The BBC’s Review Of The Grand Tour Will Make Fans Angry

The first Grand Tour episode is in the bag and if you haven’t seen it you are really missing out on a great piece of automotive entertainment. If for some reason you aren’t able to watch the premium Amazon Prime show, you can head over to this link and catch a thorough summary of the show. Naturally, we can expect reviews to begin pouring out from everywhere, we just didn’t expect a review from the BBC, the company that fired Jeremy Clarkson, to have come so soon.

Will Gompertz, the Arts Editor of the BBC just gave his opinions about the show, and within it he had some not so nice things to say about the show:

“They look out of their car windows and smile a cheesy smile at each other… The cheesy smiles are not a set up to a joke, but a precursor to them taking to the stage in the manner of rock stars on tour. A huge crowd of cheering fans has amassed at their feet. There is no irony. It feels uncomfortably hubristic.”

Uncomfortably hubristic? Have you not seen what these three guys have done for the world of automotive entertainment? Have you seen and spoken to the legion of rabid Clarkson, Hammond, and May fans? These people have been dying to see the return of the old Top Gear trio ever since it went off the air in the middle of 2015. Seeing the three come out as rock stars is not arrogant, rather it is a proper re-introduction of the people who have captured the appeal of millions of fans.

“Clarkson has repeatedly said during his round of interviews to promote the programme how much he hates his co-presenters. The assumption that this is a tongue-in-cheek comment, adding a dynamic to the sitcom feel the show has of three middle-aged male characters haplessly going about their business as car journalists. But the screen chemistry between him and May suggests there’s a ring of truth about Clarkson’s claim, which is not much fun to watch.”

We concur that Clarkson and company can be tongue-in-cheek in their criticism of each other and the show in general, but were we watching the same show?! The screen chemistry between the three were on point and the entire first episode was a lot of fun to watch. It was a glorious return and massive improvement to the old Top Gear recipe, and a far superior product than the new Top Gear reboot under Chris Evans watch. He continues:

“In future episodes, the cars take a back seat to give the presenters a chance to do what they excel at: being very silly. A trip to Jordan to play in an army training centre is good. There are a lot of laughs, plenty of slapstick, and more film allusions to enjoy. Perhaps this is what they should focus on in the future.”

We agree that we cannot wait to see more silliness in the upcoming episodes, the previews of the army training center and seeing James May shooting guns out of a moving car looks to be hilarious. However, we can’t deny thinking this may just be the BBC’s passive aggressive way of saying “Let’s leave the automotive entertainment programming for Top Gear.” In fact, this entire review, albeit a generally positive one, feels a bit disingenuous and an underhanded attempt at discrediting and casting doubt at the new entertainment behemoth.

Maybe we’re just crazy, what do you think of the BBC’s review? Let us know in the comments!

(Source: BBC)