The Grand Tour

[andmac 14]

R.I.P Top Gear.

[Barrykearley 6,988]

I'm starting to think one of them paparazzi looked like @JayEmm

[JayEmm 1,272]

Haha, nothing to do with me.

I actually just finished watching it, like most others. I think it did the worst possible thing it could have - it tried to be old top gear.

[Dan E 1,582]

Wow "revamped" "new" Top Gear I don't think so. Didn't get the Robin thing at all, but Leblanc on the Nomad me and my 11 year old had a good laugh. 

Nothing new worryingly 

Clarkson over to you 

 

[The Pits 4,410]

Good grief, they kept the stupidity of Top Gear but left out the humour. They must have thought 'Let's hire Joey, he's hilarious' and Matt LeBlanc showed up, who isn't.

Chris Evans may have an enviable car collection but he really didn't come across as a true car guy at all. Nor anyone with any kind of ability behind the wheel. I don't think we'll be seeing any of his lap times soon.

Boy they really shafted Monkey Boy didn't they?!

Worst of all it still looked and felt like Clarkson's show. The formula was starting to feel tired even with the three vastly more entertaining presenters. Big opportunity missed. BBC execs must have been too cowardly to touch their cash cow.

[mayevora 1,278]

What was the point in the reliant bollox? I missed the last 15 mins as I dozed off.

[Buddsy 1,643]

Well am just starting on the iplayer...Peaky Blinders may well take their place soon by the reviews so far

 

Buddsy 

[Alan Paterson 18]

Dear Chris Evans,

Wearing a lapel mic means you don't have to shout and you'll only bend the sound recordist's needles. My other half thought it was because you were just excited. I found that I enjoyed your 'Pieces To Camera' much more when I turned the volume down - all the way down to zero. However, this may just be a personal preference.

Regards

Al

[Steve1 62]

I wish you lot would stop sitting on the fence about this and say what you really think....... ?.  I've just got back from Yarmouth, put the kids to bed and thought iPlayer new Top gear,  I'll just see what the forum says first....... thanks for saving me a hour?,  think I'll play Forza instead...... not a big Evans fan anyway.. ?

[Mark Blanchard 1,658]

I fell asleep.  I did wake up a few times with the grating of Evan's voice but seemed to drift off again soon after.  Half due to a liquid lunch but mainly it was as boring as $hit.

[dan chambers 17]

Elborado

[TBD 781]

Evans in the Nomad piece was nice.  Sabine seems to have found her role as queen of vomit.  But Evans a nightmare (which is why I was afraid of falling asleep).

I know we ranted a lot about the last series with Clarkson, Hammond and May, but if you thought those were bad, you had no idea of how bad it could get. Seems like they reused the old script, but this time with a truly terrible cast.

Makes one really hope the three stooges get their act together on Amazon.

[ChrisJ 1,490]

The only bit I enjoyed was MLB in the Nomad - before they did the stupid "chase". Extra Gear afterwards was Ok as well - maybe switch the two about?

Anything with CE in it I found dire. Watched in iPlayer and I fast forwarded through the so called stars thing - no idea who the younger one was.

 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight 1,327]

I also watched the Extra Gear spin-off. More like Missed Gear. Surprised to hear that Harris' favourite car was the Porsche 911: I was expecting him to say Evora 400...

[Bee 85]

Rory Reid, on Extra Gear, was a far better presenter than Evans! You can see that Matt LeBlanc has potential - he could be very good! I just found it remarkable that the 'main event' was completely lacking in the chemistry which made the original worth watching, while the 'sideline' show had presenters who you can actually envisage developing a quirky and fun relationship.

[JayEmm 1,272]

Would I be right in saying it almost felt like a Top Gear tribute band, rather than a new program with anything new... at all?

[OwenGT3 184]

I like most felt it was just a rehash of the old format, nothing new, jet fighters, Reliant Robins, all been done before and done way better and funnier with Clarkson and Co. Also when CE is giving his verdict while driving the cars I got the feeling this is just a scripted piece by one of the many writers. With Clarkson and Co you knew it was from them, their thoughts and feelings.

MLB was good and with time could really hone his role on the show. Star in a car was no better being a rally cross, should have left it as it was, perhaps got an even cheaper car, say Tata Nano or something.

Personally as a motoring show I wish they would have a more serious section like it used to be years ago, not completely as that would be to boring, but some factual stuff. Also a classic car section would be nice as I did enjoy Quentin and Kidd on the Classic Car Show. If they are going to do obscure stuff do it like the buying cars at action and entering rallyes like CHM did, racing cars against planes, jet skis, hovercraft, snowboarder, paraglider, toboggan is old hat.

