Episodes towards the end of the old incarnation of Top Gear (the last two seasons and the final one in particular) felt like they were mere rehashes of old jokes. They were still pretty good, but nowhere near as fresh as they used to be – say five years ago.
The formula, I think, was growing a bit stale and the writing often predictable, two traits that in the past we would not have associated with Top Gear. That’s why I personally wasn’t all that sad to see the show end, especially after hearing the news that the presenting trio would stick together and look for a new carrier and a new show.
And they found it in the form of Amazon Prime, an unlikely candidate but one that undoubtedly wants to make itself better known in the world of video. The show will debut next year, and since the old Top Gear producer Andy Willman is on board too, we can expect a similar formula from the new series.
But what would you like to see from this new show? Do you see the trio as automotive journalists or just entertainers who know a lot about cars and also making you laugh? If you think they’re automotive journos, then perhaps you’d like a more serious show that actually focuses on cars.
If you see them purely as entertainers, then perhaps what they were doing on Top Gear was their vision of an auto show but with a BBC-enforced muzzle. Now that they’re given free reign to make the show the way they initially intended, we can expect more explosions, shallow and sometimes racist jokes and personal opinion proliferated as car review conclusions.
Where do you stand on this matter?