Falling ratings of Top Gear have prompted the BBC to rethink how much screen time the various hosts get, as an unsourced article from The Telegraph reports. The result should be less Chris Evans and more Rory Reid and Chris Harris. I suppose it’d be more charitable to just say people want more Harris and Reid, but something about Chris Evans makes this headline more appealing.
The live audience for last week’s show was 2.37 million viewers, respectable but still down about 500,000 from the week before. People did like the Rory and Harris-focused online spinoff show Extra Gear, and that positive response seems to be what’s motivating the BBC to give the lesser-known presenters a greater role on the main televised show.
This was confirmed by Rory Reid, who twittelated a response about how they’ll be on the main show from here on out:
Overall, this flexibility and willingness to make some changes is likely good news for Top Gear, even if it means Chris Evans may fire off some petulant tweets. I think as long as everyone is prepared for them (remain indoors, stockpile snacks) we’ll all get through this.
Together.