The Grand Tour

It's so lovely to see these three back at work. So far (two episodes) it seems a little wordier than the old Top Gear, but the chemistry is there so millions should be pleased. I don't care for the no celebrity laps, no Stig (the American replacement is a silly caricature and I imagine won't be there long) but I am so very happy to have these silly bastards back on the air.

Ridiculously boring most of the time. Their scripted acts are just horrendous. Edit: Bumping the score further down to T1 due to increasing racist and sexist commentary by the hosts. It's quite tasteless.

I'm not really a car guy myself, but these 3 make this stuff entertaining enough that it doesn't matter to me. Also, there is some really impressive cinematography, especially gorgeous to look at in HDR.

T̶o̶p̶ ̶G̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶2̶ The Grand Tour is now on our screens through Amazon & it really is not a far stone's throw from the original TG format. In fact, it is the same format, with some tap dancing by the production team to bypass any competition/IP clauses in place. From a cinephile perspective the editing/ cinematography is cutting edge. One noticeable difference is how content TGT is with presenting lavish, fictional set pieces as reality, maybe influenced by US standards..

Fuck this shit.

The Grand Tour never reaches the highs that Clarkson, Hammond, and May reached during prime Top Gear but it's nice to see Amazon spend some real money to keep this format going for a while longer. These three are still fun, insightful, and have a lot to say about cars, car culture, and those who drive them.