Top Gear US is cancelled and BBC Top Gear still isn't great...

"PushToStart" (pushtostart)
06/27/2016 at 15:17 • Filed to: None

I don’t want to sound like I’m overreacting but... It kind of looks like the ‘Top Gear’ name might be circling the drain...

DISCUSSION (20)

djmt1 > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 15:20

The internet has killed a lot of TV. Look like car shows are next.

Svend > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 15:21

Any chance they come back as the Grand Tour of America.

PushToStart > Svend
06/27/2016 at 15:24

Haha, that would be cool! But I feel like between Tanner’s race schedule, Rut’s commentator schedule, and Adam’s schedule it would be hard to take a chunk of time out to do a tour like that.

PushToStart > djmt1
06/27/2016 at 15:25

I’m wondering if it is really the Internet to blame or if it just never built up the viewership.

Svend > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 15:34

I was referring to the old Top Gear crews new programme name.

Kinja'd!!!

djmt1 > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 15:36

Bit of both. Top Gear US had shit viewing figures through its full run and it was probably too expensive to keep making while paying for a licence which has lost a lot of its value.

As for BBC Top Gear. The most popular parts of it have to do with the internet. The only hosts people are liking are the guys from internet shows and the internet based spin off is in a real shot of becoming more popular than the actual how going by the rankings.

Fortunately due to the unique way the Beeb is funded, all it needs is viewing figures and they seem happy with the combined 4 mil a week they’re getting.

Dusty Ventures > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 15:39

Top Gear’s been around longer than Ruttledge Wood has been alive. I’m not calling it yet.

Dave the car guy , still here > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 16:21

What about the BBC canning Fifth Gear as well. Is it likely because of all the lost income from the demise of the old TG?

Saracen > Svend
06/27/2016 at 17:01

The Grand Tour = TGT = Top Gear Two

Coincidence? I doubt it.

PushToStart > Svend
06/27/2016 at 18:26

Yeah, but isn't the premise of the show that they actually go on a Grand Tour? That sounds like it would take a big chunk of free time to do.

PushToStart > Dave the car guy , still here
06/27/2016 at 18:28

Oh yeah, I forgot about Fifth Gear. i never saw a full episode, just clips, but it looked cool

PushToStart > Dusty Ventures
06/27/2016 at 18:29

True. I think BBC TG will continue to live and change for another couple seasons at least, and it'll either improve and live or stagnate and die. Hopefully it's the former!

Svend > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 18:37

I don’t think they have an idea what premise they are going with yet.

Dusty Ventures > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 18:50

I think the current TG has the ingredients to be a really good show (not as good as the best years of The Trio, but at least on par with some of their more average years), they just need to be willing to tweak the formula a bit.

PushToStart > Svend
06/27/2016 at 19:55

Found this: “Confirming the name of the show, Clarkson said: “We’ll be travelling the world hosting each episode in a different country, from a giant tent. It’s a sort of “grand tour”, if you like. So we’ve decided to call it ‘The Grand Tour’”

PushToStart > Dusty Ventures
06/27/2016 at 19:57

I think the backbones are there too, Chris Harris works I think but at this point I'm not sold on any of the others. just my opinion though

Svend > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 20:16

Cool. I’d heard it called The Grand Tour but only speculation as to what they’d be doing.

Dusty Ventures > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 20:43

I like Rory, and I like Matt when he’s not blatantly reciting a line or reading a script (in the very first episode he had a brilliantly creative ad-libbed V-gesture moment that was so perfect and subtle it apparently even snuck by the censors). I think these two plus Harris could carry the show far, especially with a little improvement in the writing department. Sabine, as much as I love her, isn’t a presenter. She’s great for occasional stuff, but I don’t think she could/should be an every-episode type regular. Jordan does nothing for me, and Chris Evans is trying so hard to be Jeremy Clarkson I can’t even say he’s bad because I feel like I haven’t seen him be himself yet.

PushToStart > Dusty Ventures
06/27/2016 at 20:48

Yeah, I agree with your thoughts on LeBlanc, where he’s ok when he’s not reading words someone else wrote on a cue card. Rory hasn’t done enough for me to judge but I’ve been unimpressed so far just because all his interviews and lines seem so forced.

And Chris Evans just needs to go. I’m not saying that because it’s the apparently popular opinion, I actually tried to give him a shot, but the only time I wasn’t thinking “get him away from this show” was the Extra Gear McLaren F1 segment.

Dusty Ventures > PushToStart
06/27/2016 at 21:03

The Extra Gear F1 segment is the one time I think he was actually himself and not wearing a Jeremy Clarkson mask. Dammit, Chris, just be that guy!

As for Rory, this is why I like him: