Here’s a fun question: when does The Grand Tour, Amazon’s new show starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May actually start? You’re probably thinking that it’s an easy one. “November 18th,” you’d say, and you’d be right. But when on November 18th?
The truth of the matter is, we don’t know. We haven’t been able to find it anywhere. We’ve asked multiple different people involved with promoting the show, and they don’t seem to know. No matter where we turn, everyone and everything cheerily tells us it begins “November 18th,” with no more details forthcoming than that.
In fact, a video released just today gives the start time as the still-vague “November 18th”:
Keep in mind, the show premiers in two days. It will, in all likelihood, be the most successful show Amazon has produced yet. And we still don’t know what time it starts.
Does it premier at midnight? Maybe at nine in the morning, so we can all get our Friday started right? Or maybe at just an absurdly arbitrary time, as is befitting what appears to be a ridiculous and wonderful show already, such as 27:93 in the evening?
And what time zone? Eastern, Pacific, Greenwich Mean Time?
Maybe we’re just dumb. Maybe we’re blind. Maybe you know when it starts.
Do you know what time The Grand Tour starts? Please tell us.
UPDATE: We received a tip from a very kind reader named Margaret, who said she had the same question:
According to the email response I received from Amazon prime, the start time is Friday, 11/18/16, at 12:01 a.m., barring technical glitches, etc.
“I understand your query regarding The Grand Tour start time. I would be glad to assist you with this.
I would like to inform you that The Grand Tour will start on Friday, November 18 at 12:01 AM, however, due to some technical glitch sometimes it delays for few minutes and I apologize for this inconvenience.
Since a lifetime of dealing with customer service tells us that this sort of information needs verification, we endeavored to call up Amazon customer service ourselves. This is the resulting conversation as I just had it with an Amazon customer service representative over the phone:
Jalopnik: Hello, what time does the new show, The Grand Tour, start? I know it’s November 18th, but I can’t find anything more than that.
Amazon: Thank you for your question sir, I am checking the website.
[SOME TIME GOES BY]
I don’t see anything on the website, it just says “November 18th.” So it will be available then.
J: Yes, but what time on November 18th?
A: The website just says November 18th.
J: What time will I be able to watch my favorite new Amazon show, The Grand Tour, on November 18th?
A: The website just says November 18th, so it will be available before 12 in the evening.
J: Thank you.
A: You’re welcome, sir.
So there you have it. The Grand Tour will debut on November 18th, 2016, at some point before November 18th, 2016 is over.
Help.
UPDATE #2: It looks like we finally have a start time, and that start time means it’ll actually debut on the evening of November 17th in the United States, not on November 18th. Huh. Click here for more details.