Beyond the Rhetoric

 

Top Gear is no more

March 15th, 2007 by Michael Kwan
topgear.jpg

BBC car enthusiast show Top Gear could be coming off the air permanently…. Say it ain’t so. Say it ain’t so.

Easily one of the greatest automotive television shows to ever grace the airwaves could be shutting down for good. No more Richard Hammond ripping around the test track. No more Jeremy Clarkson giving us quirky British sayings. No more Stig destroying speed records with hot new supercars. This is a sad day in television and an even sadder day in the world of motorsports.


According to Leftlane News, Top Gear will not be returning for another season this fall. The BBC did say that the popular show would come back for a summer special, but even the chances of that seem slim. Jeremy Clarkson ended the last season by saying, “We don’t know when we’ll be back” and told the U.K.’s Sun newspaper this past weekend that the show would not come back. The BBC, by contrast, is saying a new season is still on the way.

The problem is that Clarkson, Hammond, James May, the rest of the Top Gear crew want to keep the focus on the cars and what they can do. They want to continue comparing supercars. They want to continue giving us some actually useful information about everyday commuter vehicles. The BBC, on the other hand, wants to toss in more celebrities and shift the focus away from cars. They might as well call it America’s Next Top Model.

In this way, as sad as it may be, BBC’s Top Gear might be back in the fall, but it will be without the presenters we know and love, and the show will be distinctly different than its current incarnation.

Filed under Arts and Entertainment, Automobiles.

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  • 19 Responses to “Top Gear is no more”

    1. Ed Lau says:

      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

      *loud Japanese ceremonial yelling*

      *seppuku*

    2. Jon Lee says:

      That is very sad news, I love top gear!!

    3. Ed Lau says:

      It’s ALL A LIE! I’m going to punch you in the face this weekend, Michael.

      http://www.ededition.com/top-gear-will-be-back-no-need-to-kill-self/

    4. [...] I saw on my RSS feed that Michael posted something about Top Gearnever coming back, I was ready to commit seppuku. I’m not even kidding. I dread the six to eight months a year [...]

    5. ian says:

      Top Gear is without a doubt one of the best shows on tv, no other motoring show even comes close to it. That would really suck if they cancel it.

    6. [...] Top Gear is easily one of the most popular automotive enthusiast shows on the planet and it’s all because of that stupid Jeremy Clarkson that I’m probably going to get kicked in the chest by Ed Lau a la Frank Miller’s 300. [...]

    7. [...] Whore Runner Up Michael Kwan screwed up and predicted the demise of the car nut show TOP GEAR.  Ed Lau responds and will be giving Michael a punch to the head at Dot Com Dim Sum / Pho or [...]

    8. [...] is, of course, the response to Michael incorrectly reporting that my favorite TV show, BBC’s Top Gear would not be back. The news drove me nuts but after some digging, I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to commit [...]

    9. [...] you recall, some time back I reported that Top Gear would not be back for another season, and you could hear the waves of fans on the internet break [...]

    10. [...] Ed Lau stayed to his word, and kicked Michael Kwan´s chest for blogging about the end of Top Gear. Top Gear of course is not going anywhere, and Michael definitely deserved that mid [...]

    11. [...] Ed Lau stayed to his word, and kicked Michael Kwan´s chest for blogging about the end of Top Gear. Top Gear of course is not going anywhere, and Michael definitely deserved that mid [...]

    12. [...] Ed Lau stayed to his word, and kicked Michael Kwan´s chest for blogging about the end of Top Gear. Top Gear of course is not going anywhere, and Michael definitely deserved that mid [...]

    13. [...] Michael Kwan: He is the man responsible for a close seppuku call for me when he announced that Top Gear was no more. I got my revenge two weeks later though after he corrected himself and Michael is still, as we [...]