Cardiff Giant11

i'll probably watch but i'm just thrilled we're getting full episodes of recent seasons on BBC America, this would just be a nice supplement to that for me.

Superman07

I'm not expecting any reverse support (increased viewship on BBCA of the original) as a result of this, but I'm curious how this ends up relative to some other transplants (Hell's Kitchen for example).

Trigger

So I found an article on NBC from May 2007 that said Clarkson drove one of Jay Leno's cars for Top Gear USA and had signed the hood. So it looks like some of his segments may have been filmed sometime last summer or earlier. I haven't found anything saying when it starts or that it's starting in March... or even soon. They may be sitting on footage or shelving it or tweaking it. Hearing Corrola is in it doesn't inspire confidence for me. Does he know jack shit about cars? Will he want beer dispensers in them or boobs airbrushed on the hood? *yawn*

Thrush

Don't forget "Drawn Together". He's always been a guy who's known to do a million projects at the same time. He doesn't really turn down anything.

I think hes a good choice for a host since hes funny and he loves cars.

The Bus

You could do a lot worse than Adam Corolla Carolla.

BDB

Jay Leno apparently has no interest in hosting an NBC version of the BBC’s Top Gear, saying after speaking with an NBC exec about it he decided to “run away from this as quickly as I can.”

Writing in the Driving section of the Sunday Times in Great Britain, Leno says he doesn’t think a direct adaptation of the show would work and that he turned down a network overture to host.

“In my mind I can just see [original Top Gear host] Jeremy [Clarkson] lambasting Americans for what they did to his show. So I think: I’ve got to run away from this as quickly as I can.”

Leno’s commentary about NBC’s handling of the show comes just days after he played the good company man and welcomed Conan O’Brien as a Tonight Show guest.

O’Brien is still slated as of now to replace Leno in 2009.

Leno said his excuse to NBC about Top Gear was that he didn’t want to make his hobby his job. But he writes that while The Office has worked here in its new form, that may not be the case unless Top Gear underwent a major overhaul.

“Jeremy and the guys are extremely talented, so maybe it would be an idea to do an American show similar to Top Gear but not with the same name, because I think it would be impossible to recreate or live up to the standards of the British show,” Leno writes.

Superman07

I saw that the other day - thought they were some interesting comments.

Had me thinking - I feel like this could be a very good opportunity to have Clarkson (or the gang) come over and kick-off the series. I don't see it happening, but I think it would help set the tone for the show and kickstart it. Otherwise, as others have pointed out, I'm affraid it will be crumble under the reliance of the domestric manufacturers who are funding the show.

wmansir

Carolla talked more about this yesterday. Someone called in to ask if the other hosts had been found and suggested Leno. Adam said they did some test shooting at El Toro with a couple of "sidekicks for him", in his words. One of them was great but the other one wasn't going to stick around. The studio is currently looking for a replacement and from his other comments I gathered they would be doing more shoots this week, although Carolla is push for them to just use his local garage/warehouse instead of trekking out to El Toro for a full day when he knows in 5 minutes if a guy will fit the show.

Last week he had another call that asked how faithful to the original it would be and Adam said while not everything would translate from the UK version overall it would be very faithful, very high end. He talked about how the UK show has been changed/fine tuned over the years and it would be stupid mess up a hit formula.

wmansir

A few media outlets have reported the US version is dead because it wasn't in NBC's upfront presentation. Today on his show Adam denied it was dead, saying it was never intended to make the upfronts. He said just yesterday he spent the day auditioning 3rd chair candidates including Eric Stromer (Over Your Head/carpenter), Xzibit (Pimp My Ride/rapper), Chris Williams (Vanessa's brother, actor) and others.

I didn't really buy the upfront reports myself. Adam was talking about shooting for the show 2 weeks before the upfronts and the reports I saw said the network suits didn't like the pilot. The timing of that doesn't make much sense. From the way Adam talked at that time it was clear one of the hosts wasn't working out from day 1 and I doubt they rushed together a pilot in a couple of weeks knowing they had serious host problems.

Jon2

From what I'm reading here, I'm having doubts about this as well.

BTW, I love Top Gear, the hosts and the bits they do. I don't know the background of the British hosts, but they strike me as car guys first and celebs second. (Did they write for auto magazines before doing the show?)

With the American show it appears they are taking the opposite tack. Celebs first and car guys second. If some of the names posted here are being considered, I can see why Leno would run from this.

