I watched all of it from back in the day, they had no star power, they took cheap shots, had the tacky write in segment which became hilarious, it was superbly weird with the infotainment section. However it wasn't like they have the insane budget, advertising and celebrities they have now.
Not the budget, but they sure as hell had plenty of cash. They were banking on the old Top Gear name, and they were willing to throw cash at it till it worked. Sure, it's not 2014 Top Gear kind of money, but very few shows anywhere had that kind of cash back then. They weren't shy about spending on it, though, they threw what they had behind it - they bet big on Top Gear, and it paid off in the end.
However it wasn't like they have the insane budget, advertising and celebrities they have now.
They were still a household name in the UK, as was Clarkson, and Hammond was a popular radio presenter. And don't forget, they were primarily focused on their primary market, the UK, not secondary markets like ours - wasn't much in the way of streaming or even episode downloads, back then, their worldwide market was primarily from syndication and DVD/tape sales.
The Celebrities came easy, though - the BBC doesn't have much trouble booking basically any British celebrity. Everybody's gigged for the BBC before, comes with the territory. They focused on stars that their primary audience related to more.
I find it difficult to compare the two on equal footing (especially the way it has been marketed). Also the constant jabs at the previous show continue to remind the viewer of the previous show, and that is simply bad.
Now that I agree with. They need to let the past remain the past, and move forward with their own thing.
And really, it's even difficult to compare the start of Old New Top Gear with the end, considering how much broadcasting, advertising, budgets, and technology have changed in the intervening period. And comparing the two - it's comparing a show with hosts who had been in the role for the better part of a decade, with that crew, with that format, with all the shit they had going on working like a well-oiled machine, to a show that's not even on it's third episode yet. Hell, I'd be wary comparing them until at least the end of the first season.
Needless to say, they'll keep at it, and improve over time. Top Gear 3 isn't going away any time soon, I'd wager.
Every other time somebody has tried to make Top Gear it has failed pretty hard, I gave Top Gear Australia and Top Gear America good tries but when it came down to it, the hosts were the most important.
That's not really true, though. Australia failed, but America has found it's feet and is doing reasonably well in it's markets, Russia fell over because it was garbage in basically every aspect regardless of the name, Korea(Cancelled due to a chopper crash, rather than ratings), China and France are all doing amazingly well in their language markets - in fact, the french version last year was one of the most popular programs on French TV, and made a pretty big splash in french language TV worldwide. Top Gear Magazine is a pretty popular motoring magazine, and they do well compared to other motoring sites online.
Really, the least successful Top Gear spinoff that wasn't quickly cancelled is Fifth Gear.
The fun theory that's popped up recently - Evans was the sacrificial lamb, Ellen Pao style, because they knew anyone who replaced Clarkson would be hated regardless of how well they did, and anyone who replaced that person would be loved, just for being the replacement to the person they hated. The difference being that Evans was actually in on it, unlike Pao.
And considering that Evans has been getting death threats and blind, ceaseless hatred basically constantly since before so much as a second of footage had ever actually aired, the theory is at least half right.
Grand Tour is great fun. The photography and audio is even better than Top Gear.
Well worth the watch.
They finally were able to do the hyper car show down (Porsche 918 vs Ferrari LaFerrari vs McLaren P1). New track seems well thought out, won't do any further spoilers.
I didn't realise they retained the majority of their production team.
I didn't realise they retained the majority of their production team.
Nor did I, I thought they only took Willman, the three, and maybe one or two others. I certainly didn't hear about any mass vanishings from the BBC in terms of crew.
Turns out, that's a bit more marketing spin than I think they'd like to admit, and I'd put money on that it's partially twisting the knife on the BBC. They do have about a dozen folk who are Ex-top gear crew - but only if you count everyone, even people who were only on one or two episodes, and count the people who were basically just gophers. And only 2-3 of them were actually working on Top Gear when Jeremy had his little Hangry fit and got himself fired, most of them left in 2014 or earlier. Unless, of course, the crew list I found is incomplete, which is a possibility.
