Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

«‹›350 »

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

quote:

In a press release, May joked: �We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?� And Hammond added: �Amazon? Oh yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant.�

# ? Jul 30, 2015 14:49

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 26, 2024 06:58

mod sassinator: Dec 13, 2006; I came here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum,
and I'm All out of Ass

I hope they trash on the BBC constantly in the new show. Good riddance.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 15:11

OptimusMatrix: Nov 13, 2003; ASK ME ABOUT MUTILATING MY PET TO SUIT MY OWN AESTHETIC PREFERENCES

I think Netflix made a huge blunder by not picking them up. Regardless I've got a prime account ready to go.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 15:14

Wamsutta: Sep 9, 2001

As an American with a Prime account this brings me much joy.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 15:39

Elephanthead: Sep 11, 2008; Toilet Rascal

Free two day shipping and access to a terrible car show, Amazon will be getting all of my 55 gallon drum lube orders now.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:01

KakerMix: Apr 8, 2004; 8.2 M.P.G.

As a Prime haver this is neat, although Amazon insisting I buy a Kindle or iPad to watch Prime streaming on a tablet is dumb as hell.

Netflix made a big mistake that they missed Top Gear guys because this is the exclusive thing that will probably make a comparative streaming alternative to Netflix.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:09

Entropist: Dec 1, 2007; I'm very stupid.

I had not even heard of Amazon Prime as a streaming service before this, so it's good advertising too. Not available in the Netherlands though, unlike Netflix...

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:20

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

KakerMix posted:

As a Prime haver this is neat, although Amazon insisting I buy a Kindle or iPad to watch Prime streaming on a tablet is dumb as hell.

Prime video works on any Android tablet, has for about 6 months now.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:34

sbaldrick: Jul 19, 2006; Driven by Hate

Amazon doesn't even offer streaming in my country and won't accept my credit card to pay for it.

Piracy for me.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:35

Rude Dude With Tude: Apr 19, 2007; Your President approves this text.

Industry paper article on the Amazon deal: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/andy-wilman-lifts-bonnet-on-top-gear-teams-amazon-deal/5091110.article

Broadcast posted:

Andy Wilman lifts bonnet on Top Gear team�s Amazon deal

Andy Wilman has lifted the bonnet on the former Top Gear team�s landmark deal with Amazon Prime Video, explaining that they will be �left alone� to take the best of their old show and update it for a �new world� audience.

Speaking exclusively to Broadcast, the executive producer said Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are beginning development on the yet-to-be-titled new series after a frantic few months of negotiation since leaving the BBC.

Wilman revealed that he and the presenting team received several offers immediately after the BBC confirmed it would not be renewing Clarkson�s deal in March for punching Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon.

This included �very early chats� with ITV, which were ultimately scuppered by a non-compete clause in their BBC contract that meant they were unable to sign for a terrestrial rival within two years of leaving the corporation.

Despite this, Wilman said the �strongest and most intelligent offer� came from Amazon, which bought into their vision for the show and desire to be trusted to make it on their own terms.

�Everyone we have talked to has said to us: �They leave you alone to make your show�. That�s a big one for us - we don�t like interference, we don�t need to be policed,� he explained.

The value of the deal was undisclosed, but it represents Amazon�s biggest single investment in original content to date and Wilman revealed that they have been backed with a �really good budget� to make the programme.

�Money, freedom and a love of quality. Those three things are what was attractive,� he said.

The ex-Top Gear team personally brokered the deal with Amazon UK film and TV strategy director Chris Bird and Conrad Riggs, the US online giant�s head of TV.

The former echoed Wilman�s sentiments on creative freedom, telling Broadcast: �It would be crazy for us to interfere with a creative process that has been so successful in the past.�

The �new look� Top Gear

Clarkson and co will produce 12 episodes of roughly 60 minutes in length for each of the three series, which they will begin delivering in autumn next year. Wilman said the show will build on the successful Top Gear formula, but there will be �lots of newness�.

There will be �indoor� studio elements, as well as the signature global adventures that Clarkson, Hammond and May have become famous for.

