Change Your Image
billjones-74006
Reviews
The Grand Tour: The Grand Tour: Sand Job (2022)
Disappointing
Really nothing in this episode to recommend it. I only gave it a 3 instead of a 1 because of the rich history this show and this team have. Some truly great adventures - Columbia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Scandinavia, Mozambique, and Eastern Europe. Some truly great pieces such as Ford Vs Ferrari, Neal Armstrong's Corvette, 3 Hypercars in Portugal, making fun of the French and their cars, making fun of the Americans and their cars, and a great bit driving Jags in Colorado, This was nothing like those trips. The dialogue is strained, the contrived obstacles were dull, and they did nothing to convince us this was a trip worth their taking. If they really wanted to show excitement about participating in a Paris-Dakar type trek why spend so much time on tarmac? Why pick such predictably bad cars for a desert adventure?
The interesting bits in this episode could have been contained in a 12-minute segment in the old tent version of the show. Nothing to warrant a full episode and certainly not a long 2-hour episode. It is as if they took their cue from the really long train and made that the theme. Long and dull.
I realize the guys are getting older, and they've been all over the world. But this episode feels as though they just don't want to do this anymore. All good things come to an end - I was hoping they would go out with a bang and not a whimper.
James May: Our Man in...: John (2024)
Seemed half-hearted
Our man in Japan was good. Our man in Italy was fantastic. Our man in India seemed like May was just going through the motions. Disappointing in all aspects. Nobody in production came up with interesting endeavors for May. The "comedian" guide he had was incredibly unfunny. Out of all of the people in India she was the best they could find? India is a huge country and this series covered it in three episodes? Seems to me nobody in production really wanted to do this series. In the future I hope they put a little more effort into it. I like watching James May, and have enjoyed so many of his shows over the years. But Our Man in India just needs to be binned.
Clarkson's Farm: Pan (dem) icking (2021)
I didn't want to like this show
Honestly, I always thought Jeremy Clarkson was an overgrown teenage boy. At times, in Top Gear and Grand Tour, he was amusing. But I found him a shallow set piece for Richard Hammond and James May to play against. It is obvious that Clarkson is much smarter than he appears to be on the car shows. In this farm show he proves he is really a very good journalist and probably not a bad guy to raise a pint with (before watching this show I always thought May would be the one most interesting to spend time with in a pub, now, I'm not so sure).
It is amazing to me that he can make owning a 1000 acre farm accessible to an ordinary viewer. How many people can afford a 1000 acre farm???
He tells the story in such a manner that we want him to succeed. What a talent. We want the crop to grow, we want the sheep to thrive. We want the nature areas to be reclaimed. We want him to be able to sell potatoes and eggs and honey and wasabi. If I could own 1000 acres I'd want all of that! And even someone like me that isn't a Jeremy Clarkson fan, wants him to have all of that after watching this show.
I didn't want to like this show, I wanted to hate it. But I ended up binge-watching it. And I made my wife and kids watch it too!
The Grand Tour: Happy Finnish Christmas (2016)
Well Done
Very good viewing. Hamster's review of the Mustang was entertaining and for the most part felt comfortable and not heavily scripted, at times a huge problem with the new show. The guided tour through London and the countryside was a very good framework for showcasing the car and gave a nice setup for a dig at the idiots at that other car show. It also gave those of us living on the left side of the pond a bit of trivia knowledge about Britain. Even having Jeremy bring another Ford along for the ride felt natural and was informative and entertaining. The segment with the sweaters/jumpers was fun as was the entire "branding" discussion. No high-brow entertainment here, just the guys goofing around and being bad. An unusual bit that was quite well done was May's segment on LeMans. This piece was presented in a manner suited beautifully for James May. He shared the pure joy of driving some truly historic cars and gave a full yet concise background of those cars and the conflict that created them. Well done indeed. Balancing the fun and games and yet also presenting cars is what these guys do so well. This episode let each one shine. It feels like they are continuing to develop a terrific show.
The Grand Tour: Opera, Arts and Donuts (2016)
All is forgiven
After last week's fiasco I was worried that maybe the guys lost the touch that served them so well at that other show. Well, the third episode was epic. The cars, the locations and the banter were all back. And of course it was filmed beautifully (the only thing good about episode two). The large portion of the show was shot in Italy in two and a half great cars on great roads and on a track. This is what they do well, choose three very different cars and go on an adventure. And while it might have been more interesting if Hammond had driven a more suitable Grand Touring car, his over the top caricature was entertaining. It seemed as though the hosts were genuinely happy to be filming the tent/studio segments from England. The banter there was better than in the previous two episodes and hopefully, as they get more comfortable, it will become a very good segment of the show. I'm glad they did not have a segment with "The American". That and the lame celebrity dying gag are the worst parts of the show. Overall, this was an excellent episode. I read that Amazon may be discussing a five-year deal for The Grand Tour. That is good news - especially if more episodes are like "Opera, Art, and Donuts".
The Grand Tour: Operation Desert Stumble (2016)
What were they thinking?
I have been a huge fan of Clarkson, Hammond and May for years, and have been eagerly awaiting their new show.
I was thrilled with most of the first episode of The Grand Tour - the absurd celebrity deaths and the phony audience brawls were cringe inducing, but overall it was an excellent show.
However, this second episode was truly awful. There was absolutely nothing funny or entertaining about the whole military debacle. As Jeremy has said many times in the past, "stupid, just stupid", or James, "pathetic". The only automobile involved was an Audi and the only thing said about it was that it was not capable of spinning. The dialogue was forced and unfunny. I understand Clarkson and Co may want to try new ideas with a new show. I respect that. But they are not particularly suited to such heavy, unnatural scripting. Other parts of this episode weren't great either. They really should drop the dying celebrity bit. I realize it may be a dig at BBC but let's hope they have made their point and are ready to move on.
Hopefully future episodes will concentrate more on these guys driving fast cars, competing with each other in motoring-related challenges, and displaying the natural friendly banter that viewers enjoyed for so many years. Bring in new elements, sure, but please be entertaining.