The Grand Tour

weekaizer

I might be on my own saying this, but I preferred the old style celebrity brain crash for the simple reason we didn’t have to listen to any celebrity interviews as they simply all ‘died’ before they made it to studio.
I can honestly say in several years of top gear I can’t recall any memorable SIARPC interviews at all. That whole segment should be axed IMO.
Great to the the annoying American driver has been given the boot!.
Conversation street can be drawn out at times but I do think the bit of banter is important in each episode to set the tone so I’m also happy it remains.
I’d give episode 1 a 6 out of 10, but I feel there will be better episodes ahead going by the trailer.

monkeybutter

3 out of 10

Apparently then took on board feedback from the first series. Yeah right

People wanted more inane celebrity interviews and the tent to stay in one place and not move around.

That's it

That's all they have done

Clarkson is a shell of what he was. He was once great, at one time the best thing on British Telly. Probably previous top gear through being left go and the years he did meet the neighbours etc and then the first 8 seasons of new TG.

May appears comatose, he's capable of good telly as well, did they have better input from producers at the BBC with ideas and control and have they too much control now?

Hammond has always been poor, a foil for the other two at best.

Stallingrad

^ Would agree with that, all three look bored and well past their sell by dates.

Mike Litoris

Really really enjoyed tonights Top Gear!

JimmyMcGill

Christ I'm on the celebrity face off whatever it's woeful stuff.
It'll be the first time I'll turn Clarkson off but want to see the GT Ford lose to a handicap and James May.

Brian Scan

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I agree, it's light entertainment for all the family, Top Gear and in turn The Grand Tour stopped being a car show many many years ago. If you want a review of the latest Korean Hatchback the off to youtube with ya, if you want to see a heavily scripted light entertainment show that is loosely based around cars then TGT is for you

Heavily scripted, light on entertainment, perhaps.

ofcork

Doing a lot of advertising for this even ads on 2fm.

bear1

I thought that was a very good episode, glad they are moving back to those sort of challenges.
Wonder how Nissan haven't phoned Mercedes up asking why they named their new car the gtr

TrailerBob

Just watched episode 2... pretty much made as much transition back to Top Gear as they legally can.. which is a good thing imo. Kind-of OK with he new celebrity bit. At least they listened to the criticism of last season. Looking forward to the rest. Scripted or not

H3llR4iser

The latest episode was good - although I did skip entirely past the celebrity bit; I actually am in the camp who preferred the "Brain Crash" thing - it was cheesy but lasted 30 seconds; Actually I'd have no problem if it was all about the lap, but I couldn't care less about somebody's new movie, book or how the MLB season is going.

Impressed with the new driver - Abbie Eaton, afaik; Maybe the car balance played a part, but the lines she took were textbook perfect, something that wasn't seen on TG/TGT since the Ben Collins-Stig days.

bear1

H3llR4iser wrote: »

The latest episode was good - although I did skip entirely past the celebrity bit; I actually am in the camp who preferred the "Brain Crash" thing - it was cheesy but lasted 30 seconds; Actually I'd have no problem if it was all about the lap, but I couldn't care less about somebody's new movie, book or how the MLB season is going.

Impressed with the new driver - Abbie Eaton, afaik; Maybe the car balance played a part, but the lines she took were textbook perfect, something that wasn't seen on TG/TGT since the Ben Collins-Stig days.

Same here, but I always skipped the celebrity part in old top gear too.
Unless it was someone I enjoy like Ryan Reynolds.
But if the remaining episodes offer this sort of entertainment then I'll say it's a drastic improvement.
Looking forward to next week's Christmas special.

monkeybutter

bear1 wrote: »

Same here, but I always skipped the celebrity part in old top gear too.
Unless it was someone I enjoy like Ryan Reynolds.
But if the remaining episodes offer this sort of entertainment then I'll say it's a drastic improvement.
Looking forward to next week's Christmas special.

He's easy on the eye alright

ironclaw

Episode two was decent I have to say. Really harked back to the original Top Gear formula, and at least they did a car review which was actually enjoyable. I'm also with another poster here, I preferred Brain Crash as it skipped they 'chat show' part of the show. I really don't see why they have to bring on some B list celebs for 15 mins of chat. At least old TG hasn't really aged in that segment, you can go back on Dave and laugh at some properly famous people who were good fun to listen to. Out of the 4 people on so far, I knew one of them without some help from Wikipedia.

The race was quite enjoyable, nice to see a little less scripting and some genuinely funny bits. Still though, two films in an hour of programming

Lastly, whats with the homophobic undertone? Both episodes have taken a swipe, really don't get the reason for it Last season has a phallus in each episode :pac:

tossy

Wow a challenge of a car versus public transport, where surpirise surprise the phone each other a lot and shout ? Clarkson pulss some prank on them ? Shock horror and oh wait he has a fuel crisis that ads to the drama... we haven't seen that 74 times before. I watched the second episode in about 5 mins,i did rewind the part where the GT dorps and the spoiler rises though.

