Herte is a link to a newspaper review
http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/entertainment/local/article/car_talk_cartoons_a_clunker/6504/
There is some very interesting information it it.
It took seven years to get it on the air.
It was turned down by several major TV and Cable channels.
BTW, the reviewer agrees with most posters here.
Dear PlymouthSavoy
Were you involved in the production ?
It seems that you are trying very hard to convince yourself that it really isn’t that bad.
The best part about the show is that there are only four of the six episodes left.
Boy…talk about SHAMELESS COMMERCE. This program is nothing more than a pure money grab on the part of Tom & Ray and their cronies. I have listened to Tom & Ray on the radio since the beginning, and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. But, I have to say that there was not one entertaining moment or redeeming feature in this LAME animated program. PLEASE…just STOP NOW…and save yourselves any further embarrassment.
Gee folks, get a life. I think this show is great because I “get it” – perhaps the rest of you responding don’t. I plan to purchase the series on DVD because I didn’t get a chance to record the first two episodes. I do agree it is not likely to be one PBS runs ad infinitum so further chances to record are limited or lost. I would rather watch this than many of the imported British “comedy” shows PBS thinks interest us.
I’ve also been a loyal listener to the radio show for years (I’m 56) – even during a down period when there was little actual auto advice and just Tom and Ray banter. I’m glad the balance returned.
Why does everyone expect that the TV show is supposed to be a television version of the radio show. That would truly be boring. This series is a show about doing a radio show and running a Boston garage laced with Tom- and Ray-ism’s and some upscale fun-poking social humor and cartoon is the perfect medium. Even the title “As the Wrench Turns” (playing on “As the World Turns”) warns this will be an soap opera like spoof on life. Introducing other characters from the garage / radio show adds some life. James Carville coming to the rescue for PBS fund raising (and taking his 30% cut off the top) is priceless. Outsourcing the radio show to India and all the examples of the Indian call center reps portraying US centric causes hits home to me. Slipping in Indians portraying Garrison Keillor and Howard Stern plays to those of us who understand the mystique of the broadcast industry. The final shot in the second episode of the cartoon cast doing a Baliwood musical number was the perfect cap. This is broadcasting commenting on broadcasting. This is ironic probing just as ironic as MIT graduates running a repair garage.
For all of you calling for new writers and new material, realize that this is a ten episode run that is already “in the can.” I don’t expect it go back into production to rival the Simpsons or displace Masterpiece Theater; unlikely that was ever the plan.
And as Tom and Ray themselves say (here on this website) watching the series is just another way to kill some time. Personally, I have the capability on my computer to watch TV in an upper corner of my screen while I read my e-mail and dump my spam and pay my bills. This was the perfect summertime show to have on in the backgound (just like I listen to the radio show in the background) to catch some bits, peices, and themes that bring a smile to my face when I “get it.” Perhaps the rest of you can take this show a little less seriously and enjoy it for what it is intended to be.
Dear Radiofan,
I was not involved in the production. I don’t need to be convinced that the TV show isn’t bad. I find it very interesting as an experiment. Experiments aren’t worth doing in the first place if they don’t get some sustained attention over time.
A lot of people seem to want to end this experiment prematurely because it isn’t weighing in a fashion that makes them tingle with excitement in quite the way that the radio program apparently does. Keep in mind that the radio show they are talking about has over the years included advice like: “Buy a Yugo and then blow your brains out!” as a reply to how a person could get an inexpensive car that would last the rest of his life. That was an experimental show. I meet a lot of people who say that they have never heard of Click and Clack if I mention them in a conversation about cars. The radio show is still an experiment, and is only popular in certain circles, yet today.
I want to see where the tv program goes. It had enough going for it in the first two episodes, that I am happy to wait to see where they take it from that beginning. I know I have quirky tastes. Some Click and Clack radio fans seem not to know if they do. They seem very impatient; do I detect speeders?
Bill in AZ,
It is good to hear another voice in this forum that has a reasonable perspective on the show. It is good to hear that there are at least 8 more shows. Any fan who has read much on the CarTalk website should know that it is all intended for “killing time”; why is this such a surprise to people?
[Index finger and thumb above nose, pinching nostrils shut]PEEEEEEEEEE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!! Kill it! Kill it before it multiplies!!!
My local station did not even air the show as it was advertised on Wednesday nights. It hid the debut at 9:30 on Sunday morning and I had to do a lot of searching to find it. Someone at the station must have previewed it. From now on I’ll trust their judgment! I skipped most of it. Rather watch re-runs of School House Rock. At least that has catchy music.
This show is terrible! It’s horrible! How could you have possibly made something so bad? In fact it’s so bad, I think you owe us an apology!
You should have stuck with the original plan of animating the actual phone calls. I can even outline a good way to do this. First, set up some video cameras around the studio. They can be cheap ones. Second, give the recordings to Bob Sabiston and his animators in Texas to rotoscope. They do the rest. It’s really that simple.
The writing! My god! Doug Berman and Doug Mayer may be longtime members of your inner circle, but they have no ear for comedy at all! Who approved these wretched scripts? And the supporting characters! Boring, unfunny, miserable wastes of space! When you guys start talking, everything is ok for a few seconds. Then one of those worthless supporting characters, who we did not come to see in the first place, takes over and the whole thing just sinks like a rock! You need to get rid of every last one of these characters and get new ones. Or don’t have any supporting characters at all. Or better yet, why don’t you just have the real people be characters? None of this Beth Totenbag nonsense! Your esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive Bongo Boy Berman, and he should be writing material for himself instead of some fictional character he doesn’t believe in. This is basic scriptwriting stuff! Why these characters? Do they represent something you know and have real feelings about, or are they just random constructs that you guess people might like?
