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Former “Friends” star and current “Episodes” main character Matt LeBlanc will be heading to the BBC to co-host Top Gear with Chris Evans, Top Gear announced Thursday.
The news comes just before Evans, who’s experienced numerous setbacks with taping the new series, is set to headline BBC Worldwide’s annual showcase where he’ll be expected to sell the show to international broadcasters.
“The event signals the international trade launch of the new look Top Gear,” said BBC Worldwide. “More than 700 international television buyers will get the chance to see Chris Evans offer a glimpse of what’s in store for the new series of Top Gear.”
One of those things seems to be Mr. LeBlanc’s appointment as host, signalling the first time an American will co-host the program since the Clarkson era reboot.
Other co-hosts rumored for the show include “Queen of the ‘Ring” Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris and David Coulthard. However, for Schmitz, the rumor has cooled after a recent interview she gave at the 24 Hours of Daytona where she stated she works a lot with Top Gear but not in a host capacity. David Coulthard was reportedly ruled out when he signed a deal with competitor Channel 4 to provide Formula 1 color commentary.
I have no inside baseball (or European football), but from all rational deduction based on press leaks of the disastrous filming of Top Gear v2.0, it’s going to be a failure that no number of Matt LeBlanc or other specific personalities are going to be able to salvage from complete crash, burn and flaming wreckage.
You see, Top Gear under Clarkson, Hammond & May was an accidental success, like a pharma lab assistant discovering that a blood pressure medication grows moderate vortex hair lost to alopecia in 2% and 5% concentrations, when applied topically (which is how probably – SWAG here – 30%+ of meds brought to market were INITIALLY discovered).
You can’t pre-engineer & duplicate the chemistry of Clarkson, Hammond & May, working together, who ultimately turn what would ordinarily be either a data-driven automotive show OR an amorphous, devoid of data, show, only remotely touching on actual data, into a successful hybrid mashing the two together, driven by a Monte Python-esque dynamic.
Can even Clarkson, Hammond & May re-create their magical/best seasons/episodes of BBC years past on Amazon? I doubt it.
But the chances are nearly nil that any new Top Gear v2.0 on the BBC, regardless as to who hosts it, will be remotely as successful as the Clarkson-Hammond-May glory years.
I’ll bet on a failure because happy accidents and magical chemistry can’t be intentionally created.
Yes that sums it up nicely.
@DW:
All you have to do is watch the American Top Gear (originally produced by Clarkson) to see how true that is. Too many of those shows were so scripted it was obvious. They had their moments, but most of the time it was obviously forced.
I think the problem with American Top Gear was the hosts. Aside from rally-driving-only Tanner, the other two were just fools who couldn’t read a script or act, and didn’t actually know anything about cars.
Is ATG cancelled yet? I hope so.
Pretty sure it’s been canceled for a long time!
And I like Adam, he has a genuine love of 70s land yachts, just like me!
Adam thinks Oldsmobile went away in 2010, and that the Cutlass was their last FWD car. I have no respect for him!
That’s too bad, I liked Adam, and I liked Tanner. The other guy got on my nerves, he was reading from a script. But the land yacht vs rally car dynamic was a lot of fun when it showed up.
Oh it’s still on.
Vincent (TM), spreading incorrect knowledge since 30 mins ago!
Hey, I haven’t seen it on History in forever so I assumed it was gone! Excuuuuse me!
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4d/20/e5/4d20e56a2d41ae8b6b426c523bd47725.gif
When ATG destroyed a nice 1971 Olds Cutlass Supreme SX during a “let’s see what car will run the longest when filled with water” test, I was done.
Car wasn’t concours-ready, but it was no hooptie, either.
Top Gear US is still on. It’s gotten better now that they only do challenges. The last two Top Gear US seasons have been mostly better than the last two Top Gear UK seasons.
(That’s because the last two seasons of Top Gear UK were horrible)
I might have to check it out again then. TG UK was really pretty low the last season. The script showed holes like worn out jeans. And their final big challenge across Patagonia was just dull.
But I had a hard time watching ATG destroy an excellent condition Roadmaster Estate in that one challenge. I think that’s the last episode I saw of that show.
Yeah, that was the first season. The first season of Top Gear US was butt.
I disagree, Corey. I agree Tanner is a rally-driving fool; he always has a huge advantage when it came to the actual driving. However, Rutledge Wood certainly knows something about cars. He’s not the best driver, but he clearly demonstrated his real-world knowledge several times–when he wasn’t forced to act the fool with some of those ridiculous road trips. The trio never really had any synergy.