Importantly, Wilman stressed, the programme will be anchored in the UK and the presenting trio are likely to be given �more time to yak� about cars away from the road. The deal also gives the hosts the freedom to pursue non-motoring television projects away from Amazon, keeping the door open for them to remain fixtures on the BBC.

Wilman added: �You can�t reinvent the sideways, Last of the Summer Wine-type relationship they have because that is outside of television, that is theirs. But there will be a new look, new elements, new home. We�ve been so busy doing the bloody deal�that [the development] process now begins in earnest.�

He and Bird hinted that the show could be scheduled on a weekly basis, rather than making the whole series available in one go to binge-watch. Both said Top Gear�s audience is used to the habit of having a fresh episode to watch every seven days and Wilman joked: �We�re a one trick pony, I wouldn�t watch 12 episodes in a row.�

Clarkson and co�s new indie

The show will be produced by a new production company established by Wilman, Clarkson, Hammond and May. Named W Chump & Sons, it is a nod to their northern backgrounds, where Wilman said a lot of companies in the 1960s/70s had �& Sons� in their names. W Chump also includes the first letter of all four of their surnames.

Wilman is beginning to crew up for the show and is on the hunt for staff at all levels of the production process. He is particularly keen to bring in a �poo poo hot� production manager, joking that they used to �run loving riot with money� while they were at the BBC.

Amazon will help oversee the distribution of the motoring brand to broadcasters and platforms outside of its existing territories of the US, UK and Germany. Bird also said the show will be used as a tool to help it grow its footprint and launch in new countries.

Merchandising and events are also on the radar, but more thought will be given to the programme�s life away from the screen nearer the time of launch.

Wilman said they would have remained at the BBC had the Clarkson �fracas� not occurred.

�We didn�t plan this and we would have carried on but that�s life, and crikey it�s looking pretty good right now,� he explained.

�We get to carry on working, we get new challenges and Top Gear is in good hands. The viewers get two car shows, there�s nothing wrong with that.�

Read the full interview with Andy Wilman and Chris Bird in next week�s Broadcast

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:36

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

sbaldrick posted:

Amazon doesn't even offer streaming in my country and won't accept my credit card to pay for it.

Piracy for me.

The article said that in locations where Prime streaming wasn't available, they were going to try to work out local TV distribution.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:36

mod sassinator: Dec 13, 2006; I came here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum,
and I'm All out of Ass

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

Industry paper article on the Amazon deal: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/andy-wilman-lifts-bonnet-on-top-gear-teams-amazon-deal/5091110.article

I hope one of the job requirements for their production manager is "Able to take a slap/punch to the face without flinching." :laugh:

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:39

sbaldrick: Jul 19, 2006; Driven by Hate

bull3964 posted:

The article said that in locations where Prime streaming wasn't available, they were going to try to work out local TV distribution.

Given that I live in Canada I don't think that will happen.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:39

Mr. Wiggles: Dec 1, 2003; We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

Great news.

Except that the Amazon streaming sucks out here due to poor internet quality in the evenings.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 16:51

OptimusMatrix: Nov 13, 2003; ASK ME ABOUT MUTILATING MY PET TO SUIT MY OWN AESTHETIC PREFERENCES

Not being able to use prime with my Chromecast is extremely irritating.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 17:00

CornHolio: May 20, 2001; Toilet Rascal

Holy loving hell, between this and Man in the High Castle, I think it's time I signed up for Prime.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 17:03

spog: Aug 7, 2004; It's your own bloody fault.

CornHolio posted:

Holy loving hell, between this and Man in the High Castle, I think it's time I signed up for Prime.

Sure as poo poo, the Amazon special sale wasn't worth signing up for.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 17:12

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

Didn't amazon also by Twitch? Pump it out over that. :kheldragar:

# ? Jul 30, 2015 17:41

ukle: Nov 28, 2005

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:

Industry paper article on the Amazon deal: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/andy-wilman-lifts-bonnet-on-top-gear-teams-amazon-deal/5091110.article

So its over a year away if its coming Autumn 2016. The revamped Top Gear on the BBC is likely to be before that.

