As Andrew911tt mentioned, a few of us had a chat with Andy Wilman as the studio was clearing out and I was lucky enough to be able to ask several spontaneous questions.
I'm British, and have been watching Top Gear since the William Woollard and Chris Goffey days. I emigrated out to San Diego three and a half years ago so I had a good few years of the new (superb) format before leaving the UK and have kept up with the show since. This gave me quite a unique perspective (although I know there was at least one other ex-pat there). I attended (as did many) as a nervous skeptic, but left happy and looking forward to more.
Before talking with Andy, I spoke with Eric Stromer for a bit while Adam was signing gtrietsc's Top Gear Magazine. I know people here have been panning him, but I could tell he was respectful of the position he was in, and was therefore nervous. I told him I had enjoyed it more than I was expecting, and he thanked me for my words of encouragement. His pre-recorded films were much funnier and relaxed, and I'm sure once the pressure to perform and gel is gone, he'd settle right in. Remember, whilst Tanner Foust has some strikingly Hamster-like characteristics, the task is not to hire an American James. If anything, Eric will likely to appeal more to the average US based car guy/girl. Remember, NBC aren't trying to make a show for us. If you think about it, Neither Adam nor Tanner NEED TopGear to work, but for the potential global audience awaiting Eric if TG USA makes it, it's a huge opportunity for him. Cut him some slack.
Okay, so once I got back to the car, and was finally reuinted with my phone, I made some notes so hopefully I wouldn't forget much of what was said and what I can recall is below. Some of these answers you will have already have read elsewhere on this board as I didn't field all of these questions myself, but in the interests of completeness, I'm putting down all I can remember:
On the subject of the UK show, I asked why there had only been six episodes in the current run, he answered that there would be eight in the October run, and that he only wants to make fourteen per year from now on as he doesn't want it to get tired, and for them to run out of ideas. He said he didn't feel this was the best series of all. He admitted they'd not got TopGear Stuntman right, but that he'd re-emerge at some point.
I asked if he was happy with how it had gone. He said he was and seemed genuinely enthused. I asked if this pilot was purely for focus groups or if it would ever see the light of day. He responded that that morning, he was expecting the former, but now it was all done, he'd happily put it to air, albeit likely not episode one of a series.
The US version would be running at 43 minutes, obviously completing an hour slot with commercials. We were all there for several hours so a lot would be cut down, but you could feel where that might come from. Andy did say he felt a couple of the film pieces would be cut down too.
The Star In A Reasonably Priced Car lap board was marked with Adam Corolla's own time. I asked why we'd never seen Jeremy, Richard or James on the UK list, and I think Andy said they couldn't be bothered (said in a funny way, not dismissive). I suspect that meant they didn't really see the need, plus, I'm not sure what it would really do for the mechanics of the show if Captain Slow, say, actually turned out to be the fastest!
There was no introduction to the track used, but, if this were to air as a later episode, that could be addressed. Andy said that whilst the track (designed by Tanner) was a great circuit, it didn't work so well on TV. We mentioned that the drama of the follow-through wasn't there etc and that it felt more like you'd be looking where to go next rather than committing yourself 110%. He was thinking of changing the track and getting David Hasselhoff back to do a lap on the new one, and was sure DH would gladly do so. It didn't appear that Andy had been present at the filming of the SIARPC.
With so many people driving automatics in the US, I was pleased to hear the Kia Rio used was a manual.
He said he would think about getting Jeremy on the US show at some point, but would want to 'let Adam piss on his patch first'!
He said he thought Adam Corolla was funnier than Jeremy, all the while knowing we would blog or post what he was saying, I'm sure this was half for fun. Although, AC WAS naturally very funny indeed, and if this gets to air and succeeds, it will have been aided in no small way by Adam's contribution. Andy acknowledged that Adam was his first choice.
He was looking for a January '09 air date, but I could tell this was a million miles from set in stone.
I really got the impression NBC are taking a backseat and letting AW and BBC Worldwide do their thing.
I would like to add that, Andy came across as a great guy, who not only cares what we or people like us think (as you all know, Final Gear was mentioned several times), but that above all else, he really cares about the TopGear 'brand'. So, with that in mind, I declare TopGear USA in safe hands.
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Originally Posted by MadeBackwards 