Overall 10 out of 10 yawns

tossy

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Yup same old crap except its not that funny anymore

My spelling was shocking there, don't type and look out the window

Anjobe

tossy wrote: »

Wow a challenge of a car versus public transport, where surpirise surprise the phone each other a lot and shout ? Clarkson pulss some prank on them ? Shock horror and oh wait he has a fuel crisis that ads to the drama... we haven't seen that 74 times before. I watched the second episode in about 5 mins,i did rewind the part where the GT dorps and the spoiler rises though.

Overall 10 out of 10 yawns

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Yup same old crap except its not that funny anymore

But really, what more can you expect? Same presenters and creative team as TG had, and that had become v. tired and formulaic. If Clarkson hadn't punched anyone it would probably have died a natural death by now, quite ironic that he actually prolonged it all by getting sacked. The bigger budget on Amazon hasn't lead to any great creative changes, possibly the opposite as it now has to appeal to a more global audience and they have better production values to fall back on.

I still watch, apart from the stupid, deliberately offensive humour (I agree with ironclaw there, no excuse for that sort of thing), it remains an enjoyable and undemanding hour or so of telly, but I don't expect anything new or different.

H3llR4iser

Anjobe wrote: »

I still watch, apart from the stupid, deliberately offensive humour (I agree with ironclaw there, no excuse for that sort of thing), it remains an enjoyable and undemanding hour or so of telly, but I don't expect anything new or different.

Frankly, I don't mind it - actually, I quite welcome the concept; What is it about? LGBT, Italians, tall guys or people with six fingers? Whatever, if somebody doesn't know how to laugh about themselves, it's their own issue.

I would do the friggin' same if I was in charge of a comedic TV show, as nowadays you can't do anything without some group or the other getting "offended". It's gotten to the point it's beyond ridiculous, everyone has the sensitivity and proclivity to tears of a 3 years old, so one might as well just take the total p1ss.

Anjobe

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Frankly, I don't mind it - actually, I quite welcome the concept; What is it about? LGBT, Italians, tall guys or people with six fingers? Whatever, if somebody doesn't know how to laugh about themselves, it's their own issue.

I would do the friggin' same if I was in charge of a comedic TV show, as nowadays you can't do anything without some group or the other getting "offended". It's gotten to the point it's beyond ridiculous, everyone has the sensitivity and proclivity to tears of a 3 years old, so one might as well just take the total p1ss.

Its not the offensiveness that I take offence at, if you get my meaning, its the lazy assumption that there is humour in the offensiveness.

Going back a couple of years, was Clarkson's comment about Mexicans being fat and lazy a good joke, or just a cheap racial slur? There's a slope on the bridge? That eeny-meeny 'N' word nonsense? Hammond is gay because he likes ice cream?

Jeremy Clarkson is capable of being funny and witty, he doesn't have to say garbage like this just to be controversial and get a cheap laugh.

ironclaw

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Frankly, I don't mind it - actually, I quite welcome the concept; What is it about? LGBT, Italians, tall guys or people with six fingers? Whatever, if somebody doesn't know how to laugh about themselves, it's their own issue.

I would do the friggin' same if I was in charge of a comedic TV show, as nowadays you can't do anything without some group or the other getting "offended". It's gotten to the point it's beyond ridiculous, everyone has the sensitivity and proclivity to tears of a 3 years old, so one might as well just take the total p1ss.

One joke? No hassle and I'd let that slide. A similar joke at the same group every week? Nah, that's not ok and I'd consider myself a fan of Jimmy Carr.

It's possible to be funny without reducing the recognition struggle a group of people have fought for to the name of the sandwich. Would you be ok with the Rebellion being compared to an Easter Egg hunt? What makes it worse is the fact it's not even live and has multiple takes. So multiple people saw it and still allowed it to hit a final edit.

Have a poke and some fun, but there's no need to constantly be beating a single drum.

bear1

Thought the 3rd episode was quite good.
Nice to see a review of a pretty interesting car and the photography is brilliant when it comes to the bugatti film.
I see they are moving back towards a slight top gear attitude and in my opinion is a good thing and they know the format works.
I just wish they would stop the celebrity crap, UK vs US which I bet is an Amazon requirement...
But 8/10 for me.

mikeecho

The office race off, was very good.

Original, and exciting... just curious how staged it was .

Im presuming they were pro drivers

Tzardine

I have just woken up from a 2 hour siesta. Spurned on by TGT. Drifted off during the Bugatti piece.

Not a bad episode by any means, but a special car like the Bugatti needed a better film IMHO.

mikeecho

It was a good episode, I enjoyed it.

