Jeremy Clarkson Suspended Over Fracas

[nist7]

I don't see how this is true. I wasn't a fan of the Top Gear franchise. I was a fan of Clarkson and May, and to a lesser extent Hammond. I am much more likely to watch TG3's next projects (whatever they happen to be) than a rebooted Top Gear.

Okay, so I'm back from a long-time hiatus. And this startling piece of news really caught my eye and caught my attention back to FinalGear.

Something that has been very evident is how big Clarkson/May/Hammond has become bigger than the show itself, and it shows the wild succcess of the show.

Anyone ever watch the ORIGINAL Top Gear? No, of course not. That show still has Jeremy Clarkson...but the 1990s Clarkson no one cared about because all he did was talk about cars...the show was only about cars. Only did they revamp the series and put in the personality/drama/antics that it became publically popular...because car enthusiasts are a small percentage.

Now it seems people are willing to completely abandoning the show, without Clarkson, because in effect to many people Clarkson has become the show.

I'm a bit sad that the show hasn't really been about cars anymore, but that's ok because they still help make the public knowledgeable/laugh/cry over car-related things. But I wish people would love the show for the other aspects that make the show popular in addition to Clarkson....the photography, the writing, the editing, the story/scripting. Hundreds (even thousands) of people all work together to make Top Gear and the brightest 3 stars get lot of public cred...and I feel that the show and its staff would suffer if this whole thing goes belly up. This where I feel like Clarkson did his own show/staff wrong by being too much of an a-hole just once too many.

As car enthusiasts here, I feel like we need to focus on the bigger picture of bringing great, entertaining and informative car-oriented shows to the world public so people can get excited about cars and be educated. We shouldn't just say BBC is terrible and hold Clarkson to an almost deity-like status. Because of course, Clarkson can be a jerk as a person and when you push too many buttons too far, it becomes your own fault imo.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Rofl

 

[TopGearNorthAmerica]

Okay, so I'm back from a long-time hiatus. And this startling piece of news really caught my eye and caught my attention back to FinalGear.

Something that has been very evident is how big Clarkson/May/Hammond has become bigger than the show itself, and it shows the wild succcess of the show.

Anyone ever watch the ORIGINAL Top Gear? No, of course not. That show still has Jeremy Clarkson...but the 1990s Clarkson no one cared about because all he did was talk about cars...the show was only about cars. Only did they revamp the series and put in the personality/drama/antics that it became publically popular...because car enthusiasts are a small percentage.

Now it seems people are willing to completely abandoning the show, without Clarkson, because in effect to many people Clarkson has become the show.

I'm a bit sad that the show hasn't really been about cars anymore, but that's ok because they still help make the public knowledgeable/laugh/cry over car-related things. But I wish people would love the show for the other aspects that make the show popular in addition to Clarkson....the photography, the writing, the editing, the story/scripting. Hundreds (even thousands) of people all work together to make Top Gear and the brightest 3 stars get lot of public cred...and I feel that the show and its staff would suffer if this whole thing goes belly up. This where I feel like Clarkson did his own show/staff wrong by being too much of an a-hole just once too many.

As car enthusiasts here, I feel like we need to focus on the bigger picture of bringing great, entertaining and informative car-oriented shows to the world public so people can get excited about cars and be educated. We shouldn't just say BBC is terrible and hold Clarkson to an almost deity-like status. Because of course, Clarkson can be a jerk as a person and when you push too many buttons too far, it becomes your own fault imo.

This. This is exactly on point.

 

[Cancun]

Why should Wilman say anything? He's still in business with the BBC and there is nothing to gain but a lot to lose for him from a public comment, not even on a personal level with Jeremy, whom I'm sure he has given a few words in private.

 

[PaddyFancy]

I disagree. I found old Top Gear to be entertaining with or without Jeremy Clarkson. It was he who made old Top Gear a popular show with his personality, and when he left in 1999 the show slowly died off before it was revamped by Clarkson and Wilman.

 

[jack_christie]

 

[Captain_Whine]

Anyone ever watch the ORIGINAL Top Gear? No, of course not. That show still has Jeremy Clarkson...but the 1990s Clarkson no one cared about because all he did was talk about cars...the show was only about cars. Only did they revamp the series and put in the personality/drama/antics that it became publically popular...because car enthusiasts are a small percentage.

Actually, if you look closer to old TG series, and compare Clarkson's reviews with other presenter's, you'll see that sarcastic rage which made him interesting among the grayness of whole program.

Also, you can watch "Apocalypse Clarkson", or "At full throttle", you'll see exact spirit of present TG series. Now see the film dates.


So, where exacly 2nd gen show got that madness from? Production office?

 

[Aston Martin]

Watching Botswana...