And yes, ATG was apparently canceled almost two years ago.
I’m so confused! Why is there not concordance on this question RE: still on or not?
There has not been a new ATG since 2014, according to IMDB. However, it still has a – date on it, and not a “final” date like they often do.
Can we please pretend that Top Gear America doesn’t exist and never did? God what an awful show.
Like I said, the last two seasons of Top Gear USA have been better than the last two seasons of Top Gear UK. The bar isn’t high though.
Vulpine – Absolutely agree. American Top Gear, Australian Top Gear, German Top Gear, etc. are all poor to middling, because they lack the chemistry of heyday UK Top Gear.
By the way *** If one watches really, really early Top Gear UK (first seasons of black stig), it wasn’t that great (it was odd and almost stuffy, and not funny at all), and this was because Clarkson, Hammond & May didn’t click b/c they were not comfortable ripping on each other’s various personality quirks due to unfamiliarity and not having confidence that they could go there, or go further.
RE: Filming setbacks
James May opined recently that he thinks the setbacks are all fake. Make it look like the show is having problems, so everyone tunes in to see a messy trainwreck, only to have it be well-polished and great. It’s a win-win from a PR perspective.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/james-reckons-chris-evans-purposely-7248052
But May characteristically typically finished last in races, couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag, and was the killjoy that played Higgins to Clarkson’s/Hammond’s Magnum.
In all seriousness, May is very good friends with Evans, and he’s probably more likely than not trying to send good cheer, publicly, Chris’s way.
It’s very difficult to get someone with Clarkson’s outsized presence & driving, comedic affect, let alone have that person work together so long with the successful foils that were Hammond & May, literally create a sub-genre like Top Gear UK. They pioneered an automotive show that was funny often, yet somewhat serious enough when it needed to be, punctuated by some epic specials (Vietnam, Bolivia, etc.).
There will never be another automotive show as successful as Top Gear UK w/Clarkson, Hammond & May, and I’d wager that even Clarkson knew that its final seasons on the BBC were the waning crescent phase (which may have not “coincidentally” played a factor in his “meltdown” behavior).
I’m not sure good cheer is calling him a liar, and saying he was faking getting sick because his face “didn’t look sick.”
Agree with the rest of your points. I think Clarkson was on a downward spiral for a while. Death of his mother, drinking, cheating on wife and subsequent divorce.
Yes, but May stating those things plays into the “they are sandbagging and it’s going to be better than they are leading on” narrative.
And to hammer a point home made earlier, not only did Clarkson realize Top Gear UK was finally receding, but his “spontaneous meltdown” that *officially* led to his termination, resulted in his annual salary going from a reported million British Pounds per year, to 15x that with his new gig on Amazon!
As the Brits would say, [t]hat’s a right good jolly sacking!”
That’s a very impressive raise, indeed.
I’ll be interested to see what Amazon does with the show. I really hope they still film in the UK. I don’t think it would feel right if they filmed it elsewhere.
If anything, Amazon will give them -more- freedom than BBC ever did with its hypersensitivity to all issues.
I’m 100% sure Evans was faking being sick, doesn’t he own some of the fastest, most expensive and most powerful supercars out there? I’m pretty sure he is accustomed to tracks and high speeds, maybe even more than the original Top Gear trio.
Chris Evans is more into collecting Ferraris than driving them.
Riding in the passenger seat of a high performance car can make you sick, even if you are fine after driving the same car. When driven at 8/10s and above the motion in a car is actually pretty violent. I had to start taking motion sickness pills once I began instructing during HPDE (track days) despite never being car or air sick in my whole life. Thus it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Chris got sick regardless of prior track experience.
While I’m looking forward to both new shows having an American on TG means loosing its British nature which was a big part of its charm.
May could drive faster than he let on. One of the trips up the mountain switchbacks he left both Jezzer and Hamster receding in his rear view mirror.
I doubt May was any slouch behind the wheel, either, and there are glimpses of this throughout the series run. It was much more entertaining, though, for them to play up the “Captain Slow” persona.
That’s because he was in a Ferrari 430, Clarkson was in a giant and heavy Ford GT, and Hammond was in an unwieldy Zonda.
Very well said. I agree on all points.
Surely this is Top Gear v3.0, not v2.0.
The original show ran from 1977 to 2001, with the Clarkson, May and Hammond version being a complete change from the earlier incarnation (although both Clarkson and May had contributed to the original in its later years).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_%281977_TV_series%29
What, they couldn’t find another British football lout to host?
