The Ups and Downs of The Grand Tour's Second SeasonTV

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

The Ups and Downs of The Grand Tour's Second Season

This article was published by Joe Donaldson (@Joey D) on February 20th, 2018 in the Car Culture category.

 

[danimac]

I wish grand tour or previous top gear with these guys could have gotten KAZ as celebrity guest and drive a lap. Or better yet have game directors from Project, Forza, F1, Dirt, Assetto, and GT do a lap and see who’s the fastest in a reasonabley priced car lol.

 

[karaokequeen3]

Honestly, Celebrity Face-Off wasn't that bad. As a whole, season 2 was much better, and yet for that to have happened, it had to revert to the old format that made TG was it was when the trio were around.

(note; the last episode in Mozambique - hated it)

 

[robert_]

Best episode is the last one. Nothing else is even close in my opinion. I even laughed a couple of times, which didn't happen to often earlier on in the series.
Worst is celebrity face off. It's incredible how much that takes up of the show. I haven't calculated, but at times it seemed there was more interview than car content. I really miss the 1000 £ challenges and so on.

In the end I wonder if it's because of me getting older, but it's so much more noticeable now that a lot of it is scripted than when I was younger, which makes the entire show less appealing.

 

[O.Z]

I actually enjoyed the Celeb Face-Off more than the Top Gear's version of one celebrity.

Great season overall, a lot better than last season, but like you said, too many injuries etc have definitely dampened the series 2.

Oh well, Top Gear starts next week...

 

[Moby45]

Celebrity face off is actually a great idea. It inspires competition in the 2 celeb's on the show. It made it fun for me to watch. The track and car combo is also pretty cool. RWD sports car on mixed surface, that's a hint of classic rally racing.

Honestly, I disagree with most of this article's points on what falls flat or what they got "wrong". I feel like those sections of the article were written so it didn't sound like the writer was washing Grand Tours balls with compliments. Maybe the writer was trying too hard.

 

[SoapBoxRacer]

I literally just finished binge-watching season 2, and my initial impression is 'meh'. Unfortunately the thing that stood out most, was that there seemed to be genuinely visceral hostility towards each other. In previous seasons of TG&GT there has been pranks and barbing etc. and I haven't had problems with that. This season, I felt that it got really mean-spirited at times and I didn't find it enjoyable or amusing anymore. That makes it forgettable for me.

 

[Harry Freq]

A million times better than series one, the special had me in tears with laughter shame about the awful ending. Face Off was decent i thought not bad but not great. Really they should just do away with the celebs and have a "normal car" segment in its place.

I suspect Top Gear will be better again though. Roll on Sunday.

 

[Jezza819]

I think it was an improvement over season one but not by much. I liked the constantly poking Hammond about flipping the Rimac over. Celebrity Face Off I could do without but I guess they have to try and get some sort of celebrity angle on the show. The worst show of the whole season for me was the "totally unscripted" one which was anything but unscripted.

Easily my favorite segment of the season was the story of the rivalry between Lancia and Audi for the Rally Car Championship in 1983 I believe it was. Very informative. I also liked the inevitable car vs. public transport race with Jeremy in the Ford GT.

 

[Joey D]

Celebrity face off is actually a great idea. It inspires competition in the 2 celeb's on the show. It made it fun for me to watch. The track and car combo is also pretty cool. RWD sports car on mixed surface, that's a hint of classic rally racing.

Honestly, I disagree with most of this article's points on what falls flat or what they got "wrong". I feel like those sections of the article were written so it didn't sound like the writer was washing Grand Tours balls with compliments. Maybe the writer was trying too hard.

Sorry you feel that way about the writing, but that's why I encouraged people to give their thoughts in the forums. My opinion on the season is just one opinion about it, I knew some would love it while others hated it. However, I'm actually pretty indifferent towards The Grand Tour and I'm definitely not washing anyone's balls but my own.

 

[panjandrum]

The last episode of season 2 was the first time I really thought they were back on form. Laughed until I ached. Wished it was a full 2-episode-length special like the old Top Gear specials.

 

[crooky369]

So going by comments watch the episodes with the Ford GT vs public transportation (Episode 2), the one with the Audi vs Lancia (Episode 7) and the final episode (Episode 11).

 

[seizure_]

I have to admit, when it comes to Celebrity Face-Off segment, I would usually give it a skip.

 

[pete2783]

Easily my favorite segment of the season was the story of the rivalry between Lancia and Audi for the Rally Car Championship in 1983 I believe it was. Very informative.

I sometimes find the humour and set gags are slightly too 'forced' these days... but Clarkson is at his absolute best when he tells a story. His narrative for those documentary-style presentations is utterly brilliant. I wish he did more like it.

 

[lancia delta hf]

When Clarkson attempts “Farmkhana” in a Subaru rally car while channeling his inner Ken Block, it’s almost hard to watch at times. It is predictable, not all that comical, and runs entirely too long.

I thought that was quite funny ( though a free it was too long) because they were clearly taking the piss out of Block whilst knowing many people think its all done in one clip.

