NBC trying to screw up Top Gear
Posted on January 22, 2008
Filed Under News, Television
Remember The Office? This was a UK television show about daily life in an office, cubicles.. desks.. meetings.. more meetings.. it’s like a live action Dilbert but it’s not about engineers, it’s about all types of office workers. The show was a huge hit in the UK and NBC bought the rights to it here in the States.
Everyone just knew they’d screw it up, but they didn’t. The casting of the American version of The Office is spot on, and in many ways the show is superior to the original.
Well, NBC has its eyes on another hit from overseas, Top Gear. If you’re even slightly into cars you really need to watch this show. You can see it on BBCAmerica Monday nights and occasionally repeated over the weekends. The humor.. the insane things they do, the general attitude of it’s host… all are perfect. This is some mighty fine television.
And there’s no chance NBC can make a successful version here in the US, no chance at all. Why? One word.. lawyers.
Many of the things that make Top Gear so interesting just won’t be able to be done here out of fear of lawsuits. Letting the hosts of the show drive around a racetrack in excess of 175 mph without safety gear while they comment on the car? Just not gonna happen. Making non-road worthy cars and driving them on public roads? In traffic? Nope, not gonna happen. How about letting a host drive a Porsche into a concrete wall at 35 mph to see how the car handles is? Nah, don’t think so.. at least not unless he’s covered head to toe in protective gear.
No, the flavor of the show will have to change if it’s made in America, and it’s gonna be bland compared to the original. Maybe it’ll have some funny parts, and maybe it will be somewhat interesting to watch, but I suspect more annoyance than entertainment.
Here’s a telling quote from Craig Plestis, the man in charge of reality TV at NBC, “This is a favorite of all automobile companies as it shows their cars in such a great light.” Obviously Craig hasn’t watched much Top Gear as they routinely trash cars from every manufacturer. I’m not talking about a light ribbing either, if they don’t like a car they’ll be very vocal about everything they see wrong with it.. and call it some nice names in the process. For that matter, they usually have some pretty negative things to say about the cars they like as no car is perfect. But when they hate a car, they really go off on it.. and it’s fantastic TV when they do. They aren’t beyond purchasing a new car then destroying it just to show how much they hate it. Does that sounds like they’d be “favorites of all automobile companies”?
Comments
Leave a Reply