Hmmm. You're right. Those are big numbers. That said, the MASH finale had 121m viewers, beating out "Who Shot JR" and the Superbowl... but AfterMash lasted 31 episodes and finished Season 1 tenth overall. It's a stupid amount of money for a media company that barely knows how to sell things to Americans, let alone a worldwide market. They have zero variety programming. And this is just the above-the-line charge - they still have to build a show. NBC's The Voice opened with $750k in above-the-line charges per episode. Hell's Kitchen pays $350k. Whatever this new Top Gear Thing is gonna be, they're paying $8m before they shoot a frame of footage. And I'll admit it - I hate fucking Jeremy Clarkson. One Simon Cowell is enough, thanks.
The example I'll offer is derivative bands. I've seen a band play a sold out 1000 capacity venue, but when a band with one of the members returned to town two months later, they couldn't sell 50 tickets. Hardcore fans will follow, but the real money is in the casual fans. Top Gear put up huge numbers, but it's going to take a great effort by Amazon to carry that over to a new show. As others noted here, the editing and production on Top Gear was excellent. I enjoy Top Gear as an entire show. Would I enjoy a show that with the same presenters but a lower production quality? Would I pay for an Amazon Prime account to watch it? No, probably not.That said, the MASH finale had 121m viewers, beating out "Who Shot JR" and the Superbowl... but AfterMash lasted 31 episodes and finished Season 1 tenth overall.