Also on the issue of Top Gear there has been significant murmurings Jenson Button has been signed as one of the presenters, he is out of contract in F1 next year and while Williams has been after him reportedly, I could well see him just calling it time on F1 and move into TV given how poo poo his car has been this year.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 17:48

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Just saw the news about the Amazon deal, that's pretty cool and I'm happy they found a solution (though I wish Hannibal would too). This reminded me that I never looked into how the whole BBC thing concluded - did anything worthwhile come out of that mess?

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:08

tuna: Jul 17, 2003

I've been streaming a few shows off of Prime recently and honestly the player/quality is absolute poo poo compared to Netflix, but whatever it's the content I'm looking for.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:16

ukle: Nov 28, 2005

tuna posted:

I've been streaming a few shows off of Prime recently and honestly the player/quality is absolute poo poo compared to Netflix, but whatever it's the content I'm looking for.

Best way of watching Prime is via one of the Amazon Fire TV sticks, there the quality and the UI are as good as Netflix. They were on sale in the UK on prime day for �19 and are great for watching Prime and TVMC. Price in US is $40 I think.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:20

tuna: Jul 17, 2003

ukle posted:

Best way of watching Prime is via one of the Amazon Fire TV sticks, there the quality and the UI are as good as Netflix. They were on sale in the UK on prime day for �19 and are great for watching Prime and TVMC. Price in US is $40 I think.

I have one for the bedroom and it stutters quite a lot (although I usually use it to watch Netflix). I watch the rest of the stuff on Prime web player and it usually defaults to "Lowest quality" SD despite having 50mbit connection and when I unpause it, one in three times it will randomly skip forwards 20 minutes to whatever most inconvenient spoiler there is. The general interface is also kind of clunky and you have to re-find what you were previously watching and navigate to the right season/episode, etc.
YMMV of course because this could come down to many factors but whatever I'm still happy that it's going to Amazon.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:31

KakerMix: Apr 8, 2004; 8.2 M.P.G.

bull3964 posted:

Prime video works on any Android tablet, has for about 6 months now.

Shows how much attention I have payed to Prime streaming :v:

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:50

Alighieri: Dec 10, 2005

Glad it will be on prime, more reason to keep my Kindle Fire HDX other then the absurd number of books on it. Not sure if the Fire stick does it, but on the HDX if a show doesn't have a cold open and just goes straight into an intro sequence typically the player will automatically skip it, which is nice not having to manually scroll through it with my fat finger messing it up and jumping too far ahead.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 18:53

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

tuna posted:

I have one for the bedroom and it stutters quite a lot (although I usually use it to watch Netflix). I watch the rest of the stuff on Prime web player and it usually defaults to "Lowest quality" SD despite having 50mbit connection and when I unpause it, one in three times it will randomly skip forwards 20 minutes to whatever most inconvenient spoiler there is. The general interface is also kind of clunky and you have to re-find what you were previously watching and navigate to the right season/episode, etc.
YMMV of course because this could come down to many factors but whatever I'm still happy that it's going to Amazon.

Never had the slightest issues at all streaming prime on my TV (on pretty much any app I have that uses it). It actually seems to ramp up to the highest HD quality faster than netflix does.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 19:22

wolrah: May 8, 2006; what?

OptimusMatrix posted:

Not being able to use prime with my Chromecast is extremely irritating.

I thought the same, but then I got a Fire TV stick and it took over the majority of my Chromecast usage. It still supports "cast" style usage from most of the same apps, but also has a remote and can run actual local programs including Kodi (formerly XBMC). It's a full Android device. of course with the Amazon flavor of Android rather than Google's.

Both Fire TV stick and Chromecast are due for updates though so I'd hold off until closer to the start of the show. Chromecast 2 is supposedly going more full featured to compete with the Fire stick, possibly under the Android TV branding, and the Fire TV Stick 2 has already been seen in benchmarks with MUCH faster processor.

wolrah fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Jul 30, 2015

# ? Jul 30, 2015 20:31

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

the most important question of all though is who will people complain to when they're offended? i assume amazon will tell them to piss up a rope and there isn't any higher authority that governs them is there?
you mark my words, this will be the start of our society's decay

# ? Jul 30, 2015 20:55

sincx: Jul 13, 2012; furiously masturbating to anime titties

sincx fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Mar 23, 2021

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:13

KakerMix: Apr 8, 2004; 8.2 M.P.G.

