Top Gear trio picked up by Amazon.

[Dave]

£162m is an obscene amount of money.

[Chrill]

Netflix has confirmed they were looking into the trio, however they deemed them "not worth the money". Netflix was also quoted as saying they "sold themselves for way more money" than they are worth. The deal Amazon paid is thought to be around $250M USD (£162M GBP / €224M EUR). Perhaps Netflix is a bit sour over it, or perhaps they're right. Either way, I look forward to seeing who is right here.

Source: BBC News & Yahoo! News

They are worth exactly what someone decided to pay for them. If Amazon wanted to pay $250 million, then they were worth just that.

[Redirect Left]

£162m is an obscene amount of money.

On the plus side, Amazons budget per episode is supremely higher than the BBCs, Amazon have put about £4.4M aside for each episode. Quite obscene also!
The BBC budget is thought to have budgeted about £500K per episode, and Clarkson was getting £1M per year with Auntie Beeb
(Source)

Here's hoping the extreme budget is going to pay off, and won't be used to just blow up every caravan they come across.

[FooBar]

It's probably going to be invested in pianos and Morris Marinas.

[Chrill]

Oh I can picture it. 50 Morris Marinas, 100 pianos. Some explosions too. And a fighter jet. All underwater.

[Dave]

What does that £162m consist of?

I take it most of the Top Gear team have gone with them now? So does it count their salaries too? Wilman would pull in a fair amount.

EDIT: Also, are we not a bit worried that one of the show's best features - naughtily defying the orders of Auntie Beeb - no longer exists?

[Chrill]

Well, they will constantly defy the BBC regulations but it just won't matter anymore. I'm sure they will tease them more than lightly.

I am more worried about the fact that many of the features in the show, The Stig included, is still property of BBC. Having another anonymous driver with another name would just be stupid. They will need a different routine for lapping their cars. Perhaps actually recruiting a named driver?

The whole "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" seems easier to rework into a segment they can still use. Then again, they may depart the standard studio format of Top Gear and just go on crazier roadtrips than ever before.

[Redirect Left]

Perhaps actually recruiting a named driver?

This is what I am hoping for. There are plenty of drivers from well known racing formats, both present and past who'd suit doing something like this.

they may depart the standard studio format of Top Gear and just go on crazier roadtrips than ever before.

Also hoping for this. Plenty more wild adventures to far flung continents for humour, casual racism and showing their limits to the nation. I just hope that whilst they aren't limited by the Beeb, they don't take their jokes too far and become just a bit too much and over the top.

[Ameecher]

I actually think that when Top Gear got a bigger budget it got worse. The earlier runs of the "new" shows with a tighter budget were less forced. Buying 3 Italian supercars for £1500 and driving them from Bristol to Maidenhead was better in my opinion than the Patagonia special where they were deliberately getting themselves stuck etc.

[Drury]

http://www.theweek.co.uk/jeremy-clarkso ... ys-hammond

Talking about the move from terrestrial television to online streaming, Hammond said that working for Amazon feels more like having a publisher than a boss. "They're not going to interfere. They want us doing what we do." Asked whether he felt the experience would be liberating, he replied: "Yeah, very."

tl;dr prepare for van/camper-hybrid walker contraptions

[Redirect Left]

tl;dr prepare for van/camper-hybrid walker contraptions

Hopefully they won't focus too much on a specific thing, and give a nice wide area of things in the programme though...

[Chris]

I actually think that when Top Gear got a bigger budget it got worse. The earlier runs of the "new" shows with a tighter budget were list forced. Buying 3 Italian supercars for £1500 and driving them from Bristol to Maidenhead was better in my opinion than the Patagonia special where they were deliberately getting themselves stuck etc.

I have to say that I used to watch Top Gear, and now you say it, this is probably the reason why I stopped watching. The challenges were interesting when they had to buy cars on tight budgets. That sort of feature used to make up for Clarkson being a (really ugly (and terrible clothes)) distasteful bigot, whereas in the last five years (or longer?) its just become throwing loads of money in a glittery, shiny car bin whilst they make terrible jokes.

[doktorhonig]

money per episode != money spent on cars

[Redirect Left]

The name of the new show may have been revealed, or maybe not. Who knows?
However Clarksons law firm (Olswang) have registered to trademark 'Gear Knobs'. Given the timing of the registration, it may be significant. If it is the name, I do love it.

The same law firm also registered 'Speedbird', which may also be relevant although to what, who knows, another name, the name, the Stig?

Sources: Metro & Buzzfeed.

[Ameecher]

money per episode != money spent on cars

No I know that but it does mean that you have less crew and all the other stuff. You only have to watch the Patagonia special episode where when the crew were being hounded out they were in a very long convoy and had around 100 people. That's not as fun in my opinion as the earlier stuff which had a much more a feeling of 3 blokes and a film crew going for a dick about.

[doktorhonig]

Good argument. For low-end car-related humour, I would recommend Mighty Car Mods on youtube. Turbo Yodaaaa!

[Drury]

MCM taught me to respect Daihatsu as the ultimate supercar.