I wasn't aware that the new season of Top Gear had started until a scene from the first episode was mentioned in another thread. So I watched (most of) the first episode last night, and was pleasantly surprised.

Things, of course, were bound to improve massively just with the removal of the obnoxious Chris Evans (whose presence made every scene he was in somewhat of a trial), but the improvement was more significant than that. The banter between the three hosts was still slightly forced, but given this was the first episode it was fine. Matt LeBlanc is certainly better without Evans' presence. And their "challenge" in Kazakhstan was pretty entertaining - on the strength of this first episode I'll certainly be watching the rest of the season.

Personally, I found the studio parts of episode one far less painful than those in The Grand Tour - these generally make me wince; it's only the non-studio bits of TGT that hold my attention (and don't have me reaching for the FF button!).

That said, the start of this season of Top Gear seems to have not done too well with viewership, but hopefully more viewers will come back when they find out it doesn't suck as much as the Evans era.

Of those who have viewed this new episode, what are your thoughts?