That said, I was honestly a little disappointed with Grand tour's first episode. They finally had all this money, and they were finally free of the BBC, strict BBC insurance, OFCOM(well, somewhat more free), the BBC's very nervy OHS department, the BBC lawyers, all the people who Jeremy has whinged about for years and years, and blamed top gear not having really cool and crazy stuff because of, they finally had a chance to fully stretch out their creative wings, they spend months hinting that it's going to be so huge, and so crazy and... They basically just made Top Gear with the serial numbers filed off, and a bigger budget.
I mean, yeah, cool, I like Top Gear as they did it, but after all that run up, it's like traveling to far off lands to experience something completely new and exotic, spending thousands on an airfare, and then eating a Mcdonalds burger in the airport and going home. Sure, it's a very fancy McDonalds burger, it's one of the promo ones with the Angus beef and the fancy-esque sauce, and they serve it on the wooden paddle thing because plates are just too unstylish, but it's still a Maccas burger.
I didn't realise they retained the majority of their production team.
Nor did I, I thought they only took Willman, the three, and maybe one or two others. I certainly didn't hear about any mass vanishings from the BBC in terms of crew.
Turns out, that's a bit more marketing spin than I think they'd like to admit, and I'd put money on that it's partially twisting the knife on the BBC. They do have about a dozen folk who are Ex-top gear crew - but only if you count everyone, even people who were only on one or two episodes, and count the people who were basically just gophers. And only 2-3 of them were actually working on Top Gear when Jeremy had his little Hangry fit and got himself fired, most of them left in 2014 or earlier. Unless, of course, the crew list I found is incomplete, which is a possibility.
That said, I was honestly a little disappointed with Grand tour's first episode. They finally had all this money, and they were finally free of the BBC, strict BBC insurance, OFCOM(well, somewhat more free), the BBC's very nervy OHS department, the BBC lawyers, all the people who Jeremy has whinged about for years and years, and blamed top gear not having really cool and crazy stuff because of, they finally had a chance to fully stretch out their creative wings, they spend months hinting that it's going to be so huge, and so crazy and... They basically just made Top Gear with the serial numbers filed off, and a bigger budget.
I mean, yeah, cool, I like Top Gear as they did it, but after all that run up, it's like traveling to far off lands to experience something completely new and exotic, spending thousands on an airfare, and then eating a Mcdonalds burger in the airport and going home. Sure, it's a very fancy McDonalds burger, it's one of the promo ones with the Angus beef and the fancy-esque sauce, and they serve it on the wooden paddle thing because plates are just too unstylish, but it's still a Maccas burger.
These were my thoughts too. It came off as safe and tongue-in-cheek, though I did enjoy the celebrity bit. The way they advertised it, it seemed like it was going to be more like a really long version of the special episodes they did on Top Gear rather than a rehash of the whole show, so it was a bit of a surprise and let-down to see it. I'm hoping that this was just a way to ease fans into it and they go more afield in the rest of the season.
I only watch the first five minutes or so. The opening was fun, but with the crowds and the stage and the band, it all seemed way too self-congratulatory way too early.
I'm not sure why I expected it, but I thought it would start off with the assumption that this was a new show seeking a new audience. If I didn't know who these three guys were, nothing they did on the show up to that point (4 minutes in) would give me any reason to think they deserve a Burning Man style rock concert with flame explosions and massive crowds in the desert.
By the end of the show, where they've toured the whole world and are in the home stretch and all the people they've met along the way have come to take part in the grand finale? Sure, rock show in the desert.
It feels like they are cashing in early on a reputation built by the BBC, and it doesn't really feel like they are owed so much credit for that just yet.
I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the episode at some point, so who knows, maybe I'll come around.
I would like to see them go crazy but first can they at least have the fortitude to not censor am F bomb? I mean if you wanted to really throw off the BBC shackles then don't blur the image of a mouth saying "Fuck". Just let us have it.
Also the girl smiling behind Clarkson in the tent should be a meme by now. Time to go check.
I didn't realise they retained the majority of their production team.
Nor did I, I thought they only took Willman, the three, and maybe one or two others. I certainly didn't hear about any mass vanishings from the BBC in terms of crew.