All kidding aside, what I know of Matt LeBlanc and his connection to cars I could write on the flap of an A4 envelope. In a perfect world, I would envision the new host to be a combination of Jay Leno and car collector Bruce Meyer. Or Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars. If BBC learned something of Matt that they think should put him the drivers seat, I’m willing to give him a shot.
Why not Leno?
He obviously still wants a show and wants to talk cars, otherwise his garage show wouldn’t exist. His wit and knowledge of cars, mixed in with some competitive driving hijinks would be worth watching.
Matt LeBlanc? …not so much.
I think Leno would be an excellent idea. He’s a genuine car enthusiast as well as being very knowledgable. He’s also funny but has credentials as a serious and effective interviewer.
British Top Gear fans would not react kindly to a “football lout”.
Top Gear has long been an antidote to football.
Maybe a rugby-playing gentleman would be accepted, but not a football lout.
neil733,
“British Top Gear fans would not react kindly to a British football lout”? Come on. Who did you think I had in mind? How about a clue. Who is the first person you think of when you think of British Top Gear. One guess is all you need.
As for why not Jay Leno to host, let’s ask Jay. If he could reconcile doing Jay Leno’s Garage and British Top Gear, I can’t think of another person I would rather see hosting TG. He’s funny, he’s knowledgeable, he’s naturally curious, he has the provenance of having been a Rolls Royce technician in Boston before his standup comedy career took off. He’s not prone to punching out his co-workers. He clicks off every square on the perfect TG host checklist. He’d have my vote.
Leno has his schedule of corporate gigs and his weekly slot at the Conedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, doubtful he would want to disrupt his well established, and lucrative, routine.
Jay Leno is a bit old for the target audience. They need to pick someone much younger, and hopefully female.
But not the lady from 5th Gear (the one who talks like she’s got a hard candy in her mouth), she tends to say really stupid stuff and the relies on her looks too much. There’s a big difference between a smart host acting dumb (Top Gear) and a dumb host trying to sound smart (5th Gear).
Heavy Handle,
I’ll let the BBC lay out who their target audience is, and what age will work best for any host they have in mind.
Me, I don’t want some 20-something news reader who pays high auto insurance rates because he didn’t bother to start learning to drive until he was 22, that reads only R&T online but has never picked up a copy of the UK mag Classic & Sports Car because he’s not interested in cars built before 2012. If you picked up a clue that I am done with this insidious slant towards youth at the exclusion of all else, particularly when it comes to the automotive all-encompassing subject matter based on past Top Gear shows, come up for a gold star. In the unlikely event that 60-something Jay Leno would agree to host TG, he’s a known and revered quantity to the audience, and he’s had even Jeremy cracking up and taking it in, on past shows. It would be his job to lose. As for the ‘hopefully female’ request, Top Gear is not Chip Foose and Overhaulin’ on Velocity network. When BBC picks a female host, I expect she’ll be like Jean Lindamood Jennings, someone who’s spend years covering auto shows, reporting for automotive websites, someone comfortable and affable in front of the camera, and not a scrawny bimbo in painted-on jeans and stilettos who looks like she stepped off of a gas station calendar page.
It’s a moo point. Like a cow’s opinion – doesn’t matter!
Win
Maybe it’s time for the Car Show to make a comeback. Adam Carolla was an exceptional host! Truly worthy of the accolades foisted upon the likes of Clarkson and his ilk.
Bring back “The Car Show”? Look I’m not going to question Adam Carolla’s credentials as a car guy, his sincerity and love of things Automotive are deep and worthy of respect. But I do question the wisdom of putting him not only on the show but also as the titular leader of the bunch because he comes across as a total douche bag. When humor occurred it was in spite of him, not because. And the rest of them had zero chemistry together. Don’t miss it or Carolla at all.
Yeah, I’m definitely not watching now, I might have if they had put Chris Harris on, but Matt LeBlanc, no.
Why can’t they find someone who actually loves cars and has a sense of humor? There must be a young Leno or Seinfeld out there who would interject some life into the franchise…
“There must be a young Leno or Seinfeld out there who would interject some life into the franchise…”
I’m sure there is. But there are a lot of people in the world; how do you know which one? Maybe it’s you. Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s BTSR. If you’re a BBC producer, how do you figure it out?
Maybe Farago, but he’s busy playing with guns now.
I’ve got great news about the Dacia Sandero!
