Top Gear....I Mean Grand Tour :D

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**Future War Cultist**

filbert wrote:
Amazon stated that Grand Tour has broken their record for streaming - whatever that means. We have to put it in context as Amazon haven't released any figures but it sounds promising. They also say that Prime membership is the highest it has been yet - I know personally, I got Prime membership to show my support for Grand Tour - and as it turns out, there is some good stuff on it as well, the wife and I have much enjoyed Black Sails.

I got my Prime subscription for the GT too. I wanted Prime for ages but I figured I'd wait until the GT was out. Just to help their viewing figures.

**reds8n**

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-grand-tour/news/a814788/the-grand-tour-crushing-amazon-primes-viewing-records/?utm_content=buffer69094&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=mainfacebookpost

It's official: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May's The Grand Tour is an undisputed success.

The former Top Gear trio's debut on Amazon Prime is now officially the most-watched premiere in the streaming service's history, knocking down a previous record set by The Man in the High Castle.

Amazon announced on Monday (November 21) that "millions of Prime members streaming the first episode in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan" viewed The Grand Tour when it premiered last Friday (November 18).

There were also a record number of new Amazon Prime subscriptions last Friday, topping all other days except the Prime Day super-sales.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced The Grand Tour's impressive new record: "The guys are back, doing what they do best - the chemistry between Jeremy, Richard and James is what makes The Grand Tour so entertaining.

"Their creativity, along with the amazing production quality and 4K HDR streaming, has Prime members responding in a big way. Kudos and congrats to the whole team."

Digital Spy and many other media outlets have praised The Grand Tour as a triumphant return for Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, who travel the world from LA to Dubai testing all the coolest new car kit in the motoring series.

While Amazon Prime was reported to have invested £160 million into the series in The Grand Tour, that figure might actually only be a fraction of the actual cost.

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos - who bid on The Grand Tour - reckons that Amazon will have spent nearly a hundred-million pounds more than has been reported.

"It was about a quarter of a billion dollars," Sarandos insisted. "We'll be able to figure out later what it was that made the show the show.

"It'll be interesting with Grand Tour to see how much of that is the players, who in many cases are big personalities, but what elements of Top Gear will people miss?"

The Grand Tour premieres its extremely expensive second episode on Amazon Prime on Friday (November 25).

**Mr Morden**

A friend (she has zero interest in cars) and I watched last night - we both enjoyed it alot - good fun and pretty much Top Gear.

**Lord of Deeds**

Had to wait until the day after the official premier to watch, but enjoyed the show. Like others there was several laugh out loud moments. There was obviously a more American centric vibe to it which is undoubtedly due to Amazon's influence, but good to see that there were still quite a bit of it's British/European charm that made their run on Top Gear what it was.

That said, there are some bits where improvement is needed;

Tamed racing driver......I am guessing that the driver will change with the country kinda of like the Stig's various cousins, but the "American" was a bit awkward and forced.
The celebrity bit was certainly meh.......
The bit about the Royal Air Force / fight with the audience could have been left out for sure

I am undecided about the new house track. Obviously that want to feature drifting, but I think its a bit over done and it seems they struggled to come up with memorable and representative names for the track's features.

I did enjoy the dig at the BBC at the beginning of the show.
Liked the back and forth between them when they were doing their typical head to head with the hybrid super cars.
Looking forward to Clarkson's demo and wondering how he turns the tables on Hammond and May because you know he will somehow.
Cinematography has definitely improved.
Looking forward also to how they open the show each week as they appear to have set it up to be emblematic of the host country, which with Jeremy in charge could get a little uncouth shall we say....

It also feels like given some of the lines, that this incarnation feels like they have been let off their leashes and they are enjoying the creative freedom.

**Future War Cultist**

I enjoy all the horsing around but I hope that they still find the time to do 'historical' bits. These are some of my favourite parts of their act. The section dedicated to Lancia, soviet bloc cars etc. I hope these don't go away.

**BrookM**

Ooh, I remember their Lancia segment, that was brilliant.

We also need more Morris Marina's and pianos.

**Kilkrazy**

I gave up Prime because it got too expensive per year, partly because I am buying fewer physical books rather than Kindle, and partly because I watched very little of the TV from Amazon. Funnily enough, I am thinking of re-subscribing because there are some awesome deals on wines for Prime members only.

To get back to the topic, the Top Gears I enjoyed were the specials, such as when they drove across Thailand and build a bridge to get over the River Kwai. I agree Clarkson's normal schtick is good, but I dislike it.

