It shows promise to be a good show, but like various posts have already alluded to back when the show was supposed to be shown on NBC, it comes down to whether or not the hosts will be able to have the same say anything do anything creative control that they do on the BBC.

Jay Leno puts it best in a post he wrote for The Times Online:

I like the show just the way it is. Jeremy and the guys are extremely talented, so maybe it would be an idea to do an American show similar to Top Gear but not with the same name, because I think it would be impossible to recreate or live up to the standards of the British show.

Another problem for Top Gear in America is the biting humour and criticisms of the cars. My great fear in America is that, for instance, if Kia was our sponsor this week, we’d have to say the car was fantastic.

I said on The Tonight Show recently that the new Kia was available with a heated rear window, so if people needed to push it in winter they could keep their hands warm. Boy, the phones did not stop ringing. So imagine what Jeremy would have to put up with.

I don’t think you could be quite as freewheeling with your opinions as you can on the BBC, because sponsors pay for the programmes. Sponsors would be unlikely to embrace any criticism.

Americans don’t really see personalities like Jeremy on commercial television. They know that they have to be somewhat watered down. When Jeremy rips into some sponsor such as Ford or Chrysler, well, that’s the last time they sponsor that show. Then what you have is “the meeting” after the show, where they tell him to tone it down. That’s just not what they do at Top Gear.
— http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article3638037.ece

I really hope that the presenters (none of whom I am familiar with, but will try to read up on) are able to create the same energy and humor that the BBC version does. If they are able to do that, and not have to bow to the advertisers will all the time, I think that the show might just have a chance at being one of my new favorite shows on History channel.

Differentiated by the amount of naps and “core sleep” periods are used, the everyman style uses a single core sleep period of 1.5 to 3 hours of straight sleep on average, while the uberman style relies solely on the nap periods, of which there are 6.  These methods of sleep are not for every person, no matter what the name of them is, and the uberman is even less acceptable by most people.

From what I’ve looked into so far there seems to be no medical problems with this lifestyle so long as you adhere to it well.  Making sure to get your naps on time and getting your full REM sleep cycles is enough to sustain you, and from what I read, provide you with not only more time awake but also a more refreshing awake period.

I am curious as to whether or not this would be the type of thing I could or should do.  I already dont go to sleep until about 2a.m. as it is, and get up around 5:30a.m. to get ready for work.  Usually I end up napping on the ride to and from work (I am part of a carpool) and get about 30 minutes of decent napping time that way already.  From there its staying up until about 2 again and starting all over.  I am basically doing an everyman 2 nap cycle already, the only difference is that the first of my naps is way to early at about 6:30 – 7a.m. and the second is also slightly early at around 5:10 – 5:40p.m.  If I could push my first nap back a few hours and then the same with the second, or go on a 3 nap cycle, I feel that I would have more energy throughout the day and the week as a whole.  Because of the way I have been going about my sleep cycle, I end up putting too many naps too early and then not getting enough useful REM sleep cycles and I end up becoming so tired at some point during the month that I overload and have to crash for almost an entire day. It has been this way for years, since the end of high school would be my guess, and cannot be good for me in the long run.

I think that I will try to go through with a polyphasic everyman 2 nap cycle (as it would be hard to be able to get time off from my work schedule to take multiple naps during the day) and see if it fits my lifestyle.  I plan to document the process the first week every day and then, if I continue, with weekly updates as to the progress and condition of my quality of life. Please feel free to ask questions and check in on the progress if you so feel inclined.

–UPDATE–
As of right now, I have not attempted to start the Everyman polyphasic sleep cycle. I came to the conclusion that I don’t have a regular enough schedule with Audra being around at this point so I won’t be starting up yet, if at all, with this cycle.

Again these are not the newest machines with the most advanced features. They are, in fact, 28 years old and definitely show their age.  But that is what gives these humble machines their character.  They may not have some fancy rear suspension, or any rear suspension to speak of, but you don’t expect one either.  They aren’t the fastest machines, but they can definitely get you from point A to point B and excite you along the way.  They are the backbone and blueprint of which modern snowmobiles take their roots.  Without my machines, we might not have newer machines and styles.  And we are better off for them.

So until Wednesday comes, I wait with anticipation and hope.  For this is the stuff my winter dreams are made of.

Along the same lines of reasons I haven’t been posting much, is that our family has just embarked and are almost finished with our big move from Lansing down to our new house that is out in the sticks. So between all the moving hassles and now the we are so far out in the middle of nowhere, it took me a while to get Internet (that I’m not completely happy with) and add that to new baby and you get not much time for ol Benny to be getting online and making posts. So that’s my update for now, and if time and baby permit I will have more in the near future.

My how the days have flown past!  It’s only been a short while since I last posted and yet in that short time I have become a father!  My daughter was born on Saturday September 26th at 12:40 pm.  Her name is Audra Sue and she is my pride and joy.  Both Savannah and I have been very busy with her since she was brought into the world, and it hasn’t been the easiest, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.  For the next I don’t know how long I will be kept on my toes and out of sleep so there will probably be another lag in my posts after this one.