Why The Grand Tour Having New Presenters Might Not Be A Bad Thing
A few months ago, when rumours first emerged that, despite the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, The Grand Tour might continue with new presenters and a revamped format, we ran a feature suggesting that it was about time the show was put out to pasture.
Well, now those rumours have been confirmed as true by Hammond, and â with all due respect to Matt Kimberley, author of that piece â Iâm here to say it might not be a bad thing.
A quick browse through the Twitter replies to our own story on this revelation brings up exactly the sort of responses youâd expect: âCos that worked so well for Top Gear,â âI will not be watching The Grand Tour any more,â or a nice, effective âNooooooooo.â My question here is: why are people so quick to judge?
The Grand Tour: A Massive Hunt
Clarkson, Hammond and May are an undeniably tough act to follow. The lightning in a bottle that was that trio when they were firing in all cylinders led to some of the most memorable TV of all time, automotive or otherwise. I grew up watching them, and Iâm fully prepared for One For The Road to be an emotional goodbye.
And itâs not like weâve not been here before. I gave every series of post-2015 Top Gear a shot, and I think that by the time the presenting lineup of Chris Harris, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness had been established, it had settled into something genuinely enjoyable, and itâs sad it ended the way it did. Iâll be the first to admit, though, that that first Chris Evans-fronted series was almost unwatchable, salvaged only by Harrisâ proper car reviews.
Still, ever the optimist, the way I saw things was that weâd gone from having one big-budget car TV show to two. You had Clarkson, Hammond and May mucking about and shouting, which are the elements of their relationship that seem to have most contributed to the enormous cult of personality that worships them online these days; and you had Top Gear, providing a (slightly) more serious, and gentler, look at the latest cars.
The Grand Tour: Carnage A Trois
It definitely didnât warrant the barrages of online abuse TGâs later presenters got, nor the calls for Clarkson to be reinstated, apparently from people who think itâs okay to smack a co-worker and not face any consequences.
And yet, here we are again. Before we even know the slightest bit about who The Grand Tourâs new lineup might be, or what format the show will take, itâs already being written off, simply on the basis of who wonât be presenting it. Shouldnât we at least wait until we have even the slightest morsel of information before we start judging?
Things arenât quite the same this time, either. Amazon could have just killed the show, but Top Gear is âon hiatusâ and probably not coming back, which would have left us with very little in the way of big-budget automotive TV. You could argue that the vast amount of free content on YouTube makes that irrelevant these days, but even the most popular, biggest-budget YouTube channels still donât have the scope to create something as cinematic as Amazon (or indeed the BBC) â not on the same scale, anyway.
The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick
Thereâll be those who say nobody can possibly recapture the chemistry Clarkson, Hammond and May had, but how do you know? And itâs not like theyâve always played these exaggerated, caricatured versions of themselves â go back and watch those very early series of rebooted Top Gear, and thereâs a stark contrast to the silliness weâve become used to on The Grand Tour.
My point is that the things we love take time to develop, and whoever takes over the show should at least be given that chance. Thatâs assuming itâs going to have multiple presenters, or will even be a car show. Amazon could simply just use the IP for something else entirely (fun fact: the BBCâs been using the Top Gear name since the 1960s, and it was originally a youth-oriented radio show that had nothing to do with cars at all).
Everything that Clarkson, Hammond and May have ever done together has had two distinct audiences. There were people who couldnât care less about cars but enjoyed the trioâs chaotic energy and comedic chops, and there were people who loved cars, and for whom the brilliant dynamic the presenters brought was simply an added bonus.
The Grand Tour: Sand Job
If youâre in the former camp, then accept that they couldnât continue forever â Clarkson, in his own words, is âunfit and fat and oldâ â and dive into the 26-series-strong back catalogue of episodes of TG and TGT that they fronted, every single one of which is available to stream (for free, in the case of TG).
If, meanwhile, youâre in the latter, try and be glad about the fact that it looks like weâll have at least one big-budget car show to enjoy going forward. If the new presenters turn out to not be to your liking, then fair enough. Regardless of which camp youâre in, though, whatâs the point in trying to shoot something down before itâs even had a chance to take off?
