As I scoured Google Images for a picture to accompany my Lego reality show post, pictures of James May's mop-topped mug kept popping up in my browser. What possibly could the Top Gear presenter have in common with the classic kids' toy that has caused a million foot fatalities? If you've ever stepped on one barefoot, especially the one peg bricks, you know how close to death it actually feels.
It turns out he lived in a whole house made out of them for our amusement. The Lego house was one of many projects for James May's Toy Stories, a series of projects designed to show kids that the classic toys of yesteryear can be just as cool as their newfangled video games and iPods.
This particular story does have an unhappy ending. The producers tried to sell the house to the Lego company for one of their theme parks, but the cost of transporting the house was too much. So they had to tear it down.
TopGear-related stories
What does James May and three million Legos have in common?
Top Gear's James May takes his new special to the Moon
You wouldn't think a guy nicknamed Captain Slow by his co-hosts on Top Gear would have a deep-seeded fascination with journeying to the Moon.But super car presenter James May (right) has held a childhood dream to experience how it feels to fly to the edge of space in the upcoming BBC America special, James May on the Moon.
According to a Beeb press release, the special follows May as he connects with the astronauts who ventured into space, as well as the engineers and mechanics who built the vehicles that took them there.
And, in keeping with that Top Gear spirit, May takes a virtual test drive in those vintage space vehicles -- recreating the tests and journeys of the original space pioneers.
Continue reading Top Gear's James May takes his new special to the Moon
Top Gear's Richard Hammond insists those rednecks were the real McCoys
Every Top Gear fan remembers the little excursion that Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond took through the southeastern corridor and the very warm reception they received in rural Alabama. For those of you who haven't seen that episode or still can't grasp the concept of sarcasm, you can watch the whole thing here. The long and the short of it is the challenge ended at a backwoods gas station where a group of nearby hillbillies attacked their cars and the crew's vans with rocks, sticks and just about anything their beer stained hands could grab without the need of an opposable thumb.
Hammond wrote in his new memoir Or Is That Just Me? that fans constantly ask him if those rednecks were the genuine article or "just made up for the telly." Hammond not only insisted in an excerpt from the book printed in The Times that they were real people, but they also gave him one of the biggest scares of his life.
Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson: 1950-1988
Some tragic news has been discovered in the winding and weaving tunnels of the YouTube archives: Jeremy Clarkson died in 1988. A British TV program (or is that programme?) about TV called TV Offal (pronounced "awful") broke the sad news that the Top Gear car curmudgeon and TV presenter passed away while filming one of his infamous car reviews. The show reported that Clarkson died in a car accident due to driver inattention. Just think, if the accident had happened now, his blimp-like ego could have acted as an impromptu airbag and saved his life.
The show's faux-obituary paid a not-so-loving tribute to the car show star by remembering his extremely mixed metaphors, teenage testosterone fueled attitude and inability to let the 1970's go. TV Squad would like to offer our deepest condolences to his family members who existed more than 20 years ago.
Is it wrong that I don't hate ABC's Crash Course?
ABC's newest stunt game show Crash Course looks exactly like the kind of show that bloggers and critics watch just so they could put their "Suck Extinguishers" to good use. And yet 45 minutes of TV viewing later, I'm not even feeling the need to break the protective glass. On the surface, it appears to be just another reality/game show with typical contestants having their ids scared for life for cash and/or prizes and most of it is just that.
And even though it met those stereotypical expectations, I still didn't hate it. Part of me actually kind of (gulp) enjoyed it. Did I just swallow my brains along with my pride?
Continue reading Is it wrong that I don't hate ABC's Crash Course?
Vampire Diaries' cross promotion could inspire more TV charities
Cross promotions are not a new concept to TV heads, but this one cooked up by the folks behind the CW's Vampire Diaries deserves a Peabody Award. As Brad mentioned earlier today, The Vampire Diaries is being cross-promoted with the American Red Cross in which the show is hosting its own blood drive.
What a great idea and a great cause! Just think of the other charitable promotions this will inspire other shows to tackle.
Continue reading Vampire Diaries' cross promotion could inspire more TV charities
Top Gear's Hammond wrecks his super car in U.K. accident
Richard Hammond, the diminutive co-host of BBC's Top Gear bottomed out this weekend when he banged up his retro super car in a traffic accident somewhere along the wrong-side roads of the U.K.Hammond was driving his Morgan AeroMax -- a concept super car built to look like a 40's roadster. Except it packs a BMW V8 and tops out at 170 mph. That's a picture of one over there. It sells for north of $120,000 in the U.S.
Hammond -- who co-hosts the hit car show with Jeremy Clarkson and James May -- had a run in with a Nissan on a roundabout and suffered damage in the thousands of pennyfarthings range -- or whatever backward play money they use over there.
Continue reading Top Gear's Hammond wrecks his super car in U.K. accident
New season of Top Gear parking at BBC America
The new season of Top Gear, the wonderfully politically incorrect car fest from the U.K., is set to premiere on BBC America Monday, August 17, 8:00 PM, ET/PT.Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May return to upset the delicate sensibilities of every bloodless turnip who ever surrendered to the dull wheel of a Prius with their endless passion for the world's most beautiful four-wheeled consumers of fossil fuels.
