Irvine, California:
The studio audience's parking lot for the taping of the American version of "Top Gear" was filled with the cars that guys who love cars love to own: Subaru WRXs with flat-black hoods, ancient Chevy Novas in primer, gymkhana-ready Mazda Miatas. There were also Mustangs, Corvettes, BMW M3s and at least one Ferrari -- about 150 cars in all. It was a solid turnout for a rainy Tuesday afternoon in October at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.
"I just want it to not suck," said Dave Coleman, 37, a Mazda engineer who took the day off to witness this third (or fourth) attempt to produce an American version of the British Broadcasting Corporation's wildly popular "Top Gear" television show.
And considering the cringe-worthy record of virtually every automotive television series produced in the United States, that's a real worry for anyone who was already emotionally invested in the British show.
The new American "Top Gear" makes its premiere Sunday night on the History cable channel.
Fans of the British original are waiting with the fingers of their Sparco driving gloves crossed.
"Top Gear" began as a workaday BBC road-test show in 1977, but since a 2002 relaunch it has become an increasingly anarchic mix of exotic-car hijinks, celebrity driving challenges, international adventure, wacky stunts and pointed car reviews.
"Top Gear" is the show that drove a Toyota pickup to the North Pole, turned a three-wheel Reliant Robin into a rocket-propelled replica of the Space Shuttle and adventured through deepest Alabama in cars covered with slogans promoting "man love," ridiculing Nascar and disparaging country music.
It is also the show that features the Stig, a "tamed racing driver" who always wears his helmet and fire suit, never talks and is blistering fast as he pilots exotic cars around the show's test track.
And it's the show that had Tom Cruise up on two wheels as he set the fastest time ever in a recurring segment called Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
The genius of the enterprise, however, lies in the byplay and interaction of the hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. They are smart, talented middle-age men obsessed with mutual ego destruction, adolescent antics and cars. And they pursue those obsessions so amusingly that, because of the BBC's worldwide distribution, a generous budget and hundreds of clips on YouTube, a large chunk of the world's population loves them.
"I liken it -- and this is a bit arrogant -- we are a band making albums," said Andy Wilman, the executive producer who, along with Mr. Clarkson, makes up the cerebellum of the show's global creative brain trust. "We've got a sound that people recognize. You know it's ours, but you don't know what the songs are going to be. Males are quite charming when they're stupid, focused and oblivious to the world."
But while the original "Top Gear" has become big business for BBC, exploiting the show's cult with a specific version for the United States hasn't been easy.
In 2005, episodes of the British series were edited down to accommodate commercials, and new studio segments were shot with Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Hammond and Mr. May to Americanize the show for broadcast on the Discovery Channel. The result was 18 repackaged shows that got indifferent ratings. That didn't discourage Discovery.
Also in 2005, Discovery and BBC produced a pilot episode of an American "Top Gear" with American hosts. One of them, Bruno Massel, recalled that it was shot at Willow Springs Raceway in California, that there was no studio audience, that it incorporated segments from the British version, that the original Stig came to America to drive and that the actor Jon Favreau was the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
"It was kept under wraps pretty tightly, and unfortunately it never came to fruition," Mr. Massel said in a telephone interview. "It's a shame, too, because I thought we had a pretty good show." Why Discovery didn't make "Top Gear" a series, no one seems to remember. About the only public glimpse of the pilot is a few fleeting clips spliced into a demo reel on Mr. Massel's Web site.
After three more years -- during which the British "Top Gear" gained an even larger American audience on the Internet and on BBC America, where it continues to be shown -- NBC became interested in an American-based version. So in 2008 BBC's American production arm, BBC Worldwide, set out a wide casting net for another pilot.
Dozens of notable auto journalists made the trek to BBC Worldwide's offices in North Hollywood to audition. Dan Neil, who was then with The Los Angeles Times (and is the only automotive critic to win a Pulitzer Prize), was an obvious choice as one of presenters. He wound up doing a camera test with the comedian Adam Carolla of Comedy Central's "The Man Show" and Tanner Foust, the drifting champion who is also a rally and stunt driver.
"Carolla and I had zero chemistry on camera," Mr. Neil recalled. "I blame myself. It was a disaster."
