Posted on 06/08/2008 6:19:57 AM PDT by raccoonradio
New turn for 'Click & Clack' and PBS
Most TV series are propelled into the world by creative vision, ambition, all-out effort, and dreams of market domination. With "Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns," the upcoming PBS cartoon featuring "Car Talk" stars Tom and Ray Magliozzi, it took something else - a whole lot of cajoling.
Cajoling the proudly indolent Magliozzis into believing that a series about themselves would require minimal work on their part. Cajoling PBS into buying the concept of an animated show for grown-ups. And now comes the real trick: cajoling PBS viewers into sampling a show built not on some high-minded notion of quality, but on Click and Clack's popular NPR shtick of self-mockery and perpetual sarcasm.
"As the Wrench Turns" is a tongue-in-cheek take on what Click and Clack's off-air lives might be like, featuring those familiar radio voices in exaggerated car toon bodies. It centers on a fictionalized version of the brothers' car repair shop in Cambridge, where some characters glug motor oil in coffee cups and a local politician is named Marty Bezzle. (The campaign button reads "M. Bezzle.")
PBS is treading cautiously into this new world. The show premieres July 9 as a limited experiment: five Wednesdays worth of back-to-back half-hour episodes, followed by "we'll see." Which, on some level, suits the "Car Talk" guys just fine.
"How much stupid stuff can we possibly - oh, in that case, the show might be able to go on forever," Ray Magliozzi said in a recent conference call with his brother, who pointed out that all they had to do for the show was sit in a studio and read a script.
"It's dumb work; we didn't have to think much," Tom Magliozzi said. "We usually don't."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
sounds interesting, from the title
will The Tappet Brothers manage to politicize car repair?
“Unencumbered by the thought process!”
A gifted mechanic, btw, and a very charismatic personality.
Don’t drive like my brother...LOL!
So will other NPR figures be getting animated PBS shows?
“(not necessarily) ALL things considered” for example?
Harvard Square is so Red (or is it Crimson) that during the Tienamin Square Massacre the commie bookstore there had PRO-Mao shirts hanging in the window.
Bring back Dr. Science! A guest spot, perhaps? “He’s not a real scientist...” but he has a “Masters Degree...IN SCIENCE!”
Click and Clack, a pleasure to listen to. A cartoon show? Maybe not so much.
It sounds about as interesting as a cartoon version of "Junkyard Wars".
Please don’t use replies to complete excerpted articles.
When I was a kid I’d listen to Click and Clack every weekend. As an automotive advice show, it was hilarious. But a few years back they branched out into politics, and they’re HARDCORE far left-wingers. Ban this, tax that, all for the ‘’common good’’. One particularly egregious example was that they wanted to completely ban cars above a certain power-to-weight ratio from being driven on the streets. The ratio they had in mind was about that of a basic family sedan. And they were supposed to be ‘’car guys’’!!
I think they took a lot of heat for that nonsense and learned that 99% of their audience wasn’t quite as interested in ‘’automotive socialism’’ as their neighbors in Cambridge. Lately I’ve been listening to them on satellite radio and I haven’t heard any political garbage at all, so maybe they learned their lesson. It’s still a good show.
Click and Clack ... funny guys ... but far left.
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