Top Gear gains US spinoff

[The_Dude 1,142]

Top Gear gains US spinoff

A US version of Top Gear will launch later this year, to be co-produced by the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

The adaptation of the long-running BBC2 show will air on the US cable network the History Channel, with the comedian Adam Ferrara, the rally and stunt driver Tanner Foust and racing analyst Rutledge Wood in place of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

While the US show will maintain the three male presenter line-up of the UK version, Jane Tranter, executive vice-president or programming and production at BBC Worldwide, said it would have a "completely different landscape" from the original.

"There's a different relationship with cars in the US and a fascination with customisation that's much greater than in the UK," she said. "There's the potential for the US Top Gear to have even greater traction with an audience."

Production on the new 10-part series will begin today for broadcast in the autumn. The History Channel said it would "showcase an offbeat celebration of automobiles and driving" and feature "super-cars, extreme stunts and challenges, car reviews and celebrity interviews".

A US version of the show has long been in the works for some time. Two years ago, NBC commissioned a pilot of the show from BBC Worldwide, but it never made it to screen as a series.

Nancy Dubuc, president and general manager of the History Channel, which will co-produce the series with BBC Worldwide, said: "The history of the automobile and the history of America are intimately intertwined – to celebrate one is to celebrate the other.

"I am thrilled to bring the US version of this massively popular series to our viewers, working with the incredibly talented team at BBC Worldwide Productions. Top Gear is an intelligent, entertaining show – unique and groundbreaking in its format – a perfect match for us."

Source

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This is a trainwreck waiting to happen. I will continue to watch the original show.

[Peikko 1,575]

Top Gear without Clarkson, Hammond and May? I don't buy it

[The_Dude 1,142]

Top Gear without Clarkson, Hammond and May? I don't buy it

I remember a few years ago, they approached Jay Leno to do a sort of U.S. version of Top Gear. He flatly declined and made the comment that it wouldn't translate here the same and that he didn't want to be the one who killed Top Gear.

[Peikko 1,575]

I remember a few years ago, they approached Jay Leno to do a sort of U.S. version of Top Gear. He flatly declined and made the comment that it wouldn't translate here the same and that he didn't want to be the one who killed Top Gear.

It could work if they called it something different, because clearly it is a very different show

[Otto 83]

I remember a few years ago, they approached Jay Leno to do a sort of U.S. version of Top Gear. He flatly declined and made the comment that it wouldn't translate here the same and that he didn't want to be the one who killed Top Gear.

And yet he recently stole TopGear's 'celebrity track-day'idea - and look what he did with that...

[The_Dude 1,142]

And yet he recently stole TopGear's 'celebrity track-day'idea - and look what he did with that...

O RLY?

I detest Leno, so I make a point of not watching his show, so I had no clue. That is quite loathsome of him.