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If you’ve been following the automotive entertainment community then you should be completely aware of the Old vs New Top Gear debate. Old Top Gear references the Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May brand, while New Top Gear consists of Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, and Rory Reid. Ever since the firing of Jeremy Clarkson, a nation of people have been clamoring for a return to the BBC show, only to have been met with the compromise of The Grand Tour; a premium program from Amazon Prime. In the meantime, the BBC has backfilled the Top Gear cast of characters with cut-rate replacements, ones that have only just begun to resonate with viewers.
Seems like the Brits aren’t the only ones that are going through an Old vs New Top Gear moment. America is also going through its own version. Back in June 2016 we reported to you that Top Gear USA has been cancelled. A program that invaded the USA back in 2010 has struggled to gain traction over its six year life. The first couple of seasons were difficult to watch as they were a recreation of the British Top Gear recipe, enacted by three new hosts that barely had any chemistry. It was akin to an awkward middle-school dance and less of three guys acting silly around cars. However, just like how wine improves with age, so did the Top Gear USA crew. Over the five seasons, the TGUS hosts Adam Ferrara, Tanner Foust, and Rutledge Wood got better at picking on each other. The overall show became more interesting to watch, just in time for the networks to kill off a good thing.
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Recently we reported that Top Gear USA will be returning, however, it will be with a new crew consisting of these three hosts. This left a lot of fans of the original Top Gear America, including us, a little bit disappointed. The original crew wasn’t the best trio, and in no way will ever compare to Clarkson, Hammond, and May. But just like how it improved over the five seasons proves that the original crew deserved a second chance to return with more gusto and interesting ideas.
Fortunately for Ferrara, Foust, and Wood fans, the end may not be here at all. According to Jalopnik:
When the American Top Gear USA as we knew it on the History Channel was shut down, Wood seemed to indicate that he and his co-hosts would be looking for another place to entertain us. Now he’s teasing us again this week with a picture of the three guys looking properly heroic standing in front of a, uh, some kind of car concealed by an American flag the size of a semi-truck.
In addition, an inside source with knowledge of the project told Jalopnik that the guys and crew are “developing a new project that takes them all over America featuring more ridiculous automotive adventures”and working with production company Anonymous Content, which in addition to some great movies has done some solidly good non-reality TV shows like Mr. Robot and True Detective.
This is incredible news in two ways. First, automotive fans will get ANOTHER show they can watch. In an age where there’s so much automotive entertainment for consumption on YouTube, high production value entertainment is currently only limited to The Grand Tour and Top Gear itself. Second, Top Gear USA fans will get to see the three original hosts back on the air. And as we’ve seen from The Grand Tour, a different production company getting into the game just means the whole automotive entertainment landscape will get better as competition increases. Don’t you just love competition?!
We’ll investigate this further and relay back as it unfolds. For the time being, we sympathize with our British counterparts as we’re experiencing a small dose of what they must have felt when the original Top Gear crew was replaced. Regardless, we’re looking forward as this develops and currently figuring out how to cram all of these automotive shows into our watching schedule.
(Source: Jalopnik)
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