Top Gear US special
Posted by Andy Wilman at 10:45AM on Friday 09 February, 2007 33 Comments
TG TV's Executive Producer Andy Wilman gives us an exclusive insight into this Sunday's Top Gear US special:
This week's American programme is a bit of an accident. We never meant it to take up a whole show, and we never meant it to have the character that it does.
Our plan was to make a 20-30 minute knockabout journey full of tomfoolery, but as is the way when you get in the edit, the film kind of told us what it wanted to be. Don't worry, it's not padded or sloppy, it just played out at the length it did.
It's also different to our other hour-long special, the Winter Olympics. Whereas that was Johnny English meets Ski Sunday, the American programme is more like Sideways meets Thelma and Louise. What I mean is it's also a buddy movie, and you really see more of the friendship between the three of them.
There are still loads of incidents and lots of laughs, and the boys do get up to mischief along the way - we got out of Alabama in one piece by the skin of our teeth - but, as I suppose it would be in a road movie, the pace is slightly gentler, just to allow that Thelma and Louise feel to seep through.
There are just little moments such as Jeremy driving at sunset and saying how happy he is to be with the other two, or indeed the way they genuinely fall in love, as the journey unfolds, with the shit heaps that they bought in Miami.
I think, and I hope, the difference for the viewer will be that instead of being happy to be entertained by the boys, this time you'll want to just chuck in your job and be with them.
I also suspect our younger viewers might pine for a few more explosions and a bit more slapstick, and again I hope I'm wrong there - if you're eight, wait until you see the Stig's cousin and what Jeremy brings home for dinner. But I'm guessing ultimately this film will strike more of a chord with adults - it's that Sideways thing: friendship, mixed with irresponsibility, the best cocktail in the world.
Personally, the American film is one of my favourites because it's such a charmer, but I'm 44, so we'll see. Whatever happens, I will as usual be logging onto our mates at Final Gear on Monday for a masochistic kicking.
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"... there are just little moments such as Jeremy driving at sunset and saying how happy he is to be with the other two, or indeed the way they genuinely fall in love..."
Oh, mate. That was the BEST WORDING EVER. Way to encourage the internet slash community, seriously.
*is dying of laughter here*That sounds like a brilliant episode, I can't wait. The friendship between them and their enthusiasm for cars is what sells the programme to me, and this one sounds like a load of fun.
The friendship between the three presenters is one of the main things that makes the show so enjoyable; without that it really would be just another motoring show. I love the cheap-car challenges, and honestly can't think of a better thing to watch on a Sunday evening - or indeed any evening - than James, Jeremy and Richard bickering their way across America!
Please bring Top Gear back to US television. The online videos are great, but we need the whole show!
It's great to hear that the executive producer of the world's greatest television programme can sit down and listen to its fans. This is what makes Top Gear so special. It remains true to its roots and understands what its viewer wants, and goes above and beyond to get spectacular results.
I'm really looking forward to this - not least because I have a friend with a 5.0 Camaro (old 3rd gen jobbie).
Gotta love the ol' yank tanks :)
'... friendship, mixed with irresponsibility, the best cocktail in the world'.
Great sentiments. I'm cringing already at the ribbing the US is going to deservedly get.
On another note, don't ever make a US version, the US broadcasters and FCC would ruin it. I'll keep watching via other means.
This has to be one of THE most hotly anticipated TG specials. We've all loved and laughed at the Winter Olympics, and I feel from what you have described Andy this will also now find its special place in our hearts. After the past few months that the guys have had since that thing that we're not mentioning any more happened, what better testament for the lurve that they all feel for each other (in a man friend way) than such an episode! Cannot wait for it! Cheers Andy :)
Looking forward to this special. I hope they stop taunting James, they way they do. I am also expecting to see some Americans being mocked. Lard, manure, 600 pounds, do you want CHEESE on that and so on.
Rock on TG!
'... this time you'll want to just chuck in your job and be with them'. Personally I feel like that every Sunday, around about 9pm!
It's too bad you couldn't hang out in a roadside bar and share a few watered-down American beers - good ol' boys can be great mates once you get to know them. Camping in a random field with a dead cow stinking several feet away doesn't get you friendly with the locals, though.