A shame, too, as I don't think there is inherently a problem with the idea of an American version of the show. They ought to get some smart and witty writers with any of the dozens of auto magazines.

Match

Those are terrible selection for hosting Top Gear USA.
Why doesn't NBC get Tim Allen, Christopher Titus, Rowan Atkinson or maybe Jesse James (from Monster Garage). (I'm just throwing some names here)


Here's the article on why Jay doesn't want to host Top Gear USA.
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol...cle3638037.ece

Mr. Salty

Jeremy Clarkson and James May seem to have the greater backgrounds as journalists, but Richard Hammond is at the very least a knowledgable enthusiast.

Excerpts of their biographies from Wikipedia:

Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster and journalist who specialises in motoring. He writes weekly columns for The Sunday Times and The Sun, but is better known for his role on the BBC TV show Top Gear.

Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969), nicknamed "Hamster", is an English presenter of radio and television, best known for co-presenting the television programme Top Gear along with James May and Jeremy Clarkson from 2002 onwards, and co-hosting the live annual motoring show, MPH, in Earls Court and Birmingham NEC, alongside Tiff Needell and Jeremy Clarkson.

He also presented Brainiac: Science Abuse and writes a weekly column, which can be read in the motoring section of The Daily Mirror each Friday.

James Daniel May (born January 16th 1963) is an English television presenter and award-winning journalist.

He is best known as co-presenter of motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He also writes a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section.

Achtung

I'd prefer that in addition to Carolla, they go with two car journalists. Of course what makes Top Gear so great is the chemistry between Jeremy, Richard, and James. The delivery and writing need to be on par as well. The BBC version is slickly-produced as well, with some great photography and music.

If the NBC version wants to stand next to the original, they'll have to go this route. Obviously I expect a bit of Americanization, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it has to retain the spirit of Top Gear.

Superman07

Brilliant whoever suggested Allen and Titus! They'd be perfect and I suspect good counterpoints to Corolla.

I am, slightly, encouraged by the fact they seem to be taking their time and trying to get this correct instead of just dumping it.

Also, this could be HUGE for car manufacturers to show off some of their new eco/fuel friendly rides. Especially if the US economy continues along the same path it has for the past 6+ months.

Also, for those that don't know the real TG is back June 22.

Cardiff Giant11

Nice are those going to be "new to us" episodes on BBC America or new episodes airing in the UK on BBC?

Superman07

New UK!

On phone now so can't cut and paste, but very good article today on TG.com on the difference between the 3 versions and why it is hard to duplicate the original success!

BDB

Good link. Thanks

http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planett...eign-editions/
ou've probably already read a bit about our foreign versions of Top Gear. Yes, the colonies strike back, with America and Australia both prepping their own TGs.

Naturally in the press releases the BBC and everyone else involved - me included - will paint a lovely picture of these projects trundling along smoothly with everything falling into place as planned, but I tell you, making home-grown Top Gears is a sod of a job.

The big problem is the nature of the show itself. If you're setting up a foreign The Weakest Link or Millionaire, it's quite straightforward - you need to copy the set and more or less copy the structure of the show, get a decent Chris Tarrant or a fierce redhead and you're there.

But Top Gear is much harder because it's essentially about those three and the way they do what they do, rather than just what they do.

Sure you can get a hangar, make it look like ours, get a Stig and then hire three blokes to build amphibious cars. And you can tick off a list with words like "irreverent" and "non-PC" on it, but it still won't get you where you're going.

Our three really are as funny as they come across, and their relationship is as warm and yet as fractious as you see, and basically the TV show is the cameras catching something quite genuine.

Now obviously they came first so any new version is a conscious recreation, but it can still work very well as long as the chemistry between the three presenters is there. Top Gear abroad isn't about exporting a set and a thick racing driver in white, it's about exporting a tone, a take on life, and you don't need to look for a pedantic one who goes slowly, a small nutcase and a big gobby curly-haired one. You just need to look for three people who also have that Butch and Sundance friendship and can live it out through a love of cars.

So far the reaction to the Australian trio has been good, and I'm glad about that, and especially glad that it worked for the Aussies when they went out on a limb and looked for unknowns.

Two of them, Warren and Steve, are TV virgins, but I think they're a nice find. And they need Charlie's experience, because Top Gear Australia has its own set of obstacles ahead, the main one being that our three are already very popular down under.

