dead". Pretty much all of them wanted to go to Road & Track or get into the West Coast PR department for one of the manufacturers. The industry take was that Road & Track was at least ethical and from their offices one could see the Pacific Ocean.

Jeff

 

DW: "Today we review the Dodge Demon, a Chinese import for Chrysler that packs lots of fun in a front wheel drive package and boasts 118 horsepower, a convertible top, and lead-based interior. I really liked it, I drove race cars all my life and this little car is the fortune cookie for Dodge. I loved it."

PE: "The Demon reminds me of an old MG. I used to restore MG's if you didn't know. Barb and I chose the Demon over my Harley, Jag E-type, Ducati, and Lotus race car for our road trip. We drove the Demon down to the blues club, where we are friends with people you can only dream about, and did plenty of things that are cooler than any of our viewers. I loved it."

DM: "Hey you just know that Mao is turning over in his crystal coffin at the thought of producing a car for the evil Americans. But in a Weekend at Mao-nie's moment, his corpse should be jumping for joy that it was so good. It is rumored Mr. Wang Deheng* designed the angles of the Demon hood too. I sipped the sweet nectar of the Demon."

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*Mandatory arcane reference.

 

It will never be close to what Top Gear is. Political correctness will make sure of that.

Also, the three hosts and the whole "hey, look at the funny British men, the big fat one, the slow old one, and the tiny one who crashes, running around being British!" make the show.

 

After reading the posts, I think NBC, should outsource the show to BBC, and get the real TOP GEAR. I don't think we can replacate that show under that format.

We need the right team, who would that be?

1. Jay Leno

2. Napolis

3. Bill Cosby?

4. ?

Ciao...Paolo

 

if PBS had done that twenty years ago, instead of the bland Motorweek, Conservatives might not have turned against them and might have provided the funding needed.

 

You hit the nail right on the head with that one, Mister Bullfighter man, Sir.
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Of course not. Just by seeing (on internet forums) how the american public reacted to it was a riot in itself. All the PC ninnies got their panties in a knot about how ignorant, racist and stereotypical the show was.

 

+2. NBC doesn't have a lot of luck taking British shows and turning them into American shows. Anyone remember "Coupling"?

 

That is a show I could watch!

 

I'm also anticipating this show. I don't believe that I get Top Gear up North here in Canada, and if I do its on at some odd hours, and I've really grown to love the show. Maybe some day I won't be required to sit in my computer chair, I might get some use out of that sofa

Andy

 

TV is a tough nut to crack I have been shoping my show The Car Critcs to a couple of places but it might just end up on You Tube. I did hae a great responce from the car companies I talked to about the show so there is advertiser interest. The is suposedly a new cable network coming out that will have F1 and other high end motorsports and it may end up there.