zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry And Jethro Bovingdon Will Give Top Gear America Another Shot
Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry And Jethro Bovingdon Will Give Top Gear America Another Shot-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:50

Image for article titled Dax Shepard, Rob Corddry And Jethro Bovingdon Will Give Top Gear America Another Shot

I don’t think I’m being unfair when I say the American versions of Top Gear have had a rough history. Top Gear USA made it through four seasons with some okay episodes, but it never landed as well as the British original. And , starring the banker who gets shot at the beginning of The Dark Knight? I don’t know who asked for that. I also don’t know if anyone asked questions when it got axed.

But America is such a vast and special place that we must try again with our Top Gear, and so, here we are with a new show and a new cast. Even if it can’t capture the magic of the original, can it find a wider audience this time?

(or “presenters,” if you insist on being all British about it) are actor, gearhead and Andrew Collins’ stunt double Dax Shepard, comedian and Daily Show veteran Rob Corddry, and British motoring journalist Jethro Bovingdon. This time, the show will launch exclusively on MotorTrend’s streaming app thing. I don’t know anyone who actually has that, but I once produced a TV show on Univision’s obscure deep-ass cable network for woke millennials, so who am I to talk?

At the very least—or at least in written statement form—these guys seem to have a semblance of an understanding of what made the Clarkson, Hammond and May era of Top Gear worth watching in the first place: the interplay between the hosts. Here’s :

“If we’re ever given a script, I promise the viewers that I’m going to light it on fire and throw it away,” Corddry said. “So you can count on me for that, at least. I really think that the strength of this show is going to be an honest interplay between the three of us.”

Corddry, like Shepard and Bovingdon, is both a lifelong car enthusiast and big Top Gear fan.

“I feel like that’s the one prerequisite the host should have,” Shepard said. “Cars are my full-time hobby. It’s the only reason I act: to acquire money to buy s—t that you put gas in.”

Good words, for sure! But Top Gear worked because it was three journalists, people whose jobs it were to know, inform, and criticize, and who were given time to develop a relationship with one another. I hope these guys have truly natural chemistry with one another and aren’t just thrown into a supercar and ordered to Make Good TV, which seems to be the reason why the last two iterations failed. And at the same time, aren’t concerned with losing any sort of relationship with a company they may be talking about.

Corddry admits he’s “not a walking automotive encyclopedia” the way the two other guys are, but in a way that makes him a stand-in for a big chunk of the audience. At its best Top Gear wasn’t just for the nerds—, and when done right it made people care about the world of speed. If he does it right, he can be a part of bridging those two worlds.

The third biggest loser in this sad saga of Top Gear is the wider car media, and the business that…

Shepard, however, is a true enthusiast as well as an actor. He’s a friend of the site . He knows his shit. So does Bovingdon. He’s an excellent automotive journalist and video host.

At the same time, I’ll share my misgivings about this Top Gear trio being three more white dudes yet again. Modern car culture in America is, slowly but surely, becoming more diverse and inclusive as it moves past empty Boomer-Corvette-Route 66 nostalgia bullshit. It has to be that way if it’s going to meet the technological changes yet to come—to say nothing of the world’s shifting attitudes about cars.

This could’ve been a chance to get some women or some more people of color on the world’s most famous motoring program, to show what the new faces of car culture look like. That’s the show I want to watch, if someone ever has the brains and the guts to make it. And I sincerely hope this version of Top Gear can manage to be a Top Gear for everybody.

Alternative idea: put on the show. Just her, and only her. I want that Top Gear America, please.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
Rolls-Royce CEO Says People Dying From COVID-19 Helped The Carmaker Increase Sales
Rolls-Royce CEO Says People Dying From COVID-19 Helped The Carmaker Increase Sales
Rolls-Royce sold than in any previous year in its 117-year history. Its unexpectedly had little to do with sales of its SUV, the , or with the company’s announcement that it by 2030. According to the carmaker’s CEO, Torsten Müller-Otvös, its record-breaking sales year is partly due to people...
Aug 11, 2026
Blip: Four Things, On Blue
Blip: Four Things, On Blue
I’m not entirely certain why, but this image of a roll-down vent window, a pedal, an Auto-Pilot control (what Mopar called its early cruise controls!) and some wipers all seem to add up to more than the sum of its contents, compositionally. Maybe it’s the unified bluescale color scheme,...
Aug 11, 2026
I'm Starting To Find What's Wrong With My 1996 Pontiac Firebird
I'm Starting To Find What's Wrong With My 1996 Pontiac Firebird
Before anyone asks, I have not yet started learning to drive stick in my 1996 Pontiac Firebird like I originally intended. But now that my husband is here in Texas, he’s been driving me around in it to let me get a sense of how the car should feel...
Aug 11, 2026
Yes, Your Lifted Pickup Truck Still Needs Winter Tires
Yes, Your Lifted Pickup Truck Still Needs Winter Tires
Pickup trucks in the U.S. are marketed as all-capable, all-terrain, unstoppable forces of adventure. Lifting a pickup is supposed to give even more ground clearance, so that no boulder or mud bog can disrupt your journey. Surely, then, a lifted pickup can handle a bit of snow on a mild...
Aug 11, 2026
The C4 Corvette Had Reverse Lamp And Seat Belt Features Found Nowhere Else
The C4 Corvette Had Reverse Lamp And Seat Belt Features Found Nowhere Else
I realize that among the various Corvette generations, the C4 ‘Vettes (1984-1996) aren’t really considered the most popular, but this assessment doesn’t take into account the very powerful and influential niche of gearheads who are really into reverse lamp innovations and novel seat belt systems. For this group, the...
Aug 11, 2026
Porsche Just Spent 100 Million Euros To Ditch Volkswagen's Flagship EV Tech
Porsche Just Spent 100 Million Euros To Ditch Volkswagen's Flagship EV Tech
Volkswagen’s van people are getting a big check from their friends at Porsche, Tesla is investing in U.S. nickel mining, and the once mighty have fallen in South Korea. All that and more in this Tuesday edition of for January 11, 2022. Volkswagen Group — which encompasses the likes...
Aug 11, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved