The Grand Tour

[P-Jay]

p1stonhead said:

I too assumed California, South Africa etc would mean an epic drive across the country, the same with every other location for the tent.

I can't believe they wasted millions of pounds travelling the world just for it to be a studio which isn't much of the actual show.

I think an element of the nomadic way they do it is to appeal to the audiences of the countries they visit. For Amazon to consider their investment a sucess they need to sell Prime accounts to more than just UK buyers, but it is odd.

[anonymous-user]

I watched this weeks show this morning after I'd realised Amazon hadn't listed the same episode twice and it really was still in Whitby.

That aside, I'm losing interest in it already in much the same way Top Gear wasn't so appealing over the last few series. I couldn't even be bothered to watch the last 10 minutes and went to work instead.

I think the problem is Richard Hammond.

[ecsrobin]

Shakermaker said:

Yipper said:

The US Stig and sleb parts do not seem to be working:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/12/09/gr...

Edited by Yipper on Friday 9th December 10:14

I think we pretty much all agree on that.

I do want to see how the cars perform against each other on a relatively arbitrary (but equal) footing around the same track with the same driver, but the driver making such nonsense comments is worse than "this week The Stig is listening to Morse Code" which was bad enough.

and the "kill a celeb" bit needs to be killed. Its a place where the "killer" is just "filler" and doesn't work.

I agree with most of that and agree with the post above Hammond brings the show down.

I've just watched all 4 shows back to back and it's awful, the worst part of old top gear was chatting to celebs plugging their films and likewise trying to kill off "celebs" is just bad filler. I wanted to like this but it really is the same as the last few series of top gear a shame as they can occasionally turn out entertaining and interesting TV.

[FiF]

OK only a short bit into ep4, but already chuckling at the Tyke NYPD 48 hours screechy stuff, sithee by 'eck.


I was hoping that after three episodes they would have abandoned all bits that were ostensibly just flicking the V's at the beeb. I mean in some ways the beeb deserves the V's, but enough. Will it continue right through 12 episodes? Not into season 2 surely.

[johnxjsc1985]

I wonder if people no longer just sit back and enjoy TV. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it. It isn't a serious Car programme its a bit of light entertainment and last night was typical three amigos stuff and the hour went over quickly and next week I will do the same sit back and enjoy it. I watched the first Top Gear programme with Evans and thought it was awful and that was enough for me.
It is trying harder to involve a wider audience and as its Amazon backing it rather than the BBC that's understandable.

[bodhi]

I think the celebrity bits are a bit hit and miss at the moment - loved the Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg ones, less amused by last night's with Jimmy Carr. Still if you gave me the option of 30 seconds of Celebrity Braincrash, or 10 minutes of SIARPC, I'd probably go for the 30 seconds of a celebrity getting "killed".

I think last night's was like a fairly standard Top Gear episode, still lots of good bits imo, and I still laughed more at that than I do at some "proper" comedies (I'm thinking Big Bang Theory and Modern Family here).

I did like the not-so-subtle digs at the sustainable living concepr (digging up half the countryside, nothing lasting very long etc), and the enormous dig at Chris Evans TG (BMW tried really hard but in the end it just wasn't very good - possibly a bit childish, but after Evans' shocking catering joke at the start of new TG fair play I thought). Not sure if I understand the basis of the drone joke but I am finding it funny. Liked the smuggling Hammond into the country in an Audi TT section as well, especially when Clarkson got the drill out.

Bits I didn't like - they seem to be reusing a few jokes a few too often (Let's not get bogged down with, etc), and his M4 GTS verdict seemed to contradict what Harris/evo/etc thought of it, but nothing too major.

So I enjoyed it overall, hoping to see some more road trips and cheap car challenges later in the series.

[varsas]

johnxjsc1985 said:

I wonder if people no longer just sit back and enjoy TV. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it.

Well, yes, but it's not free, I paid £60 to watch it and am disapointed by what I got for that so far. You might not like my opinion, but no one is forcing you to read that either, and at least it was free!

Edited by varsas on Friday 9th December 12:42

[bodhi]

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

[chrispmartha]

98elise said:

carl_w said:

varsas said:

Maybe they are missing that last level of experienced oversight to say 'No, that's too long, cut 3 mins' or 'No, that won't work, how about you change it slightly and try this' though I thought that would be Andy Willman's job and he went over

I wondered that, same with the variable sound. BBC gets a bad rap but without it our TV would be endless game shows and reality TV series. Their technical department is first class.

Have you watched BBC recently?

BBC Daytime TV is full of cheap shows filming the public either being ripped off, buying something (antique/house etc.), or appearing on game shows. "Cash in your loft under the hammer" type shows.

Every evening there is a soap opera, and Saturday nights is a celeb panel show....just like every other broadcaster.

If they want to take free cash then they should deliver something that isn't the same as every other broadcaster.

They do if you actually venture away from BBC 1

[Disastrous]

johnxjsc1985 said:

I wonder if people no longer just sit back and enjoy TV. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it.

God forbid folk actually engage their brains and criticise the programming they receive. Much better to just lie back on the sofa like a whale abandoned by the tides, jaw slack and open, eyes vacant and just let the pretty lights dribble into your optic nerve without argument.

