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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to loathe Top Gear with all my heart?

140 replies

singsinthebath · 11/07/2010 20:50

I can hear DH watching it in the next room..... Clarkson with his hideous drawling voice and his sartorial inelegance of jacket with jeans, a load of cars screeching and a bunch of men acting like 5 year olds.
Hate it, hate it, hate it.

OP posts:
Snorbs · 12/07/2010 22:50

I've got no particular interest in cars (I'm more of a motorbike man) but I happily watch TG. I like the blokey banter between the three of them as it's the sort of piss-taking and joking that I enjoy with my mates.

Plus, some of the machines they show are extraordinary - the Veyron is an astonishing piece of engineering by any standard - and some of the road trips and other stunts are hugely entertaining. Anyone who can't see the humour in using cranes to play conkers with caravans is taking life way too seriously.

yellowvan · 12/07/2010 22:50

I like its cos its something i can watch with my 8yrold.
They (presenters) all have engineering degrees and things though don't they, (and May is a musician) so some of the engineering (like making their electric car and otherr fixing of stuff) does actually quite impress me (yes I know they have teams of staff to help, but still)

I'm a bike riding vegetarian, I should hate it by rights. I think some of their script and turns of phrases are poetic, but then i'm very very sad

Another May crush here as well

edam · 12/07/2010 22:52

Oh, I see, that Guardian comment dates back to 2003. That must be when they ditched 'old' Top Gear and brought in Hammond and May. They certainly don't do any sexist comparing women to cars these days - that must have been the point at which Clarkson listened to accusations of sexism and acted on them.

edam · 12/07/2010 22:54

dunno about that, yellow, I think May used to be a sub-editor on Autocar or some equally dull car title and Clarkson's just another hack turned TV presenter. And Hammond was a local radio presenter.

LuluF · 12/07/2010 22:56

Well - they did on the episode I watched - and I didn't say they talked about their wives either.

I can't see the point of playing conkers with cranes - though I suppose it's funny if you still like playing conkers.

yellowvan · 12/07/2010 22:57

Oh. Illusions shattered. . I thought they were properly clever.

Still fancy May though (even his little dad-dance last week)

Sidge · 12/07/2010 22:57

Ah, thanks Edam, that'll be why I don't recall it - I wasn't watching TG that far back!

I think the only sexism TG is guilty of is not inviting me to do a lap in the Veyron or the Maclaren Mercedes!

Snorbs · 12/07/2010 23:10

"I can't see the point of playing conkers with cranes"

Does everything in life have to have a point?

Playing conkers with caravans is the sort of mad idea that my mates and I would likely come up with of an evening while chatting in the pub. The very concept is funny because it's so ridiculous. But to actually get the chance to do it, or at least watch it being done, just makes it even better.

I dunno. Maybe this kind of stuff is more of a male pub-banter thing, talking about ridiculous ideas and trying to make each other laugh. No real point, true, but it is entertaining nonetheless.

MixedNutPlate · 12/07/2010 23:12

I like it.

SparklyJules · 12/07/2010 23:15

I used to really like it, but it all feels really staged and scripted nowadays... Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy.

edam · 12/07/2010 23:23

Lulu, think your wording was ambiguous - first time I took it to mean you thought they talked about their wives and partners on TV in less than complimentary terms.

Yellow, didn't mean they are thick or anything, just not chartered members of the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering or whatever it's called. Thing about journalism (which is what they all come from) is that you pick up an awful lot of information about stuff without ever being properly qualified to do anything, really. Jacks of all trades and masters of none.

LuluF · 12/07/2010 23:25

More quotes for you. Jeremy Clarkson has joked about truck drivers murdering prostitutes, and said a woman presenter would be "a disaster" on Top Gear.

No - not sexist at all. And not insensitive either.

And executive producer Andy Wilman said "we are a release valve for people who get nagged to fuck," - again, not at all sexist.

And that would also be from The Guardian, from 2009. It's entrenched - you don't even notice it anymore.

No Snorbs - you said It's entrenched - you don't even notice it anymore.

