Top Gear and the Ariel Atom

With the Fall TV season now well underway, you may have noticed (via the trusty "TV I TiVo" section on the sidebar) that not a single new network series has hooked me. However, what has is Discovery Channel's addictive BBC Two import Top Gear, which I've been watching diligently since its low-key U.S. debut a few weeks ago. (It airs Wednesdays at 9pm & midnight CST on Discovery, though they haven't even bothered to give it a proper webpage yet.)

Basically, what Iron Chef is to food shows and Globe Trekker is to travel shows (and Anthony Bourdain is to food-travel shows)... Top Gear is to car shows. The long-running British show (which has spawned an eponymous website and magazine), will convert even casual viewers into hard-core automotive geeks with its infectiously gleeful enthusiasm about its subject matter, peppered with sharp wit and abundant personality. And it's all wrapped up in an impressively well-produced package - particularly the field segments, which are beautifully shot and cut, and given a cinematic sheen with Bruckheimer-esque color correction (largely, I surmise, to compensate for the dreary English weather). Host Jeremy Clarkson (who can "reduce car manufacturers to a flood of tears with nothing more than a long pause and a few well considered words") comes across vaguely like Stephen Fry's more manly older brother, and is well complemented by Richard Hammond as the cheeky young sidekick. These are blokes you want to hang out with at the pub.

You can sample streaming video clips of the show online here and here, but my favorite is probably the Ariel Atom segment (9 min. / 41MB mpeg), which aired in last week's episode. What is the Ariel Atom, you ask? Oh, you pitiable bastard. Behold...