The Grand Tour - PH ratings
Poll: The Grand Tour - PH ratings
Total Members Polled: 280
Discussion
How did PHers rate series 1 of the grand tour. Complain or praise, ALL views are welcome on this thread. 
Nobody's right or wrong, no arguing, no insulting, just leave a score and some comments if you feel like it.
I know there's still 2 episodes to go so feel free to wait till the end if you want
Nobody's right or wrong, no arguing, no insulting, just leave a score and some comments if you feel like it.
I know there's still 2 episodes to go so feel free to wait till the end if you want
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 21st January 00:14
I gave it 4. It has some good moments amongst all the bad. There has been far too much bits that aren't worth watching.
It's not a complete flop, but 4 is as high as it justifies in my opinion.
It's the lack of ideas and originality that is the most worrying. The smut humour adds nothing for me. That's for sneering young boys.
It would be interesting to see who is actually voting rather than it being anonymous. Their reasoning would be good to hear.
It's not a complete flop, but 4 is as high as it justifies in my opinion.
It's the lack of ideas and originality that is the most worrying. The smut humour adds nothing for me. That's for sneering young boys.
It would be interesting to see who is actually voting rather than it being anonymous. Their reasoning would be good to hear.
Yipper said:
Old Top Gear = 9/10.
Grand Tour = 7/10
Wheeler Dealers = 6/10
New Top Gear = 4/10.
I can honestly say New Top Gear was more enjoyable than Grand Tour. I found the latter an exercise of tolerance, trying constantly to "give them a chance." I gave up after 5 episodes. It's just not entertaining, unfunny and there are a million better things to watch.Grand Tour = 7/10
Wheeler Dealers = 6/10
New Top Gear = 4/10.
The New Top Gear had fresh faces. Chris Harris, Rory Reed and Matt Le Blanc were entertaining. They may not have the chemistry just yet, but I enjoyed them over the tired scripted three in TGT.
I gave it a 1/10
I thought it was/is terrible. It's one of the only series I've given up on before half way,
I thought it was like all the worst bits of top gear put together and exaggerated. The humour was contrived and over scripted, I don't think I found any of it funny and the three old blokes looked like they were trying too hard, I actually cringed when watching it. Even May looked embarrassed. They have become a dodgy pastiche of their former selves. I even found myself fast forwarding the episodes I did watch.
It reminded me of watching Connery doing his last bond film (never say never again) and trying to be Bond, but was now just a bit old and fat and unconvincing.
TBH I hope it gets panned and they seriously do some work before the next series because they can all do much better TV than this rubbish. I accept I'm probably not the target audience and it's a way of getting customers into Amazon but this is just a lazy, cash grab, vanity project for Clarkson. Amazon have given him free reign and the result is not good at all.
I thought it was/is terrible. It's one of the only series I've given up on before half way,
I thought it was like all the worst bits of top gear put together and exaggerated. The humour was contrived and over scripted, I don't think I found any of it funny and the three old blokes looked like they were trying too hard, I actually cringed when watching it. Even May looked embarrassed. They have become a dodgy pastiche of their former selves. I even found myself fast forwarding the episodes I did watch.
It reminded me of watching Connery doing his last bond film (never say never again) and trying to be Bond, but was now just a bit old and fat and unconvincing.
TBH I hope it gets panned and they seriously do some work before the next series because they can all do much better TV than this rubbish. I accept I'm probably not the target audience and it's a way of getting customers into Amazon but this is just a lazy, cash grab, vanity project for Clarkson. Amazon have given him free reign and the result is not good at all.
I gave it a 7, I think the filmed sections are stylistically on the whole as good as they ever were and certainly stand head & shoulders above the dross Evans put out which is our alternative. That said, the themes need looking at but how do you top driving to the artic circle? I have missed the in depth features we used to get on cars (not the Clarkson being a hooligan on a track but the filmed long form reviews) & would prefer more of them.
I think the studio sections are dire and the locations bear no relevance to the filmed segments so why bother dragging it round the world? I will stick with it though because the alternative is Evans or even nothing - I know he's been moved on but wothout the competition the BBC won't need to try and I dont want another DownBakeCelebFactor in my life thanks.
