A review of Top Gear from a "non-car guy"
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A review of Top Gear from a "non-car guy"
It's been on BBC America for several years now but apparently this is the first time he's seen it. From MediaLifeMagazine.com:
'Top Gear,' lads with fast cars goofing off
BBC America brings us a classic British television show
By Tom Conroy
Aug 22, 2011
One of the underrated pleasures of television is watching shows that we can’t understand. In big-city markets, we can see Spanish soap operas, Italian game shows and Chinese news broadcasts, all of which can be strangely fascinating.
For many American viewers, the British car-enthusiast show “Top Gear” can be just as opaque. Terms like “torque” and “six-liter V12” will mean nothing to most of us, and the U.K.-specific cultural references — to things like “Countryfile” and “Mary Whitehouse” — come thick and fast.
Despite all that, the series — the 17th season of which premieres tonight at 9 on BBC America — is fun even for those of us who are both autophobes and Anglophobes. The three presenters (that means “hosts”) have a comfortable laddish rapport, and their joy in getting paid to play with expensive, cool vehicles is endearing. Viewers will share the fantasy of going for a spin in Europe in a 175,000-pound sports car — that’s money, not weight.
In tonight’s season premiere, one host goes to South Africa to drive a car that makes the Hummer look like a subcompact, another blisses out at the wheel of a new sports car, Alice Cooper drives an economy car around a racing track, the third host rides along in a race between an Olympic luge medalist and a professional driver, and they end with a tribute to a classic Jaguar model on its 50th birthday.
The three hosts follow the Three Stooges model: Jeremy Clarkson is the officious leader; James May is the rather nondescript middle man; and Richard Hammond is the lovable butt of the other two’s jokes.
Hammond is the one who gets to play with the Marauder, a South African military vehicle that civilians can buy for 300,000 pounds (in U.S. dollars, that’s a lot). Driving it through the streets of Johannesburg, he seems to relish the locals’ angry glares.
Showing how it’s useful in everyday life, he out-tows a tow truck that comes to seize the car when it’s illegally parked. Then he drives over and crushes two cars that have blocked him in a parking lot.
Finally, to demonstrate the vehicle’s resilience in extreme situations, he sets off equal charges of plastic explosives under a Hummer and the Marauder. Most viewers would probably say they don’t care which one would do better, but in the moment, the demo is gripping.
Sitting down for a chat with Alice Cooper before running tape of his performance on the show’s test track, Clarkson proves himself a skilled interviewer. The segment seems to have been edited down to the best parts, a simple process that could help a lot of American talk shows. Cooper, however, will disappoint fans with his cautious performance on the track.
In the same segment in the season’s second episode, an English comedian named Ross Noble proves himself to be both a hilarious interviewee and a maniacal driver. He winds up pushing Tom Cruise down from his No. 2 position in the celebrity drivers’ leader board.
The show allows the hosts to indulge their personal obsessions. May seems convinced that all British sports cars fail as road cars because they’re tested on the same track. When Clarkson agrees with him, May comically keeps arguing.
Clarkson gets to wax sentimental about the Jaguar E-Type, a model launched in 1961, which he calls, “perhaps with the exception of Concorde, almost certainly the last great thing Britain made.” Later, debating that point with his co-hosts, he allows that Monty Python might be another exception.
Taking one of the first E-Types for a drive, he laughs gleefully. Then, not quite ironically, he salutes the car’s 50th anniversary with a marching band, a Union Jack balloon, Royal Navy skydivers and a flyover of military jets.
All three hosts have a dream fulfilled when, after driving three “hot hatchbacks” in a combined rally and scavenger hunt from Lucca, Italy, to the French Riviera, they get to race on the Grand Prix track in Monaco.
Some of the hosts’ byplay comes across as a bit forced. After the drive from Lucca, May and Clarkson tally up each driver’s individual points and decide that Hammond scored “nought” (i.e., “zero”). Hammond has to pretend to be surprised.
But most of the action on the show genuinely feels like three enthusiasts having the time of their lives. If they tried to make the show more accessible, it would, paradoxically, be less entertaining.
'Top Gear,' lads with fast cars goofing off
BBC America brings us a classic British television show
By Tom Conroy
Aug 22, 2011
One of the underrated pleasures of television is watching shows that we can’t understand. In big-city markets, we can see Spanish soap operas, Italian game shows and Chinese news broadcasts, all of which can be strangely fascinating.
