Car Talk: The TV Show
Well, PBS is planning a ten-episode run of a new Car Talk animated sitcom. I have some grave reservations.Let me put my cards on the table: if you know me, you know I love Car Talk. It's the biggest weekend show in public radio, and for good reason. I think Tom & Ray Magliozzi are the most charming guys on the radio. I have been listening to their show since I can remember, and it remains one of my all-time faves.
That having been said: what the fuck is up with this PBS sitcom? This article in the public media newspaper Current and this one in Fortune (?) have the details.
Some disturbing elements:
* According to Current, the writing staff (of three, apparently) is composed of Car Talk's producer, Car Talk's web producer, and a guy who wrote a cartoon show called "Duck Dodgers." Maybe the show will be dramatizations of email forwards? That's most of the "original comedy" on the radio show.
* Imagine this on the posters: "From the director of "Ferngully!"
* Not to mention, "From the producer of Billy Joel: Live From Long Island!"
Now, I am not willing to blame any of this on any of the Car Talk team. Tom & Ray, as I have mentioned, are Real American Heroes. I met Doug Berman once and he seemed nice and smart to me.
But give me a break, here.
PBS is going to do comedy, and this is how they're going to do it? With three writers and a PBS special producer? Really?
Come on.
If HBO and F/X and even AMC can produce great TV shows that aren't based on 150 year old books, PBS can too, but this kind of baloney isn't how you produce great TV shows.
This is why Ira Glass is working for Showtime.
Labels: comedy, public radio, tv
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posted by Jesse Thorn at Monday, April 14, 2008
7 Comments:
The look reminds me of the horrible "bonus" animation on the Strange Brew DVD. Cue the FAIL blog post...
This strikes me as a similiar to Slate's efforts to animate some of the letters written to their advice columnist, Dear Prudence. It really adds nothing to the product.
salsa, I think this is the FAIL post you are looking for.
Jesse, for one thing, you based your opinions almost completely on a 9 month old press release.
Your criticism of the staffing doesn't hold up because the Car Talk production company is doing all the creative work and hiring experienced TV and film pros to do the technical TV work. Exactly like Ira did. Mr. T's I Pity the Fool is really more credible experience than Animaniacs? Tell that to Spielberg... The Ira Glass comparison is a straw man and you know it. He's a documentarian, not a mechanic/part-time comic. He wanted a different looking show, he got it, and everyone's happy. why aren't you?
Well, Padraic, I based my opinions on a press release and two news articles, which as far as I know is the balance of info available. If I'd seen the show, I could say whether or not it was any good. If Tom & Ray do interviews to promote this thing, I'll be first in line, sight unseen, as I think they are Real American Heroes, as previously mentioned.
I'm glad to see that the one professional writer involved wrote two episodes of a good children's show, ten years ago.
Again: I don't blame the Car Talk team. Getting on the air on PBS is a horrific nightmare of funding and BS and crazy distribution whatever and blah blah blah. I admire that they stuck with PBS, just as they've stuck with NPR. But that nightmare is why Ira ended up at Showtime, and I'd guess it's a reason why (on paper at least) this whole thing is so crazy.
And if one of the people involved in Car Talk is a part-time comic, then that's news to me.
I have actually read some of the scripts of the show, and I'll tell you its kinda cheesy, about like you'd expect.
There's lots of puns and bazooka-joe-type jokes (pasta-farians fuel their cars with a doughy alternative-fuel) but it doesn't come off as any more high or low brow than the radio show...
It is also very PBS-y. I anticipate something like the following: la la la knocked his Corey Flint-off or "just when we thought Charlie was going to fall asleep, Charlie ROSE. And so-on from that point.
I don't really care about this but, for the record, Duck Dodgers is really good.
Hang it up, Dogs Wearing Bandanas.
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