Jeremy: [to Richard] Do you know how it feels to have someone punch you really hard in the middle of the face?
Richard: I do, actually

 

[gurei17]

Why should Wilman say anything? He's still in business with the BBC and there is nothing to gain but a lot to lose for him from a public comment, not even on a personal level with Jeremy, whom I'm sure he has given a few words in private.

I do agree that he needs to be careful with his words now. But, if JC does start somewhere else, who do you think he wants with him as a producer? Exactly.

 

[KaJuN]

However, I don't get how any of those people's actions/inaction have to do with punching a co-worker in frustration over (allegedly) some ill-prepared/cold food.

This isn't just about a cold lunch either. He made his apologies so that the higher ups didn't have to and so the show could stay intact. But respect goes both ways and I suspect there wasn't as much coming down as there was going up. There's more to the story and I think he finally just snapped.

 

[JimCorrigan]

This website's name is now looking awfully prophetic.

 

[Cobol74]

"Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish."

There was a program on radio 4 this pm where a newspaper reporter said about Clarkson leaving, "that will please the BBC higher ups. ... They have never gotten on with his 'right wing' views."

In another story it was said that ITV have had loads of shares bought in the expectation that he will be going over to them.

 

[skylock]

The BBC should have let the series finish and then announced that Clarkson's contract wasn't going to be renewed. I doubt Oisin would have gotten all the abuse he's had to endure from Top Gear "fans" if they'd done it this way. With the series over there'd have been much less of a media frenzy and fewer fans paying attention.

Exactly. Noone is coming out of this looking good.

 

[thoots]

The BBC should have let the series finish and then announced that Clarkson's contract wasn't going to be renewed. I doubt Oisin would have gotten all the abuse he's had to endure from Top Gear "fans" if they'd done it this way. With the series over there'd have been much less of a media frenzy and fewer fans paying attention.

Another agreement with you there. "Personnel issues" should remain confidential. Gosh, how much better this all would have come out if they would have just kept on going, and then rendered the "punishment" at the end of his contract.

 

[poptya]

You guys seem to be forgetting that there were alot of witnesses. The incident itself didn't happen "behind closed doors". It would have been in the news regardless of Jeremy reporting it. It would also make the BBC look bad if they determined it was assault and fired Jeremy..........after 3 weeks of raking in money from the show.

 

[thoots]

A few thoughts:

1. Top Gear USA started improving substantially when they decided to fully jettison the "copied from Top Gear UK" stuff, like SIARPC, talking about "the news," and so on. They just started having one big challenge per show and I didn't think it was half bad. Not exactly chemistry as good at TGUK, but then again there was less of the utter silliness that TGUK could slip into.

2. Personally, I hope that Jeremy will just "take a year off" or something like that. "What Piers said." With his body-abusive lifestyle, all kinds of personal and professional pressure, who knows how long he could have kept shooting Top Gear, anyway? I would sure recommend to him to spend some quality time to get his physical and mental health in much better shape.

3. I certainly expect the BBC to keep on producing Top Gear as long as it will get any decent ratings -- the bigger question to me is all about May and Hammond. Life will go on, but in which direction(s) will they go?

 

[Hive]

so, how many of you have already committed suicide?

 

[Red Falcon]

so, how many of you have already committed suicide?

I did


twice

 

[93Flareside]

I've lost count.

 

[f1anatic]

It's regrettable it ended this way.


I think there is a parallel to another event, albeit different circumstances, when the star left the show. First the parallel, and comes from the world of cars. In 2006, Michael Schumacher was pushed out from Ferrari by Luca de Montezemolo. He wasn't sacked for misbehaving but he was pushed out. Ferrari went on to win the driver's title in 2007 with Raikonen and then became solid also-rans to this day. Formula One kept going forward. Ferrari hired a replacement star (Alonso) who eventually left. An old driver (Raikonen) came back. The old boss Montezemolo, got himself the axe, his successor lasted a few months. Schumacher himself came back a few years later with another team and was never quite the 7 x world champion larger than life sharper than a scalpel driver. He went back into retirement, did something stupid, and for all we know he is now a vegetable.

Jeremy will go away for a while, he'll come back to TV, perhaps with another car show, but it will never be quite the same. And after a while he'll disappear off the glass, perhaps making the occasional Daily Mirror article about people drowning their sorrows. BBC will try to reformat Top Gear, perhaps bring in someone famous, will probably retain some viewers, but its ratings will make the show hard to justify and will probably get cancelled again. And whoever that top schnitzel is, Cohen, one day he'll be politely asked to move on.

Like everyone else, in my middle age I will continue to watch, again and again, Top Gear, the way I knew it. But I will also blame Jeremy for the show's untimely demise.