TV Critic Really Doesn't Like Hammond

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TurnerGTX

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Richard Hammond


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Salacious Crumb

Until this week I had never watched Top Gear. Not once. Not even the one when Richard Hammond nearly died, which, from what I could make out in the tabloids, was this generation?s assassination of JFK but with a happy ending.

This was because I feared that if I tried it I might quite like it. A bit like heroin. After all, both heroin and Top Gear have a lot of fans. With 350 million viewers around the world, it?s one of BBC Worldwide?s most successful exports. The presenters ? James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson ? offer comfort to anyone who believes that this country was great until it was ruined, at some point in the mid-Eighties, by a combination of politically correct comedy, feminism, homosexuals, parking restrictions, and Emerson Lake & Palmer not getting into the charts any more.

........Sure enough, May was delightful company for my first hour of Top Gear. The conceit of the episode was that it was 1949, and Hammond, May and Clarkson were racing from London to Edinburgh in three of the fastest vehicles of the time: a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle, a Jaguar XK120 and a Peppercorn Class steam locomotive, the Tornado.

........But Richard Hammond ? Richard Hammond worried me immensely. He is a disconcerting television presence; his eyes have become bigger as his face becomes pointier, giving him the look of a man who spends most of his life in the dark, straining to pick out objects in the gloom. This etiolated cadpiggishness is exacerbated by his demeanour around Clarkson and May. He makes out like Salacious Crumb ? Jabba the Hutt?s sniggering, ratty little sidekick. In one of Hammond?s links he giggled, ?James is bringing up the rear ? hoping to take me from behind, and then press home his advantage. And I?m going to take Jeremy in the tunnel.?

I thought we?d officially ended this kind of Jim Davidson-esque casual homophobia ? especially on a pre-watershed family show on Sunday evening. But then, as we know, Hammond did suffer quite a blow to the head recently. Maybe we should cut him some slack.
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http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6582703.ece
 
Arse. That's all I can say. And why can't they take a joke? Hammond's little quips were not homophobia. There were frigging jokes.
 
freeferrarisdonotexist said:
Arse. That's all I can say. And why can't they take a joke? Hammond's little quips were not homophobia. There were frigging jokes.
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Agreed.
It's that kind of humor that makes Top Gear, Top Gear!
 
"Until this week I had never watched Top Gear. Not once. Not even the one when Richard Hammond nearly died, which, from what I could make out in the tabloids, was this generation?s assassination of JFK but with a happy ending." Well we know where you are coming from then. ...

"This was because I feared that if I tried it I might quite like it." Oh so you have an open mind then - obviously not.

"After all, both heroin and Top Gear have a lot of fans." Oh look you think it is heroin - er why?

"With 350 million viewers around the world, it?s one of BBC Worldwide?s most successful exports." So being popular is bad then? Go on tell us why you think that? "James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson ? offer comfort to anyone who believes that this country was great until it was ruined, at some point in the mid-Eighties, by a combination of politically correct comedy, feminism, homosexuals, parking restrictions, and Emerson Lake & Palmer not getting into the charts any more. " So you are in favour of these things you think TG is against?

One thing why ELP in particular, I think that Clarkson prefers The Who actually?

Next para apart from being factually wrong I have no objection too (er how so you ask - first hour of top gear - it only lasts an hour, he probably did not actually watch and caught the James May prog before or the BBC4 program after and his tiny brain got sadly confused - what a dick.)

Having a go at Hammond's smallness and appearance - really how Politically Correct is that then? Not OK to have a go at homosexuals in a humorous way.

Top Gear homophobic - er no. Who is this idiot? The absolute classic is the fact that the show is successful around the world is something to be ashamed of- how very upper class British - I bet that this arse is a person of Private education from a wealthy and priviladged and hence safe back ground who went probably to Oxford or more likely a lesser university - I'd guess Durham who feels aggrieved at the world and uses words like "cadpiggishness" and "etiolated" to make himself feel important - as I said what a dick. - correction tart

/EDIT Well I got that wrong then, still educated at home - that is not normal. ... And I still bet she is too posh for her own good. And quit with words less than 5% of the English speaking world uses or understands too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caitlin_Moran

//Edited further after second thoughts. Thank you Spicy....

Still think that this is a hatchet job really (what critics are all about), she was after Clarkson who appeared to be Mr Nice Guy this episode so apart from calling him thick she had to pick on someone and James is too nice, that leaves poor Richard.
 
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Oddly, that was one of Hammond's best episodes, he was consistently entertaining throughout.

And it's funny that someone brought up Stephen Fry, he recognizes the value of a well done gay joke, as some of the sillier moments of QI can attest.
 
So the complaint is that hammond is not attractive and he does not like gay jokes?
So he wants to watch car shows to have sexual fantasies then?
 
It's a woman correspondent - I have found here on wiki, link posted above - I posted a comment on Timesonline.com too.
 
