Why Don't we get "TOP GEAR" in the states?

[NY.AD.MAN]

For anyone here who loves cars and the art of automotive design, the ONLY show worth watching is Top Gear out of England (BBC).

For those of you who have never seen the show, James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond test out some of the most gorgeous cars on the road in Europe and actually throws in celebrity guests (who do a lap on their track in a "reasonably priced car") as well as follow through some crazy tasks in order to prove one car better than another or to just humiliate each other...

My point of this post is to see who else watches this show and whether or not you can purchase the DVD sets...

[Ever Victorious]

Discovery channel had it for about a half a season, but canned it in favor of other stuff.

I absolutely loved that show. It had a great mix of automania from autosports, tests and reviews, to these odd contests.

It was WAY better than some of the other crap they've had on lately like Ice Road Truckers.

[KimberKenobi]

you could do like me and buy region 2 dvds and then have a laptop dedicated as a region 2 player... or mess with getting a region 2 dvd player and then doing all the 'conversion plugging' necessary to make it work.

the Dvds are expensive, but you can order everything through amazon's uk website.

[NewToVersa]

Im glad in Canada we have it. no offense to USA members

[lain]

I love to watch Ninja Warrior on G4.

[monkeybear]

Are you familiar with remote hacks on regular dvd players.

During my HK movie faze I purchased many region 2 and 3 dvds and just played them in a cheap-o dvd player that I remote hacked. I just set it to region 0 and it played everything.

Often a DVD player manufacturer will make a single firmware for all of their dvd players, to save cost, and then just choose different options for different models and different countries. These options can usually be accessed though the remote control by pressing codes like "1 3 <eject> <Play> 3 1" or whatever. Depends on your player. You can often add functionality found in a companies more expensive models and you can almost always change it to region free so it will play anything.

Check your player here

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks And here is one for a $25 dvd player currently being sold at BB

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdha.../7696

and the player

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...12909

[rawill240sx]

See if your cable company offers BBC America....Top Gear comes on every Monday if I remember correctly.

[Urq]

Im glad in Canada we have it. no offense to USA members

Ohhh lets see Living in Canada and seeing Top Gear on TV.Or living in the US and not seeing Top Gear.

Sorry hands down I will remain in the US without Top Gear!! And trust me no offense taken.

[DJButton]

We don't get Top Gear in the US because it is a British show, same reason they don't have our American Idol (and because it's horrible) While it may be popular among a certain crowd I doubt it would catch on the way it has in the UK, here in the US.

[marleyfan]

Ohhh lets see Living in Canada and seeing Top Gear on TV.Or living in the US and not seeing Top Gear.

Sorry hands down I will remain in the US without Top Gear!! And trust me no offense taken.

Let's not turn this into a battle of the countries. I'm sure we're ALL happy where we are.

[Ever Victorious]

We don't get Top Gear in the US because it is a British show, same reason they don't have our American Idol (and because it's horrible) While it may be popular among a certain crowd I doubt it would catch on the way it has in the UK, here in the US.

Inaccurate analogy.

The Brits don't have "American Idol" because they have "British Idol". There is no such thing as "Top Gear USA".

And once people saw some of the stuff they do on there, I'm sure it would catch on. If for nothing more than to be shown on either Speed or Spike (Like in their Horsepower TV block). Alas, it is not to be.

[dopey]

I've been a big fan of Top Gear for many many years, even back when the format was completely different. I remember the days when it was Quintin, Jeremy, Vicki, and Tiff hosting!

We get it here in Australia but we're a couple of series behind. Doesnt matter to me though because I download the latest episodes off torrents every week as soon as they come out.

Top Gear's off season is the saddest time of my year.

hahaha

[jfanaselle]

ACTUALLY..... to correct everyone - American Idol in the UK is called "Pop Idol" and was huge way before it ever came over to the United States. That's why Simon Cowell is one of the judges, because he produced the european version of the show.

As far as top gear is concerned, I'm very surprised it's not syndicated by any of the American networks. For being a british show, I'm intrigued at how they usually measure things in mph instead of kph - seems like they're trying to Americanize it to me.

There are plenty of car people who would watch it on a Saturday afternoon, and I'm sure Spike TV or Discovery Channel could run one less re-run of World's Craziest Police Chases or Dirty Jobs to make room for it.

I watch coutless clips from it on youtube though. God bless youtube.

[marleyfan]

For being a british show, I'm intrigued at how they usually measure things in mph instead of kph - seems like they're trying to Americanize it to me.

If I'm not mistaken, unlike the rest of the EU, the UK uses mph, not kph. So there is no Americanization.

[NY.AD.MAN]

To be perfectly honest, it's such a smart and funny show that it deserves to be on PRIMETIME television! Even if you don't like cars (which is travesty), the hosts are clever enough that you wouldn't even notice that you're watching an Aston Martin, Bugatti, Koeniggseg, Ascari, etc.

Look at our Alternatives...

Reality shows... bleh

EVEN IF IT IS A BRITISH SHOW, it really is better than MOST of what we got (sans Heroes and Lost)
Modified by NY.AD.MAN at 4:24 PM 12/14/2007

[DJButton]

Umm... I give up.

[andrew_aj1]

I've been watching this show for about two years now and I love it.

For those of us out there that dont have a region 2 DVD player there is another way to get the show. The legality of this is slightly in the grey, but you can find it on bittorrent sites like http://www.eztv.it.

http://www.eztv.it/index.php?main=show&id=10

If you have no idea how to use bittorrent or even what it is check out this link:

http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-use-bittorrent/

[Great White Versa]

The legality of this is slightly in the grey, but you can find it on bittorrent sites like

I agree. My opinion... I have no problem downloading media that i otherwise would not have access to. AKA, if it were available on my TV I would either watch or TiVo it, but its not.

Anyway, my two cents

[xtwoonamatchx]

ive seen it online a lot, its pretty funny actually, but also really like the show. also... NYADMAN... not to change the topic, but you need to get on halo and actually accept some game invites (me = xelementsk8r05) =p

but back on topic, i wish we got it here =\

[KimberKenobi]

Monkeybear... I love you... I'm going to Best Buy this weekend... Thanks!!

[paullyz]

BBC America plays it here in Akron Ohio...

[WDRacing]

You can DL all of their dvd's...done and done.

[justmerging]

i watch it every monday night on BBC America.

[gotak]

Just do the internet thing. Everyone anywhere can get it with the internet.

And they did consider doing a North American Top Gear with the actual British hosts but Jeremy Clarkson said he wouldn't want to spend 4 months away from home each year filming. So they canned that idea.

I'd like to see them do a NA once since all those cars they show we can't get. Or they get all these toys in it that we don't.

[Andrews Chalmers]

I think having the Top Gear hosts reviewing NA automobiles will also piss off a lot of NA... the automotive culture they bring is probably too different from the usual NA expectations.

[NOreasonY]

you can see alot of episodes on youtube....