The grand Tour - 18th November

[d000hg]

He is a middle aged man... that's what they look like when they don't subscribe to the "you're on TV you have to be ripped" nonsense. Very few people on TV fail to succumb these days, nearly everyone is slender and good-looking. Except Andrew Neil and that bloke who used to do Working Lunch, both were reassuringly homely.

[VectraMan]

Just watched the first 15 minutes. The start was surprisingly emotional with Clarkson leaving the BBC in the rain, finding his friends and ending up in a Mad Max style convoy all to "I can see Clearly Now the Rain has Gone". The explosions looked good in 4K; not so much the presenters.

I'll watch the rest later.

[pjclarke]

He is a middle aged man... that's what they look like when they don't subscribe to the "you're on TV you have to be ripped" nonsense. Very few people on TV fail to succumb these days, nearly everyone is slender and good-looking. Except Andrew Neil and that bloke who used to do Working Lunch, both were reassuringly homely.

[Flashman]

Well I watched it. the intro was nicely done but apart from that very much business as usual. Top Gear in all but name, banter, gormless presenters, track times, silly stunts etc etc more emphasis on cars maybe. Well long sexy shots of supercars anyway which eventually did get a little tedious. Overall the show was about 10 minutes too long. Jeremy Renner bit made me laugh. .

Solid 7/10 but if you aint got Amazon Prime you're not missing that much.

[BackupBoy]

Both reassuringly familiar and expensive.

[original PM]

Watching it now it's like sliding into some comfy slippers when they get going so yeah so far a 9

[Chuck]

Well I watched it. the intro was nicely done but apart from that very much business as usual. Top Gear in all but name, banter, gormless presenters, track times, silly stunts etc etc more emphasis on cars maybe. Well long sexy shots of supercars anyway which eventually did get a little tedious. Overall the show was about 10 minutes too long. Jeremy Renner bit made me laugh. .

Solid 7/10 but if you aint got Amazon Prime you're not missing that much.

I thought the start was great, seriously impressive. The rest was a mix of stuff we've seen before. For me, what made the format work before, was the apparently genuine banter between the presenters. In GT, it was too obviously scripted in many places. I totally agree about it being too long. You could cut 10 minutes without any problem and it would have improved the programme. Early days though, and nothing seriously wrong with it.

The production appears to be much more expensive than the BBC could ever afford. I suspect Amazon will get their money back in spades.

As with Top Gear before it, I suspect I'll watch it occasionally. If you liked TG, you'll like GT. If you didn't like TG, you won't like GT.

[d000hg]

I liked the start and some of the little jokes but found the show pretty dull and a bit too trying to be TG but not being TG... the dead celebrities and not-Stig.

That said they did say this one was an actual cars episode and those were always the ones I was less interested in on proper TG so it might just be I was bored watching the same camera shots of a car going round a bend sideways over and over and over, and the silliness in future episodes will improve.

[d000hg]

Question: were the "stings" they did for those two features (news, the celebrity game thing) supposed to be jokes at someone or something? They seemed so so bad and went nowhere, I wondered if they might even be digs at Chris Evans' TG, which I never watched. Or were they just jokes I didn't get/like?

[DodgyAgent]

I thought the start was great, seriously impressive. The rest was a mix of stuff we've seen before. For me, what made the format work before, was the apparently genuine banter between the presenters. In GT, it was too obviously scripted in many places. I totally agree about it being too long. You could cut 10 minutes without any problem and it would have improved the programme. Early days though, and nothing seriously wrong with it.

The production appears to be much more expensive than the BBC could ever afford. I suspect Amazon will get their money back in spades.

As with Top Gear before it, I suspect I'll watch it occasionally. If you liked TG, you'll like GT. If you didn't like TG, you won't like GT.

WHS