Today’s Comment of the Day goes to one of Jalopnik’s most loyal and vocal followers who, today, called for a return of Tiff Needell to BBC’s Top Gear and drew some interesting parallels between the success and failures of the British series compared to the Korean series.
So today, I award the forever interesting stephenmcknight, who is always early and earnest to start great conversations, and also the only user to be single-handedly keeping Jalopnik’s ill-fated Drivetribe page alive all these months later.
Thanks, stephenmcknight. I, too, have mixed feelings about the upcoming season of Top Gear. Just losing Chris Evans doesn’t necessarily equate to a show with all of its wrinkles ironed out just yet. Introducing Tiff Needell, a driver who can challenge Sabine Schmitz and Chris Harris on track, and talk the socks off of Rory Reid and Matt LeBlanc, into the Top Gear mix would be a smart move.
And you’re right, the European and American audiences have less of a patience for the celebrity aspect of the show. In Korea, the talk show segment of that Top Gear series is likely more popular on a cultural standard, whereas the Star In A Whatever Car segment of UK Top Gear has always felt sluggish, often uninteresting, and is typically seen as the filler.
But it’s very unlikely that Tiff will ever be on Top Gear again in a regular capacity, and I doubt Fifth Gear is ever going to come back from the dead. Unless Netflix gets jealous of The Grand Tour’s success. Just an idea.
Congrats, stephenmcknight, and seriously friend, I don’t think anybody checks Jalopnik’s Drivetribe anymore. I’m sorry to have abandoned it, but we still have Kinja.