I think the studio sections are dire and the locations bear no relevance to the filmed segments so why bother dragging it round the world? I will stick with it though because the alternative is Evans or even nothing - I know he's been moved on but wothout the competition the BBC won't need to try and I dont want another DownBakeCelebFactor in my life thanks.
Old Top Gear 9/10
The Grand Tour 6/10
New Top Gear 5/10
Not up to date with TGT yet, but what I've seen so far has been hit and miss. Glad they don't have celebrity interviews, but hope they ditch brain crash as the joke got stale pretty quick. Most of the studio segments are a bit poor, need to be a bit more car focused.
Personally I think they need to focus and improve on the challenges. Old TG excelled at both the mini challenges (buy an old Porsche/Alfa etc) or the specials (like S.America/Burma) Not really had that so far, Namibia was ok but beach buggys were the wrong choice. Needed proper cars with a bit of 'soul' which they could develop a love/hate relationship with, such as Jeremy's RR in S.America, or 'Oliver' in Botswana
)
Hopefully feedback on the 1st series will help improve it. Likewise with new TG, given time I think it will improve (with or without Evans). Just need time for the presenters to gel. It took the old TG a while to get going, but everyone forgets that. New TG needs to get more features which include more of the team together so they can build an on screen bond. At the moment it's too many individual pieces.
The Grand Tour 6/10
New Top Gear 5/10
Not up to date with TGT yet, but what I've seen so far has been hit and miss. Glad they don't have celebrity interviews, but hope they ditch brain crash as the joke got stale pretty quick. Most of the studio segments are a bit poor, need to be a bit more car focused.
Personally I think they need to focus and improve on the challenges. Old TG excelled at both the mini challenges (buy an old Porsche/Alfa etc) or the specials (like S.America/Burma) Not really had that so far, Namibia was ok but beach buggys were the wrong choice. Needed proper cars with a bit of 'soul' which they could develop a love/hate relationship with, such as Jeremy's RR in S.America, or 'Oliver' in Botswana
)Hopefully feedback on the 1st series will help improve it. Likewise with new TG, given time I think it will improve (with or without Evans). Just need time for the presenters to gel. It took the old TG a while to get going, but everyone forgets that. New TG needs to get more features which include more of the team together so they can build an on screen bond. At the moment it's too many individual pieces.
Gave it 2. Content varies from infuriating (celebrity brain crash and the American) to banal ( making a car from bricks or building a reef from car bodies) and there are no guests nor any news. Occasionally there is an actual car review or discussion about a car that interests me but the presentations are over scripted and the threesome is strait jacketed into narrowly prescribed personas. They make virtually no use of the locations where they pitch their tent. When you see James May in one of his own series he comes across as a much more thoughtful chap than his role here.
Now that I think of it a 2 was generous.
Now that I think of it a 2 was generous.
The grand tour 6/10 - i think its pretty much the same as the old one - yes it needs more car reviews etc.
Old top Gear 6/10 - as above
New Top Gear 8/10 - My only gripe was Chris Evans, but now he has gone the car content was better done - rory and harris have transformed that program.
To me, you need JC, RH and JM to 'hand over' to Rory/Harris for the car reviews and the original 3 just have banter in the studio between reviews.
Old top Gear 6/10 - as above
New Top Gear 8/10 - My only gripe was Chris Evans, but now he has gone the car content was better done - rory and harris have transformed that program.
To me, you need JC, RH and JM to 'hand over' to Rory/Harris for the car reviews and the original 3 just have banter in the studio between reviews.
Voted 6, could have gone with 5 just as easily.
It's just not there for me, I think the overriding thing for me is that - the bits they brought from TG are old and stale, they've been doing it forever - they're not actors, so the bits when they're acting are wooden as they've always been, the bits when they're presenting are better (the bits in the films, not the tent) and the new things - I don't need to list them don't work.
The best bits of TG were always the times during the big adventures when they were in the moment, being themselves - not presenting a script and not acting out their characters - it was always rare on TG and there's less of it on TGT.