So when the NBC pilot was made in July 2008, the hosts were Mr. Carolla, Mr. Foust and Eric Stromer, who had appeared in several home improvement shows. The actor and singer David Hasselhoff came along as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car -- a Kia Rio.
Those of us who attended the taping of the NBC pilot saw a slick piece of professional show business: Mr. Carolla was funny, Mr. Hasselhoff was a riot, Mr. Foust was a good second banana and Mr. Stromer, well, he was some other banana. The audience consensus seemed to be that this "Top Gear" was bound to be a hit.
But NBC, coming off the failure of a "Knight Rider" remake -- another car-related show -- decided not to pick up "Top Gear" as a series.
"How stupid do you have to be to resurrect 'Knight Rider'?" Mr. Carolla said in an interview. "I don't care that 'Top Gear' didn't get picked up. I care that it was somehow associated with 'Knight Rider.' "
Creating versions of "Top Gear" in the rest of the world has not been easy, either. An Australian variation begun in 2008 has gone through several cast changes and switched networks as it entered its third season. A Russian version completed its first season in 2009, but no new episodes have been broadcast this year.
The History channel, however, was unfazed. "I picked up the phone and said, 'I know NBC is going to pass,' " recalled Nancy Dubuc, the cable channel's president. " 'Can you please come talk to me?' And we were able to arrange those meetings." History ordered 10 episodes without a pilot.
Mr. Carolla wasn't available, but Mr. Foust is back, joined by the comedian Adam Ferrara, fresh from "Rescue Me" on FX, and Rutledge Wood, who had been doing comic reports during Speed Channel's Nascar coverage.
"I wouldn't want 'Top Gear' U.S.A. to follow ours strictly," said Mr. Wilman, the executive producer. "I want them to follow our spirit and have our attitude. But beyond that, they must do what they need to do."
For the first 10 episodes, however, the American version is closely following the British blueprint. The American test track runs across the old runways of El Toro the same way that the original's track runs on the old runways of Dunsfold Aerodrome south of London. Both have studio sets built inside hangars.
The Stig -- a different one, still anonymous -- is the designated hot shoe on both. The same electrified cover of the Allman Brothers' rock instrumental classic "Jessica" is the series' theme song. And the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment over there has become Big Star, Small Car over here, with the Suzuki SX4 as the car.
"We unashamedly have taken some ideas from the U.K. show," said John Hesling, a "Top Gear" veteran who is British and is the producer of the American version. "But we have a foundation here and three hosts who are their own distinct characters."
If History orders more episodes, Mr. Hesling says, he expects the series to go off in its own direction. The budget for History's "Top Gear" isn't as lavish as what the BBC lavishes on the original, Mr. Helsing says, but it's generous for basic cable. (According to Jane Tranter, president of BBC Worldwide, her company supplements the budget beyond the licensing fee paid by History.)
Indeed, the photography is gorgeous, the segments are well edited and the show seems ready for prime time.
When you hire three stooges, however, you don't always get Larry, Moe and Curly. Sometimes you get three Shemps. Or two Shemps and a Joe Besser. Still, while Mr. Ferrara, Mr. Foust and Mr. Wood don't have the chemistry of Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Hammond and Mr. May, what they have doesn't seem like forced camaraderie. And even the British hosts needed time for their goony edge to gestate.
What the History show lacks is the original's sharp-edge wit and critical bite. The American trio may be too nice for their own good. With the British hosts, it seems that if any one of them were hit by a Ferrari, the surviving two wouldn't even bother scraping him off the windshield. And then they'd criticize the Ferrari for not handling well enough to avoid hitting him.
Ms. Dubuc, History president, says she will know if the show is a success "the day after it airs" when the ratings come in.
That's not what mattered to the studio audience stuffed into the hangar at El Toro. From the tops of their Hurley hooded sweatshirts to the bottom of their Piloti driving shoes, they wanted a "Top Gear" that reflected their passion and self-image as car guys. It is not yet as polished, provocative or hilarious as the British version. But when Mr. Foust races a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution down a ski slope against stunt skiers, the segment is not only novel, it is thrilling.
And any show that pits a sky diver against a Ford Raptor pickup in a race has a grip on its own lunacy.
