The Grand Tour fans issue complaints over ‘disappointing’ Richard Hammond and James May special: ‘Money grab!’
The Grand Tour fans have been left wanting more after the debut episode of Prime Video’s The Not Very Grand Tour.
Hosts James May, 62, and Richard Hammond, 55, kicked off the retrospective series, released on Friday.
The pair, without usual collaborator Jeremy Clarkson, chatted together in a hanger filled with fabulous cars as they poured over clips from The Grand Tour.
In the first episode, The Glory and The Power, Hammond and May celebrated the combustion engine and how it changed the world.
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However, some fans were not convinced the new series was a worthy successor – arguing it more than earned its “not very grand” ironic title.
Taking to The Grand Tour’s fan-run forum on social media platform Reddit, they shared their thoughts on the new show.
One user slammed: “Extremely disappointing. They had the opportunity to give us deleted / cut scenes and a podcast format of them talking about their adventures, but we got a rerun of episodes we have all seen 7 times segmented with 30 seconds of extremely scripted discussions between the 2.
“The show offers nothing, no substance, nothing new. Just rewatch the old episodes if you want to watch the grand tour because this show is just pointless,” they continued.
Another fumed: “First episode was very forced and scripted, no new content on show, total cash grab.”
“I got down voted for saying it prior. But I’ll say it again. It’s a money grab,” a third echoed.
A fourth shared: “There’s really not much to discuss really. It’s old segments that we have already seen, and the host bits with Hammond and May really don’t offer that much substance or insight.”
“It’s not different to ‘The Best Of’ episodes of Top Gear. Not really worth any type of excitement at all,” a fifth despaired.
However, not all viewers were as disappointed with the new series, with some sharing their small praise on the platform.
“I quite liked it tbh, reminded me of the old ‘Best of’ Top Gear DVDs. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything new, especially when it was announced Jeremy wasn’t going to be in it.
“If anything it’s if you want to introduce a friend to ‘The Grand Tour’ you show them that as a taster of what to expect but more. It wasn’t mind blowingly brilliant but it also wasn’t s***,” one wrote.
“I think this is fine, it’s a clip show. I grew up in the era where half of cable television was clip shows like this. It’s a little bland and generic but it’s a good way to get potential new viewers invested in checking out the back catalogue of episodes,” another added.
One of the more notable moments on the new show came from Hammond, who briefly referenced the Christmas split from his wife Mindy for the first time since announcing the move.