BUT... having watched it, enjoyed it, and will watch it again.
I can't but be a little disappointed that it wasn't a true Christmas special.

To me the Christmas Special should be an epic road trip/challenge.. even if it is staged and scripted.

As I said... I enjoyed the episode... but I was really hoping for something along the lines of going to the north pole, or driving up the mountains in chile type of show.

bear1

mikeecho wrote: »

It was a good episode, I enjoyed it.

BUT... having watched it, enjoyed it, and will watch it again.
I can't but be a little disappointed that it wasn't a true Christmas special.

To me the Christmas Special should be an epic road trip/challenge.. even if it is staged and scripted.

As I said... I enjoyed the episode... but I was really hoping for something along the lines of going to the north pole, or driving up the mountains in chile type of show.

The Christmas special is next week at least I'm pretty sure it is.
The Mozambique special I think.

bazz26

Thought the Lunchtime Office Race off was brilliant (with obvious pro drivers).

The celebrity bit is just boring with mostly z list celebrities but I just fast forward past that bit anyway.

ScrubsfanChris

Jeremy said multiple times that the Bug was the fastest car on sale today. Now maybe that piece was recorded before the Agera RS record time but it wasn't even mentioned in the studio either. Kind of misleading to the casual viewer.

The lunch time racing was quite good although I'd imagine some (if not all) of those "workers" were professional drivers. The crash into the bins was staged to f**k.

James and the Kia Stinger was good if not maybe a bit rushed. First time I've said this too, but the Top Gear piece on the Chiron (race between Chris and Matt) was much better than Jeremys film.

mikeecho

bear1 wrote: »

The Christmas special is next week at least I'm pretty sure it is.
The Mozambique special I think.

Excellent news

bear1

mikeecho wrote: »

Excellent news

Sorry I'm wrong.
Clarkson said Mozambique would be towards the end of the series and he described it as a mini special.
Apparently they were due to film the special in Columbia but he got diagnosed with pneumonia and so the production dates could moved.
He didn't give a lot of info and the only episodes that gave me the hint of a special was Canada and Mozambique.

ironclaw

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Jeremy said multiple times that the Bug was the fastest car on sale today.

He also used the same comparison between the number of radiators and his apartment from the Veyron review.

I have to say, it wasn't a bad episode. Perfectly watchable and actually witty in places. Only mark was the last part of the Chiron film, it was badly edited. I wasn't sure if they were honouring Rendevous or mocking it. In case anyone hasn't see it, this is the film:

Spoiler: The sound I believe is a Ferrari, but its dubbed in. The car was actually a Merc and it wasn't a continuous take.

Michelle_M

I loved it- fair play to the three of them for sticking by each other

Agricola

Looking forward to watching this.

Dave is showing all the TG specials this weekend. Watched the Patagonia one yesterday. Had forgotten a lot of it due to the skirmish in Argentina at the end! Going to record the rest of them now and watch over Xmas week.

Top Dog

I don't know about the other drivers, but the ST220 Mondeo wasn't a pro, and was driving his own car (he's on one of the groups I'm a member of on FB )

LollipopJimmy

I watched the latest episode earlier. The worst yet and I'd never expected a lot

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

JohnBoy26

I hear them advertising on radio these days. It must not have the viewership figures they were hoping for.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

latest episode....

Logistics does not equal scripting.
Taking the piss out of fans is not a great idea.

knucklehead6

Macie Brave Searchlight wrote: »

Taking the piss out of fans is not a great idea.

Why not? Anyone who’s watched Top Gear would know full well that they rip the piss out of people.

Tzardine

Macie Brave Searchlight wrote: »

Taking the piss out of fans is not a great idea.

I thought it was pretty bad form actually. Taking the piss out of the fans genuine concerns. The scripting is horrible in TGT, to the point of unwatchable for me. The awards was so predictable too. We have seen it and heard all the jokes before.

The bit is Croatia was actually one of the worst in Grand Tour history IMO.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

knucklehead6 wrote: »

Why not? Anyone who’s watched Top Gear would know full well that they rip the piss out of people.

Yeah but the only people who call it scripted are fans who actually want it to be good, rip the piss out of anyone but your true fans. And again they confuse scripting with logistical control of a movie shoot, different things altogether. Total waste of time this episode. No information and no entertainment. The 720 review was good i suppose.

God I look back on the old top gear the 911, M6, V8 Vantage on the isle of man or the budget supercars and get tearful with nostalgia. How can you take a format so good and a team with such chemistry and turn it into such a jaded, tired and forced hours of tedium. Seems to me the quality is inversely proportional to the budget.

liam7831

Seen the first two episodes decent enough

DaveyDave

Only watched 3-4 episodes of the last season and stopped. It was just lacking in something. Not that it necessarily felt scripted just somewhat awkward, like they just weren't themselves and couldn't get comfortable or somebody.

