A couple years ago, I accidentally started watching a show called Top Gear. It was inevitable since they routinely have mini marathons on BBC America, so you really can't avoid it if you ever watch that channel or flip across it. I am definitely not a car person, but somehow this motoring show drew me in, and I became hooked. What made this show so compelling was the odd but unmistakable chemistry between the three presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.
At first I thought I liked the show because of the crazy challenges that inevitably ended up in disaster like building a motorhome that was meant to be livable, sailing across the English Channel in an "amphibious" car, or traveling through the Amazon (no pun intended) in cheap 4x4s that were barely functioning at the beginning of the journey. If watching a recorded version of the show, I would skip over many of the boring car bits, including the news section of the show. But as I watched more, I realized it wasn't the challenges that I loved but how they perfectly showcased the relationship and differences of the three presenters.
It's hard to describe or explain, but these three work incredibly well together on camera. They do have running gags. Richard is a short secret American that is at home with all things rural. James is a pedantic old man that drives slowly, always gets lost, and wears shirts that are probably making my eyes deteriorate. Jeremy is the loud lazy orangutan that only cares about speed and power. But what makes them interesting is more than the gags. There have been other versions of Top Gear and other motoring shows with similar formats, challenges, and presenters that get along and don't get along at the same time, but they are not nearly as entertaining to watch. These three make you feel like you're there with them, that you're in on some joke together.
I have since re-watched many of the episodes, this time not skipping the car bits and making sure I catch the news, which has become my favorite segment, since it involves all three of them together. I'm still not a car person, but I have picked up some things along the way. For example, I instantly recognize and then cringe every time a Porsche Panamera drives by on the street. No idea why people spend so much money on such an ugly car, especially when they're in a city where traffic won't let you go over 30 mph.
When I learned of their deal with Amazon this morning, I was thrilled. In all of the talk about if they would go online or to another British network, I just wanted something accessible in the US. It will be interesting to see how they work with being online. On the one hand, they probably have more freedom to do what they want, but on the other, it was funny watching them make fun of and appear to circumvent network censorship.
Clarkson, Hammond, and May's new show is scheduled to be released in 2016, so make sure you have Amazon Prime by then. In the meantime, you can check out some of their previous shenanigans on Top Gear. For newbies, I'd recommend starting with the motorhome episode if you want to see the standard format, but any of their specials where they go abroad or to the North Pole are good, too.
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