New ride, new host
BMW and SLS have teamed up to launch a new chapter of Skaters in Cars and the car budget clearly changed 👀. Skaters are now getting chauffeured around in BMWs and there's a new face behind the wheel too: Sean Malto, one of the OG names in street skating, stepping in as the new interviewer. For the first episode, he brought out one of the biggest names in the skateboard's modern history: Paul Rodriguez.
Just a few days after landing on YouTube, the premiere episode had already crossed 60,000 views. A strong signal that there's a real audience for this.
Back when it was just a Toyota
Back in 2018, Skaters in Cars had a simple, effective format: Chris Nieratko cruising around with pro skaters in whatever normal, unglamorous ride was on hand, stopping at spots that mattered to each rider and letting the conversation go wherever it wanted. It was sponsored by the X Games back then, and part of its charm was exactly how unglamorous the cars were, it felt like riding shotgun with a friend, not sitting in on a production.
By the way, if you want to relive a little of that nostalgia, here are our favorite episodes featuring Jamie Foy, Chris Joslin, Ryan Decenzo, and Jagger Eaton. You can also watch more episode on Nieratko's Youtube channel here.
Fast forward to now, the new format hasn't changed much and that's a good thing. It still centers on an interviewer driving around with a professional skateboarder, hitting classic or hometown spots and letting the conversation drift naturally into career stories, upbringing and the moments that shaped them. What's different is the packaging: SLS is now the driving force behind the show instead of the X Games, and the episodes themselves feel tighter than the sprawling hangout sessions of the original run.
Shorter or not, people are showing up for it. Is it the format people missed, or just the pull of nostalgia for a show that quietly became a favorite? Probably a bit of both.
First up: P-Rod
At one point, Malto and Rodriguez roll up to the filming location of Nike's "Today Was a Good Day" commercial, the spot where a 15-year-old P-Rod was skating years before he became one of the most decorated street skaters ever to step on a board.
From there, they head out to San Fernando in the Valley, the neighborhood where Rodriguez actually grew up and learned to skate. They swing by his old middle school along the way, tying the episode back to the streets and sidewalks that put him on this path in the first place.
Why it works
What made Skaters in Cars work in 2018 wasn't production value, it was proximity. Watching two people talk in a car, with real locations passing by outside the window, has a way of getting skaters to open up that a studio interview never quite manages. Swapping in a BMW doesn't change that formula, and pairing Malto with someone like P-Rod only adds to that comfort level; if anything, the early view count suggests SLS and BMW picked the right project to bring back.
If this Paul Rodriguez episode is any indication of where the series is headed, expect more hometown pilgrimages, more "this is where it all started" moments, and hopefully a lot more familiar names riding shotgun.
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This article was created by skaters, for skaters, with the help of our friend Claude at redaction. Want to write, report or collaborate with skate.tv? Hit us up!
