Slashdot Mirror
Jeremy Clarkson's Amazon Show To Be Called The Grand Tour (theguardian.com)
Jasper Jackson and Dugald Baird, writing for The Guardian: Amazon's new motoring show starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May will be called The Grand Tour. In a statement, the former Top Gear trio thanked fans for taking the time to send in their suggestions for the name, which they said were "much appreciated". "Thing is," said Clarkson, "we'll be travelling the world hosting each episode in a different country, from a giant tent. It's a sort of 'grand tour', if you like. So we've decided to call it The Grand Tour." May said he was underwhelmed by the name. "I wanted to call it 'Nigel', or 'Roger'," he said. "We needed a name, and they're names." Hammond was more positive. "I already love camping," he said. "But this is something else. We are like our pioneering and prospecting forebears, sallying forth into a new frontier of broadcasting, and making our home where."
Just saying.
Carry McCarface.
Or Boaty McBoatface.
On second thought, maybe Jagy McJagface.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
Whatever they decided to call it, its going to be call the "Sir Richard Attenborough Show" because that's how the world works now.
I voted for "Punchy Mc Lazy Shit Face", but they wouldn't let that name be used.
Marketer 1: "Jeremy Clarkson is a Star."
Marketer 2: "And their on a Trek."
Marketer 1: "Starrrr.... "
Marketer 2: "Trrrrek.... "
Together: "Star Trek!!"
Maybe they devoted all their efforts to coming up with exciting new ways to be old, unoriginal and unfunny.
No, they took 6 months to come up with the format of the show, figure out the logistics of filming it, and presumably start filming it. Now it's time to start hyping it in preparation of starting to air it later this year, thus they announce the name.
All we want to know is when it will hit Prime. What it's named is as uninteresting as watching Top Gear now that these three aren't on it.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Seriously, they took 6 months to come up with this name? Doesn't bode well for the rest of the show.
Maybe they needed to agree to discard all the alternatives. Also they needed to figure out precisely what they planned on doing and calling it a tour isn't obvious until they figured they really would be in a new location each week. Most of Top Gear took place at the same location with the same test track. If they wanted to copy that, then tour would make no sense at all.
Last but not least, we don't know if they decided on the name long ago, but they could not say it publicly before they were given the ok to do so from Amazon and/or some legal department.
The 160,000 Grand Tour. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-...
shin phantomflanflinger
Considering Clarkson's record on international diplomacy and pissing off the natives, is a world tour really a good idea? Sounds like they are just trying to cause trouble so people watch it.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
They should have called it Frank. Then at the end of each review they could say, "To be frank...", and give their synopsis.
*** On the Internet, no one knows you're using a VIC-20
Clarkson has America's respect from punching that walking piece of shit which calls itself Piers Morgan. We wish him all the best, and if he manages to sneak in another knuckle sandwich, I'll even personally nominate him for honorary citizenship.
Not to get in the way of your anti-US rant, but ... as *if* Top Gear was ever about the cars ... *that's funny*
Bashing the yanks like this just isn't on, old boy. There's so many other things you can legitimately bash them for because, well, they're human (like everyone else). The thing is, they really do know their shit about cars, they just have a different style over here - witness the Top Gear episode where all three of "the boys" enjoyed the road trip across the US in their muscle cars.
Source: Am Brit.
Physicists get Hadrons!
Considering Clarkson's record on international diplomacy and pissing off the natives, is a world tour really a good idea?
He only pisses off the natives that were already pissed off before he got there. Particularly those who lack any sort of sense of humor, perspective or ability to laugh at themselves.
The original show was all about big personalities and reality-star like hi-jinx. How the BBC lost sight of that is beyond me.
No, the original show, which started in 1977 and ran for nearly 25 years, was about cars. Then it got a reboot and slowly became an ever more exclusionary sketch show buoyed up by its ever more rabid and sycophantic fans.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
"Idiot Abroad" was already taken.
Punchy Jezza's Driving Circus
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
It was May and Hammond who carried it, and maybe the other new presenters will carry Evans.
Jeremy was undeniably the star of the show but not in the usual sense. What really made the show work was the chemistry between all three of them. Jeremy was kind of a first among equals but take away May and Hammond and it just didn't work as well. That's a hard thing to replicate. Take the US version of Top Gear. All three of the hosts aren't Ferrera, Foust and Wood are all fine individually but they simply don't have the same chemistry as Clarkson, May and Hammond and the show simply isn't as good as a result.
The other thing that made Top Gear work and I think Clarkson was the driving force behind is because they didn't pull a lot of punches. Whether you agreed with their take on something or not, they definitely HAD a take and didn't seem to hold back much. Clarkson seems to be the driving force behind that. If they thought some million dollar supercar was crap, they said so. They didn't pretend to be fair, or objective or even competent but they did seem to say what they thought. Frankly their negative reviews were usually more interesting than their positive ones. Other shows like the US Top Gear version seem to be more hesitant to give a bad review, presumably for fear of pissing off advertisers or incurring lawsuits. But without those strong takes the show just isn't as good.
Grand Tour (GT). Its an obvious comeback against Top Gear (TG).
Because it was popular before Clarkson et al (for 25 years, no less) and stands a decent chance of being popular again, and this time with a wider audience.
Given how successful the show was I think your notion of it appealing to an even wider audience is wishful thinking. The audience was already incredibly wide. Even people like my sister who could not care less about cars found the show entertaining.
The show has been on air in various incarnations since 1977 but it wasn't a breakout hit until 2002 when they found the combination of Clarkson, May and Hammond. I'm sure it will soldier on but it's going to be difficult to catch lightning in a bottle twice.
"No, the original show, which started in 1977 and ran for nearly 25 years, was about cars. Then it got a reboot ."
Conveniently leaves off the fact that the original show was basically canned by the BBC due to small viewer numbers. At the time, most of the hosts went off to another network and basically continued the spirit of the show under the new name of Fifth Gear (Because the BBC wouldn't sell the trademark for Top Gear). That show has been living on the edge of cancellation for years.
Top Gear was "rebooted" after significant investment and risk taken by Jeremy and Andy, and turned it into a program that was interesting to a much wider audience than car fanatics and people looking to buy. Over time Fifth Gear borrowed many aspects of the new format, probably one of the reasons it survived so long.
You can blame the BBC for the increasingly heavily scripted nature of new Top Gear towards the end. Everything required multiple levels of approvals and the soul of the show was sucked out by increasingly silly PC concerns, because of a few loud, seemingly professionally offended, commentators hyperventilating at the smallest details. Lord knows the BBC was happy to accept the increased revenue from the notoriety as long as Jeremy was there to take the blame.
Effectively PC concerns were a factor in shooting the golden goose. I hope these people remember this when their favourite shows are cancelled now the Top Gear income isn't there to fund them any more.
You don't 'dumb down' Top Gear mate. It's a show for complete mongs.
Americans can blow shit up real good, and they do well with computing, but they know shit about cars.
For someone with a hatred of America, you don't half copy their fucking mannerisms. "blow shit up real good" and "they know shit"? lol.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Bah! They should've gone with Gear Knobs, it's motoring related, self mocking and kinda close but no too close to the old name
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Right, because British cars are known for their stellar quality and reliability.
I'll bet my underpowered shitbox is faster, more fuel efficient, lighter, more environmentally friendly, more comfortable and safer with a smaller engine than your underpowered shitbox.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
How many times did he genuinely piss off the natives, other than in Argentina (the Alabama "attack" was clearly fake, for those who haven't figured it out yet)?
Clarkson's Motorworld series shows he can probably pull something like this off, dropping in May and Hammond (with proven chemistry) to fill out the hour.
And your comment conveniently leaves off the fact that Clarkson physically assaulted a co-worker. How would you like it if you went to work every day under the threat of physical assault?
Oh, your like of Top Gear is more IMPORTANT than someone getting punched whilst going about their job?
Clarkson is an asshole and may be a racist asshole as well, but he would probably be there still if he didn't throw punches at producers.
> ever more exclusionary sketch show buoyed up by its ever more rabid and sycophantic fans
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/11/media/top-gear-facts-jeremy-clarkson/
" Top Gear plays in 214 territories worldwide and has an estimated global audience of 350 million."
