# Top Gear: Alabama **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645 "2007-10-23T01:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/21 "2007-10-23T14:47:38Z")
It seems to me that some comment on Princess Di would get big reactions. Pro and Con. I was watching it last night and I had to turn it off. I was so sick with fear that they were going to be killed. I saw some clip played as a promo with a ‘lady’ at a gas station asking if they were ‘faggots trying to see how long it will take to get beat up in a redneck town’. Also everytime they said “Camaro” wrong it rubbed me a little raw. I did like the next show where the guy hit 407 km/h in that other car. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/22 "2007-10-23T14:55:47Z")
I like the part where the young one…er, Hamster…was trying to do an American accent! “I’m gonna get me some hooers!” Made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/23 "2007-10-23T14:57:16Z")
[QUOTE=anamnesis] Then again, they could’ve handed the rednecks a fiver each and told them to throw rocks at the cars, so who knows. [/QUOTE] I agree - I can’t honestly believe there isn’t a hefty measure of _engineered failure_ and _scripted disaster_ in all of their big project pieces - and I’m sticking to that view, unless someone can point me to some that they planned, filmed, then didn’t bother airing because it was too dull. Things always go wrong in just the sort of comically horrible way that makes for entertaining viewing. Coincidence? I think not. Incompetence? I don’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/24 "2007-10-23T15:00:05Z")
The roadkill steer was definitely staged. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/25 "2007-10-23T15:08:36Z")
That’s the first thing I think of whenever I remember that particular show, a little bit of me still things “what the hell hit a cow to make it roadkill!!!1!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/26 "2007-10-23T15:09:18Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] If it was true… …and I can’t think of anything to write on a car to get much of a reaction in Britain, either, except Rangers/Celtic stuff in Glasgow. Or maybe ‘Behead those who insult Islam’? [/QUOTE] Sure, it’d be easy to be downright offensive… slogans about Hillsborough or Jamie Bulger in Liverpool, or Ian Huntley in Soham etc, would get a reaction. But there’s few (if any) mainstream cultural icons like NASCAR or Hillary Clinton through or against which people define themselves in the UK. Possibly something around fox-hunting in certain areas, or “George W. Bush is great” at a Socialist Worker ralley, but nothing that would instantly annoy an average high-street. And yes, Top Gear is clearly scripted - if you “accidently” burnt down a caravan you’d be up on criminal damage charges, and you certainly wouldn’t be allowed to show it on primetime TV. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/27 "2007-10-23T15:20:28Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] It seems to me that some comment on Princess Di would get big reactions. Pro and Con. [/QUOTE] I actually think that would get you a bigger reaction in the States then in the UK. I still don’t understand the idolisation of that bint over in the States. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/28 "2007-10-23T15:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=e-logic] And yes, Top Gear is clearly scripted - if you “accidently” burnt down a caravan you’d be up on criminal damage charges, and you certainly wouldn’t be allowed to show it on primetime TV. [/QUOTE] Is there really any debate on this? It’s scripted, Clarkson admitted as much, just after recieving an Emmy for Best Unscripted TV Show. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/29 "2007-10-23T15:25:08Z")
For the UK, I also think some Nazi stuff might get a reaction. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/30 "2007-10-23T15:33:21Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] For the UK, I also think some Nazi stuff might get a reaction. [/QUOTE] You’re right, Neo-Nazi might do, National Front symbols etc., rather than plain old German swastikas. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/31 "2007-10-23T15:39:27Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] You’re right, Neo-Nazi might do, National Front symbols etc., rather than plain old German swastikas. [/QUOTE] Yeah that’s a good one. Plain old _old_ Nazi stuff, not so much. I think we prefer to mock eg comedy Gestapo characters in sitcoms and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/32 "2007-10-23T15:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Yeah that’s a good one. Plain old _old_ Nazi stuff, not so much. I think we prefer to mock eg comedy Gestapo characters in sitcoms and stuff. [/QUOTE] Plus the way phrases such as ‘little Hitler’ have got into the vernacular. And football fans giving Nazi salutes to (sometimes) overzealous police. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645/33 "2007-10-23T18:32:31Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] First time I saw it. Did a search and didn’t see anything obvious on the first page. Do you have a link to the previous thread? [/QUOTE] [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=408157&highlight=gear+south](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=408157&highlight=gear+south) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-gear-alabama/423645.md?page=1)