Over the last few weeks since the announcement of Clarkson, May and Hammond teaming up with Amazon.com for a new series, details about the new show have been trickling out slowly. I thought now would be a great time to catch up on all the details we know so far.
First, we now know exactly how many shows we are getting, and when to expect them. Amazon’s contract with the trio includes three full seasons of twelve episodes each. So we will be getting 36 new shows total. In an interview with Broadcast magazine, producer Andy Wilman explained the shows timing and program details. Each show will be an hour long like before, and just like before, we will get a new one each week. That is right, there will be now weekend binge when the show is finished, like many people are used to with VoD services like Amazon and Netflix. According the Wilman, it simply has to do with how the show works. Basically, part of what made Top Gear special was the current news and in studio sessions. If you film 12 shows at once and release them all once, all that news and studio stuff will be boring and stale.
Finally, Wilman said to expect the show near the end of 2016. Maybe that means we will get a new Christmas special.
Then we get to money. It is being reported by several sites and sources that Amazon has given the boys a total budget of $250-million for the entire run. If you do some rough math, that comes out to around $7-million per episode. I feel like the team can create some really great content with that amount of money. It also shows just how invested Amazon is in this new show. If that number is correct, it makes for the company’s largest investment in original content to date.
That is all we have to share at the moment, but as always, keep your eyes locked here on AutoTalk.com for all the news as we get it.
