Good Day all, this is the Angry Systems Administrator. I have just watched the new Amazon Prime show, The Grand Tour, starring former Top Gear alumni, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. In a nutshell, Top Gear is DEAD! Long Live The Grand Tour!
For those who are not car aficionados, and never heard of the BBC series Top Gear, let me bring you up to speed. Top Gear has been on the BBC in one form or another for a good 20 years. For most of that time, the host, or presenter, as the British refer to their TV hosts, was Jeremy Clarkson. In the early 2000’s, the show was revamped and settled on Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as their presenters.
The show took off and became a world wide phenomenon. It turned into the biggest money making machine the BBC has ever had, with the possible exception of Doctor Who. There was just one teensy problem. Jeremy Clarkson. He has never been one to consider political correctness when speaking, and the BBC, which is a fortress of politically correct thought, has hated him for it.
A couple of years ago, Clarkson got into a fracas with a producer and punched him. This gave the BBC brass all they needed to get rid of him, and they decided not to renew his contract. Within days of that announcement, Both Hammond and May also turned in their notices and left, along with the founding producer of Top Gear.
The BBC announced that they would get new hosts and drive on. Last season was the first with the new hosts, and they didn’t so much as drive on as drive off a cliff. The ratings crashed, the new “Chief Host” (Who’s name escapes me. No problem since he is unimportant), left the show and the BBC is trying to fix things.
While this was going on, The “Terrific Trio” negotiated a deal with Amazon.com and created a new car show titled “The Grand Tour.” They had to do things differently due to copyright issues with the BBC, but the new show still has our heroes driving around the world in million dollar super cars.
Yesterday, the first episode was streamed from Amazon and I watched it. All I can say is, The boys are back! They have managed to maintain the Top Gear feeling without being Top Gear. Even better, thanks to being on the Internet, they are no longer bound by the silly rules of the BBC. As Jeremy Clarkson said in the opening, “I can pleasure a horse if I want to”.
There is no Stig of course. He is owned by the BBC. Normally this would be a civil rights/slavery issue, but we all know the Stig isn’t human and therefore has no rights. In his place, they have a new driver, known as “The American.” Unlike The Stig, The American offers commentary on the cars he test drives on their new Test Track.
Speaking of their new track, it is significantly different and far more dangerous than their original track on that old airfield. This one is shaped like the Ebola virus, and is referred to as “The Eboladrome.” There are no open spaces for someone to run off if they lose control of a car. Just trees and bushes. There are wild animals running around. There is a high voltage electrical substation, that if you crash into it, will electrocute you and you will die. Finally, they had to redo one corner of the track when they found an unexploded bomb under the original section.
The boys were going to have guests on their premier episode, but ran into a few issues. The first one was Jeremy Renner. He was going to parachute into the show, and jumped from the plane at 10,000 feet. However his chute didn’t open and he was killed. They had another star, but as he walked across the California desert, he was attacked by a rattlesnake and he was killed. They had one more star, a woman from England, but she was found dead.
The first show was held in the United States, in the California desert. There was a huge crowd of people, but there was a problem. Jeremy referred to the RAF, (Royal Air Force), as the best air force in the world and the audience took offense. However, things were worked out with a minimum of bloodshed and the show continued.
As you can tell from my basic descriptions, I liked the new show. I really do. I like it very much. As to the original Top Gear on the BBC? When they Terrific Trio left, I removed the entry from my DVR. I highly recommend watching The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime. Amazon is running a special, knocking a good $20 off the regular annual price. If you don’t have Prime, get it. If you don’t have an Amazon Firestick, get that too. They’re under $40 and well worth the price.
Thank you
~The Angry Systems Administrator~
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