Fantastic article from Jay Leno on American Top Gear and why it will suck

[motoyen]

I think Leno absolutely nails it with this article about why he won't be doing American Top Gear and why he thinks it will suck.

First off it's going to be broadcast by the idiots at NBC. Non car guys who are only looking at commercial tie ins.

So someone calls me from the network and is clearly not a car person. He says: “You like cars, right?” I say yes. “Like, all kinds of cars?” Well, yes. I like all kinds of cars. Why? “Well, the network has bought the TV show . . . um . . . High Gear? Top Gear? Top Gear! Top Gear, yes. We know you like to build cars.”

The other reason of course is sponsorship. How can you have an honest car show if you can't make fun of Kias?! Give me a freakin break! Top Gear had an entire episode once where they called all cars made in Malaysia crap.

"I said on The Tonight Show recently that the new Kia was available with a heated rear window, so if people needed to push it in winter they could keep their hands warm. Boy, the phones did not stop ringing. So imagine what Jeremy would have to put up with."

BTW if you haven't checked out Leno's website you should, he's got a lot of info on the cars he owns.

[Cacciatore08]

hahah cool, ya I don't think the Americans could pull it off, they don't have the same dry sense of humour like the Brit's

Cheers and thanks for sharing
Ben

[Blakeoffire]

Thanks for posting this Anthony...

I've been dreading the sheer existence of this (surely pathetic) NBC attempt to emulate the success of Top Gear on a North American format. Without the dry, dark humour and honest jabs at car manufacturers the whole point of Top Gear is lost.

Plain and simple: This is a bad idea.



B.

[rene_e30m3]

I don't know why the American networks even bother. Top Gear is a concept that will never catch on in the US. The best the Americans can do is that lame show MotorWeek with John Davis, the host with the anorak and Pat Goss. It's like eating pablum. Inoffensive but certainly not entertaining. It's like reading Consumers Report to fuel your car passion
R.

[woods]

Gah... What a waste of airtime an American version of this show would be... Both Top Gear and Fifth Gear are always available in high quality as bit torrents and I never miss an episode...

An American show would also be obligated to spend a high proportion of it's time driving (and glorifying) boring American cars...

[VtwinVince]

It's similar to when, about ten years ago, Fox bought SpeedVision and turned it into the nightmare known as SpeedTV. Remember when you could watch the BTCC, the ATCC, the DTM, WRC etc.? Remember when Two Wheel Tuesday was about cool bikes and racing, and not about how much silicone was stuck in Michelle Smith? It's called the "Dumming Down" of America, so now you get Asscar and Pinks and Superbikes and a whole plethora of mindless crap masquerading as motorsport. Pathetic, just like the country it comes from.