"exclusionary", 'sycophantic". Those words probably don't mean what you think they mean. vieweship of 5% of the world's population across hundreds of countries and cultures is hardly "exclusionary". But hey, keep telling yourself that.
A Grand Touring car is a sporty, medium to large car that can nip you from Italy to Scotland, or from Florida to Alaska, in posh, comfortable style, and where possible, much throttle-induced hooning silliness.
Think Aston Martin, think big Ferrari like a 599 or F12 or FF.
Do people still do the traditional Grand Tour of Europe? Used to be a 'thing' to do after high school and before college.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Now it's called a 'Gap Year' as what's left of the Middle Class can't really afford 'Grand' anything anymore.
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
The "knobs" reference will not work in the US, though.
The real reason the British drink warm beer is they keep it in Lucas refrigerators.
I could have swore I read they were naming it 'Gear Knobs', which would have been perfect.
Given that Top Gear UK returns this month, it's also quite plausible they (Grand Tour) opted to try to steal some of their thunder.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
If you think Clarkson was fired soley over the altercation, you are hopelessly naive.
There had been pressure building to get him fired for quite some time before that, or did we forget he was on a "final warning" for mumbling a word in a nursery rhyme that was an outake that never aired.
It is likely that this pressure plus increased interference from the BBC plus marriage and multiple health issues were all factors in the lead up to the altercation. There's a reason the BBC won't release the findings from the report, and I think it's due to failures to support Clarkson when behaviour leading up to the altercation clearly signalled a potential breakdown was imminent.
Yes, because if there is one thing Britain is known for, it's their superbly reliable automobiles.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
The best suggestion for a name that I saw was "The Whacky Racists". Top marks to the person that came up with that.
As an actual automotive aficionado, with a fair collection of automobiles, I will say that I was quite fond of the show but only binge watched it. I'd do the entire season at once (once that became an option). I enjoyed the presenters. I also enjoyed the older version - I seem to recall it was from the 70s or 80s. That was a bit more technical and I preferred that information density but I admit that I enjoyed the antics of the newer show more.
Which is saying something - I'm not a television watcher. I've never really been big on it so I never got into the shows very much. I'm sure I missed many seasons. I did notice that they put the presenters under a great deal of stress. I'm not surprised that one lashed out and hit someone - I do not condone it, but I understand.
I have seen bits and pieces of an American version and it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I understand there's a German version. And, for the record, as near as I know - I did not beat Jeremy's time when I went and played at the Nurburgring. Well, I certainly beat his van time. But, IIRC, he had an excellent (near record for the vehicle) Jag time. Even though I rented a few exotics, I'm reasonably sure that I did not beat his time.
As an aside, going and taking in-class and then in-seat lessons before renting and driving the ring was excellent. It's really not a tough track - it's just hard to memorize and there's a bit of variation depending on your line. Well, to be fair, there's more than one track. None are terribly difficult and I imagine just getting in there to practice for a few weeks would get someone up to speed - even if they'd never driven on-track in their lives. The crazy ones are the ones on motorcycles.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
From the sound of the chaos going on at Top Gear, that show is its own worst enemy and will probably manage to implode and take the whole of the BBC with it.
Amazon's show has no need to steal thunder.
Sig for hire.
They'll still get 2 of 3. I'm sure word will filter down what a knob is. They know what a wanker is now don't they?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
/s
It sounds to me like they are focusing on the part of Top Gear I liked the least.
There were a few gems but I could have done without most of them.
With the limited availability of Amazon Prime video this show is going to set new standards for piracy.
...laura
I've not subscribed to any video streaming services before but this is the only show that could do it. I'm looking forward to it.
IIRC they decided against using any name with "gear" in it for legal reasons.
I guess there could've been trademark issues based on a fear of people confusing the two shows, if the trademarked titles are too close in addition(!) to the moderators and the general topic being the same.
I'm pretty sure I've read about trademark lawsuits based on flimsier similarity/confusion arguments.
I suspect you haven't got a Porsche.
Wanna know a secret?
I do. (Some effort will show it to you on YouTube. But, you get to work for it.)
But you get an A for effort. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself.
A *what* Porsche?
What year did you do it in?