For many American viewers, the British car-enthusiast show “Top Gear” can be just as opaque. Terms like “torque” and “six-liter V12” will mean nothing to most of us, and the U.K.-specific cultural references — to things like “Countryfile” and “Mary Whitehouse” — come thick and fast.
Despite all that, the series — the 17th season of which premieres tonight at 9 on BBC America — is fun even for those of us who are both autophobes and Anglophobes. The three presenters (that means “hosts”) have a comfortable laddish rapport, and their joy in getting paid to play with expensive, cool vehicles is endearing. Viewers will share the fantasy of going for a spin in Europe in a 175,000-pound sports car — that’s money, not weight.
In tonight’s season premiere, one host goes to South Africa to drive a car that makes the Hummer look like a subcompact, another blisses out at the wheel of a new sports car, Alice Cooper drives an economy car around a racing track, the third host rides along in a race between an Olympic luge medalist and a professional driver, and they end with a tribute to a classic Jaguar model on its 50th birthday.
The three hosts follow the Three Stooges model: Jeremy Clarkson is the officious leader; James May is the rather nondescript middle man; and Richard Hammond is the lovable butt of the other two’s jokes.
Hammond is the one who gets to play with the Marauder, a South African military vehicle that civilians can buy for 300,000 pounds (in U.S. dollars, that’s a lot). Driving it through the streets of Johannesburg, he seems to relish the locals’ angry glares.
Showing how it’s useful in everyday life, he out-tows a tow truck that comes to seize the car when it’s illegally parked. Then he drives over and crushes two cars that have blocked him in a parking lot.
Finally, to demonstrate the vehicle’s resilience in extreme situations, he sets off equal charges of plastic explosives under a Hummer and the Marauder. Most viewers would probably say they don’t care which one would do better, but in the moment, the demo is gripping.
Sitting down for a chat with Alice Cooper before running tape of his performance on the show’s test track, Clarkson proves himself a skilled interviewer. The segment seems to have been edited down to the best parts, a simple process that could help a lot of American talk shows. Cooper, however, will disappoint fans with his cautious performance on the track.
In the same segment in the season’s second episode, an English comedian named Ross Noble proves himself to be both a hilarious interviewee and a maniacal driver. He winds up pushing Tom Cruise down from his No. 2 position in the celebrity drivers’ leader board.
The show allows the hosts to indulge their personal obsessions. May seems convinced that all British sports cars fail as road cars because they’re tested on the same track. When Clarkson agrees with him, May comically keeps arguing.
Clarkson gets to wax sentimental about the Jaguar E-Type, a model launched in 1961, which he calls, “perhaps with the exception of Concorde, almost certainly the last great thing Britain made.” Later, debating that point with his co-hosts, he allows that Monty Python might be another exception.
Taking one of the first E-Types for a drive, he laughs gleefully. Then, not quite ironically, he salutes the car’s 50th anniversary with a marching band, a Union Jack balloon, Royal Navy skydivers and a flyover of military jets.
All three hosts have a dream fulfilled when, after driving three “hot hatchbacks” in a combined rally and scavenger hunt from Lucca, Italy, to the French Riviera, they get to race on the Grand Prix track in Monaco.
Some of the hosts’ byplay comes across as a bit forced. After the drive from Lucca, May and Clarkson tally up each driver’s individual points and decide that Hammond scored “nought” (i.e., “zero”). Hammond has to pretend to be surprised.
But most of the action on the show genuinely feels like three enthusiasts having the time of their lives. If they tried to make the show more accessible, it would, paradoxically, be less entertaining.
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: MAHT-O-MEDI
My wife cares nothing of cars but can be entertained by the show. I just spent a full day on a boat off of Cancun chasing whale sharks with a couple brits and we talked a lot ot Top Gear. They said even the 70 year old women in Britain love the show and watch it religiously.
I wish NBC or someone would just carry it in prime time. It would kill.
People in car talk keep apologizing for the US version and keep saying "it is getting better!" I watched an epiisode recently. It still sucks.
I wish NBC or someone would just carry it in prime time. It would kill.
People in car talk keep apologizing for the US version and keep saying "it is getting better!" I watched an epiisode recently. It still sucks.
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