Perhaps as you’ve surfed around the dial, you’ve come across the massively entertaining, gear-head television show TOP GEAR, which has been airing on BBC for over a decade. The show is hosted by three Brits, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, who seem to be having a very good time, indeed. But then again who wouldn’t when handed keys to some of the most exciting, money-is-no-object type of machines from around the world. Do they do reviews? Well, sort of. Each episode they’re handed “challenges,” and a set of cars in which to compete. These are not always super cars, or even running cars. The beauty of the show is that it’s not about the products, like most car and motorcycle shows US audiences are accustomed to, and mostly bored with.
So it’s a car show, but not about cars? Am I talking smack? Not entirely. TOP GEAR has achieved that most elusive of goals, they’ve captured the joy, passion and camaraderie of the motor head experience. Each episode is shot and edited as if it were a feature film. The camera angles, the camera movement, special filters, time compression and expansion to set or amplify mood. This is a well-crafted show, so beautiful to look at. But it’s not all about image. Not hardly. The hosts are truly entertaining and appear to be having a hell of a time, mostly at the expense of the cars they’re driving. It is so not what motorheads are used to watching on prefabricated channels like SPEED. This is why it is with mixed emotions most fans of TOP GEAR UK anticipate the TOP GEAR USA version.
Talk of Jay Leno as host only amplified those concerns, but wisely the History Channel (of all channels, who’dve guessed?) went another way with the hosts. But can TOP GEAR USA capture the same magic the same witty banter, the same visual richness, and the magic of the original? We’ll all find out November 21 on the History Channel at 9PM (central).
— Val Asensio