Turns out, that's a bit more marketing spin than I think they'd like to admit, and I'd put money on that it's partially twisting the knife on the BBC. They do have about a dozen folk who are Ex-top gear crew - but only if you count everyone, even people who were only on one or two episodes, and count the people who were basically just gophers. And only 2-3 of them were actually working on Top Gear when Jeremy had his little Hangry fit and got himself fired, most of them left in 2014 or earlier. Unless, of course, the crew list I found is incomplete, which is a possibility.
That said, I was honestly a little disappointed with Grand tour's first episode. They finally had all this money, and they were finally free of the BBC, strict BBC insurance, OFCOM(well, somewhat more free), the BBC's very nervy OHS department, the BBC lawyers, all the people who Jeremy has whinged about for years and years, and blamed top gear not having really cool and crazy stuff because of, they finally had a chance to fully stretch out their creative wings, they spend months hinting that it's going to be so huge, and so crazy and... They basically just made Top Gear with the serial numbers filed off, and a bigger budget.
I mean, yeah, cool, I like Top Gear as they did it, but after all that run up, it's like traveling to far off lands to experience something completely new and exotic, spending thousands on an airfare, and then eating a Mcdonalds burger in the airport and going home. Sure, it's a very fancy McDonalds burger, it's one of the promo ones with the Angus beef and the fancy-esque sauce, and they serve it on the wooden paddle thing because plates are just too unstylish, but it's still a Maccas burger.
Alternatively you could also make a metaphor to home food (having the original 3 presenters). I agree it was too self congratulatory, I assumed they were just rubbing it into BBC because they can. The crowd around the tent intro may be trying to make something like a Bubblegum Rally type scene for 3 old guys.
I haven't bothered to listen to the complaints back and forth. I was really just wanting the 3 old mental fools driving great cars.
After the terrible Topgear re-release, I was just happy to watch the hyper car shoot out and the familiar banter with the great shots. It looks like they are filming in HDR and based on what is available, it is being filmed in 4k.
The weekly release is a smart release formula vs the instant binge model as they will carry they hyper over a longer period rather than spark then fizzle out.
The impression I got with the first show is that they wanted to make clear that they are focusing more on cars, or at least going by the clips that they showed. I got the feeling that they were getting a bit sick of doing all the wacky challenges and that.
The impression I got with the first show is that they wanted to make clear that they are focusing more on cars, or at least going by the clips that they showed. I got the feeling that they were getting a bit sick of doing all the wacky challenges and that.
The montage of cars getting shot at, explosions, and a car ramping on to a boat gave me a slightly different impression. We'll just have to wait and see where it goes I guess.
The impression I got with the first show is that they wanted to make clear that they are focusing more on cars, or at least going by the clips that they showed. I got the feeling that they were getting a bit sick of doing all the wacky challenges and that.
The montage of cars getting shot at, explosions, and a car ramping on to a boat gave me a slightly different impression. We'll just have to wait and see where it goes I guess.
Haha I had forgotten that till you mentioned it. I get the feeling with that one that they are not using home made cars. Which is sort of what I was getting at. Still seeing some of the challenges, which are interesting, bu t without the 'our producers gave us £500 to buy a super car that we can turn into cheese graters'.
I didn't mind the second episode, however the celebrity thing is kind of losing it's charm for the viewer but the live audience might be being targeted.
The jokes seem very well targeted to the audience of the tent which gives each episode a very different yet similar feel to the discussion.
Also they launched their own niche social media platform called "Drive Tribe". Interesting idea although the site and apps are made for simple people, only being able to login via Facebook last time I checked. Also they aren't filtering scam bots. The UI is trash from a native perspective for Android and iOS.
Some of the best content are the highlighted channels.
Comments
The Celebrities came easy, though - the BBC doesn't have much trouble booking basically any British celebrity. Everybody's gigged for the BBC before, comes with the territory. They focused on stars that their primary audience related to more. Now that I agree with. They need to let the past remain the past, and move forward with their own thing.
And really, it's even difficult to compare the start of Old New Top Gear with the end, considering how much broadcasting, advertising, budgets, and technology have changed in the intervening period. And comparing the two - it's comparing a show with hosts who had been in the role for the better part of a decade, with that crew, with that format, with all the shit they had going on working like a well-oiled machine, to a show that's not even on it's third episode yet. Hell, I'd be wary comparing them until at least the end of the first season.