And by the way - to some diehard Southerners, the Dukes of Hazzard wasn't just a TV show, it was a calling.This episode sounds as if it's going to be an absolutely wonderful one, and I honestly cannot wait for it. Who knew that 'car programme' and 'beautiful three-way platonic love story' were such a winning combination?
As an American, I have missed Top Gear dearly since its departure from our televisions last year. There were talks of new version being started up here in America, but frankly the things I heard about it were frightening.
The hosts sounded terrible (the mere mention of a former 'reality' star cemented that), there was no Stig (how could there be?), and all they were talking about testing was American muscle.
Look, I'm very proud of some of the cars this country has produced, but let's face it, there's a big, wide world out there full of all sorts of interesting vehicles. Basically, our proposed American Top Gear sounded like recycled arse (as you would say).
Top Gear seems to get better and better with each passing week, which seems impossible as it's clearly the best programme on the television.
Mate you just found a new definition for "happyness" - loads of people try to define it... somehow we always experience it magically while watching Top Gear... that buzz... and now you've managed to pin-point as closely as I've ever heard what that buzz is all about!
I'm watching Top Gear as I write this, and I cannot stress enough how brilliant the programme has become.
Funniest episode ever! It was so good of you guys to give your cars away to people who need them. Probably won't stop the greenies whinging about the cow though...
OH MY GOSH! How much did those hill-billies overreact! If that is all they have to worry about they should be ashamed. Even you guys were shocked at the state of New Orleans one year on. Laffed my ass off though. Thanks guys for a wonderful programme.
Wow!! Have just watched this episode and I just felt I had to make a comment, it was absolutely brilliant. These three had me in tears of laughter and so wishing that I'd been there. Just to mention a couple of true highlights... the cow... the accelerating and braking... the sabotage of the aircon in James' car... there were just so many fantastic parts.
A truly wonderful programme, thank you.
Can't believe they got out of Alabama alive...
Brilliant!!! I fell off my sofa when the cow pitched up! I have never laughed at a TV programme as much as I did this evening. It was very clever and I am sure poor old Clarkson will now have to defend himself against the idiots who just don't understand it. Well done, keep it up!
Just watched it. Wow. That could well be one of those films that in years to come is shown as an epitome of broadcasting. Funny, engaging, informative, frightening, feel-good - and all at the right mix.
You're right, Andy. I know nothing about cars but if I could I would chuck in my job just to go driving with those three.
Well I've just watched it a few minutes ago, and I must say it does have a feeling of 'togetherness' from the trio as you said. Unusual for something involving Clarkson.
But I can tell you, it's a sure-fire way of dissuading me from ever going to the ol' US of A.
As it happens we drove from New Orleans to Orlando back in 2004, along much the same route, and met lots of nice friendly non-fat non-psychopaths along the way. Would have been nice to see just a *little* bit of balance in there, but then after the nightmares that were apparently endured, I suppose I can see why they didn't really feel like doing that!
Jeremy Clarkson having a shower in his car, a cow on the roof and James squashing the roadkill even further. Priceless.
As an American, I really do have to say, the film was hilarious. Top Gear does it again. I am embarassed, however, for the state of my country. Hopefully it will improve.
Good show, some great moments, but driving about in the deep south with those words on your cars is gonna cause strife. A bit stupid really and you can't be surprised at the reaction.
This was undoubtedly the most excruciatingly awful rubbish you lot have yet perpetrated. An already puerile descent into lager-lout territory has degenerated further to the point where you now evidently consider insulting an entire nation (fat, murderers etc, etc) to be fair game. I'd have been tempted to stone you if I'd been there, just for bringing the English into yet more disrepute. It's one thing being iconoclasts, which is how I imagine you see yourselves, it's quite another being w*****s.
I have to say that the 'Hick world' in the movies always seems to be overstated. I am obviously wrong, they really are just waiting for an alien abduction.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't at least a hint of balance. We aren't all backwards here in the US.
I do applaud you though for giving away the cars in the end. Katrina devastated that area, and there is a plethora of problems trying to fix that area now. Insurance costs, rebuilding costs, lack of labour, etc...The best programme in the history of Top Gear. Just watched it for the third time and I haven't seen my two kids laugh so much when the cow appeared on CLARKSON'S roof. Pure brilliance, keep it up.