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My Mother The Car

T

Those RRRRs

Guest
Was talking about that ridiculous show with some co-workers the other day.

I remember seeing this show one time but don't remember where or when. (It was a long time ago) Anyone have more information on this show and if/when it was last in syndication?
 
All I know is that it was the lead in for the Six O'clock News with Ted Baxter on WJM-TV in the Twin Cities for many years. And, wasn't Jerry Van Dyke the lead in the original series? I don't think I ever say MMTC--I don't think it made it but one season, but I'm sure it was an excellent show.
 
Those RRRRs said:
Was talking about that ridiculous show with some co-workers the other day.

I remember seeing this show one time but don't remember where or when. (It was a long time ago) Anyone have more information on this show and if/when it was last in syndication?
Click to expand...

...ran on NBC from 14 September '65 to 9 September '66. The concept was the twisted Gothic idea of the spirit of a man's mother inhabiting a 1928 Porter Touring Car; the mother's voice was heard through the car's radio. Jerry Van Dyke played the man, Ann Sothern provided the mother's voice, and Avery Schreiber played a car collector constantly trying to trick Van Dyke out of the car's ownership. I want to say I last saw it on WGN's satellite feed circa '89, when they started having to cover syndicated programming on WGN-TV/9 Chicago with alternative material due to new copyright regulations. They were running "My World -- and Welcome To It" at the same time, which suggests to me that "My Mother The Car" was one of the long-dormant properties Republic Pictures picked up to peddle to WGN, WTBS and WWOR for that signal-covering purpose...
 
It was carried on TV Land Briefly- and selected clips can be seen on You Tube.

I became curious about the show when I heard how bad it was- it's pretty much regarded as the worst show of all time.

I'll agree it was a ridiculous concept and some of the writing was absurd.

But when something is bashed so much you look for ways to defend it- and I will say that Jerry Van Dyke, Avery Schreiber, and Ann Southern- not to mention guest stars Charles Grodin and Barbara Bain- was not bad for a sitcom. Their job was impossible- making this concept succeed- but you couldn't have asked for more from them.

One thing I want to ask- was there ever a "Porter" automobile- or was that a fictious brand made up for TV?
 
Pratte4Life said:
One thing I want to ask- was there ever a "Porter" automobile- or was that a fictious brand made up for TV?
Click to expand...

...that was a fictional brand. The closest to an actual vehicle named Porter was a rail locomotive manufacturer that made primarily small industrial locomotives (not very much unlike the pushcar loco Buster Keaton rode across Canada on in THE RAILRODDER)...
 
Ultimajock said:
Pratte4Life said:
One thing I want to ask- was there ever a "Porter" automobile- or was that a fictious brand made up for TV?
Click to expand...

...that was a fictional brand.
Click to expand...

Could it have been an inside (Hollywood) joke? The name chosen (Porter)
could have been a nod to Ann Sothern's co-star--Don Porter--in her two
1950s TV series, and who was co-starring that very season (65-66) in
Gidget on another network (ABC).
 
Having been old enough to watch that show when it was actually on the air, all I can say is that it is a far better show than ABC's current offering "Cavemen"!
 
I was kid when it premiered. Seems to me it took the place of "Mr.Ed" which made me hate it from day one.
 
But it starred Fred Gwynne's sidekick from "Car 54". A sure recipe for success.
 
I've always argued that "Mr. Ed" worked because who
hasn't wondered what their pets would say if they could
talk (OK, I have. Maybe you haven't). But who's ever
thought about what their car would say if it could talk?
Certainly never crossed my mind.

TV Guide voted "My Mother The Car" the second-worst
show of all time, behind Jerry Springer. And Ann Sothern
reached the point where she recorded her lines for several
episodes in one session, and I don't think she even bothered
to watch the show.
 
bpatrick said:
I've always argued that "Mr. Ed" worked because who
hasn't wondered what their pets would say if they could
talk (OK, I have. Maybe you haven't). But who's ever
thought about what their car would say if it could talk?
Certainly never crossed my mind.

TV Guide voted "My Mother The Car" the second-worst
show of all time, behind Jerry Springer. And Ann Sothern
reached the point where she recorded her lines for several
episodes in one session, and I don't think she even bothered
to watch the show.
Click to expand...


Let's see.... some other memorable rejects from the glorious 1960's.....

About "Rango", barely lasted half a season in 1966-67 on ABC, starring Tim Conway, the same guy who was part of that one night flop "Turn On" in 1969. Then there was "The Pruitt's Of Southampton", starring Phyllis Diller, lasted one season on ABC in 1966-67. How 'bout "The Pat Paulsen's Half A Comedy Hour", lasted two months in 1970 on ABC. Boy, ABC really had quite few rejects until they made their stride in 1976 when Fred Silverman took over and made ABC "the number one!".
 
"Rango," "Turn-On," and "The Pruitts Of Southampton"
were also on TV Guide's list of the worst shows ever.
Neither Tim Conway nor Phyllis Diller, talented as they
are, could buy a hit: Conway succeeded only as a
second banana on "McHale's Navy" and "The Carol
Burnett Show," while Diller went on to star in the even-
less-successful variety show, "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller
Show," on NBC in 1968.

I never watched Paulsen's show. Russell Wells can correct
me on this, but in Birmingham it was either pre-empted or
shoved off into some off-hour, but it didn't air there in
pattern on Thursdays at 6:30 (Central).
 
I might add that James Franciscus nearly
swore off series TV when his show about
a high-school English teacher, "Mr. Novak,"
was canceled in favor of "My Mother The Car."
He didn't do another series until "Longstreet"
in 1971, and he never did another series on NBC.

Pat O'Brien (the actor, not the tabloid-show host)
did swear off series TV when his show about father-
and-son lawyers, "Harrigan And Son," was canceled
by ABC in 1961. Reason: the show was replaced by
"The Hathaways," about a couple with three chimps.
Jack Weston and Peggy Cass played the couple; the
Marquis Chimps played the chimps.
 
I was ten when "My Mother The Car" premiered,
and I knew all the words to the theme song. The
other neighborhood kids used to pester me to sing
it. Somebody let me know if I'd be in violation of
copyright if I posted the lyrics.
 
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