I watched the first episode of New Top Gear, and it seemed OK, but ultimately I am not very interested in cars.

**AndrewGPaul**

The first episode was ... OK. The studio stuff was painful. I mean, it was hardly ever worth watching on Top Gear either, but this was even worse - it felt too scripted*.

The main feature was interesting, I suppose, but like Kilkrazy, I preferred the mucking about in bangers over the fancy supercars.

The bit about the Porsche's MPG was funny, and hopefully that means their editorial independence is still there.

Not as good as the Botswana or Bolivia specials, about as good as the India one. Room for improvement.

**Paradigm**

I must say I preferred this week's. Less focus on the cars, more on the stupidity and over-the-top ridiculousness. The budget and creative freedom do seem to be paying off.

The 'celebrity' segment is going to get old fast, though. I feel they made the point last week and this time repeating the same joke was a bit pointless.

**Future War Cultist**

At the risk of being controversial, did the celebrity brain crash and sas training bits come off as a little bit self indulgent? I mean I liked them and all and they did make me laugh, but now that I've had a chance to think it over I'm getting some concerns.

**General Annoyance**

It seemed slightly overplayed by the end. However, I think allowing for the first few episodes to be a bit bumpy is reasonable without being too worried about what might happen long term.

**Kilkrazy**

The show is based on the idea that Clarkson and his side-kicks are the essential element.

Top Gear under Chris Evans was based on the idea that they aren't.

In truth, a lot of people like Clarkson et al, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a good car show that doesn't involve them.

**Skinnereal**

Kilkrazy wrote:
In truth, a lot of people like Clarkson et al, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a good car show that doesn't involve them.

A good car show, or a good show with cars?
There's the Gadget Show for similar stuff with other toys, but Clarkson and team need something to focus on. Without the cars, it'd be a struggle to keep attention their way.

**Lord of Deeds**

To be brief, ep. 2 was kinda of meh compared to ep. 1. Still feels like they are trying to force some things, particularly the humor at times, e.g. celebrity brain crash, The American....

Cinematography is still looking good. Enjoyed the piece on the Aston Martin more than I though I would.

**AndrewGPaul**

Kilkrazy wrote:
The show is based on the idea that Clarkson and his side-kicks are the essential element.

Top Gear under Chris Evans was based on the idea that they aren't.

In truth, a lot of people like Clarkson et al, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a good car show that doesn't involve them.

What the last series of Top Gear proved wasn't so much that Clarkson, May and Hammond are necessary, but that an absence of Chris Evans is.

**zedmeister**

Skinnereal wrote:
A good car show, or a good show with cars?
There's the Gadget Show for similar stuff with other toys, but Clarkson and team need something to focus on. Without the cars, it'd be a struggle to keep attention their way.

Indeed, they seem to have forgotten their old adage "The car's the star" in Episode 2. It started so well with the Aston and then, what did I just watch? Instead of the rather crap shootout piece, they could've built upon the Township car burnout piece by making them scour South Africa for 3 rear drive sheds, put them through some challenges and finish off in a burnout/doughnut challenge with a bunch of locals taking part. That'd been a lot more entertaining and would allow them to explore a different car culture. Lost opportunity there...

**Kilkrazy**

AndrewGPaul wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:
The show is based on the idea that Clarkson and his side-kicks are the essential element.

Top Gear under Chris Evans was based on the idea that they aren't.

In truth, a lot of people like Clarkson et al, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for a good car show that doesn't involve them.

What the last series of Top Gear proved wasn't so much that Clarkson, May and Hammond are necessary, but that an absence of Chris Evans is.

I watched the first episode and was surprised at how much of a bosh Chris Evans managed to make of things given his love of cars and his experience of making popular info/entertainment TV shows.

**AndrewGPaul**

On another forum, it was suggested that Evans might love cars as much as Hammond, May and Clarkson, but he doesn't know anything as much about them.

**General Annoyance**

AndrewGPaul wrote:
On another forum, it was suggested that Evans might love cars as much as Hammond, May and Clarkson, but he doesn't know anything as much about them.

He may love cars, but everyone underestimated the critical chemistry between Clarkson, Hammond and May that made even non petrolheads tune into Top Gear every weekend; that kind of cohesion is extremely hard to replicate. Not impossible, but certainly well out of Evans' reach.

**Future War Cultist**

AndrewGPaul wrote:
On another forum, it was suggested that Evans might love cars as much as Hammond, May and Clarkson, but he doesn't know anything as much about them.