The best indication that the studio audience saw something worthwhile was the fact that, despite no chairs, no pay, minimal irrigation and hard-to-find bathrooms, no one left until the six-hour taping was finished.
"I just want it to not suck," said Dave Coleman, 37, a Mazda engineer who took the day off to witness this third (or fourth) attempt to produce an American version of the British Broadcasting Corporation's wildly popular "Top Gear" television show.
And considering the cringe-worthy record of virtually every automotive television series produced in the United States, that's a real worry for anyone who was already emotionally invested in the British show.
The new American "Top Gear" makes its premiere Sunday night on the History cable channel.
Fans of the British original are waiting with the fingers of their Sparco driving gloves crossed.
"Top Gear" began as a workaday BBC road-test show in 1977, but since a 2002 relaunch it has become an increasingly anarchic mix of exotic-car hijinks, celebrity driving challenges, international adventure, wacky stunts and pointed car reviews.
"Top Gear" is the show that drove a Toyota pickup to the North Pole, turned a three-wheel Reliant Robin into a rocket-propelled replica of the Space Shuttle and adventured through deepest Alabama in cars covered with slogans promoting "man love," ridiculing Nascar and disparaging country music.
It is also the show that features the Stig, a "tamed racing driver" who always wears his helmet and fire suit, never talks and is blistering fast as he pilots exotic cars around the show's test track.
And it's the show that had Tom Cruise up on two wheels as he set the fastest time ever in a recurring segment called Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
The genius of the enterprise, however, lies in the byplay and interaction of the hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. They are smart, talented middle-age men obsessed with mutual ego destruction, adolescent antics and cars. And they pursue those obsessions so amusingly that, because of the BBC's worldwide distribution, a generous budget and hundreds of clips on YouTube, a large chunk of the world's population loves them.
"I liken it -- and this is a bit arrogant -- we are a band making albums," said Andy Wilman, the executive producer who, along with Mr. Clarkson, makes up the cerebellum of the show's global creative brain trust. "We've got a sound that people recognize. You know it's ours, but you don't know what the songs are going to be. Males are quite charming when they're stupid, focused and oblivious to the world."
But while the original "Top Gear" has become big business for BBC, exploiting the show's cult with a specific version for the United States hasn't been easy.
In 2005, episodes of the British series were edited down to accommodate commercials, and new studio segments were shot with Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Hammond and Mr. May to Americanize the show for broadcast on the Discovery Channel. The result was 18 repackaged shows that got indifferent ratings. That didn't discourage Discovery.
Also in 2005, Discovery and BBC produced a pilot episode of an American "Top Gear" with American hosts. One of them, Bruno Massel, recalled that it was shot at Willow Springs Raceway in California, that there was no studio audience, that it incorporated segments from the British version, that the original Stig came to America to drive and that the actor Jon Favreau was the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
"It was kept under wraps pretty tightly, and unfortunately it never came to fruition," Mr. Massel said in a telephone interview. "It's a shame, too, because I thought we had a pretty good show." Why Discovery didn't make "Top Gear" a series, no one seems to remember. About the only public glimpse of the pilot is a few fleeting clips spliced into a demo reel on Mr. Massel's Web site.
After three more years -- during which the British "Top Gear" gained an even larger American audience on the Internet and on BBC America, where it continues to be shown -- NBC became interested in an American-based version. So in 2008 BBC's American production arm, BBC Worldwide, set out a wide casting net for another pilot.
Dozens of notable auto journalists made the trek to BBC Worldwide's offices in North Hollywood to audition. Dan Neil, who was then with The Los Angeles Times (and is the only automotive critic to win a Pulitzer Prize), was an obvious choice as one of presenters. He wound up doing a camera test with the comedian Adam Carolla of Comedy Central's "The Man Show" and Tanner Foust, the drifting champion who is also a rally and stunt driver.
"Carolla and I had zero chemistry on camera," Mr. Neil recalled. "I blame myself. It was a disaster."
So when the NBC pilot was made in July 2008, the hosts were Mr. Carolla, Mr. Foust and Eric Stromer, who had appeared in several home improvement shows. The actor and singer David Hasselhoff came along as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car -- a Kia Rio.