Great! Anyway…
I thought they already picked the hosts and started filming. I also thought Sabine Schmitz was one of them.
It was supposed to be Chris Evans, Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz and now I see this Matt LeBlanc crap so it’s a toss up as to who the third host is now. This went south fast.
I hate nonfiction TV and videos because they’re so slow to convey information, so I never watch. (I can read all of the content from a week on all of the worthwhile car websites in less time than it takes to watch an episode!) Also the Top Gear brand is a bit spoiled for me because Clarkson is such a pr!ck, even though he’s gone.
I’m just tired of comedians hosting car shows when it’s clear they’re not even car enthusiasts. So what do we know about Matt. Is he scrambling to learn to drive?
If I need a laugh I’ll watch their HBO standup routine. But if it has to be a comedian, it should’ve been Adam Carolla.
Matt is not scrambling to learn how to drive. He set the fastest lap in Top Gear’s most recent Reasonably Priced Car.
The dudes I want to hear ramble about cars, aren’t usually stars of the screen or stage or funniest in the room. OK I know little about Matt or his history with cars, if any. OK so he can drive.
I assume or hope at least 1% of the dialog is off the cuff and unscripted.
But *off topic*, Jason Bateman finished 1st in the Celebrity Toyota Grand Prix AND he was so fast that he beat all the pros (in Celicas at the time). You’d think he followed in the footsteps of Paul Newman, but his racing “career” went exactly nowhere. He just hit the right combination of coke and Coke in Long Beach that day.
Jason Bateman can be funny to very funny (Arrested Development), or just Meh (many poorly written, mass produced B comedy films).
Should be as successful as the US Top Gear
Get Leno and Seinfeld to do a show, wait…….. they can’t afford them.
I’m probably one of 10 people who find neither Jerry Seinfeld nor Louis CK funny – at all.
Count me in as one of the 10 also. Seinfeld was never funny, his castmates were, without them that show would have been cancelled after 3 episodes. Virtually everyone else on that show was funnier than he was.
I’m with you
DeadWeight – I’ve never liked Seinfeld
Who is Matt LeBlanc?
If he hosts Top Gear – and if I watch it – it will be the first time I’ve seen him except in stills of Friends (which I never watched).
So… I will probably never see this. DeadWeight is right – you can’t intentionally create magical chemistry.
Geesh I didn’t figure you were this out of touch at your age!
Why is everyone suggesting Leno? Leno has been terrible since 2000 or so.
Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
They could do a whole season just by using their cars.
I like Seinfeld. I know both he and Jay have fantastic car collections. That isn’t Top Gear though. It’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (at Jay Leno’s garage).
I was always a Letterman guy. I would also watch Conan or Craig Ferguson. I liked Leno’s stand up, but never his version of The Tonight Show.
I liked Leno and dislike Letterman, is it time for a jihad now?
Sacrilegious man!
Carson was the King (and I’m a Gen-Xer). There will never be another
Letterman put a wacky twist on Carson’s formula, but was funnier to me when I was in high school & college, and catered more to college radio station types.
Leno was a TCS (Total Carson Suck-up), and lacked creativity, a unique identity (worth noting) and showmanship.
And that’s like, my opinion, man!
Johnny, FTW!!! Couple rounds of “Carnac, The Magnificent,” and you’ll get it; if you still need convincing, have a look at this skit where Johnny gives a eulogy for a co-worker at Roget’s Thesaurus: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgnfe_johnny-carson-performs-a-eulogy_fun
Hilarious!!
Check out Jay Leno’s appearances on Letterman in the 1980s on Youtube. Absolutely brilliant. I agree that when he had to come up with new material for his own show every night, it didn’t work as well.
When Howard Stern interviewed Jerry Seinfeld a few years back, Stern said that Jay Leno was one of the best stand up comedians of the 80s. Jerry interrupted him and said “THE best”.
Did you like Conan when he was on Late Night with Conan O’Brien?
Because if not, I think US law says that we have to settle our dispute by dueling pistols at dawn. Your in luck though; I am a dead eye with an M4 or M249, but my wife is a much better shot than me with hand guns. Advantage you.
Hee get a cast iron skillet weighing no more than 27,000 grain, and your primary offensive weapon shall be a Leyland Big Eye Tuna hook!