[peteratsylvan 3]

Disappointed but not surprised - Evans too shouty, set-ups too deliberate, jokes too scripted and rehearsed. First programme a horrid waste of time, though Sabine has potential with her sense of humour and MLB with his relaxed approach.

[Nelly 186]

I have been ill today so watched it again (am I the only person who has watched it twice?).

I thought it was okay.  Agree that Evans was too shouty and trying to be like JC too much which is surprising given his own TV career.  I thought MLB was great though, a pleasant surprise.  The audience did seem a bit too prompted, and I would have preferred the test track to have stayed as it was rather than the rally thing which wasn't very well explained (although if you watched extra gear they did cover that off).  Talking of which, that was pretty good and I hope Chris Harris is on the main show more.

People have wanted TG to fail simply because JC isn't there any more and I feel sorry for the beeb that they had to let him go and had to give this a crack.  People also have short memories though, when JC brought it back in 2002 it didn't get it's chemistry until series 4 after James May had joined.  This had to work straight of the box which was never going to happen.  I hope its gets time to settle down and find its feet.

[David in NZ 24]

It felt extremely Contrived. Everyone had gone overboard, trying to make it great, including the scriptwriters, camera work. MLB shone. SS is easy to watch.

The other thing it smelt of is that the BBC is totally desperate for it to succeed commercially. They must have spent double their normal budget (at least), filming in Nevada and Morocco, appealing to a US audience (via Viper/Vette, Matt, Jeep, Matt, US v UK, Jesse), building the dirt track, using MINIs instead of cheap cars, etc.

 

Then there was Chris H's lap in the Nomad. He was in his element, talking while driving - but it was not the Stig (he can't do that!), so it didn't go on the board. In which case, WHY WASN'T IT TESTED ON THE DIRT SECTIONS TOO? Especially, because it's a Nomad!

 

Rescue formula: ditch Evans completely and replace him with Harris after the first series. 

[rocket63 137]

I was determined to give this a fair shout, but had to watch in three sections to get through it as a whole. Its hard to listen to Chris and have any belief in what he is saying. I thought Matt Le Blanc did ok and I wasnt reaching for the off button when he was doing his own piece. I have to agree that it felt contrived. Much as I think Clarkson is an oaf, the three of them have personality and it works. It was certainly not the case with Evans / Le Blanc or Schmidt / Evans, didnt gel at all for me.

If your going to copy a format, you have to be bang on and do it better because in this instance the last crew had it bang on. And this failed miserably. It was cobbled up and really painful to watch. 

The previous incarnate had its stupidity, but I could forgive this for the excellent production and first class other elements of the show. It was tip top with a little bit of I dont like that. I cant find any redeeming features in this "new" version. I dont like it much at all and there is no compulsion to go back and slog through another hour.

Dont get me wrong, I like CE as a presenter, but he is just way out of his depth on this programme.

[eeyoreish 892]

Just watched it off the Sky planner...

Overall not impressed. Too much like a designer copy - all the right bits in the right places but somehow trying too hard and still not the real thing.

What they should have done is revamp the whole show rather than trying to continue the same format minus any of the chemistry of Clarkson, Hammond & May, which is what held it all together and made the thing work.

Maybe next week will be better.

[Barrykearley 6,988]

I thought the "news" was the best section 

[LF1 564]

We watched last night. I was determined to give it a chance. I thought it started positively with an actual car review but CE was wooden reviewing while driving. Then just went daft and not remotely entertaining when the guns came out. And the first line he quoted saying to was top gun was not - it was days of Thunder. 

Reliant robins I did not get, rubbish other than an odd MLB moment. He was a pleasant surprise - one thing I am looking forward to is him growing into the role. I did not realise he was to be a permanent presenter. The Nomad was good but not quite the calibre old TG would have done. 

Jury's out on the rally cross - I thought it a good idea at first but I am not a fan of Ramsey and other guy did not seem to get it.

The extra show was ok - I liked CH doing a bit of a technical review of the car - but I could have got that on YT, I am assuming no more CH on YT now, which would be a loss? News was my favourite section of old TG - shame it has been demoted, and if it's limited to CH making faces at new cars I think I'll probably give that a miss.

On the whole it could have been a lot worse, Sabrine has potential. She's always fun on camera. I can't help wondering if a MLB, Sabrine and CH line up would have been better?

[Chillidoggy 4,396]

'Antiques Roadshow' was really good.