What line did you take when heading into Adenauer Forst - assuming you were really in a Porsche (you know, a bit of a blind chicane on the Nordschleife) and what gear where did you enter in for your PB? (Hint: I've driven a Porsche at Nurburgring - technically two of them. I'll know if you're lying.)
And for bonus points... Name the defining features of said chicane.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
This name pattern just works.
Yeah but there's another show on channel 5 called fifth gear which is a lot closer and they haven't ever said anything about that. I don't think the beeb would really have a leg to stand on if they tried to go after them for using the word gear.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Britain doesn't really have many of it's own cars anymore though, everything now is owned abroad and that's affected the direction.
Actually British cars are renowned for their quality and reliability, like original Land Rovers, but the name has been tarnished now by Land Rovers made with a focus less on quality and reliability, and more on profits and mass-sales to demographics who don't need the reliability but just want a big car because they're too fearful of their inability to drive well and hence high likelihood of crashing to drive anything normal. The net result is that yes, the quality and reliability of these historically British brands has suffered, but they're also not really British anymore. The reliability drop of these ones great brands coincidences precisely with foreign ownership and change of direction - it's a double edged sword, because following down the original path wasn't massively profitable, so in some ways these take overs saved the brands, but in going more mass-market yes, it absolutely killed some of the things the brands were famous for. Effectively British stubborness to maintain high quality and reliability rather than giving the markets what they wanted - low quality, cheap fluff, is what risked sending those brands bankrupt
What's left as genuinely British are things like Lotus, Aston Martin, and McClaren where quality is about as high as it gets, though reliability always suffers with high end cars when compared to your typical family car because high end cars push the limits of engineering far more, but they compare very well though to other cars in their class. It's no coincidence that the brands that manage to maintain the historical British reputation for quality are the ones that sell at a premium whilst the cost impact that had was what risked sending the lower end brands out of business.
Perhaps the country with the most undeserved reputation for quality and reliability is Germany, German engineering is a complete joke when brands like Audi, BMW, and German owned brands like Bentley fair so poorly on reliability indexes. Japan is about the only country that seems able to do a good job of fairly consistently maintaining decent quality and reliability nowadays for what it's worth. Long story short, British reputation for reliability/stability was effectively priced out of the global market and they were left with a choice - decrease quality to increase profits as the likes of BMW have done, or go bust. They got taken over by foreign owners who weren't hamstrung by the sense of British manufacturing pride that previously made them stubbornly refuse to make that change and so were in fact forced to make that change leaving them where they are now.
Everything that is still wholly British does have high quality and good reliability though, but can only do so because it's retreated to the market where paying the premium for higher quality isn't a problem for the buyers in question.
Of course they would. It's quite likely Clarkson is prohibited from being associated with any motoring TV show with "top" or "gear" in its name, and that that would have been in his contract from before he was kicked off the show. That Channel 5 has "Fifth Gear" doesn't matter, as Clarkson is not involved with it. See the difference?
He was fired, and the mechanism through which that happened was his contract not being renewed. There are many ways to fire someone, this is one of them. This is not some secret information - it has been available for quite some time now.
Not really. IF there's a provision he's already signed and agreed saying HE and possibly the other two won't then then they might have a breach of agreement on him if they did that depending on the specifics of the terms. He's no longer under contract with them so it would only be for an x years thing anyway. But on a copyrights naming ground they don't have shit if they left fifth gear alone for so long. So yeah, if it's in a contact then fair enough but otherwise they can't claim the words top or gear.
Regardless, imo, gear knobs is a better name than grand tour and that's what I'm calling it.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Hey i just got an idea... Clarkson vs Trump. You know you want to see it.
http://i.cubeupload.com/T6cyLu.png
They should just start airing the American Top Gear on BBC. I'm sure the brits would love the witty comedy of... whathisname, and the way he's always... well, you know. they also have that other guy. HE'S a hoot. I think. i forget what he said but i heard it made a few people chuckle. or maybe the main guy said it. I dunno, i couldnt tell what made any of them different or why the producers thought they had good chemistry.
http://i.cubeupload.com/T6cyLu.png
I wouldn't even pay to watch him being gang-banged in a jail then flayed alive. (Though I might pirate the video.)
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Why is an article about a bellend who does car shows on /. ?