I liked the idea of the moving studio when I first read about it, but really it doesn't make sense - "Welcome to the Grand Tour, were coming to you today from South Africa, now here's a film we made in Italy punctuated by some 2nd unit vids from a deserted trading estate in Surrey we're calling a track" - what's the point?
Sadly I'm out now, I signed up for a Trial, partly to order all my Cmas stuff without delivery charges, watched the first few, forgot to cancel and had it for another month and watched some more - it ended 2 days before the final episode - I didn't want to pay £6 to watch it, which is pretty daming, it's not a lot of money - I can't be bothered to torrent it.
I have to conclude that over how ever many hundred episodes of TG over 15 years or whatever it was they've had exhausted every good idea they've ever had.
It's just not there for me, I think the overriding thing for me is that - the bits they brought from TG are old and stale, they've been doing it forever - they're not actors, so the bits when they're acting are wooden as they've always been, the bits when they're presenting are better (the bits in the films, not the tent) and the new things - I don't need to list them don't work.
The best bits of TG were always the times during the big adventures when they were in the moment, being themselves - not presenting a script and not acting out their characters - it was always rare on TG and there's less of it on TGT.
I liked the idea of the moving studio when I first read about it, but really it doesn't make sense - "Welcome to the Grand Tour, were coming to you today from South Africa, now here's a film we made in Italy punctuated by some 2nd unit vids from a deserted trading estate in Surrey we're calling a track" - what's the point?
Sadly I'm out now, I signed up for a Trial, partly to order all my Cmas stuff without delivery charges, watched the first few, forgot to cancel and had it for another month and watched some more - it ended 2 days before the final episode - I didn't want to pay £6 to watch it, which is pretty daming, it's not a lot of money - I can't be bothered to torrent it.
I have to conclude that over how ever many hundred episodes of TG over 15 years or whatever it was they've had exhausted every good idea they've ever had.
4/10
Tops.
A smattering of good bits followed up with copious recycled mulch and frequent cases of phoning it in.
I remember seeing an interview by Willman saying most shows ran over an hour because they had a lot of material and were struggling, struggling to cram it all in. On the basis of what we've seen so far, they could have had most episodes done in 45 minutes and the special could have been a single hour show quite easily.
I wonder if it's like when you've spent a very long time writing something. Like a thesis, and you think it's fine, but then some one else reads it and they find 10 mistakes on the first page and reckon you could easily chop a paragraph from the introduction. An exercise in can't see the wood for the trees.
I'll finish out the series and I'll likely watch the first one of the second series, but if it's more of the same at that point I'll not bother and just wait for the reviews to see if there was anything worthwhile.
Good job I get other use out of Prime. I'd be gutted if I'd bought it just for TGT.
Tops.
A smattering of good bits followed up with copious recycled mulch and frequent cases of phoning it in.
I remember seeing an interview by Willman saying most shows ran over an hour because they had a lot of material and were struggling, struggling to cram it all in. On the basis of what we've seen so far, they could have had most episodes done in 45 minutes and the special could have been a single hour show quite easily.
I wonder if it's like when you've spent a very long time writing something. Like a thesis, and you think it's fine, but then some one else reads it and they find 10 mistakes on the first page and reckon you could easily chop a paragraph from the introduction. An exercise in can't see the wood for the trees.
I'll finish out the series and I'll likely watch the first one of the second series, but if it's more of the same at that point I'll not bother and just wait for the reviews to see if there was anything worthwhile.
Good job I get other use out of Prime. I'd be gutted if I'd bought it just for TGT.
Old Top Gear = 9/10
New Top Gear = 5/10
The Grand Tour = 3/10
Such a disappointment. We'd just had the awkward new era of Top Gear and it was OK nothing too bad. The Grand Tour was going to put things right, it was the old three back on our screens in what seemed like an age since their last Top Gear episode. The good things I saw were the opening sequence in the first episode, the first time a celebrity got "killed" was a laugh and the "holy trinity" review (although the CH review was massively better).
