Top Gear is an Emmy award winning British television show that mainly deals with cars. Right now it is the biggest and most popular show that the British Broadcasting Company has produced. With an estimated 350 million viewers worldwide, it is the most watched show on television nowadays. That number is more than the population of the United States. For reference, the popular show 24 only reached 14 million at its highest.
Top Gear’s presenters (that is Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and their tame racing driver –The Stig) are adorned by fans for their wittiness, humor, and some would say looks too. It is a very delightful and entertaining show to watch, especially because you wonder what those boys will come up with and do next. This show is the talk of offices around the globe on Monday morning, after it airs on Sunday evening.
For this reason of massive success, the BBC has decided that it would start local versions of the show. One for the United States was planned, but as of right now is canceled, and there is another one planned for Russia. The only one that has gotten off the ground currently is Top Gear Australia. And as an enormous fan of the British one, I decided to watch it.
I watched the first episode awhile back, not thinking too much of it. Then for some reason, I starting picking the show back up and watching episodes again. And I got really into it. As soon as the end credits were rolling after they showed what they were going to do next week, I really wanted to watch the next episode. Maybe it was just filling the void of the British Top Gear, which I like so very much. Or because that is the job that I want to have, so I wanted to get ideas.
There were definitely plenty of reasons for me to stop watching. For instance, it was a rough production. (Granted, this was there first time at doing the show.) But there was an awkwardness about it that may work out and go away. And I didn’t know what they were saying at certain points. The Australian phrases went over my head and the specifications for the cars –which were done in Kilowatts and Kilometers per hour – left me clueless. Plus, I’m not a big fan of the “What were they thinking?” Board. I miss the Cool Wall. Although, it was pretty funny when they did put Clarkson, Hammond, and May up there.
But I didn’t stop. I soldiered on through the whole first season. There was a multitude of entertaining segments, like the presenter’s road trips across Northeastern Australia and then Tasmania; the challenges of assembling a car from junkyard scraps, a helicopter versus a car, a man versus a GPS, and the car into a yacht challenge; and finally, the reviews of cars were enjoyable in their own right.
The Australian version of Top Gear still has some things that need to be worked out. The groove of the show still needs to be found. Although I have faith that it will, because looking back at some of the older British Top Gear episodes are not as well crafted as the ones currently airing. They too had to find their groove.
Top Gear Australia is not the original, but it still makes for some good television.
[If interested, the episodes of TG Australia can be watched here: http://hessmo.com/Hessmo/TG_Australia_Season_1.html]
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