Party Crashers
Well, sort of.
This coming Tuesday, Discovery Channel launches their new vehicle-themed spinoff channel: Discovery Velocity. I call the new network a party crasher because the much-publicized attempts to get a US-based car show off the ground are still struggling, and onto their tenuously-held turf saunters a full-fledged automotive network. Of course, it’s not like Speed hasn’t been around for years, but that’s always struck me as a more racing-focused outfit, with less emphasis on creating an “entertaining motoring show” in the Top Gear UK vein.
The “sort of” qualification stems from the fact that none of the existing shows Discovery is relegating to Velocity provides TGUK (or TGUS or The Car Show, for that matter) with any direct, head-on competition. The transplanted shows range from a custom-themed program featuring Chip Foose to a show centered on collectible classics and hosted by Keith Martin, and everything in between. At the very least, there will be a little something for everyone, contrasted with the more “one size fits all” approach of the Top Gear clones. We’ll see, but Discovery’s method of hedging their bets by spreading the programming out into a whole network may prove to be the smarter—if more expensive—solution to the Great American Car Program quandary.