Long-time fans of the irreverent auto show will note that this is the final season for the Suzuki Aerio as the test vehicle in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment. A collection of TV actors, athletes and government officials take the Aerio's rickety wheel in its final laps.
Continue reading New season of Top Gear parking at BBC America
TV Squad Ten: Shows that deserve to have their own video game
There is nothing inherently wrong with turning a TV series into a video game spinoff. It can fill in the gaps between seasons to quell the viewers' hunger, let audiences explore characters from new perspectives and even give the more hardcore couch potatoes some much needed exercise even if they only burned 1/100ths of a calorie solely through their thumbs. The problem is video game developers pick TV shows that should never even become a travel sized board game. Developers have given the greenlight to games based on shows like American Idol, Desperate Housewives and even ... Grey's Anatomy?!? I hope that last one was a first-person shooter.
There are far better shows that offer far more entertaining elements for a kick-ass video game. These are the shows that should be next in line for a pixelated re-treatment.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: Shows that deserve to have their own video game
BBC cutbacks are imminent, but not where you might think
It's easy to forget in these troubling times that America isn't the only country that's feeling the tight, constricting pinch from the claw of the economic lobster. This is a GLOBAL economic meltdown. Everyone is feeling that pinch and looking forward to the day when they can grab that lobster by the antennae, throw it in a boiling pot of water, rip off the tail, sprinkle it with butter, pepper and herbs and serve it in a roll with a side of waffle fries. Damn I'm so broke and hungry.
The British Broadcasting Corporation, however, has an interesting way of dealing with their economic problems. Instead of trimming at the bottom, they are aiming their gardening shears squarely towards the top.
Continue reading BBC cutbacks are imminent, but not where you might think
Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson in trouble for opening his big mouth again ... WHY?!?
It seems that just about anything Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson says will get him into trouble. That's not hard to do when your mouth has more horsepower than your brain. Then again, that's what makes Clarkson so enduring and funny as a television presenter. Anyone can stop filtering themselves. It takes a special kind of talent to completely shut down any logical capacity you have for careful thought and charge ahead with the speed and recklessness of a teenager on crystal meth. Then again, crystal meth would explain Britain's dentistry problem.
The BBC host called British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a most dubious name during a speech in Australia. That's our Clarkson.
Continue reading Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson in trouble for opening his big mouth again ... WHY?!?
Some say he has seven clones of himself and that all of them are taller than Richard Hammond...
Television is a mysterious world full of ... um, mysteries. Mysteries like what was Rebecca's job when she started working at Cheers? Who puts the mother in How I Met Your Mother? Has anyone anywhere in the universe ever voluntarily watched an entire episode of According to Jim?One of your idiot box's biggest mysteries has been answered, sort of.
The Daily Mail of London revealed they have unearthed the true identity of The Stig, Top Gear's "tame racing driver."
The cancelled Top Gear USA... who loves ya baby?
The announcement of the death of the remake of one of the world's most beloved car shows, Top Gear, was followed with an obvious reaction. Practically everyone who had heard of the original BBC show celebrated its passing with the same fervor as the Ewoks when the Death Star exploded. It's a natural reaction. It's hard not to assume that once we Americans get our grubby remaking mitts on something, we're bound to mess with it too much and screw it up. We've done it too many times to count. The last three Fawlty Towers remakes were the combined equivalent of the sinking of the Lusitania, only with a lower body count.
But just like anything in life, there were pluses and minuses to us Yanks getting our own Top Gear. Now that NBC has ensured that we won't get one this season, here are the lovers and haters of what could have been the second greatest car show that may never be.
Continue reading The cancelled Top Gear USA... who loves ya baby?
NBC kills Top Gear USA
NBC had planned to bring the popular BBC and BBC America car show Top Gear to us yanks. Instead, NBC has decided to cut its brake cables in the middle of a brilliant power slide. The official Top Gear blog announced that NBC won't air their US version of the show as a mid-season replacement in 2009.
This means the show and their hosts, Adam Carolla, Eric Stromer and Tanner Foust, are up to grabs for the highest bidder like a drug dealer's impounded Cadillac Escalade at a municipal car auction.
Continue reading NBC kills Top Gear USA
Top Gear USA hosts named
Car enthusiasts, take note: The British series all about cars, Top Gear, is coming to America. That's been previously announced, but today we can share the news that Adam Carolla, Tanner Foust and Eric Stromer will be teaming up to host the new NBC incarnation of Top Gear. It just so happens that I was watching Top Gear on BBC America yesterday and it's a fun show; it's not too techie-car show, it's more about the chemistry among the three hosts and the fun, goofy challenges they do that involve cars. Yesterday's show, for instance, pitted a one host in a Mercedes Benz SUV driving from London the the airport versus one host on a super bicycle, another in a speed boat on the Thames, and The Stig -- an anonymous test driver -- making the trek via public transportation. It was pretty funny, especially since the car lost!
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