There are a handful of Top Gear fans out there (most likely in the USA) who are looking forward to the upcoming Top Gear USA. I’m sorry to put a bit of a downer on all of you out there, but here are my 7 reasons why I think it will not work.
- Andy Wilman. – Andy cares a great deal about Top Gear and is responsible for every episode of the current UK Top Gear series you’ve seen. Both he and Jeremy were responsible for resurrecting the show in 2002 and as far as I’m concerned he is equally important as the presenters. I am sure Andy would love for TG USA to be a success and would gladly give them a few pointers a long the way, but the fact is he will not be running the show.
- The Stig. – One would think The Stig is simply a character that can be played by anyone, and in a way this is true. But put him on a different show and it somehow makes him feel like an unoriginal copy – a pale shadow of the real one. He’s the same character, but somehow he just isn’t. They’ll probably save money and use one of the shows hosts, Rally driver Tanner Foust, as The Stig.
- Lack of original ideas. – Aside from power testing supercars, what’s left to do? A cheap car challenge? Amphibious cars perhaps? What about a long distance race between multiple types of transport? These are all UK Top Gear ideas and will never be as good or as funny a second time around with 3 guys you care very little about.
- American Cars are rubbish. Not many people want to hear about the majority of cars coming out of America. What do they review after they’ve done some Mustangs and a few Corvettes? Perhaps some of the cars GM source from South Korea? UK Top Gear would have reviewed all the interesting European & Japanese cars already so there won’t be much left. Maybe they could take up a whole episode by talking about how screwed the American car industry is.
- High Fives. If the preview trailer is anything to go by, you’re in for some high five action. Lots of them. Even the animals have moved on from this.
- Top Gear Australia. Here’s your warning alarm with big flashing red lights – TG USA is about to attempt what TG AU has been attempting for the past 2 years ago. Even with the host and channel changes they still haven’t got it off the ground. It comes across as being half-arsed drivel with 3 blokes hanging around pretending to be good friends with plenty of forced smiles and laughter, which leads me on to my final reason..
- Jeremy, Richard & James. The simple fact is they will not be able to successfully replicate the UK Top Gear formula elsewhere because these three extremely important elements will be missing. Taking Jeremy, Richard and James away removes the very thing which made Top Gear successful in the first place!
Do you think there’s something I’ve missed? Let me know!