top-gear-guysSo, on December 11, 2008 NBC announced that they were passing on the US version of Top Gear.  This is sad, but in a way this is good news too.  I seriously never believed that this show would work in the same format on US Network Television.  You just simply cannot do the same stuff that you can in the UK on OTA TV.

Example in point: I’m sitting here watching S12E05 of Top Gear (BBC).  Jeremy Clasrkson is doing the usual “intro for The Stig” bit right before a timed lap by the “tame racing driver”.  And, I quote, he says, “Some people say that one of his eyes is a testie (testicle)”.

So, let’s examine this, shall we?  OK, Top Gear is presented on BBC 2 in the UK.  The BBC is government supported by funds collected through the TV License Program(me), so this is a government supported operation.  This is one good thing about the show being on the Beeb, there are no commercial advertisers that you need to worry about p*ssing off with a bad report on a car.

So, in the US it was looking like it was going to be on network television.  Argh!  There are advertisers on network TV, now the presenters can’t give an honest oppinon of a crappy car, and sure as heck can’t introduce their racing driver for a timed lap in one of those cars as a man with a testicle for an eye!

I love the BBC format.  Leave it as that, and then show it on BBC America just like you do now.