And the animation is so vanilla! So bland! It doesn’t even get you guys right! Like I’ve said about some other cartoons, it’s the animated equivalent of bad acting. It doesn’t reflect the giddiness and aloofness of your performances. Tune in to Adult Swim some Sunday night (or watch the shows at adultswim.com anytime) to see animation that really lends itself to comedy.
Please, for your own good, pull the series now and take it back to the drawing board. Or scrap it. There’s no excuse for the show to be this bad, and feeling sympathetic for all the work Howard Grossman did is not a good enough justification for unleashing this disaster on your fans. All the self-effacing humor in the world won’t save you from this mess. You need to just throw in the towel on As the Wrench Turns.
The thing people don’t like about the show is that it’s really bad. It’s not that it’s different from what they expected. It’s just that it’s really bad. And for it to become good would at this point take an act of god.
Sure, it’s awful, but so what? It doesn’t have to be any good if it’s just for killing time! Everyone who doesn’t like it simply doesn’t “get it!” Also, they take things too seriously! They should all just relax and enjoy things that aren’t funny or entertaining!
Dear Plymothsavoy
People have been sucessfully going from radio to TV since of Burns and Allen and Amos and Andy in the 1950s.
Ira Glass recently took his NPR ‘This American Life’ to pay cable with good results, probably because it is a visual version of the radio show.
Perhaps if ‘As The Wrench Turns’ was the very first ever attempt to take a radio based show to TV it might be excused as an experiment.
But it is not !!!
It is just a very poorly done ego trip by the writers/producers trying to cash in on Tom and Ray’s NPR popularity.
Considering the garbage that makes it to network and cable TV, the fact that ‘As The Wrench Turns’ was rejected by so many, over several years, says an awful lot about its overall quality.
Nice try at insuating that ‘Car Talk’ itself is unimportant, with a very limited audience. I guess that expalins why it is one of the most widely carried [one story said 600 stations] and popular NPR shows. Both Minnesota and North Dakota Public Radio both bemoan the fact that while ‘Car Talk’ is their most popular show [for a show to beat out St Paul based ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ in Minnesota is quite a feat], it is also the most expensive to obtain.
But this is still the USA where you have the right to voice your views, just don’t be surprised when very few folks here agree with you 
Okay, I have seen the show now. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be…it was worse!
I think Stewart and Colbert were better without their writers. We got to see them be genuinely funny on their own…just like Tom and Ray on the radio. Tom and Ray don’t need writers to be funny either. They just need to be themselves.
Obviously there are a lot of old sticks-in-the-mud out there. This was a perfectly fine animated show that anyone in the family could watch on PBS. It was far more entertaining than the Denver news I could have also been watching. I found the comedy to alternate between intellectual, slapstick, and just plain silly antics, much like Car Talk (or just about any other show associated with NPR or PBS). I particularly like the bit about outsourcing, as well as the commentery on campaign financing. If I can catch the show, I will continue to watch!
PS- Love Car Talk, and you were right- America does need a lube job…
paleogirl10k–
You said it! When 90 percent of what is on the tube isn’t worth watching at all, it seems more than bizarre to read all of these bitter and offended voices finding “Wrench” beneath them. As I have previously noted, I found it interesting and fun, etc. in ways, as you say, much like Car Talk on radio, but also in some surprising ways. More than worth wasting my time on with future episodes, which I am curious to see.
These people who rank this show so negatively must have a lot of trouble finding other human beings who meet their standards, let alone automobiles. I’d say enough rancor, but they must get that every day from their long-suffering friends and family members.
Personally, I’m more than glad that the cartoon is not an attempt to translate the radio show to TV. That would have been a bonehead idea. I couldn’t have been more happy to discover that the cartoon was really quite a different animal, rather than a poor visual imitation interfering with the imaginative integrity of Car Talk on radio.
As for other points in your post, the following seem to beyond credibility:
–Someone would launch a program on PBS “in order to cash in” ? (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…, really?)
–Having a program turned down by network and cable TV makes a statement about the program’s inherent quality? (heee, hee, ho, hah, ha, ha…!)
–Being more popular that “Prairie Home Companion” makes the radio “Car Talk” popular in the larger scheme of American media output? (I’m laughing so hard that I can barely breathe…oh, oh, um, uh…)
What planet are you living on? The real money in America is not at PBS. Network and Cable TV only care if programs sell enough vigra and cosmetics, and no other aspect of quality; in fact, it probably won’t be long before most of the minutes in an hour go to the commercials. You seem to have no idea of how many people in the country have never heard of any public radio program on the air, including Car Talk and PHC.
An increasing number of people on the forum are agreeing with my view that the cartoon was quite worth watching. You may be wrong as well to think that your view is in the majority.
Why would you turn this debate into a personal attack on those who disagree with you? Why would you so easily take offense to opposing opinions? Is it that you lack the intellect to debate politely while sticking to the topic at hand? Perhaps if you don’t understand why this behavior is beneath you, you could ask your parents for some remedial lessons in manners.
Aw, Geez Guys! No foolin’ around with my feedback re: As the Wrench Turns: I watched the 2-episode first show and I was looking forward to some good laughs - the kind I enjoy with the radio show. Sorry, but I was soooo disappointed! The script was awful, the characters (besides you two) were insipid, and it was the longest hour I ever spent with you both. I know you weren’t responsible for everything, but c’mon, do you guys feel the show was one of your finest efforts? I was upset when I first heard that CT’s public tv station wouldn’t be carrying the show and I’d have to see it on the Springfield MA station. But I guess CT knew what it was doing after all, by passing up the chance to show the show 
I give the show minus 10 stars! Am looking forward to hearing you this weekend as usual though,
Whitey
Plymouthsavoy’s response to Paleogirl10k is typical oldtimey USENET Troll behavior.
It is best to ignore it.