Anybody watch 'Top Gear' on BBC America?

This is about as non-Disney as you can get, but I'm wondering if anybody else watches this show?

It's a British import that has been on the air off and on since 1977, with the current incarnation coming on early this decade.

If you don't know what it is, it is a car show unlike any other. The three hosts, who are entirely different personalities, drive everything from clunkers they got in a junk yard to $800,000 limited edition high performance vehicles, and they are put in some hilarious situations and scenarios.

It has rapidly become one of my top five favorite television shows, and not because it is about cars. Usually I find car shows to not be very entertaining. This IS entertaining, enough that even my wife likes to watch it.

MouseTraveler wrote:

This is about as non-Disney as you can get, but I'm wondering if anybody else watches this show?

It's a British import that has been on the air off and on since 1977, with the current incarnation coming on early this decade.

If you don't know what it is, it is a car show unlike any other. The three hosts, who are entirely different personalities, drive everything from clunkers they got in a junk yard to $800,000 limited edition high performance vehicles, and they are put in some hilarious situations and scenarios.

It has rapidly become one of my top five favorite television shows, and not because it is about cars. Usually I find car shows to not be very entertaining. This IS entertaining, enough that even my wife likes to watch it.

I watch it off and on. My favorite episode was one where they had like $500 to buy a clunker and then "race" it across the USA, playing pranks on each other along the way. Fun stuff.

That episode you talked about where they had to buy a used car in Miami and take it to New Orleans is a classic. Especially when they got to 'decorate' each others cars for the drive through some serious red neck areas of the south.

They had an American muscle car episode a few weeks ago too, where they started in California, drove through Vegas and on to the Bonneville Salt Flats to test the top speed of their cars. Normally, the cars are loaned to them for testing, but Dodge wouldn't give them a Charger because they said "we normally aren't very positive about their vehicles", so they went out and spent 50 grand and BOUGHT one.

On the last US show, they announced that the State Department was giving them grief because their Visas were only good for filming documentaries, and not entertainment shows. Therefore, they were NOT going to be entertaining during the entire show. Needless to say, that joke led the rest of the show as they kept entertaining by NOT entertaining.

I watched that on discovery, what channel is it on now?

Brad wrote:

You may very well have added BBCA to our "check list" when we've got the TV on (which isn't very often honestly.)

We probably watch as much BBCA as any American network. I've become a Dr. Who fan, and they have some other science fiction and dramas we like.

They've come a long way from when we first got them about three or four years ago. Back then they pretty much relied on reruns of The Avengers, The Saint and some other classics. All good stuff, tho.

It's a bit weird getting to their short seasons though. Rather than the traditional 22-26 episodes we do on networks here, they do the 10-13 episodes per season. Looks like some of the cable networks here (like USA and Burn Notice) are following that trend.

WooHoo! I've done my part for the boys!! I should be getting that commission check from the BBC soon! (Be my luck it'll be in pounds and I'll have NO idea what to do with it!!)

We love BBCA. One of my husband's favorite shows is Top Gear and I just can't get enough of Little Britain. I think we also watch just as much if not more BBC shows than American ones.

shelleyg74 wrote:

We love BBCA. One of my husband's favorite shows is Top Gear and I just can't get enough of Little Britain. I think we also watch just as much if not more BBC shows than American ones.

Does this mean we're all in violation of potential "Buy American" legislation?

dsoup wrote:

shelleyg74 wrote:

We love BBCA. One of my husband's favorite shows is Top Gear and I just can't get enough of Little Britain. I think we also watch just as much if not more BBC shows than American ones.

Does this mean we're all in violation of potential "Buy American" legislation?

Most likely. I'm a Top Gear fan and have always been the weird guy who watched all the british shows. Interesting how many of our "American favorites" are actually just Americanized imports from the BBC.