Let's get one thing straight: I have no idea what the Crossroads Quartet is. Or was. Or why, for that matter, they chose to put a jokey cartoon clunkmobile on their album cover. The image came up in a Google search for the phrase "tell it like it is," and I couldn't help but laugh. It's like James Garner, three of the Monkees, and a guy who looks like a young Don Johnson all decided to form a crappy singing group and record their harmonized warbles in glorious stereo surround. And a car fits into it. Maybe. Somehow. I have no idea.
Along the same lines, I have no idea whether or not the U.S. version of Top Gear will be worth a damn. Like virtually everyone else who writes for or reads this website, I love Clarkson, Hammond, and May, and I love what they do with their show. Because of that, I don't care if the U.S. Top Gear does well. It'd be nice, but I'm not staying up nights over it. For a number of reasons, I also have a hard time believing that a cloned TG will capture the sublime, irreverent magic of the original.
That, then, is why Maximum Sarge's comment in our Top Gear expectations post struck a chord. The roadblocks to a U.S. TG's success are simple, and he lays them out concisely. Plus, there's a music metaphor. Who isn't a sucker for a nicely reffed cello?
Hm. No, there isn't. As a matter of fact, I'd like to recommend Sam "Totally Not the Guy Writing This Post" Smith for the position. I hear that dude is off the hook.