Ye gods, folks, let up a bit! Not everyone must adore the show we worship. If it appealed to everyone it wouldn't be enjoyable.

I actually found that article made some decent points, and it seems that the author didn't hate the show quite as much as some of you make it seem. TG is un-PC, and you should all know has come under fire for many things the boys have said in the past, some of which they've actually apologized for. This is going to put some viewers off. That's okay. There's no need to criticize them for not liking it.

And I think pointing out Fry's sexual orientation and putting him up as the poster boy for the "gays like it" argument is lame. You're the ones making this a gay/straight thing, not the journalist.

In brief: TG doesn't need you to rush to its defense every time some journalist writes, "Eh, not for me." It's well capable of standing its own ground.
 
freeferrarisdonotexist said:
Arse. That's all I can say. And why can't they take a joke? Hammond's little quips were not homophobia. There were frigging jokes.
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Hey, its ok, I found out that extremely emotional crybaby gays think that everything to do with them is homophobia and not just slang that the world has created. I knew a guy that thought his brother was homophobic because he said "thats gay" at times pointing out stupid things as that is the norm here.
 
And in all fairness, his eyes do kind of bug a bit. Not that I don't love him still though!
 
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but judging someone based on watching them for less than an hour is pretty ridiculous. The cheap double entendre's and inunuendo is what makes Top Gear, Top Gear.
Personally, I don't mind Hammond. He's like a Japanese cartoon character with his boylike enthusiasm and the hair (especially the hair).
 
If you read the article, the only contentious point the critic had against the show was she disliked Richard Hammond, especially on the area of his physical appearance and behavior (ironic, isn't it).

Then again, according to Wiki her husband is a splitting image of Max Rebo, so I don't know what's she's complaining about.

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Peter Paphides (right)

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Max Rebo
 
^ yeah hammond is much better looking than him.
 
spicysaurus said:
Ye gods, folks, let up a bit! Not everyone must adore the show we worship. If it appealed to everyone it wouldn't be enjoyable.
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No, not everyone has to like it. Here's the thing, though...

Backdraft said:
If you read the article, the only contentious point the critic had against the show was she disliked Richard Hammond, especially on the area of his physical appearance and behavior (ironic, isn't it).
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No real criticism regarding the actual content. Just Hammond-bashing, in the end.

Meanwhile,...

Caitlin Moran said:
But then, as we know, Hammond did suffer quite a blow to the head recently.
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That was nearly three years ago and he's FINE, DAMMIT! :mad:

Cobol74 said:
"Until this week I had never watched Top Gear. Not once. Not even the one when Richard Hammond nearly died, which, from what I could make out in the tabloids, was this generation?s assassination of JFK but with a happy ending." Well we know where you are coming from then. ...
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That comment alone is enough for me not to respect a thing she says from then on. I mean, seriously? Comparing The Crash to JFK's assassination? FFS.

Cobol74 said:
One thing why ELP in particular, I think that Clarkson prefers The Who actually?
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Jeremy does like prog-rock (which would include ELP), I think; but lord knows he would still say the greatest rock band of all time is The Who.

Cobol74 said:
Still think that this is a hatchet job really (what critics are all about), she was after Clarkson who appeared to be Mr Nice Guy this episode so apart from calling him thick she had to pick on someone and James is too nice, that leaves poor Richard.
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Like I said...Hammond-bashing. Perhaps she'd be better suited to writing for the Daily Fail?
 
Clarkson's gaydar joke was worse.

The writer attempts to appear virtuous by criticizing Hammond's 'homophobic' jokes but then goes on to make fun of the massive concussion he sustained during the crash, an accident that nearly killed him. What a complete hypocrite. There's nothing to see here.

I admit that Hammond has had a slight personality change since the crash. He's not as funny as before, and his presenting skills have suffered in their fluidity and creativity. And his hair and clothes are just awful. But unwarranted criticism of the Top Gear trio... that I cannot stand!
 
Don't take anything in The Times to heart - it's the voice of conservative England, they're more legitimate than something like the Daily Mail or the like but still like to bitch about things for the sake of it. Crying homophobia on a joke like that is just silly, it's just an excuse to build a bitch around.

I've never understood the idea of columns in newspapers but then I don't understand blogs either, probably because I couldn't give a rats arse about someones opinion of a topic - I buy newspapers for news, not opinion. Let this stuffy tory tart have it, she's the one thats missed out on 12 series of excellent television through her strange notions of what makes a top gear viewer.
 
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People are latching onto the gay joke because it's a stupid thing to be offended by. It's not insulting to gay people, it's just a little bit of amusing innuendo. People bring up Fry because he's a master of amusing innuendo, and more importantly, a good example of why it's not homophobic, just funny.

Frankly, apart from it being a rare episode where Hammond is consistently the most amusing of the three, it's not the insults to him that annoy me. It's the assumption that innuendo is somehow magically degrading, when it plainly isn't.
 
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