Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are currently gearing up (if you will) to air their brand new car-related series on Amazon. The darned thing still doesn’t have a title, but Clarkson recently revealed that fans are not going to be seeing Top Gear 2.0 when the three men return to the small screen. The show is going to be very different from Top Gear, in fact, and there’s a good reason for that. Clarkson says that most of the segments fans loved from the BBC series are actually proprietary to the BBC.
All of the previous ingredients – the Stig, the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and the Cool Wall – belonged to the BBC, so we'd have to start from scratch... We have, though. It's going to be all new. New name. New segments. New ideas. Everything is different.
Unfortunately or fortunately, this means that if you were a fan of the “Reasonably Priced Car” or other popular segments, you’ll probably still be able to see them, just without Jeremy Clarkson at the helm. Over the summer, the BBC announced that Top Gear will be returning to the network, with a new host at the helm. The show will soon boast radio and TV personality Chris Evans as its new host. Doubtless, he’ll bring some of his own flavor to the long-running show, but he can also have all of Clarkson and co’s old segments, if he wants them.
Meanwhile, over at Amazon, Clarkson, May and Hammond reportedly have a lot of money to help them to create a brand new show for streaming audiences. Still, despite all of the new segments and changes, Clarkson told The Sunday Times that the first day of shooting was very familiar for the host. They were shooting with a Ferrari, a Porsche and a Land Rover, and all seemed back to normal with the crew:
On one side of me was James May in a Ferrari the Ferrari. On the other was Richard Hammond in a Porsche 918 Spyder. And in front, hanging from the back of a Land Rover Discovery, was the big, bushy beard of Ben the cameraman. The band was back together and I was very excited.
So, while segments and names are changing and the guys have had to be a little inventive with their Amazon formatting, the basics of the trio’s interactions and the joy they are able to have while spending time with some sweet vehicles will essentially remain the same. Since I’m pretty sure that’s why people tuned in to watch Clarkson, Hammond and May on Top Gear, that’s certainly a good thing.
We’ll let you know as soon as the new Amazon show gets an official release date. In the meantime, you can see what has yet to premiere this fall with our fall TV premiere schedule.