Needless to say, they'll keep at it, and improve over time. Top Gear 3 isn't going away any time soon, I'd wager. That's not really true, though. Australia failed, but America has found it's feet and is doing reasonably well in it's markets, Russia fell over because it was garbage in basically every aspect regardless of the name, Korea(Cancelled due to a chopper crash, rather than ratings), China and France are all doing amazingly well in their language markets - in fact, the french version last year was one of the most popular programs on French TV, and made a pretty big splash in french language TV worldwide. Top Gear Magazine is a pretty popular motoring magazine, and they do well compared to other motoring sites online.
Really, the least successful Top Gear spinoff that wasn't quickly cancelled is Fifth Gear.
And considering that Evans has been getting death threats and blind, ceaseless hatred basically constantly since before so much as a second of footage had ever actually aired, the theory is at least half right.
Well worth the watch.
They finally were able to do the hyper car show down (Porsche 918 vs Ferrari LaFerrari vs McLaren P1).
New track seems well thought out, won't do any further spoilers.
I didn't realise they retained the majority of their production team.
Turns out, that's a bit more marketing spin than I think they'd like to admit, and I'd put money on that it's partially twisting the knife on the BBC. They do have about a dozen folk who are Ex-top gear crew - but only if you count everyone, even people who were only on one or two episodes, and count the people who were basically just gophers. And only 2-3 of them were actually working on Top Gear when Jeremy had his little Hangry fit and got himself fired, most of them left in 2014 or earlier. Unless, of course, the crew list I found is incomplete, which is a possibility.
That said, I was honestly a little disappointed with Grand tour's first episode. They finally had all this money, and they were finally free of the BBC, strict BBC insurance, OFCOM(well, somewhat more free), the BBC's very nervy OHS department, the BBC lawyers, all the people who Jeremy has whinged about for years and years, and blamed top gear not having really cool and crazy stuff because of, they finally had a chance to fully stretch out their creative wings, they spend months hinting that it's going to be so huge, and so crazy and... They basically just made Top Gear with the serial numbers filed off, and a bigger budget.
I mean, yeah, cool, I like Top Gear as they did it, but after all that run up, it's like traveling to far off lands to experience something completely new and exotic, spending thousands on an airfare, and then eating a Mcdonalds burger in the airport and going home. Sure, it's a very fancy McDonalds burger, it's one of the promo ones with the Angus beef and the fancy-esque sauce, and they serve it on the wooden paddle thing because plates are just too unstylish, but it's still a Maccas burger.
I'm not sure why I expected it, but I thought it would start off with the assumption that this was a new show seeking a new audience. If I didn't know who these three guys were, nothing they did on the show up to that point (4 minutes in) would give me any reason to think they deserve a Burning Man style rock concert with flame explosions and massive crowds in the desert.
By the end of the show, where they've toured the whole world and are in the home stretch and all the people they've met along the way have come to take part in the grand finale? Sure, rock show in the desert.
It feels like they are cashing in early on a reputation built by the BBC, and it doesn't really feel like they are owed so much credit for that just yet.
I'm sure I'll watch the rest of the episode at some point, so who knows, maybe I'll come around.
Also the girl smiling behind Clarkson in the tent should be a meme by now. Time to go check.
I agree it was too self congratulatory, I assumed they were just rubbing it into BBC because they can.
The crowd around the tent intro may be trying to make something like a Bubblegum Rally type scene for 3 old guys.
I haven't bothered to listen to the complaints back and forth. I was really just wanting the 3 old mental fools driving great cars.
After the terrible Topgear re-release, I was just happy to watch the hyper car shoot out and the familiar banter with the great shots. It looks like they are filming in HDR and based on what is available, it is being filmed in 4k.
The weekly release is a smart release formula vs the instant binge model as they will carry they hyper over a longer period rather than spark then fizzle out.
The jokes seem very well targeted to the audience of the tent which gives each episode a very different yet similar feel to the discussion.
Also they launched their own niche social media platform called "Drive Tribe". Interesting idea although the site and apps are made for simple people, only being able to login via Facebook last time I checked. Also they aren't filtering scam bots. The UI is trash from a native perspective for Android and iOS.
Some of the best content are the highlighted channels.