Top Gear is once again searching for a new host, as main presenter Chris Evans has quit after just six epiosdes.
The BBC program focusing on cars both new and old had long been criticized for its sameness; from 2002 through 2015, the show remained largely unchanged.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May would start each week from the studio, do a driving test of a new supercar or two, talk about recent updates in the motoring world, have a celebrity guest do a lap time in standard economy car, and then perhaps mix in a challenge of some kind featuring all three hosts competing against each other. The chemistry of the three main presenters is what made the program, for better and worse.
So when the pieces fell apart in 2015, after Clarkson was involved in an ugly scuffle with a producer, resulting in Clarkson’s dismissal and the resignation of May and Hammond, some questioned whether the show would continue. But the BBC was eager to keep the brand going; the show had been a big revenue earner (pulling in an estimated $225.8 million for BBC Worldwide) and had an estimated weekly audience of 350 million people.
The BBC decided to push forward with the program, but with new hosts. They tapped BBC Radio host Chris Evans and former Friends star Matt LeBlanc to helm the new version. A bold move, considering most people believed the prior version’s success stemmed not from the world’s desire to watch a BBC program about cars and car-related challenges, but from the world’s desire to watch the previous hosts do a program about cars and car-related challenges. The first episode debuted in May, and the six-episode first season just concluded.
It did not go well:
Stepping down from Top Gear. Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough. The team are beyond brilliant, I wish them all the best.
— Chris Evans (@achrisevans) July 4, 2016
The ratings started out okay, with the hyped premiere pulling in 4.4 million viewers. But things plummeted from there, bottoming out for the season finale:
The presenter was bullish before the programme first aired, in May, setting a target of five million viewers as a benchmark for success. But the first episode received a critical mauling, and viewing figures quickly slipped away.
After several weeks of scheduling clashes with Euro 2016 football matches – which tore into Top Gear’s young, male audience base – the sixth and final episode, on Sunday night, was seen by just 1.9 million viewers, half the number who watched a repeat of Antiques Roadshow on BBC One.
Ouch.
As noted by the Telegraph, Evans was also accused of sexual assault, which he has denied. Those claims haven’t resulted in charges as of yet, and Evans will be keeping his his BBC radio show. That’s certainly important enough to mention, but British tabloid coverage of such things is not the most reliable sourcing, and it’s not entirely relevant to this change for the program.
LeBlanc is reportedly in contract talks with the BBC, and they expect to start filming the next season this September. Of course, if you’re a Top Gear fan who misses the original three hosts, and you don’t have much hope for the BBC to come through with a watchable version, there’s good news. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and former Top Gear producer Andy Wilman are working on their own show for Amazon Prime:
Newspapers. As there is very little going on at the moment, I thought you'd like to see our new Grand Tour logo. pic.twitter.com/xeePd1xsKM
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) June 28, 2016
