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Top Gear Is Over
10 years ago
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I think I agree with James May. What Jeremy did was out of line, but it should have been handled better. It didn't need to be blown up out of all proportions, the way it was.
And why was it blown up?
I honestly feel that this was never about Clarkson, as much as it was about Jimmy Saville.
And before folks complain about me making that comparison again, I'm not the only one. A representative of the BBC made that claim, loudly, and in public, to the media:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art.....ke-Savile.html
...so why would they do this?
Because the BBC knowingly covered up decades of child abuse, and statutory rape by one of their biggest celebrities, and then sat on that info for another few decades. And when it finally came out into the light that they had done this, the race began to find some way, ANY way of demonstrating that "We're not that guy."
They needed a scapegoat, and they found one.
Millions of dollars in international sales flushed down the pipes. Contracts voided. Penalties owed. Millions more of upset television license holders. A popular show ruined. The careers of it's three stars, ended.
And all so some BBC executive can sleep at night, after repating his mantra: "It wasn't me. I'm a good person."
So, the BBC may bring back a show called Top gear, but it won't be Top Gear - those three were the show.
...as the American version has so clearly shown.
but the thing about the bbc is this and this is a true fact
if Clarkson was a pedophile the bbc would have covered this up.
in the past 3 years there have been so far over 40 pedophiles identified working or worked in the bbc.
top gear would be revamped from now on, may and Hammond are leaving which is common knowledge so they are gone.
One that won't throw them under the bus, to shield decades worth of corporate malfeasance.
I like the sound of that. Where and when did he let that slip?
Well there goes a little bit of my soul.
He's not exactly Public Enemy #1.
I don't mind the lighthearted poking fun at other countries because they made fun of themselves and the English so much, but there were too many instances of things just going a little too far and over time that builds up and if you add assault of a staff member to it they couldn't really do anything else but give him the push. Fairly equitable really I'm sure they'd do that to anyone really.
Still he hit Piers Morgan so that's something to be thankful for :3
And if you even watch the footage you'd need to know what the word was to even understand his mumbling.
He'd said at the time he didn't think this was worth doing, so they canned it and changed it to "Catch a teacher by the toe". The reason there was controversy at all is because someone leaked the video.
I've yet to hear of *that* person getting punished.
so in a way ... Clarkson hit his boss
Their contracts don't actually expire until the end of the month, so... for legal reasons, we probably won't hear anything one way or the other until after then. I'd be surprised if the three haven't already quietly got their heads together, and started talks with one of the other networks about doing something together.
They are, literally, the hottest property in the UK, right now, and that tends to attract the kind of money that makes it hard to say no.
Interesting bit of news...
If they were going to announce a new show, under a new name, this might be the time and place to do it.
The maiden, The mother, and The crone
...I've long thought that Top Gear worked, because they had managed to recreate that style of group, albeit a male version.
Hammond is the maiden - sort of youngish, earnest and eager
May is the mother - steeped in tradition, a bit of a worrier
and Clarkson is the crone - rude, abrasive, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of that
That's also one of the reasons why other versions of the show don't work. Because they've stuck generic TV people into those slots, so they just don't fit together in the right way.
The dynamic between the three is what made the show, get rid of that and the show has nothing.
I was sensing Jeremy would eventually be sacked, he walked the line too many times, and I couldn't see it not being a big media event given how popular the show is/was.
(Isn't the daily mail a tabloid? It's actually blocked at my workplace)
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e.....-10132835.html
And the person who turned Jeremy Clarkson into the BBC for what he did, was Jeremy Clarkson. He took responsibility. He did not try to cover it up, or brush it off. You have to give the man credit for that.
The fact is I should have looked more into it before I commented. I'll do my best to be better about that.
I always got the vibe from Clarkson that he, like many Brits, likes taking the piss out of the silliness of his own country even though he loves Britain and wishes the rest of the world could do the same.
Whenever he, or indeed Hammond or May, make remarks that play on a country's stereotypes it feels more in good fun. Good natured ribbing that is so ridiculous it's funny. The kind of statement that's so ridiculous you can't take it seriously. Clarkson comes across to me as a man who knows how to skirt the line and does it on purpose not necessarily because he *believes* the things he says, but because he knows it'll get a rise out of people, and the ones who he's directing his jokes at who *laugh...they're the ones he is working for.
