The Grand Tour might have been the most pirated show last year, but it was also Amazon’s most successful and that means we’ll be getting another season of the boys larking about. We all missed the trio after the fiasco that went on between the presenters and the BBC, and fans of the three awaited the launch of the Grand Tour with bated breaths. The Grand Tour’s reception was excellent for the most part, but there were some complaints. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have agreed to make 36 episodes in total over three years, so what can the lads do to improve the remaining 24.
Get a new driver
It was almost an impossible task to live up to the Stig, and sadly the Grand Tour’s driver disappoints. Mike Skinner is the man behind “The American” and while there is no doubting he is a good driver, he just doesn’t capture the imagination of the viewers like the Stig did. This is echoed by a number of viewers and many have called for him to be replaced. For the most part his comments are annoying and downright stupid in many cases. So what can they do to improve it?
We think they should do something like they did in the first episode, where they placed random subtitles over Jérôme d’Ambrosio’s comments when he was driving. This would give the producers more room to be creative and they could even make comments in the subtitles about current events.
Less Scripted
We feel that many of the Grand Tour’s episodes were so scripted it detracted from the viewing experience. Many times we felt like things just happened because the producers wanted them to, rather than them just happening naturally. Undoubtedly, Top Gear had many of these scripted moments as well; however they felt like they were on a much smaller scale and much more believable. The Grand Tour’s enormous budget has probably not helped this, as the team now has the money to do practically anything. No where was this more apparent than in the second episode “Operation Desert Stumble” and the eighth episode “The Beach (Buggy) Boys – Part 2”, where some of the scenes were just plain terrible and over acted to the point of being cringe worthy.
More Cheap Car Challenges
While we all love seeing the latest hypercars, we also love seeing what cheap cars the lads can get their hands on. Many of Top Gear’s best moments involved cheap car challenges and we’d love to see a bit more of this in the Grand Tour. There was some of it later in the season which was great, but a bit more would have brought the show back down to earth. There’s also nothing better than watching the three of them fumble about with cars that really shouldn’t be on the road.
Another Epic Journey
Despite the fact that we did complain about the “Beach Buggy” episode above, the majority of it was excellent. There’s twelve episodes in the series, so we think with the enormous budget they could sneak in another crazy journey. We understand that the Beach Buggy episode took up two episodes, but we think another another one that spanned just one episode could really add to the show. The show is called “The Grand Tour” after all, so let’s see a bit more grand touring.
Celebrity Brain Crash needs to go!
Celebrity Brain Crash was funny the first time, tolerable the second time and downright annoying throughout the rest of the season. We understand they probably can’t do anything the what was in Top Gear, but that was always the most boring part of the show. Either get rid of it completely or make the celebrities do something interesting like a rally stage in a £100 car. It could be anything, but it needs to go.
Conversation Street needs a shake up
‘Conversation Street’ is really Top Gear’s ‘News’ in disguise. The problem with it is that it can oftentimes be far to long and boring, or off topic completely. Sometimes it turns into some sort of stand-up comedy that has nothing to do with cars, which is a real disappointment. Don’t get us wrong this is a great part of the show and they shouldn’t get rid of it, but we just hope for next season they keep on topic and keep it a bit shorter.
Wrapping Up
The Grand Tour has been a great success so far, and for the most part the show is excellent. Shaking up or removing the above points could really bring the show to new heights and make it even better than Top Gear was (when Clarkson, Hammond and May were presenters). We’re looking forward to seeing what the next season of the Grand Tour will bring.
