| Tuesday, October 19, 2010 |
06:22 - Cut these guys some slack
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/2010/review-top-gear-usa-live-studio-taping/
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The Smoking Tire has an upbeat report from behind the scenes at Top Gear USA:
Being part of a studio audience is nothing like seeing a show fully edited together and complete. It seems to take forever, especially on the first day of shooting, before the crew is comfortable with the flow of moving props and people and cameras around. The set is quite a bit smaller than the British show, but several cars were on display inside, including a Dodge Viper ACR in a great white/black/red color combination, a Chevy Camaro SS, a Porsche Panamera Turbo, and the same Aston Martin V12 Vantage that I had the pleasure of piloting a few weeks back. These cars were there to start off the “power lap” board with a few preliminary times, which I won’t give away here. The “Celebrity Lap Times” board is being re-used from the defunct NBC pilot, and because the track at El Toro is the same for the new show as it was for the pilot, Adam Carolla and David Hasslehof’s times are still on there. We’ll ignore the fact that the Hoff’s time is completely made up because he was wasted on shoot day and couldn’t actually complete a lap in the car while drunk. True story. Despite its smaller size, the overall feel is the same as the British show, and yours truly, recognized by a bunch of the crew members, scored a sweet-ass viewpoint from the top of the bridge, a raised structure behind the main stage and facing out into the cameras.
His descriptions make it sound like it might work after all. Certainly the production values are a big part of what set Top Gear apart from other (more boring and pointless) car shows, but really it's the comedy (both scripted and unintentional) deriving from the character interplay of the hosts that makes people keep coming back. I really doubt anyone seriously says "Oh geez, I have to watch Top Gear this week, I heard they're going to do a review of the Lotus Evora and I have to find out what it's like!" They know what it's like from a million other sources, and they know at a macro level whether it's a good car that will garner effusive praise or a bad car that will get mocked relentlessly or a mix of excellent and disappointing. What makes an Evora review on Top Gear different and worth watching is the delivery that Clarkson gives, the dramatic spin they put on it, the unexpected character-driven comic twist that pits it against a Cayman or a Z4 M and gets someone soaked by driving through the sprinklers with the windows down.
The article has this to say about the ensemble:
Don’t start asking “Who’s James, Who’s Richard, and Who’s Jeremy” because this dynamic of hosts doesn’t really work that way. They haven’t set out to replicate individual characters from the British show, which was tried on the NBC pilot and would never work out. Instead, they have created a new ensemble with a new dynamic that works well when put into its own context. Rutledge is the friendly, funny southerner who’s always loved cars and racing, and self-deprecates frequently about his poor fashion sense and taste. Fortunately, in this episode at least, NASCAR has been left out of the equation entirely. Adam is endlessly witty, the high-strung New Yorker (accent included), and has way more confidence than he should with his ability to drive. And Tanner is the softer spoken, wheel-man pretty boy with the laid back California attitude.
Very well then. The one clip I've seen so far didn't fill me with confidence that this crew has a lot of chemistry or is that fun to listen to (they don't have much of the British wordsmithing talent that gives the original its bite and snap), but they could just need time to build up to it and establish the interplay they need.
When it comes to dream casts for Top Gear USA, I've had a few ideas, incidentally. You don't just want three "car guys". You don't want to just fill a show up with the most competent drivers you can find, because they won't necessarily be entertaining. What you want is people who are fun to listen to, who can turn a phrase and can deliver a jibe as easily as a list of statistics. You don't want huge in-demand stars, because they'll cost a fortune and won't be very available; so no Jay Leno, no Tom Cruise, no Ken Block. You know who fits the bill and who always could use the work? Voice actors.
I've always thought it was a shame that Adam Carolla wasn't to be, since he'd have been perfect. But failing that, here's who I'd slate:
Alton Brown, Patrick Warburton, and William Shatner.
Beat that, Wood/Foust/Ferrara! The gauntlet is thrown!
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Brian Tiemann
