'Car Talk' guys will be unfunny on TV, too

Which network would air an animated sitcom featuring NPR's Car Talk guys as characters named Click and Clack talking about “social and environmental” issues? Oh, please God, let it be Fox. Or at least Comedy Central or Turner’s Adult Swim. Those nets are inspired (and evil) enough to handle such fare with the postmodern disdain it deserves. But if the network is PBS ... d’oh, it is PBS! The show’s called As the Wrench Turns. Per the AP: “Storylines include Click and Clack’s loony fundraising efforts for their bankrupt radio network—which involves their joint run for the White House—plus outsourcing their radio show to India and creating the first-ever pasta-fueled motor vehicle.” (Hard to believe from that synopsis that Wrench suffered multiple rejections and took about seven years to get into production.) The series “plays out like a family-friendly Family Guy or The Simpsons,” which is one too many uses of the word “family” in the same sentence for the show to be any good. Maud Flanders must be rolling in her grave. After all these years, I still can’t believe they killed her off. Worst episode ever.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

July 8, 2008 in Gianatasio, PBS | Permalink