This is true. He might be a car nut, but the GT three are all professional journalists who specialise in cars and thus can be deemed experts. Evans opinions would never carry the same weight as theirs. That and the chemistry thing.

And I think overall episode three has been the best so far. It's only weak spot was celebrity brain crash, again. I know what the problem with it is; they should have limited it to just one person an episode. By doing it three times in the first episode they already played it out.

**AndrewGPaul**

Yeah, best episode so far. Probaly because the extended feature was the three of them cocking about. Now, drop the supercars and get some old bangers out the back of Autotrader.

With Celebrity Brain Crash, was this the first week where we got an actual look at the celeb? IIRC in the previous two, they've been "killed" miles away, so it could be any old stunt double.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Future War Cultist wrote:

And I think overall episode three has been the best so far. It's only weak spot was celebrity brain crash, again. I know what the problem with it is; they should have limited it to just one person an episode. By doing it three times in the first episode they already played it out.

I somewhat agree.... but after watching the episode yesterday, I had a brilliant idea: They need to invite Keith Richards on to the show

There's two ways they could take the joke: one, that it's impossible for Keith to die, and so they talk to him a bit, even if they don't have a "not overly expensive, entry level car" for him to drive around the eboladrome in, OR, they could "do the impossible" and kill Keith Richards

at which point, Id sincerely hope they kill off the segment

**Lord of Deeds**

The last episode was a bit meh. Was a bit disappointed that they were not in a different location. You can certainly tell that the boys are off the leash with regards to some of their comments.

Celebrity brain crash is getting old....

The American is boorish. Miss the Stig.

Has anyone noticed the different gags they do for the intro to conversation street, e.g. Clarkson's high heels, Hammond's big hand, etc.?

My biggest critique is it so much more of it seems staged and forced and not as spontaneous as when on Top Gear which i am guessing is because of how many "takes" they were limited too.

Overall, last show gets a 5 out of 10.

**Paradigm**

I quite liked the last one, it was classic Top Gear insanity turned up to 11. Some studio segments are perhaps getting a little old (as fun as seeing Jimmy Carr explode was, Celebrity Braincrash needs to go, really), but the main feature was great.

I don't mind that they did two in England, as it's still a very British show at its heart and their strongest fanbase is still there.

**Skymate**

Can i throw in my two cents?

Topgear worked as a show because it was entertaining. Watching three middleaged men, stand around and talk about disc brakes isnt amusing. Back in the day [dab-sarn-it] Topgear was a boring show with minimal ratings as it was just a car show. Clarkson even stated in one of his books that "Back in the early day's, we didnt know what we were doing" [or something like that
The show only became a hit since they started doing silly things [like a 47 foot long Panda]
The challange episodes are amusing as its funny when things break down or catch fire. If everything succeded it wouldnt be amusing.

**Lord of Deeds**

Paradigm wrote:
I I don't mind that they did two in England, as it's still a very British show at its heart and their strongest fanbase is still there.

Don't get me wrong I don't dislike the show being set in England, that is undeniably a part of it's charm. But they made a big deal of how they were going to travel around, hence the tent, and not even 4 shows in and they did the show from the same locale as the previous week's show. They didn't even bother moving it to another location in the UK. Some of the best Top Gear shows were those were they went far afield. I also am looking forward to their collective mocking of local politics. The bit about SA's president still has me chuckling.

**Future War Cultist**

I quite liked the latest episode. Lots of funny shenanigans with the race around the props and the game of battleship etc, but they still managed to be a decent car show at the end of the day. What Jermony was saying about the 4C really resonated with me. I own an Alfa, and if I start talking about it, all I will end up doing is criticising it. And yet I wouldn't have anything else in the world.

**BrookM**

Brings back memories of their Lancia special for sure.

**Tamwulf**

I'd watch it only if Jeremy Clarkson shows up drunk, punches a producer and/or intern, climbs into a $350,000 Lamborghini and then wraps it around a cement barrier. Because he was drunk at the time, he'll be OK of course. I want to see a train wreck, not a group of middle aged British men going on a road trip with high end sports cars.

**Lord of Deeds**

Quite liked episode 5. The game of battleship with cars was fun. The car comparison was good. Captain Slow not being so slow was fun. Once again, enjoyed the pot shots they took at the host location which were quite merciless at times. Also did anyone else catch the call out to Musical Youth, and how many of you were thinking the celebrity guests were going to be crushed?

Probably my 2nd favorite episode to date.