A few months ago we brought you the sad news of Fifth Gear's cancellation. If you're a car fan of even the smallest degree, you've no doubt seen more than a few episodes of the U.K.'s "other" motoring program, but now you won't have to resign yourself to that dusty set of DVDs to get your fix of Tiff, Vicki and Jason.
You will have to do without "the Wookie" Tom Ford and recent addition Tim Shaw, however, as they won't be part of the reborn series. Another change-up: the deletion of the studio sections in favor of a focus entirely on track and road tests. All the better, if you ask us, as that's what we watched it for to begin with.
Unlike Top Gear, Fifth Gear's core presenters are actually talented motorsports-bred 'shoes. And watching Tiff and Jason get up to their one-up antics, or VBH thrash an open-cockpit car around track, is for, many of us, better than watching a slow-mo, effects-enhanced homage to the 1970s chase scene, much less a contest to see who can grow the best biodiesel.
Native fans of the show will be able to see the first episodes later this month, though those of us outside the U.K. will have to wait for the DVDs or find other, less official channels, to procure the goods.
The savior of the show? The Discovery Channel, which will distribute the show throughout Europe, though the Five network still has rights in the U.K.
