[Z-man]

If Top Gear-UK replace Clarkson, Hammond, and May with another trio, it would be like watching Top Gear-US. I think I'll pass.

I do not condone violence - and Clarkson was wrong at physically attacking the producer. And he should have considered the ramifications. However, as far as we know, this was the first time he physically attacked someone. All of the other incidents were when he managed to piss off large groups of people with his comments.

So 90% of the reason Clarkson was canned was for his derogatory comments - the liberal expression of his journalistic opinion, so to speak. Kinda like what Howard Stern does on his radio show. It seems to me that poking fun of people was not just a Clarkson thing - it was an integral element of Top Gear. How many times did the Stig portray stereotypical behavior in his skits? Once, he was supposed to be the Japanese cousin of Stig - and when he came out of his trailer, he karate chopped his way through a group of people. Tell me that's not racist!

Then there was the Florida to New Orleans trip where they decorated their cars with controversial slogans while travelling through Alabama (stuff like Hillary For President and Man Love Rules). Whether it was Clarkson's idea or not -- the producers ran with it and aired tons and tons of similarly controversial segments. If Clarkson said something inappropriate, the producers had every opportunity to censor it - but they time after time to chose to roll with it.

The show thrived on it's irrelevant attitude towards just about every people group. And Clarkson was at the heart of it. I guess they created their own demise...

-Z