Those of us who attended the taping of the NBC pilot saw a slick piece of professional show business: Mr. Carolla was funny, Mr. Hasselhoff was a riot, Mr. Foust was a good second banana and Mr. Stromer, well, he was some other banana. The audience consensus seemed to be that this "Top Gear" was bound to be a hit.
But NBC, coming off the failure of a "Knight Rider" remake -- another car-related show -- decided not to pick up "Top Gear" as a series.
"How stupid do you have to be to resurrect 'Knight Rider'?" Mr. Carolla said in an interview. "I don't care that 'Top Gear' didn't get picked up. I care that it was somehow associated with 'Knight Rider.' "
Creating versions of "Top Gear" in the rest of the world has not been easy, either. An Australian variation begun in 2008 has gone through several cast changes and switched networks as it entered its third season. A Russian version completed its first season in 2009, but no new episodes have been broadcast this year.
The History channel, however, was unfazed. "I picked up the phone and said, 'I know NBC is going to pass,' " recalled Nancy Dubuc, the cable channel's president. " 'Can you please come talk to me?' And we were able to arrange those meetings." History ordered 10 episodes without a pilot.
Mr. Carolla wasn't available, but Mr. Foust is back, joined by the comedian Adam Ferrara, fresh from "Rescue Me" on FX, and Rutledge Wood, who had been doing comic reports during Speed Channel's Nascar coverage.
"I wouldn't want 'Top Gear' U.S.A. to follow ours strictly," said Mr. Wilman, the executive producer. "I want them to follow our spirit and have our attitude. But beyond that, they must do what they need to do."
For the first 10 episodes, however, the American version is closely following the British blueprint. The American test track runs across the old runways of El Toro the same way that the original's track runs on the old runways of Dunsfold Aerodrome south of London. Both have studio sets built inside hangars.
The Stig -- a different one, still anonymous -- is the designated hot shoe on both. The same electrified cover of the Allman Brothers' rock instrumental classic "Jessica" is the series' theme song. And the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment over there has become Big Star, Small Car over here, with the Suzuki SX4 as the car.
"We unashamedly have taken some ideas from the U.K. show," said John Hesling, a "Top Gear" veteran who is British and is the producer of the American version. "But we have a foundation here and three hosts who are their own distinct characters."
If History orders more episodes, Mr. Hesling says, he expects the series to go off in its own direction. The budget for History's "Top Gear" isn't as lavish as what the BBC lavishes on the original, Mr. Helsing says, but it's generous for basic cable. (According to Jane Tranter, president of BBC Worldwide, her company supplements the budget beyond the licensing fee paid by History.)
Indeed, the photography is gorgeous, the segments are well edited and the show seems ready for prime time.
When you hire three stooges, however, you don't always get Larry, Moe and Curly. Sometimes you get three Shemps. Or two Shemps and a Joe Besser. Still, while Mr. Ferrara, Mr. Foust and Mr. Wood don't have the chemistry of Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Hammond and Mr. May, what they have doesn't seem like forced camaraderie. And even the British hosts needed time for their goony edge to gestate.
What the History show lacks is the original's sharp-edge wit and critical bite. The American trio may be too nice for their own good. With the British hosts, it seems that if any one of them were hit by a Ferrari, the surviving two wouldn't even bother scraping him off the windshield. And then they'd criticize the Ferrari for not handling well enough to avoid hitting him.
Ms. Dubuc, History president, says she will know if the show is a success "the day after it airs" when the ratings come in.
That's not what mattered to the studio audience stuffed into the hangar at El Toro. From the tops of their Hurley hooded sweatshirts to the bottom of their Piloti driving shoes, they wanted a "Top Gear" that reflected their passion and self-image as car guys. It is not yet as polished, provocative or hilarious as the British version. But when Mr. Foust races a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution down a ski slope against stunt skiers, the segment is not only novel, it is thrilling.
And any show that pits a sky diver against a Ford Raptor pickup in a race has a grip on its own lunacy.
The best indication that the studio audience saw something worthwhile was the fact that, despite no chairs, no pay, minimal irrigation and hard-to-find bathrooms, no one left until the six-hour taping was finished.
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