 

[SPhilli911]

For me, overall, it was a very good season. Enjoyable, funny, high quality filming and great locations as you’d expect. The stand outs for me were the Lancia vs Audi history lesson, the Jag vs Aston on the streets of Pau and the various car reviews and comparisons on the ebola track, such as the XJ220 vs EB110 or the Performante film.

Not too big on the celebrity stuff, but it's not terrible. I absolutely despised the Farmkhana segment. I get the joke but it got old quick. Showing the original film and none of the behind the scenes might have been ok.

 

[Jezza819]

Did James review any cars this season? I know he drove the Kia Stinger against the two skateboard guys but that wasn't really an in depth review?

 

[PocketZeven]

I always skip the “celebrity” bit of grand tour and top gear. Only when There is a guest with genuine motorsport (f1 drivers celebrities competing in racing) or enthusiast background (Jay Leno etc.) do I like to watch the section. They should focus on celebrities who genuinely want to clock the fastest lap. Perhaps a prize or donation to a charity. The best moments in old top gear where when the guests are very competitive.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

For what it's worth, I actually don't mind Celebrity Faceoff (though that terrible "F" in the title card makes my eye twitch). It's very much dependant on who's featured, though; I actually really liked the episode with Stuart Copeland and Nick Mason because of their banter, but Paris Hilton? Why?!

But as quite a few others have mentioned, the peak of S2 for me was the Lancia segment.

 

[Moby45]

Sorry you feel that way about the writing, but that's why I encouraged people to give their thoughts in the forums. My opinion on the season is just one opinion about it, I knew some would love it while others hated it. However, I'm actually pretty indifferent towards The Grand Tour and I'm definitely not washing anyone's balls but my own.

That is understandable. That is just how I felt with the way the article was written. It just seemed like you were looking for something to dislike rather than actually disliking it. For writers that is a pretty tough wall to get over because a writing style and layout like this one has been used for so long that it has been overwhelmed with journalism that isn't exactly great. In most cases those other writers put way too much emphasis on good, bad and ugly instead of writing about the feeling of the experience. At times when writing a story it seems that people write based on a template instead of a feeling.

That is what this story felt like when reading it. To no disrespect towards you(aside from a smartass comment) the story just seemed as for lack of a better term "scripted" much like several complaints of the show itself.

Your encouragement in the forums is actually something a lot of writers do not do. So I do respect you for that. It is not too often people are willing to take both the good and the bad of the interwebz and use it for the positive.

 

[PocketZeven]

For what it's worth, I actually don't mind Celebrity Faceoff (though that terrible "F" in the title card makes my eye twitch). It's very much dependant on who's featured, though; I actually really liked the episode with Stuart Copeland and Nick Mason because of their banter, but Paris Hilton? Why?!

But as quite a few others have mentioned, the peak of S2 for me was the Lancia segment.

I totally agree. All the “historical” content, narrated by Clarkson” has always been The best segment. Senna tribute, Saab Tribute etc.

 

[Danoff]

I really liked Season 2. Of course I liked season 1 as well. There were some things that just didn't land in season 1, but I actually didn't feel like anything just didn't land in season 2. I had parts that I liked better than others. I skipped a lot of celebrity interviews in the original Top Gear, and while I sat through them in TGT, it was my least favorite part. Of course... I'm just not that interested in celebrity interviews. I think just skipping them altogether would improve the show. It's cheap material though, and the rest of their show is expensive.

TGT Season 2 was right up there with any whole season of Top Gear IMO. I liked the special at the end as well, although it wasn't the best special I've ever seen them do, neither were most of the top gear specials. They set the bar so high with a few of those top gear specials that I don't think they can ever repeat it.

Regarding the TGT Season 2 special, I think a lot of people didn't really understand the message they were conveying. There have been entire research papers that have studied the effects of infrastructure (such as roads) on developing nations, and found that dollar for dollar the best possible improvement you can make for quality of life in a developing nation is to build roads. Not hospitals, not food drops... roads. They were playing the western idiots who thought they could swoop in and play superman and showing you just exactly what the challenges are to the development in that area. It was actually a very thoughtful and poignant message and I think it was wasted on a lot of people.

 

[Doomotron]

My favourite episode was the Lancia one but I also enjoyed the mobile petrol station film. However, I didn't like the series because of the resolution it's recorded in. There are letterboxes and this is very hard to watch. Also, the colours seem extremely washed out. This is one of the (admittedly quite large) list of things the new Top Gear has over The Grand Tour.

 

[FoRiZon]

Season 2 is massive improvement. On par with some of best Clarkson's Top Gear, quite.

Exception being the last episode which is so bad is straight up worst episodes of both Grand Tour and Clarkson's Top Gear.

7.5 had the last episode didn't existed.

 

[Moglet]

I have to say I agree with most of the points in the article with one exception; I really like "Conversation Street"! I really wish they'd just get rid of the whole celebrity thing but at least with it being on Amazon Video I can just skip it.