Like the time he made the truckers murdering prostitutes joke. There were just as many truckers who watched the show who found it hilarious as thosewho got knee-jerk offended.
I always feel Clarkson wants to help the world realise it's okay to laugh at ourselves and sometimes embracing the stupid ideas people have of us can help us get over our differences.
It's kind of a British thing really, we like poking fun at ourselves. We don't take ourselves overly seriously. Unless the French are insulting us, then we get all defensive.
Clarkson's no saint for sure, but I never really got the feeling he *hated* any nationality. Considering how many dozens of countries he's visited not just for the show but in his personal life as well, it wouldn't really do to hate non-whites.
That being said I don't think it was a firing offense. They could have used it as an opportunity to explain why stereotypes like that are harmful. I get that sometimes humor is offensive but there's a difference between smart humor and lazy stereotypes.
Yeah, you could argue it wasn't a particularly clever or witty observation, but for me the crassness and blatent stupidity of it was what made it funny. If we all learned to laugh at the stupid things actual racists and bigots say, the world would be a merrier place.
And I mean laugh as in laugh at how stupid they are...not laugh at blatently offensive jokes.
But as soon as you start being a prima donna with the people you work with and if you hit someone, well there's nowhere to go but out the door.
Thats aggravated assault and hes lucky there wasnt any charges. I watched the show and I do enjoy watching it but sometimes things just dont last. I hope theres something that can get worked but if everyone is going to not do the show because of this one guy then it is what it is. The guys are refusing to do the show should at least talk to Clarkson and make him give an apology. If he refuses then its a perfect example why he should be fired.
Good luck to the show though.
You realise the guy reported himself to the BBC after the incident, right? He spent several days attempting to contact the producer to apologise in various ways. Or do you prefer someone be raked over the coals and dragged infront of a press conference, looking down at his shoes and saying he's so vewy sowwy? Because that kind of public pantomime is even worse since everyone knows it's a show for the cameras, regardless of whether it actually is or not.
It sounds like a short explosion of anger, which we've all had, that ended up with a very minor injury that could have been settled much more easilly than this drawn out farse of a "review".
What I think is amazing is how much money the BBC is going to lose over this whole thing from viewership decline to loss of major sponsors across the world. I'm more surprised this isn't all some publicity stunt.
And the whole Hammond, May, and Clarkson thing is a package deal, even May and Hammond have said they will go where Clarkson goes.
I say they all move to the USA and replace the terrible no talent hacks on the American version of Top Gear. Tanner Foust can be the American stig. *chuckles*
Clarkson is one of those guys that forms a good dynamic with his co-hosts and is the type that people love, or love to hate, either way brings in money and publicity.
...and use the original Alman Brothers version of Jessica as the opening theme.
Just to rub the Beeb's nose in it.
I was thinking "Grinding Gears" And they open with burning an effigy of the BBC before driving some sort of crappy British Rover through the burning remains.
Oh well.
I might watch the first episode of New Top Gear just to add an extra figure so the following week's massive ratings slump will be all the steeper.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/56.....p-Gear-AA-Gill
This is looking more and more like Michael Grade, all over again.
Not saying there's no truth to this, but it can be a little uncertain. Journalists have a habit of making things up for headlines.
Here's hypocrisy for you. Top Gear Live is still set to go with Clarkson, May, and Hammond because they are under different contracts than the recorded shows.
Interesting bit of news...
If they were going to announce a new show, under a new name, this might be the time and place to do it.
And I don't think of it as hypocrisy... I think of it as a loophole.
Clarkson's going to be able get up in front of an audience, shoot his mouth off all he wants, and the idiot who wanted him fired can't do jack about it.
Man, I hope footage of that show leaks onto YouTube.
Conversely: Clarkson just snapped under pressure. Could be anything but: it's the BBC, the truth is far too important for us plebs.
The BBC covered up Saville and the PIE network and Clarkson got the boot. It is stunningly unjust and simply impossible to imagine that Clarkson's somewhat relentless mockery of Lefty pieties did not play a role.