The British hit television series Top Gear crossed the pond to the U.S.'s History Channel in November of last year, and has since been renewed for a second season. The show, which features its three hosts reviewing a multitude of cars using all sorts of extreme tests, just hit DVD for the first time on Tuesday, July 19, with Top Gear: The Complete First Season.
The set contains all ten episodes of the show's first season. Well, I say ten episodes. There are really only nine episodes, while episode 10 is really just a useless recap episode of the season.
Now, the show itself is pretty cool. It seems to go for extremes simply because it can -- and admirable trait for a car show. In one episode, for instance, host Tanner Foust teaches a blind man how to drift race -- successfully. In another episode, the hosts race a Dodge Viper through a small town -- while being chased by a Cobra helicopter. It's all over-the-top fun, making it a surprisingly enjoyable watch.
Of course, all the while, the show features the three hosts, Adam Ferrara, Tanner Faust, and Rutledge Wood, trading jokes and insults. While the three of them actually have some pretty good insights about cars and how to drive them, for the most part their humor feels vapid, scripted, and forced. If they'd left out the contrived competitiveness between the three of them, I'd have very little to complain about with the show.
The show occasionally features celebrity guest drivers. LOST stars Dominic Monaghan and Michelle Rodriguez feature into two of the show's episode, while astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Modern Family's Ty Burrell, and Tony Hawk appear in others. Out of all of them, Monaghan's appearance is my favorite, simply for his enthusiastic description of what he thinks cars should be able to do.
The set's special features are a mixed bag; the webisodes are little bite-sized pieces filmed by the hosts that show off some of their actual (non-scripted) humor, and they're pretty funny. For instance, in one webisode, Rutledge tries to put sardines in the air conditioner of Tanner's trailer -- with backfiring results. On the other hand, the Poolside Chat between the three hosts is just half an hour of arguing that isn't really all that entertaining.
All in all, the American Top Gear is a pretty good show, and this set will undoubtedly appeal to car fans. It's already hit DVD from BBC Video, and you can order it on Amazon.
