The Grand Tour reunites the classic trio
BBC really dropped the ball when they fired Jeremy Clarkson. Yes, he did punch a producer, and yes, he made racist comments all the time, but firing him was the wrong action. Top Gear was BBC’s biggest show and made them millions of dollars every episode. What BBC failed to see was that it was never about the cars the hosts drove or the guest stars every episode — it was about the three main hosts. James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson are what made Top Gear so great. And when BBC fired Clarkson, the other two quit. The new hosts of Top Gear have no chemistry together, and no show can capture the heart that it used to have, until now.
The Grand Tour is an Amazon Prime exclusive show that stars Hammond, May and Clarkson in quite possibly the best car show ever. In case you didn’t know about The Grand Tour, it is a show in which three hosts travel around the world and are given challenges. Each host builds or buys a car then compete with these cars, pushing them to their limits. Car enthusiasts will understand all the jargon in the show, but you don’t need to be in love with cars to laugh. The show is really a comedy at heart — the hosts are naturally funny and entertaining to watch.
Now that the three of them are able to do whatever they want, the show feels better than Top Gear. It has all of the same features of Top Gear: there is a private race track where they review the newest car that has came out; there is a main studio where they present all of their video clips and news and there is all the charm that these three hosts produce when talking to each other.
The premiere starts out with the hosts presenting all the new segments of the show. They show off the new race track and the new set, but after that, the show just goes on as if nothing new happened. They review a car, and after that they show off a feature segment in which they do the challenges. I would rather not spoil what cars they review, or what happens in the episode, but I can tell you that it feels just like Top Gear with a slightly bigger budget. The iconic humor is there in spades, and the chemistry between the three old Englishmen makes them the funniest hosts in history. I feel as though you could film them doing taxes and they would find a way to make it interesting.
If you liked the old series, then this is certainly worth the price of admission, which is the cost of Amazon Prime ($99 per year). If you are new to the automotive shows, go watch the trailer. It shows you all of the silliness and adventure you should plan to see in the upcoming episodes.
—Mubsar Dhuka