The Grand Tour > Top Gear

"Amoore100" (amoore100)
05/12/2016 at 00:27 • Filed to: Top Gear, The Grand Tour

You know all these people who say, “Give new Top Gear a chance!”? Well, I am glad to say that I won’t be giving new Top Gear a chance. For me, watching Top Gear was never about watching the show; it was the personalities of Clarkson, May, and Hammond which were what drew me in and kept me watching reruns for years. I often also watch Clarkson’s Car Years as well as James May’s Cars of the People (which, incidentally, are two very similar shows separated by twenty some-odd years) just to get my TG-trio fix. That’s why I never got into American Top Gear and why I probably will never watch new Top Gear. Personally, I find someone hooning about in a fast sports car rather boring unless accompanied by Clarkson’s snide remarks or May’s factual analyses, so The Grand Tour it is! Thanks for reading, I just needed to get that off my back.

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Some Cars of People and Car Years for your time.

DISCUSSION (19)

Nauraushaun > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 00:32

What you’re saying that it’s impossible for a car show to be good without the 3 original TG hosts. That you won’t even watch any other car show, because without those 3 it just can’t be possible for it to be entertaining.

New Top Gear isn’t old Top Gear, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a worthwhile show.

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun
05/12/2016 at 00:45

Not at all. I’m just saying that I prefer a show with one of these three in it; not to say that everything else is bad, but they just represent what is most appealing to me in terms of leisure and entertainment. Every now and then I do watch Fifth Gear because I get the same vibe from Tiff that I get from Clarkson; it’s not the shows at all, it’s the people.

Wheelerguy > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 00:52

Here’s one airstrike. Use it on me .

RyanFrew > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 00:52

So you didn’t give something a chance, but you know it’s worse than something else? I mean, it doesn’t really matter, just not the soundest logic I’ve ever encountered.

Nauraushaun > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 00:55

It certainly is the people that make it. But there are many people in the world who could also make it something :)

CRider > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 00:58

The amount of celebrity worship surrounding those three kind of turn me off them. If you can’t enjoy a car show that doesn’t center around them you are missing out.

Amoore100 > RyanFrew
05/12/2016 at 01:06

I don’t know, a lot of public personalities really offend me nowadays and seem really condescending and fake (yes, this might sound hypocritical., but hold on for a sec) and while the Big Three are definitely overplaying it a bit, what they do is entirely unique and it annoys me to see it mimicked (often poorly). I guess I shouldn’t have said I wouldn’t give it a chance, more that I’m probably spoiled by the old Top Gear and will just be setting myself up for disappointment if I expect anything great.

Amoore100 > Wheelerguy
05/12/2016 at 01:08

Haha, no offense meant to you at all, I’m just stating my own personal opinion here and I fear that watching the new Top Gear will just leave a bad taste of disappointment and nostalgia in my mouth.

DutchieDC2R > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 01:11

the fact that I saw you use ‘leisure’ in one of your comments regarding old TG and the trio makes me think I shouldnt take your topic too seriously. Chris Harris is in the new one, Matt doesnt seem bad either. I understand the ‘whatever floats your boat’ thing for Jezza and his goons, but to dismis something before its been aired....kind of a missed opportunity here...

Amoore100 > Nauraushaun
05/12/2016 at 01:13

Very true, but I guess I just haven’t found any worth my time. Nothing irks me more than boring characters, especially ones that are condescending or overtly polite. Some of the charm of the old three was their uniqueness and personality which I have found no match for anywhere except perhaps Tiff. I guess you could call be closed minded but given the shows that I’ve seen, they were mainly driven by content rather than Top Gear which was driven by the people.

Amoore100 > DutchieDC2R
05/12/2016 at 01:18

Well it’s not dissing the show completely, but given past exposure to these people I’m not holding out hope. I guess that should have been my original statement, that these characters seem a bit lacking. I, for one, take my leisure time very seriously and it can’t be wasted watching boring or annoying people! ;) Kidding aside, I often use Top Gear and its related shows as a study pick-me-up late in the night which is probably why I feel so close to the Big Three.

Svend > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 01:22

I agree. I like Top Gear not so much not for what it’s meant to be but actually is in the form of these three guys who lark about while being informative as well as entertaining. I didn’t get that from Fifth Gear and stopped watching entirely.

When Clarkson does his automtive or WWII thing, Hammond does his animals, construction and automotive thing and May does his engineering, automotive and nostalgia thing there is an element of what they bring to Top Gear in each of them.

Amoore100 > Svend
05/12/2016 at 01:27

Exactly. It really is hard to quantify what keeps me coming back to these three and especially difficult to explain why everything else just isn’t as appealing. As for Fifth Gear, they’re like the boringer Top Gear, but I do appreciate Tiff’s dry humor which still has nothing on Clarkson.

Hoccy > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 02:01

Well, do whatever you want with your time.

Amoore100 > Hoccy
05/12/2016 at 02:11

Thanks, I try.

mythrenegade > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 02:16

I have tried to watch other car shows.

Adam Carollas thing was awful and unwatchable.

Top Gear America was fun but I didn’t keep coming back. I was even in the studio audience for one of the first season episodes.

Fifth gear and every other show never even got me through an entire episode. But I’ve watched every British top gear. Most of them multiple times. They are more than a car show.

Sabine is a good personality, but the other shows with her haven’t worked out, so I doubt she can carry this one.

Totally pumped for grand tour.

Amoore100 > mythrenegade
05/12/2016 at 02:49

Exactly my point. I’m not trying to discount other shows; I’ve been around the block and it ain’t pretty. When I sit down for an hour to watch a show, it had better be entertaining, comforting, and interesting, and no one combines these traits better than the TG trio. Every now and then I watch segments from Fifth Gear but I don’t find the show as a whole to be interesting enough to sit still for the whole thing. In the meantime, watching old Clarkson shows and May’s Cars of the People is proving to be an excellent pacifier before The Grand Tour shows up. Actually, I don’t even care if it shows up after all, since they’ve provided so much material for us already but that’s not to say I’m not excited.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > Amoore100
05/12/2016 at 07:53

I agree on why other shows don’t work, but look at things like Mighty Car Mods, Regular Car Reviews, Petrolicious, etc. Sure they are Youtube shows but it’s not a huge stretch to see TV making something similarly enjoyable. I was super doubtful of the new Top Gear when they announce the main dude from the radio show, but Sabine, Chris Harris, and Matt LeBlanc are all real car/bike people and could really do well.

Amoore100 > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
06/29/2016 at 02:33

Well with those YouTube shows I feel like the content drives the show more. That’s not to say that the people aren’t important, but you could make a show (and it’s been done) of just nothing but Hammond, May, and Clarkson sitting around and talking and I would watch the hell out of it. Trying to see the same idea of a show without these three would just be torture. They really should have scrapped V3 and started over like they did V2.