You & he can choose a Howarth-Barrymore naked duel, instead, if you so choose (being that you’re both refined, educated gentleman).
http://www.cracked.com/article_19709_the-5-most-insane-duels-ever-fought.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=DKRpEdoVH84C&pg=PA122&dq=Humphrey+Howarth+and+the+Earl+of+Barrymore&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3XdKT5vUEeLv0gGJ3OmoDg
*p.s.- I liked Conan (especially in the year 2000 with Andy and some other stuff).
Conan was awesome on Late Night. I didn’t care for him on the Tonight Show, but I would agree he got shafted (I also think the network wouldn’t let Conan be “Conan” during the tonight show stint).
@DW
Carson retired when i was 11, I think he was a legend but he’s a bit before my time.
You’re 7 or 8 years younger than me, whippersnapper.
That’s right old man ;)
Interesting Top Gear V2.0 hosts: Chris Harris, Rebecca Jackson, Jodie Kidd. That would be a lot of fun to watch.
My guess is that this show is going to be a flaming trainwreck.
Chris Harris and Rebecca Jackson I can appreciate (although I struggle to think of Rebecca as a presenter and racing driver and not the girl I used to meet at salsa nights), but Jodie Kidd wouldn’t be my choice.
Hell yeah, Rebecca Jackson is awesome, I would definitely watch a show with her. That would be a great lineup you suggested. I had sworn to not watch the new Top Gear but then they said Harris might be on there so I was back in, but if he’s not then no.
Well, if it keeps a bunch of people employed, go get ’em. In the chronicles of strange is sitting on a ship in the Greek Isles reading Top Gear on my Ipad and realizing that James May is sitting a few feet away with his youngish wife and child. How does he autograph an Ipad? I guess Top Gear didn’t pay that well, although I think he had a better suite than I. I guess the private yachts are left to Jeremy.
He’s not married, does not have child.
Cliff – At Peak Top Gear (pay for hosts, not quality), Clarkson reportedly made 1 million pounds per season, while Hammond & May made a reported 600,000 pounds each per season.
Not exactly chump change.
The absolute BEST car show on Youtube is Jay Leno’s. SaabKyle is cool, but Leno has better production values.
I’m not interested in Top Gear America – or top Gear anymore at all. They had us send in demo videos and then completely ignore them?
I’ll just keep making my own crapppy videos and earning a measly $2000 a month or better with my poor production values and my unpredictable rants .
*sigh*.
I’m a SaabKyle fan but unless something changed its one guy and one camera visiting auctions and dealers around N.C. with an occasional full test drive.
Let’s check out the exterior, shall we?
And so, without further ado…
He does manage to pack a lot of information into his reviews, and lays it out straight — his goal is to provide you with a wealth of information, whether for knowledge’s sake, or to assist in a buying decision. He seems to take an “everyman” approach, which is good.
I think he’s only recently been provided press cars.
And as has been said, it sure seems like he’s doing well off that YouTube channel, and we all know what is said about having a hobby as your job….
That would be great – so few people get to make all the money they need off of something they were gonna do anyway. I know he’s been on Good Morning America as well.
Saabkyle04 is garbage. He has no passion and I don’t think he knows sh!t about cars, he is basically reading spec sheets or owner’s manuals back to people. You may pIss off a lot of people but your videos are way better than his crap.
Saabkyle04 is garbage. He has no passion and I don’t think he knows jack about cars, he is basically reading spec sheets or owner’s manuals back to people. You may tick off a lot of people but your videos are way better than his garbage.
He started out filming cars at private auctions which I thought was fairly innovative. He does lack a certain BTSR passion though.
He lacks any passion or anything that remotely makes me think he is a car guy. I am surprised he doesn’t include the psi of the tires with his reviews and the oil and other fluid levels. Alex Dykes is far superior and knowledgeable about cars just to name one person. BTSR is a car guy, a little passionate at times, but definitely a car guy.
There’s a certain charm to his liking of big land yachts. I think the most glowing drive I ever saw of his was in a Roadmaster. And he’s made a career of little videos on YouTube, which I also find admirable.
“unpredictable rants”
If find them rather predictable!
Matte Le Blank is the finish of the vinyl on the radio-delete cover.
Brilliant :-D
Doesn’t Hammond count as an honorary American?
Yes.He hates anything seafood/fish, loves hamburgers, puts cheese on everything, loves NASCAR, has a ’69 Mustang, likes country music, likes pickup trucks & muscle cars and has suspiciously white teeth (by Brit standards).
“Oh, like your teeth have just become white.”
“Yes, in the same way that yours have gone green!”
Chris Harris actually cancelled his Patreon, so at least he is committed.