I’m not a great fan of automobiles. So, when I watched Top Gear it was because I really enjoyed the three guys messing about, and it just happened to be with cars. It was pure genius. Each of the guys, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond had an individuality and also collective identity that was unique and made Top Gear Top Gear.
Yes, they had big expensive cars to talk about, but mainly it was all about having fun. Fun with a certain amount of man-cave humility.
Cut to Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc and their relaunched Top Gear.
Oh dear.
It’s that awful TFI Friday but on a Sunday.
Top Gear does not suit Chris Evans. However, it suits Matt LeBlanc.
Evans was busy making it all about himself, shouting at the audience and doing pointless silly ‘competitions’ and quizzes, much as he does every show he’s ever been on, and most of the bits in front of the audience could just as easily have been bits on TFI Friday. Especially when he has all the waiters from his local Indian restaurant sitting on a car for no obvious reason. Even they looked embarrassed!
Ok, it’s only episode one. But if episode two is as bad then the radical and sensible thing to do would be to make Matt the lead presenter, with Evans taking a more backseat secondary role. Mind you, he probably wouldn’t do that, he’d just sulk!
I’ll give it a few weeks to settle down, but things are not looking Top Gear.
England's England 
We haven’t seen the “Grand Tour” yet. Will it still be worthwhile now that it will be just a series of road trips in exotic locations, with no Stig, test track or studio audience?
Will people watch it and go “Meh, this is getting boring now”?
What we need is a NEW show!
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