"Car Talk" Parks It After 25 Years

[FredLeonard]

Why the weeklyish recitation, vchimp?
I for one feel like we're all watching you listening to yourself explaining why their friend Vincent goes by Jimmy (hint: wasting considerable time).
It's like you're on some kind of quest to solve some unspecified global problem, that nobody else sees as a problem.

Don't encourage him.

 

[quadraphonic]

Nobody's encouraged it so far, and it's still here. Not encouraging it won't make it disappear.
I'm just trying to cypher the/a point out of all of this before I move on.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The point is the show's still funny. I'm still trying to catch these guys messing up and giving away the fact the shows aren't new. There may still be people out there who don't know.

I forgot one. A caller was planning to get married and was told "We're ministers. We can marry people."

 

[quadraphonic]

I don't think it's working, on either account.

 

[vchimpanzee]

For those who think all of what is being broadcast now was left over because they had too much material for an hour show each week, the past three shows offer possible proof that at least some calls are being recycled.

Three weeks ago the entire third half was devoted to one caller, a woman talking about her boyfriend. The boyfriend called on the next show. He said he was repsonding to last week's call. That indicates he heard the call broadcast.

Also two weeks ago, Tom was laughing so hard he laughed all through the credits, which did NOT include Frau Blucher. Most weeks, even after all this time, they do.

And this past week, a caller responded to a call he heard the previous week, one I remembered hearing too.

 

[TheBigA]

Three weeks ago the entire third half was devoted to one caller, a woman talking about her boyfriend. The boyfriend called on the next show. He said he was repsonding to last week's call. That indicates he heard the call broadcast.

Probably when it aired the first time. Perhaps they didn't use as much of her call the first time, and perhaps they didn't even use his call at all.

As we've all said: They're done. There are lots of creative ways to edit stuff to make it sound new, but they're done. So is this thread.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Regardless of how others feel, I'm going to go ahead and document what I hear. What better place than here?

There was a "Stump the Chumps" and Tom said their record was 5-2-3. Five right, two wrong and something about people getting hurt following their advice. So when they did this one there had been around ten of those.

Tom asked before they ran the information about the call if the caller heard harp music. Ray, annoyed, explained that that was dream sequence music.

Tom also said on a call that he had an 18-year-old son.

Frau Blucher was back in the credits.

 

[FredLeonard]

Regardless of how others feel, I'm going to go ahead and document what I hear. What better place than here?

Obviously nobody else cares. Since this "documentation" is only for your benefit, maybe a diary would be a "better place."

When somebody keeps listening to a program that is out of production and repeating old shows, just to complain that old shows are being repeated, that becomes an obsession.

What else can we complain about? Maybe I Love Lucy. They ran a program a few days ago about Lucy doing a commercial for a vitamin tonic containing alcohol. Such products were banned by the FDA almost 60 years ago. Lucy is providing bad information.

 

[quadraphonic]

Regardless of how others feel, I'm going to go ahead and document what I hear. What better place than here?

Think it through. Plenty of better places. Look all over the spectrum. Hard to miss the "better places than here."
For examples :
Inside the lining of a seersucker jacket that you donate to a funeral home for the next guy who wants to dress like Matlock on the way out.
In a composition notebook that only you'll see. Ever.
In the sky written with your finger.
On the final 1/5 of a second of the final aspirations of "don't drive like my brother" of that week's "Car Talk" episode.
Document what you hear during the show on the bottom of an ice cube in the freezer. Then leave the ice cube out on a table, so more people can see it.
Inside a Phillies blunt wrapper that you found in Snoop Dogg's smoking jacket (btw all his jackets are smoking jackets, and all his pants are smoking pants).
In cyberspace with a password only you know. Keep the swine away from the pearls.
Where the proverbial sun don't shine.
On the wind in the Himalayas.
On a piece of cheese you left out on your stoop overnight.
Under a Dr Scholls shoe comfort pad that's deep into its last weeks of viability.
Inside the casing of a Slim Jim, whatever flavor you just can't resist.
Perhaps a loved one could even direct you toward some places that might be better.
On a sheet of paper below the list of all the names of countless thousands of people you could get to sign a petition affirming that they are "with you on this Car Talk thing and dig what you're doing on that forum."

You're probably right. Besides, there's no real reason to respect the feelings of others or accept constructive criticism. Society needs some people to rise above the mainstream anyway. What would the spectrum be like if we were all the same?
Now we see what your aunt was up against when she took you to that restaurant with the "too loud" music that didn't even appeal to you.
No wonder you stormed out after chastising everyone in sight.

There was a "Stump the Chumps" and Tom said their record was 5-2-3. Five right, two wrong and something about people getting hurt following their advice. So when they did this one there had been around ten of those.

Tom asked before they ran the information about the call if the caller heard harp music. Ray, annoyed, explained that that was dream sequence music.

Tom also said on a call that he had an 18-year-old son.

Frau Blucher was back in the credits.

The show lasts almost an hour. This is all you remember? Charlie Sheen probably remembers more of last week's "Car Talk" than this.
C'mon! Step up ya game broski! If I'm wondering what went down on this weekend's "could-be-new episode of 'Car Talk'" then this is not exactly one of the "better places" I could check out. I'm only getting a scant portion of the show's contents. Not even really a progressive story arcing, or anything helpful.