I'm hearing mixed things about the new season, others saying it's much better without the silly segments, others still saying it's bad. From the sounds of it, they still haven't the formula right? Maybe they don't feel like they're in control or something, as if there's higher ups looking over them...but at the same time, they're free to do absolutely whatever they want on Amazon so there's no pressures of regulations.

I'll try watch an episode over the weekend. I remember the news was missing it's charm in the last season.

liam7831

I always fast forward the guests bit and the silly lap times that's crap but rest ain't bad

bear1

I enjoyed that episode and I could see their point that not everything can be unscripted.
The clutch going was obviously unscripted so it's hit and miss.
Half way through the series almost and I will say it's a vast improvement over s1.
The review of the 720s was pretty good.

Tzardine

bear1 wrote: »

I enjoyed that episode and I could see their point that not everything can be unscripted.
The clutch going was obviously unscripted so it's hit and miss.
Half way through the series almost and I will say it's a vast improvement over s1.
The review of the 720s was pretty good.

The clutch going was very obviously scripted.

Spoiler alert - The clutch was fine

mikeecho

I can see that they were trying to stop all the criticism of the show (TGT) being scripted.
But it always had been, even back to the early days of TG.

Even reality shows are scripted... even the 6 o'clock news is scripted.

Tv is scripted.
Now the way they went about things, was a bit childish. I think they could have dealt with the criticism in a better way. How.. I don't know.

But one thing I take from this season, is that they are listening to the fans.
This can be seen from the changes in S2, celeb brain crash, the American etc, and complaints of being overly scripted.

bear1

Tzardine wrote: »

The clutch going was very obviously scripted.

Spoiler alert - The clutch was fine

What makes you so sure?

Tzardine

bear1 wrote: »

What makes you so sure?

*The dragging out of starting the race. i.e. We need somebody to say go, lets go and find a model. Ok now we have a model lets get her to do it. Oh no she is too attractive. Lets put her as the finish line. Lets use the sound guy instead. The car breaking down was just another means of doing this.

*Richards car breaking was the excuse for Jeremy to go off with the model. This played into the script and her being biased later on with Jeremy in the race.

*No shots of the car being worked on were shown. No signs of any mechanical failure either.

*Richard saying that he cooked the clutch. Not that the car broke down. I expect that Ariel would not have allowed them to pretend the car broke, but they were ok with Hammond saying he was responsible for burning out the clutch.

*The car was miraculously cured when the model arrived back with Jeremy. Pretty quick to source a clutch and fit it on a runway in Croatia. Yes its a Honda part, but still unlikely.

*There were a few behind the scenes videos released by TGT on the Croatia episode. None featured the car being repaired. This is unusual I would think.

Quazzie

Tzardine wrote: »

*The dragging out of starting the race. i.e. We need somebody to say go, lets go and find a model. Ok now we have a model lets get her to do it. Oh no she is too attractive. Lets put her as the finish line. Lets use the sound guy instead. The car breaking down was just another means of doing this.

*Richards car breaking was the excuse for Jeremy to go off with the model. This played into the script and her being biased later on with Jeremy in the race.

*No shots of the car being worked on were shown. No signs of any mechanical failure either.

*Richard saying that he cooked the clutch. Not that the car broke down. I expect that Ariel would not have allowed them to pretend the car broke, but they were ok with Hammond saying he was responsible for burning out the clutch.

*The car was miraculously cured when the model arrived back with Jeremy. Pretty quick to source a clutch and fit it on a runway in Croatia. Yes its a Honda part, but still unlikely.

*There were a few behind the scenes videos released by TGT on the Croatia episode. None featured the car being repaired. This is unusual I would think.

Unless I'm mistaken, Hammond said it was a "cooked clutch" at the start, but upon further inspection found that it was in fact a broken drive shaft end.

bear1

Quazzie wrote: »

Unless I'm mistaken, Hammond said it was a "cooked clutch" at the start, but upon further inspection found that it was in fact a broken drive shaft end.

Yes I just rewatched it and he does say at the start he has cooked it.
Then it cuts to where himself and Clarkson are looking at the car and he says something about snapping the drive shaft.
So I'd still say that the entire show is not full on scripted but you'd be naive to think that this type of show won't have prepared trips, reviews written in advance etc.
Compare both seasons and I'd say s2 has been much better with slight elements of the old top gear thrown in.
You see far more complaining about gt than tg even though for me tg is simply unfunny and boringly done with 0 chemistry between them.

Atlantic Dawn

Watched the most recent episode, it was terrible, why did they not give Clarkson and Hammond a car each to modify in to fire engines or something along those lines to match May, seemed really poorly thought out. I love the challenges driving across dodgy terrain and countries in literal ****boxes of cars and coping with the breakdowns and problems along the way.