The Grand Tour

[Barrykearley 7,183]

 my gosh - you need to get in on that gig !!

[j2 lot 30]

Loved it.  Was prepared to be regretting a last minute Amazon subscription. But not so. Worth it for that show alone. Looking forward to the rest of the series. 

[Kimbers 1,929]

Loved it too! I was chuckling along, especially the section at the start where they asked the Americans their name for car related things:

"Whats this?"..."A stick"....."No it's a Lever, this is a stick and I use it for pointing"

"What's this?"..."A hood"...."No it's a bonnet"

"What's this?" [shows picture of a pickup]...."A Truck"...."No it's stupid"..........

Awesome!

 

[JayEmm 1,273]

Watched last night's episode as it came in again - the OH got back from a late shift just as it was released.

Really wasn't that taken with it - felt far too close to top gear and felt a little tired... which I didn't think Episode 1 did. They did not really seem to do much at all. Shame. I hope it improves again.

[Bibs 11,717]

It's not on Sunday nights at 8pm anymore so with on demand, I'm not in a rush to watch it to be fair. Will get around to it in the next few days.

Wonder what the viewing figures are. TG used to be watched by 350m people around the world... 

[ChrisJ 1,507]

My thoughts

• The studio segments were much better than last weeks.
• The AM test was OK, but they really need to get rid of the yank - I'm getting to the point where I might just fast forward this bit (like I did SIARPC on new/old TG)
• The shoot-em up section went on way too long, and they should not have bothered with the second section
• It was good to see the segment with May and the local car scene - although it didn't really interest me.
• Hopefully the last celebrity death bit. 

It's called the Grand Tour, but apart from setting up the tent somewhere, they are not really touring and apart from the banter written for the country, the tent might as well be anywhere.

Last week nothing about the US/California.

The opening segment to both episodes, driving up in three vehicles, and then nothing about the three vehicles. There could have been a local challenge - buy thee local vehicles, do some stuff.

5/10 for me - for both weeks.

[TBD 781]

IMO the second episode was a first low. The Desert Stumble was just rubbish, a clear demonstration of what happens when the fun of making an episode gets in the way of the story.

The issue with the yank is that he can't keep his mouth shut, whereas the Stig never said a word.

  

[Nelly 186]

13 hours ago, Bibs said:

Wonder what the viewing figures are. TG used to be watched by 350m people around the world... 

I don't think Amazon are disclosing this, and it doesn't go (further) worldwide until next month.

Its found a slot for me Friday teatime, but I would pretty much agree with what was said above.  In fact the more I think about it I reckon my fave part from this week was conversation street, which isn't saying much.

TG with different titles (and I sill think the name is awful regardless if it is relevant at all), but I will still be watching every week.

[Mark Blanchard 1,687]

Watched it last night and it was an enjoyable episode though not as good as the first.  As mentioned the shootem' up was a bit rubbish but I enjoyed the Aston test and my kids love conversation street.  The format did feel very familiar, it was more like Top Gear than Top Gear is now, but that's no bad thing.

[Kimbers 1,929]

Yeah, not a fan of this weeks episode. Felt a bit.......well crap really.

[Bravo73 1,407]

Just like their old TG, really. Mainly dross with the occasional gem. I also ended up fast forwarding through lots of the 2nd episode. 

[internets 481]

I saw an interview with Andy Wilman who said the South African show was the first one they filmed.

 

[JayEmm 1,273]

Last night's show. A bit better - more car content than last week, but was very much a one-joke-pony (Hammond making loud noises and annoying May).

I wish they would do less scripted stuff on their road trips - it's rather transparent

[Loose Cannon 582]

Good grief it seems the interviewer on that Andy Wilman slot is another former squeeze in Jeremy Clarksons inexplicably complex love life.

[TBD 781]

Found episode 3 much more enjoyable. A bit too scripted, but they seem to be improving. 

How the hell did they end up in Whitby? Didn't even know it existed (despite a project for Yorkshire Water many years ago). 

[100th_Idiot 372]

It's mostly balls I'm afraid.

They seem to think they are in a comedy sketch show and nobody has the balls to tell them they are shit. The car bits are kind of OK but even there the Hammond in SRT hooligan gag got tired very quickly. Celebrity deaths raised a smile for the first two then they are just flogging it.

Reminds me of that appalling Emma Thompson "comedy" show in the beeb.

[JayEmm 1,273]

They seem to fail to understand the early episodes worked best because it was just three blokes having larks, with the odd scripted gag in there. The less scripted stuff, the better the shows are. I am sure they will see the feedback and improve upon it.

[100th_Idiot 372]

I hope so but on the showings so far the Beebs Top Gear was the better show.

[CaptainSlow 284]

I found the third episode being the most enjoyable so far. As mentioned before the celebrity part was fun the first time but could be removed completely now. I certainly enjoyed the road trip in Italy as well as the house demolition part. Scripted? Obviously! But still miles ahead of the sad excuse BBC insists of calling Top Gear. 

[100th_Idiot 372]

I hated the house demolition. Staid and unfunny. Bored the crap out of me.

[Kimbers 1,929]

I agree with all the comments. Episode 3 was better than 2 but not brilliant. My thoughts so far:

1. Each episode tends to be focussing on one thing. What I used to love about the old TG was that there would be 3-4 sections and you would get some real car stuff. 

2. Every episode so far includes Super and Hyper cars. Everything is in the hundreds of thousands and they spend an hour on just those cars! Lets see some saloon car tests, cheap and cheerful sports cars and "we were given £1500 and asked to turn up at....". Like we used to get that made the hyper car stuff more bearable!

3. Am I the only one who wants to see tests on the cars they drive to the venues?

4. No News section. 

5. Celeb section rubbish. Enough already!

6. Highly staged and obviously highly staged.

7. Focussing too much on non car stuff (like the house this week and the shooting range thing last week).

[JayEmm 1,273]

The funny thing is I've watched some old top gear lately. Three things date it. 

1. How young they all look

2. How bad the phones look

3. How much Porsche you can get for £1500

[Nelly 186]

2 hours ago, Kimbers said:

 No News section. 

Conversation Street is filling this role, I guess they couldn't call it "doing the news" because of legal reasons.

Killing the celebs off in week one and then leaving it there would have been funny.  Now its getting tiresome.

I didn't think that much of the third one either.  Its no surprise that Richard Porter is the script editor (he used to do the same role on TG, and is also behind the Sniff Petrol website).  Because of that its no wonder it doesn't feel any different to the old days (his book "and on the bombshell" is a good read through).

One of the great things about the cheap car challenges was that the humour and chemistry of the three of them happened naturally, rather than a scripted gag.  That is where TGT is falling down IMO.  Having to make 12 episodes probably isn't helping, that's a lot of screen time to fill.

I never thought I would say it but I think the last season of Top Gear doesn't seem as bad now as maybe it did at the time.

[JayEmm 1,273]

Last night's episode was probably my favourite or second favourite so far. Celebrity Brain Crash needs to go, no showing from The American last night. I want more segments in each show really, not getting that at the moment. The big trip just didn't have enough to take up the hour.

[Barrykearley 7,183]

Battleships was ace