BTW Tom probably said "eighty-near-old son" because he's 105. The show's actually been "in retirement" since Marconi's time.

 

[vchimpanzee]

We've had one more case of a caller replying to a call the previous week and one guy responding to the nonsense the guys were doing at the top of the hour. I'm curious as to how he knew what the guys were doing at the top of the hour.

Also they got the phone number wrong once. Could be a question from one show from when they had the old phone number inserted into a bunch of questions where the phone number is correct. I've been wondering how long it would take that to happen.

 

[JeffM]

I think the point everyone's missing is that taped or live; fresh show, rerun, or remixed; Car Talk has always provided plenty of two things: solid automotive advice and a lot of fun. I know people who don't even own a car but who listen to Click 'n' Clack anyway because they enjoy their goofy humor. They've been on for 25 years or more, a terrific run; they've earned their retirement and may they enjoy it. And new car or not, new show or not; people's cars are gonna make a "reeeee-reeee-reeeeee" noise and it's gonna be the belt tensioner, so even the advice they gave won't go stale in the future. With the move to rerun shows, Wisconsin Public Radio has already moved Car Talk to a less advantageous time slot; but I hope it never goes away completely.

I should also mention that in addition to the 59-minute version mentioned earlier in this thread, Car Talk is also edited into a 49-50 minute version with room for NPR and local/regional news at the top of the hour; this bobtailed edition still runs on Minnesota Public Radio at least twice each weekend.

 

[MarcB]

Also they got the phone number wrong once. Could be a question from one show from when they had the old phone number inserted into a bunch of questions where the phone number is correct. I've been wondering how long it would take that to happen.

I heard the old school phone number given out on Saturday's show, but after that one time they gave out the correct 1-888-CARTALK number. I also think in one instance when they gave out the website address it was dubbed over.

 

[vchimpanzee]

And even though Miley Cyrus says now that would be in bad taste ...

And even though Diana Nyad swims back to Cuba ...

I heard one show where not one car was newer than 1990 and a recommendation of an early 90s car was made as if it was new.

Tom's 18-year-old son "just happened" to be in the studio when caller asked about a muscle car for a 16-year-old son. Alex has no accent.

 

[FredLeonard]

I saw an episode of "I Love Lucy" in which Ricky went out and brought a brand new '55 Pontiac.

What part of re-run don't you understand?

 

[vchimpanzee]

I saw an episode of "I Love Lucy" in which Ricky went out and brought a brand new '55 Pontiac.

What part of re-run don't you understand?

And no one's trying to convince us those are new.

Though I did hear something new in the credits, someone who works with pre-recorded portions. Since he had one of those funny names, I don't think he was serious.

Something strange I heard this week: they hadn't done an automotive puzzler this year. Does that mean this season? That's only three weeks old.

And even though ... the government has shut down. I don't remember exactly what they said.

 

[vchimpanzee]

And even though the discoverers of Higgs Boson smashed their Nobel Prize ...

 

[vchimpanzee]

And even though David Ortiz throws his MVP trophy against the wall ...

And even though Kathleen Sebelius says this show has glitches ...

 

[drt]

I think the point everyone's missing is that taped or live; fresh show, rerun, or remixed; Car Talk has always provided plenty of two things: solid automotive advice and a lot of fun. I know people who don't even own a car but who listen to Click 'n' Clack anyway because they enjoy their goofy humor. They've been on for 25 years or more, a terrific run; they've earned their retirement and may they enjoy it. And new car or not, new show or not; people's cars are gonna make a "reeeee-reeee-reeeeee" noise and it's gonna be the belt tensioner, so even the advice they gave won't go stale in the future. With the move to rerun shows, Wisconsin Public Radio has already moved Car Talk to a less advantageous time slot; but I hope it never goes away completely.

I should also mention that in addition to the 59-minute version mentioned earlier in this thread, Car Talk is also edited into a 49-50 minute version with room for NPR and local/regional news at the top of the hour; this bobtailed edition still runs on Minnesota Public Radio at least twice each weekend.

Agreed; the show is as much (or more) entertainment than it is about diagnosing vehicle problems, but for the times I do like to hear some actual car problems, I wish, they would re-run some more current shows, say from at least the 2003 period on.

On XM, where they run three shows a day (with each of the three repeated), the dates displayed of the original show always seems to be in the 1997 - 1997 range with very few exceptions.

drt
st. petersburg,fl

 

[JeffM]

One thing they could do to make the rerun factor less obvious would be to edit out the model years of callers' cars, as it usually doesn't matter. For example, "I own a 1987 Toyota Corolla" would become "I own a /edit/ Toyota Corolla." With digital editing, this should be a "piece of cake." Certainly easier than this true story from ye old days...

In record producer George Martin's autobio, he described producing a comedy record by Peter Sellers spoofing "The Bridge On The River Kwai," and using that actual title. Then he learned he couldn't clear the rights! How to salvage it? Martin remembered the Wye River which forms the boundary between England and Wales, took a razor blade and splicing tape, and cut every "K" out of the master tape. Result? "The Bridge On The River Wye" ("-wai,") and the spoof worked great!

(By the way, I've sent this same suggestion to Click 'n Clack's tape editor, "Albin Hurdby Fore"...)

 

[vchimpanzee]

I have noticed a lot of cars from the 80s lately.

This makes me wonder how useful the advice is. And yet I mostly like to be entertained by these guys.