The answer has to be to (a) alter the show to suit - so don't force the Aussies to do their own Cool Wall if you're going to watch Jeremy and Richard deliver a tour de force a week later, think of something else to do. And (b) each show must acknowledge the other one exists, so they can take the piss out of each other.

This is the exact opposite of perceived TV wisdom - Dancing With Stars in the US doesn't acknowledge the presence of Strictly Come Dancing - but it has to be the way forward for us; they're our mates over there messing around with cars, and vice versa.

In America the issue is different, because although our show isn't well known there, the ones who do know it are hardcore fans - particularly the peeps on Final Gear. They are very strict about our output and performances, and I noticed quite a few even slating us for Top Gear Ground Force. Actually I'm with them, because we're not great when we have to be performing monkeys, but it was a bit of a party piece for charity so you'll have to forgive us.

Now although Final Gear live in fear of BBC lawyers cos they always nick the show, I know that NBC would be as chuffed as nuts if they liked the US version, which is sort of an indicator as to how seriously NBC are taking the issue. Mostly networks just aim for the broad audience and forget the hardcore.

So will we satisfy the US diehards? Dunno, but partly it's up to them. If they just compare everything in the US show to what Jeremy, Richard and James do, they'll be disappointed, because those three did get their first and they are the bollocks at it.

If, on the other hand, they take Top Gear US for what it is - a bunch of guys, hopefully with their own proper relationship, just looking at car stuff in America, but in the Top Gear way - they may like it. And our version will always be there anyway.

As for hosts, we have Adam and Tanner. Adam is a force of nature, whereas Tanner is quieter, but he has a wicked, dry wit not many have seen yet. And, most important of all, he and Adam, as completely different animals, really bond in a way I couldn't have hoped for so quickly.

He's also unsullied by TV presenterishness, which is another bonus. So we're looking for that elusive third person, and the relationship is everything.

I keep telling the US BBC guys to forget the American Reality shows they know- Survivor, Apprentice - which are all based on arguments and voting, and instead think about the guys in Sideways, or Cheers, or Friends.

Think about the celebration of failure in The Simpsons, because Top Gear is not just about cars, it's also about celebrating that massive Black Hole of Pointlessness that is the male mind.

RichC2

All of Adam's projects have been based on the chemistry between him and the other people, so I think he actually is a good choice for figuring out how to make a US version more or less work.

I do hope it gets made, even if just 1 ep to see how it turns out. That said, I hope it isn't The Man Show with Cars.

wmansir

On today's show Adam said they had their 3rd co-host, but he has been sworn to secrecy for a day or so. He said they should start filming the pilot in a few weeks. A caller asked what kind of cars they would be testing and he made it sound like it would be all super cars, which personally I hope isn't the case. He also said the suits told him he could say anything he wanted about the cars. I read an article elsewhere supposedly quoting an NBC exec saying they had solved the sponsor problem by "only reviewing cars which they like". So we'll have to wait and see how it really turns out.

Achtung

Top Gear USA hosts announced!

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/16/t...sts-announced/



Adam Carolla - duh

Tanner Foust - stunt driver ("The Bourne Ultimatum"), rally driver, Formula D (drifting)

Eric Stomer - soap star, hosted "Over Your Head" on HGTV

It's a good mix, IMO. Interested to see where this goes.

BDB

Carolla does have the curly hair, and Stomer I assume on the left, is small/cute like the hamster.

Foust looks nothing like Captain Slow. I'll look forward to this.

Achtung

Stromer (not Stomer, the Autoblog page spelled it wrong) is the guy in the middle, Foust is on the right of the pic.

sauce07

glad they didn't bring in big names for the other 2 slots, this could be good.

Superman07

I do think the choices are good. I'm not too familiar with Foust, but I didn't see a clip or two of his and I liked it. While not exact, I would say that each of hosts seems to match up with the traditional three.

This could work really well, but I have this nagging feeling that it won't be strong enough. As good a tv personallity is I can't help but feel that Stromer may be the weak link. I'm worried he won't know enough about the cars to talk at the same level. I'm okay with him giving "the common viewpoint", but it's going to be bad if I feel like he's reading a script instead of giving an honest intelligent opinion.

Cardiff Giant11

Could be interesting, probably not as good as the BBC original but who knows it could be like The Office where it kind of takes on a live of it's own and is pretty good albeit different than the original.