After that there was the truly awful second episode. Nothing for us car fans to enjoy in that one and it was becoming obvious that every feature, every studio segment etc were being scripted (badly!) to the nth degree. CMH were no longer the guys you'd love to chat down the pub with, they became some of the worst comedians I've had the displeasure to watch.
The third episode was the decider for me. A classic TG style tour in a beautiful locale with three cracking cars... Unfortunately it was just rubbish. Childish humour that dragged on and on. If they couldn't do a feature like this remotely competently then to me the series was a dud. I haven't watched since and the comments on this thread have reinforced my belief that I've saved myself countless wasted hours watching anymore.
New Top Gear = 5/10
The Grand Tour = 3/10
Such a disappointment. We'd just had the awkward new era of Top Gear and it was OK nothing too bad. The Grand Tour was going to put things right, it was the old three back on our screens in what seemed like an age since their last Top Gear episode. The good things I saw were the opening sequence in the first episode, the first time a celebrity got "killed" was a laugh and the "holy trinity" review (although the CH review was massively better).
After that there was the truly awful second episode. Nothing for us car fans to enjoy in that one and it was becoming obvious that every feature, every studio segment etc were being scripted (badly!) to the nth degree. CMH were no longer the guys you'd love to chat down the pub with, they became some of the worst comedians I've had the displeasure to watch.
The third episode was the decider for me. A classic TG style tour in a beautiful locale with three cracking cars... Unfortunately it was just rubbish. Childish humour that dragged on and on. If they couldn't do a feature like this remotely competently then to me the series was a dud. I haven't watched since and the comments on this thread have reinforced my belief that I've saved myself countless wasted hours watching anymore.
El stovey said:
I gave it a 1/10
I thought it was/is terrible. It's one of the only series I've given up on before half way,
I thought it was like all the worst bits of top gear put together and exaggerated. The humour was contrived and over scripted, I don't think I found any of it funny and the three old blokes looked like they were trying too hard, I actually cringed when watching it. Even May looked embarrassed. They have become a dodgy pastiche of their former selves. I even found myself fast forwarding the episodes I did watch.
It reminded me of watching Connery doing his last bond film (never say never again) and trying to be Bond, but was now just a bit old and fat and unconvincing.
TBH I hope it gets panned and they seriously do some work before the next series because they can all do much better TV than this rubbish. I accept I'm probably not the target audience and it's a way of getting customers into Amazon but this is just a lazy, cash grab, vanity project for Clarkson. Amazon have given him free reign and the result is not good at all.
I agree with the above 100% May looks genuinely embarrassed. I suspect he is the brightest of the three by some margin, and presumably there to pick up a big cheque, and can’t really argue against that. He looks an awful lot more comfortable putting together lawnmowers and record players.I thought it was/is terrible. It's one of the only series I've given up on before half way,
I thought it was like all the worst bits of top gear put together and exaggerated. The humour was contrived and over scripted, I don't think I found any of it funny and the three old blokes looked like they were trying too hard, I actually cringed when watching it. Even May looked embarrassed. They have become a dodgy pastiche of their former selves. I even found myself fast forwarding the episodes I did watch.
It reminded me of watching Connery doing his last bond film (never say never again) and trying to be Bond, but was now just a bit old and fat and unconvincing.
TBH I hope it gets panned and they seriously do some work before the next series because they can all do much better TV than this rubbish. I accept I'm probably not the target audience and it's a way of getting customers into Amazon but this is just a lazy, cash grab, vanity project for Clarkson. Amazon have given him free reign and the result is not good at all.
Hammond seems not to be some sort of caricature of himself, and looks uncomfortably like Danny Collins, the washed up rock star played by Al Pacino in the film of the same name.
It is horribly scripted, no banter at all anymore, I think it is time to knock it on the head. All three have done some excellent TV work individually. Some of Clarkson’s ‘serious’ programs have been exceptional. They can all do so much better than this crap.
Voted 1/10, by the way. Possibly should have been 2 for May’s GT40 piece.
Gassing Station | TV, Film, Video Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff