Top Gear Is Now An Actual Car Show, Which Has Me Worried
I was a day late watching the most recent episode of Top Gear, but I was expecting big things. When it was actually airing on Sunday night, my Twitter was ablaze with people waxing lyrical about this third episode of Top Gear’s 25th series. Even so, when I finally stuck it on catch-up, the Japan-set ep went beyond my high expectations.
There was a used JDM challenge involving a Mazda RX-7. Incredible driving from Chris Harris matched with stunning visuals in a Honda Civic Type R vs Lexus LC500 showdown. There were Bosozoku cars. They even went to Ebisu to drift, for Pete’s sake. I couldn’t believe I was watching all this on a prime time, Sunday night programme on one of the UK’s biggest TV channels.
The chemistry between Harris and Matt LeBlanc felt more natural than ever, and Rory Reid seemed in his element exploring the madder side of Tokyo’s modified car scene. The iffy one-off season with Chris Evans was a very distant memory.
In the Jeremy Clarkson era, the presenter used to joke on the odd occasions when “we’ve actually made a car show for once.” Now it’s an actual car show every damn episode. For years, Top Gear felt like an entertainment show first and a car programme second - that’s part of what made it so popular.
Now, it’s far less mainstream, and all the better for it. But, this approach will inevitably mean that Top Gear is unlikely to ever achieve the kind of ratings success it did when fronted by Clarkson, Hammond and May.
Indeed, the 2.4 million viewers pulled in by the first episode represented the weakest series debut ever for the show since its original 2002 revamp. Episode three meanwhile managed just over two million viewers, representing a 9.2 per cent share. To put that in context, over on BBC Two, Call The Midwife regularly claims over a 30 per cent audience share with over seven million viewers.
Even with its more modest viewership, Top Gear is going nowhere. After all, the brand is a behemoth that goes well beyond just the UK show. But we have to cross our fingers that the BBC perseveres with the current format. It’s not a commercial broadcaster, but the organisation still needs to attract eyeballs to justify its public funding.
The temptation could be to dumb things down and make TG into a more mainstream entertainment show, but we have to hope that doesn’t happen. Top Gear is arguably better and more petrolhead-friendly than it ever has been - long may it (hopefully) continue…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I was annoyed by the blatest destruction of the GT-T and the RX7. I also crapped myself when it was strung up by Helicopter. That never ends well with Top Gear.
same I agree
Yep that’d be my only criticism of the episode - it was painful to watch, and didn’t really add anything
I had a horrible feeling in my gut that just before the film ended, the straps would “break”, and the RX-7 would plummet to the ground. They thankfully avoided that horribly cheap (/expensive) joke, but yeah, I didn’t get the need for the helicopter either. Still a great episode, though; no guest for once xD!
These two destroy 2 common jdm cars and your annoyed yet jezza and the other clowns have ruined and destroy a countless number of cars yet nothing? The car community is a joke i swear to god.
Ok but at least it was used and driven hard rather than being a garage queen that never sees the light.
Put simply, a car is a car and they are meant to be driven. The damage was purely cosmetic and a good bodyshop should be able to fix it.
Things just keep getting better and better!
It was a fantastic episode! JDM, vintage Porsches, proper car stuff…
I prefer it to the more entertainment focused grand tour
Why all the downvotes?
New TG is good, but the classic episodes with Clarkson talking sh*t just has all that…. flavor.
It was genuinely really enjoyable! I frequently had some uncontrollable smiles and laughs makes it awesome.
Rory blowing the engine had me dying lol
hot version intensifies
Yeah lol, they went to Gunsai, Ebisu Minami, Ebisu Higashi, Hakone, Tokyo
Chris Harris is such a big fan of those shows. He basically did the closest thing to the best motoring battles with the type r and lc500. And he even mentioned best motoring in the show.
I’m loving this version now!
They really tried to change up things from the clarkson era and it worked!
By far the best episode in recent memory, and genuinely up there with some of my all-time favourites. Cinematography was on point, the bit in Fukushima was really interesting and sad at the same time; it just had everything! More episodes about the weirder niches of car culture please!
Really enjoying the new series. Its great to see people who can use the vehicles properly. But, why does someone in production think they need to destroy cars all the time? The joined up drifting was unnecessary bullshit!
I don’t know why TG is not airing on AXN. Because it’s the only channel which airs the show in India
Hehehehehehe