[MarshPhantom]

bodhi said:

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

Difference being old TG used to get good reviews in the press, TGT has been a bit of a flop.

[98elise]

MarshPhantom said:

98elise said:

carl_w said:

varsas said:

Maybe they are missing that last level of experienced oversight to say 'No, that's too long, cut 3 mins' or 'No, that won't work, how about you change it slightly and try this' though I thought that would be Andy Willman's job and he went over

I wondered that, same with the variable sound. BBC gets a bad rap but without it our TV would be endless game shows and reality TV series. Their technical department is first class.

Have you watched BBC recently?

BBC Daytime TV is full of cheap shows filming the public either being ripped off, buying something (antique/house etc.), or appearing on game shows. "Cash in your loft under the hammer" type shows.

Every evening there is a soap opera, and Saturday nights is a celeb panel show....just like every other broadcaster.

If they want to take free cash then they should deliver something that isn't the same as every other broadcaster.

The BBC is st because the Tories have slashed and are planning further slashing of their funding.

So none the current daytime shows predate the Tories?

Typical daytime output...

Oxford Street Revealed - People at work.
Homes Under the Hammer - People buying Houses.
Rip Off Britain - People getting ripped off.
Bargain Hunt - People buying/selling Antiques.
Doctors - Soap.
The Doctor Blake Mysteries - Soap.
Think Tank - Quiz.
Escape to the Country - People Buying Houses
Flog It! - People buying/selling Antiques.
Pointless - Quiz.

Was it all opera and documentaries before the Tories got in?

[Quickmoose]

Disastrous said:

johnxjsc1985 said:

I wonder if people no longer just sit back and enjoy TV. If you don't like it you don't have to watch it.

God forbid folk actually engage their brains and criticise the programming they receive. Much better to just lie back on the sofa like a whale abandoned by the tides, jaw slack and open, eyes vacant and just let the pretty lights dribble into your optic nerve without argument.

yeah it's a bit of a rock and hard place if we live by the "if you don't like it switch off" mantra.

I've watched 3 episodes and am on the brink of not watching anymore as it's pretty dire IMO.
Johnx..so you switched off after 2 episodes of 'new' TG and can give your opinion on those 2 episodes but on that basis you'll be unaware if it ever got better, or suited your needs more, or even if there was a solitary piece that would've appealed to you.

Here on PH, arguments and opinions aside, we should all be in agreement that we WANT TG and GT to be brilliant...and they represent the basis of the best car based entertainment on TV, we watch the first new episodes expectantly. Fanboys of either side will not change but the majority have come here to express their views of both missing the mark fpr one reason or another, and the longer the series go on the more likely it is that rather than just avoiding the shows and taking some perceived moral indignant high ground, they watch every episode in the hope it improves and if not, at the very least they can fast forward through the ever increasing amounts of filler, to watch that one beautifully crafted bit.
Simply switching off and potentially missing out on a few minutes of quality, or missing out on the gradual improvements generally seems to me, rather short sighted.

[ChocolateFrog]

I enjoyed it. Agree that the brain crash bit and American stig are not worth watching. They need to replace him with Randy Pobst from MotorTrend.

I did laugh out loud when Clarkson turned up in a dead cow.

[768]

MarshPhantom said:

bodhi said:

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

Difference being old TG used to get good reviews in the press, TGT has been a bit of a flop.

I've only seen reviews of the first episode. But they could hardly have been better.

[Quickmoose]

768 said:

MarshPhantom said:

bodhi said:

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

Difference being old TG used to get good reviews in the press, TGT has been a bit of a flop.

I've only seen reviews of the first episode. But they could hardly have been better.

Fawning over the old geezers does not a review make.

It was an awesome intro sequence followed by a stunning lack of anything worthy of note and some added disappointment.

[Debaser]

Watched the first one and thought it was good, was less fussed by the second one. It obviously didn't make much of an impact as I haven't bothered to watch the next two.

[768]

Quickmoose said:

768 said:

MarshPhantom said:

bodhi said:

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

Difference being old TG used to get good reviews in the press, TGT has been a bit of a flop.

I've only seen reviews of the first episode. But they could hardly have been better.

Fawning over the old geezers does not a review make.

It was an awesome intro sequence followed by a stunning lack of anything worthy of note and some added disappointment.

I'm not sure why positive reviews over TGT would be mere fawning if they weren't with TG.

[bodhi]

768 said:

MarshPhantom said:

bodhi said:

Hehe, so not only is the programme quite similar to CHM-era Top Gear, but the PH threads are pretty much a carbon copy too

Difference being old TG used to get good reviews in the press, TGT has been a bit of a flop.

I've only seen reviews of the first episode. But they could hardly have been better.

Only episode I've seen where the reviews weren't so great was the 2nd one - ironically enough, the one that was a departure from what they'd done before.

However it's still sitting at 9.4/10 on IMDB and 4.5/5 on Amazon. Given the strength of the other reviews as well, I would say "flop" is in interesting (and wrong) choice of words.

[Morningside]

Not seen it yet but this thread is quite funny. I am expecting a petition quite soon on here to bring back Chris Evans!!