Two Finger posted:

the most important question of all though is who will people complain to when they're offended? i assume amazon will tell them to piss up a rope and there isn't any higher authority that governs them is there?
you mark my words, this will be the start of our society's decay

I think a lot of wind is taken away from the people that would normaly bitch about ~offensive~ formely Top Gear crew because they are not a part of the BBC anymore. Seems like the BBC connection gave people the gusto they needed to bitch so freely.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:13

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

in all honesty i was impressed the bbc protected them for as long as it did, they pissed off some very vocal groups of people over a very long period of time
i'll admit i'm not british though so maybe the british attitude was different to that here in nz, where they probably would have been gone in no time

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:16

pik_d: Feb 24, 2006; follow the white dove

TRP Post of the Month October 2021

Two Finger posted:

in all honesty i was impressed the bbc protected them for as long as it did, they pissed off some very vocal groups of people over a very long period of time
i'll admit i'm not british though so maybe the british attitude was different to that here in nz, where they probably would have been gone in no time

They made he BBC a lot of money

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:22

goomsnarr: Jun 21, 2012; Yeah, yeah...

This might cause some interesting fallout.
There was a lot of fuss about Amazon not paying their taxes in the UK, with a lot of "common folk" calling them on their bullshit.

Now the self same people will have to pay Amazon to get their fix of Clarkson.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:23

Mr. Wiggles: Dec 1, 2003; We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

Two Finger posted:

in all honesty i was impressed the bbc protected them for as long as it did, they pissed off some very vocal groups of people over a very long period of time
i'll admit i'm not british though so maybe the british attitude was different to that here in nz, where they probably would have been gone in no time

For all their vocality, I'm afraid the Morris Marina Owners Club was not very influential.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:42

Jonny Nox: Apr 26, 2008

Rogers will pick this up for Canada. Probably drop it on a third tier cable channel so you need to pay max bucks to pick it up.

gently caress Canadian Cable companies and their bought and paid for government lackeys.

Vvv I mean it will go on a specialty Discovery Channel or another one rogers owns (Sportsnet World!), I don't think amazon would be too happy if they only broadcasted in Ontario.

Jonny Nox fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jul 30, 2015

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:46

Suplex Liberace: Jan 18, 2012

Jonny Nox posted:

Rogers will pick this up for Canada. Probably drop it on a third tier cable channel so you need to pay max bucks to pick it up.

gently caress Canadian Cable companies and their bought and paid for government lackeys.

Agreed. I don't even have Rogers or cable so I'm forced into not watching (lol not).

# ? Jul 30, 2015 21:56

Delsaber: Oct 1, 2013; This may or may not be correct.

Jonny Nox posted:

Rogers will pick this up for Canada. Probably drop it on a third tier cable channel so you need to pay max bucks to pick it up.

gently caress Canadian Cable companies and their bought and paid for government lackeys.

Or worse, Rogers will secure exclusive rights in Canada and put it behind a second subscription paywall, like how they handle the WWE Network, then sell access to other cable providers like Shaw who'll then pass that cost along to their customers. Hope everyone has Crave or Shomi or whatever.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 22:04

Jonny Nox: Apr 26, 2008

Delsaber posted:

Or worse, Rogers will secure exclusive rights in Canada and put it behind a second subscription paywall, like how they handle the WWE Network, then sell access to other cable providers like Shaw who'll then pass that cost along to their customers. Hope everyone has Crave or Shomi or whatever.

Are Crave and Shomi still exclusive to cable subscribers? Because that's some bullshit.

# ? Jul 30, 2015 22:06

InitialDave: Jun 14, 2007; I Want To Believe.

I too would have preferred it to be under the Netflix umbrella I'm already paying for, but I'm willing to pay for more Top Gear, either on a per-episode/per-series basis, or coughing up the money for a general Prime membership (It's �79 a year here, so 25% more expensive than the US).

Does anyone know if the US and other Amazon locales differ greatly in their streaming content?

# ? Jul 30, 2015 22:13

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 26, 2024 06:58

Foehammer007: Dec 7, 2011; by Pragmatica

I have a prime account I may be willing to share with another US Person (if it matters??)

# ? Jul 30, 2015 22:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

«‹›350 »