Here's Why Top Gear's Problems Don't Mean It'll Suck

We've all seen that Chris Evans' new TG has had a rocky start, but that's exactly what happened when Clarkson and co. took over many years ago. Here's why there's hope for new Top Gear yet
Here's Why Top Gear's Problems Don't Mean It'll Suck

You’ve almost got to feel sorry for Chris Evans. The man is under immense pressure after taking over presenting Top Gear from Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, and by the sounds of it, it’s all going terribly at the moment. To cut a long story short, Evans already crashed a car, some high ranking staff have left, other staff don’t know about cars, and the overly-paranoid BBC won’t leave him alone to make the show.

This news was, predictably, met with quite a bit of joy from the old TG faithful, who believe nothing could ever live up to what the three wise men - well, two wise men and Jeremy - offered up. But it’s not really fair, nor is it justifiable, to slate the new car show before it’s begun. It’s having teething problems, but let’s wait until we’ve seen an episode before we pass judgement.

Here's Why Top Gear's Problems Don't Mean It'll Suck

Making a television show is a long and complicated process, and there are a lot of factors that must align for a show to be great. The team working on Top Gear is almost entirely new, and like in any other walk of life, when you throw a group of people together, there will be personality clashes. There will also be disagreements about which direction is best for the show to succeed. The restructuring that appears to be taking place right now is likely just a natural evolution of personnel.

It’s important to remember that all of this mirrors what happened when Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman started putting together a revamped Top Gear all those years ago. Anyone who’s read former script editor Richard Porter’s book will know that that show had its fair share of problems. In the end, the pilot episode was an absolutely huge failure, and the first episodes only just fell together. And even they suffered personnel issues, with presenters not working out just one of the myriad problems faced by the crew.

Here's Why Top Gear's Problems Don't Mean It'll Suck

So if Clarkson’s efforts also started out by looking like a failure, there’s no reason to think that Evans and friends won’t be able to turn their effort around as well. And let’s be honest, if the rumours are true that Chris Harris will be getting on board then we know that it has a great chance of doing exactly that.

Chris Evans has said in the past that he doesn’t want to try to copy what the old show did, and instead he’s going to make it all about cars again. Harris would be the perfect man to help him do that, by bringing a fun personality with geeky knowledge and insane talent behind the wheel to the show.

And then there are the rumours about Sabine Schmitz and David Coulthard, who might not quite have Harris’ bubbly personality, but also bring incredible knowledge and talent to the offering.

It’ll be fascinating to see what they all come up with. The first series will likely be a bit of a mashup of styles as they all find their feet, but don’t write them off just yet. It won’t be Top Gear as we know it, but that’s what the Amazon Prime thing is for. It might actually be quite nice to have Top Gear focusing on the cars again…

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Comments

Anonymous

They need to ditch the “Top Gear” name, that is going to be the biggest killer on this show. People will expect it to be in the same mould if it has the same name, and that will damage the new show, no matter how good it may or may not be.

01/07/2016 - 01:42 |
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Brandon Herrera

I like Sabine.

01/07/2016 - 02:05 |
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Drew 8

No clarkson, no viewers. Nobody watched top gear for actual advise.

01/07/2016 - 05:21 |
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Tuna

Not watching it… Never… As long as they call it Top Gear. That show doesnt deserve to be called Top Gear

01/07/2016 - 05:58 |
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Anonymous

I’m gonna watch this as a entirely different show. Then just maybe it can be enjoyable

01/07/2016 - 11:52 |
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peterjameso

Saw a report elsewhere that Evans is struggling to talk and drive.. if he can’t get that nailed, there won’t be much of a show

01/07/2016 - 13:08 |
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Rikimaru89

Very well written and very true as well, it could be the best one yet (shock horror), but my problem is the fact Chris Evans is one of the hosts. . . no thanks. He absolutely infuriates me and it would appear already that he is the weak link in this with most of the problems stemming from him. We’ll see how it goes but i don’t think i’ll be watching as long as he’s a part of it, as much as i do love Chris Harris and Sabine.

01/07/2016 - 17:05 |
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Anonymous

Do us all a favor BBC, for the legendary trio and TopGear fans alike: just change the name of the show! You can call it whatever you want but TopGear is Clarkson, Hammond and May. They are forever cemented in history as such.
Call it something else and I’m sure it’ll be a good show, but it will never be TopGear again unless the original trio is back!

01/07/2016 - 22:17 |
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Anonymous

For me, Chris Harris is the best car reviewer in the world. Plus he could double up as the stig as well.

01/08/2016 - 18:57 |
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Anonymous

This article started so badly ‘You’ve almost got to feel sorry for Chris Evans.’ Eerrr no, he’s one of richest men on TV and has been given his dream job oh and I’m supposed to feel sorry cause the idiots in charge of the BBC are meddling what did he expect to happen.

01/09/2016 - 13:00 |
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