If there is one almost universal truth in the world of television entertainment, it is the fact that Hollywood will without fail ruin a British program when re-developed for stateside viewing.
We speak of this only in reference to the recent announcement that NBC is developing its own version of the BBC hit, Top Gear.
Never heard of Top Gear? Well, it is the holy grail of television for any lover of the automobile—the car themed hour long comedy. In the program they have done things such as drag race a Bugatti Veryon with a jet, tried to outrun a tank with a Range Rover and even came close to getting a small hatchback launched into space. (Instead, the hatchback and rocket exploded midflight.)
There have been other hour long programs about cars in general on U.S. television before, but few have aired before midnight and never on a major network. At best, the shows have come out as glorified infomercials for specific models. “Look here as we show how easily the passenger seat slides forward for easy entry into the back seat of this lovely Hyundai Tiburon,” usually goes the tepid and dull narration of said programs.
To see how popular the British version is with car enthusiasts one only need to peruse the forums on a site like Motortrend.com to see discussions of recent episodes. In the blogosphere, the subject of most shock and amusement has to be that of the commentary of one Jeremy Clarkson.
A celebrity in his own right in Britain, he is the Simon Cowell of the auto world. He pulls no punches in doling out his witty and often times hilariously cruel barbs about certain automobiles. In this lies the ultimate rub, how on earth could a host in the U.S. get away with that level of candor about why certain automobiles just suck.
For a network show here, how could you say the inside of the new Dodge Journey looked like it was made out of used Tupperware containers when Chrysler is an advertiser for shows on the same channel? To put it bluntly, I don’t think you could. It is nigh on impossible to have that level of candor in the print auto media, much less in the more highly visible medium of television.
But even beyond the uber-persona that is Jeremy Clarkson, we also have the competitive camaraderie he shares with co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May. In one episode they race across Europe in the middle of summer in search of the best driving roads. Hammond picks a Porsche 911 GT2, Clarkson drives a Lamborghini Gallardo while May picks a racing Aston Martin---without air conditioning. In the ensuing miles under the hot summer sun Mr. May is forced to drive the Aston in his underpants while waving a hand fan in his face.
This human interaction and real-time story telling is what makes this car show entertaining not only to auto enthusiasts, but to the common man or woman as well. As an example, my parents have both become huge fans of the program. And no, I did not get my obsession with cars from either of them. They just enjoy any good television. That is what Top Gear is—good television.
So, you may ask, who is going to be the host for the new Top Gear here in the United States? Well, I guess they couldn’t find any auto magazine editors with enough charisma to host the program on their own so they got comedian Adam Corolla of Jimmy Kimmel Live and Loveline fame to host. Yes, his last name is Corolla. Let’s hope he can come up with better humor than just some lame play on words regarding his last name.
We are not holding our breath for this new version of Top Gear to be any good. Unfortunately, the first program did not just succeed because of the subject matter; it succeeded because of who was involved with it. There could be a television remake of Friends at any time but without Jennifer Aniston and the original cast would it be any good? No, it wouldn’t.
Our advice for producers of the NBC version of Top Gear is this—leave well enough alone. We can only imagine what Jeremy Clarkson will have to say when he sees how we Americans ruined his beloved show. Trust us, he already hates Yanks enough already.