And Snorbs - you said 'Anyone who can't see the humour in using cranes to play conkers with caravans is taking life way too seriously.' - a bit of a generalisaton there, no? I happen to think it's pointless - and no, obviously not everything in life has to have a point. Maybe it's a kind of male pub banter thing - which I'd know nothing about, perhaps?

LuluF · 12/07/2010 23:26

I typo'd/had a copy and paste disaster. Just like to point it out before you take great delight in doing it for me

LuluF · 12/07/2010 23:28

edam - my wording was not ambiguous - you just misread it

edam · 12/07/2010 23:32

YY the truck driver comment was v. crass. And Andy Wilman sounds like a right charmer.

But the programme is amusing and not noticeably sexist at all - honestly, IRL I'd give Dittany a good run for her money in terms of a sexism radar but I watch Top Gear quite happily and haven't found any suggestion that women are regarded as inferior.

And I do happen to think playing conkers with caravans is quite funny. Might not tickle your funny bone but clearly lots of people do find that kind of thing entertaining as Top Gear is one of the BBC's biggest earners. Personally I can't stand sport on TV but lots of people seem to like it. Or anything with Alan Yentob in. Or Mark Lawson. (Although his mother is VERY nice.)

LuluF · 12/07/2010 23:43

It's definitely BBC 2 biggest, anyway.

Hmmm - I am going to have to watch it - if this is a elaborate ploy...

(I'm not sure I know who Mark Lawson is?)

edam · 12/07/2010 23:46

Presents arts programmes, asked Russell Crowe why he'd played Robin Hood with an Irish accent recently. Cue Crowe really getting the hump as he clearly hadn't realised quite how bad his accent was. Usually he's VERY boring and self-satisfied but that exchange did brighten my day. His mother is a neighbour of mine and very lovely lady.

LuluF · 12/07/2010 23:51

Ah - well - if he upset Russell Crowe he can't be all that bad. I heard his accent was dreadful. Neighbours with contacts? We live in the back of beyond really - so no one even remotely related to to anyone famous that I know of, though Bill Bryson supposedly lives nearish - but I probably wouldn't recognise him if I saw him.

EcoLady · 13/07/2010 00:32

Some say ... that Top Gear is a programme for plebs...

... and that only sexist tossers watch it..

All we know is....

The new Reasonably Priced Car is the same as mine and I love it!

tortoiseonthehalfshell · 13/07/2010 01:41

My husband watches an episode of Top Gear every evening.

It's not a daily show.

I will leave you to determine how many repeats of this show I am therefore subjected to.

Thought it was funny, once. But a formula becomes very formulaic when you're listening to an episode for the 17th time.

PortiaNovmerriment · 13/07/2010 02:12

I rather like it. And it's nice to see people being enthusiastic about something and having a laugh .

Snobear4000 · 13/07/2010 09:38

It's because of Top Gear that aggressive cunts in Audis and BMWs cut me up on the roundabout, and the growing voting block known as "motorists" will not stop their selfish whining until the whole country is paved with tarmac, fuel costs 3p a litre, and bicycles, tractors and other bothersome vehicles are banned from the roads altogether.

mumofthreesweeties · 13/07/2010 09:55

YANBU, I absolutely loathe it too. My DH is always watching it and Clarkson really winds me up

Snorbs · 13/07/2010 10:15

LuluF, I have no idea if you have experience of that kind of take-the-piss and make-each-other-laugh banter. Nor could I care less, to be honest. I was simply giving it a context.

Snobear, how do you know it's Top Gear that causes you to be cut up by aggressive twats in Audis and BMWs? Are the Audi and BMW drivers watching it in theirs cars while they cut you up? The reason I ask is that if you have ever watched Top Gear you'd know that they regularly take the piss out of Audi and BMW drivers (and white van drivers, and those who tow caravans) for driving like inconsiderate cocks.

Snobear4000 · 13/07/2010 11:00

Snorbs... I don't know that! I am merely being presumptuous. If, if it's really true that they piss-take BMW/Audi drivers then perhaps I ought to watch the show!