1.9 nine million viewers…that’s how many people tuned to watch the first episode of the American version of Top Gear.
That’s OK to modest in basic cable terms for a new show.
Vicky Kahn, a spokesperson for History Channel, says that the channel is “very happy” with the numbers of the first.
Just to put this in perspective keep in mind that about 1.7 million people watch Conan O’Brien’s new talk show on TBS.
However the reaction from die hard British Top Gear fans has been overwhelmingly negative judging by twitter.
Tweets such as, “Wasted an hour watching Top Gear US. Sucks compared to Top Gear UK.”
“Top Gear US verdict: FAIL. Too scripted, no chemistry, not remotely funny, lacks flow.”
and
“Clarkson’ was – but I gave up. What’s the point? This is NOT Top Gear as Anglophiles know it.”
dominated much of the online twitter conversation.
However Top Gear producer John Hesling says about the new presenters, “They got on with each other very, very well. There’s that immediate kind of X Factor. These guys seem to chat like they’ve known each other for a long, long time,” he said.
And he adds: “I don’t see why you’d want a group of sort of bad-teethed Brits coming and telling you about your own car culture.”
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