My Mother The Car - The Blog-o-Rama Christmas Show A Day.

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Many Happy No- Returns

 

Time to kick off this year's version of riesen2b's blog-o-rama Christmas show a day which began last year.  And we kick it off with one of the most joked at, berated, derided and skewered television shows of all time.  By the way, all of the vicious criticism on this quaint, funny show was way overboard. 

I'm talking of course about the Ann Sothern, Jerry Van Dyke comedy, "My Mother The Car".  Making it's debut on September 14, 1965, this show was about the Mother of Jerry Van Dyke's character, being reincarnated as a 1928 Porter automobile (incidentally, there was no such brand) to offer him advice and at the same time putting him in various predicaments.   It ran for only one season on NBC and is now the stuff of television folklore.  Even in 2002 the show was put down by TV Guide which rated it the second worst show ever to air, after The Jerry Springer Show.

The fact remains though, that for most kids from that era, this was a great show and many were disappointed when it was canceled.  It now has somewhat of a cult following.

Wikipedia.com gives this synopsis of the show:

The show follows the exploits of attorney David Crabtree (played by Jerry Van Dyke), who, while shopping at a used car lot for a station wagon to serve as a second family car, instead purchases a dilapidated 1928 "Porter" touring car. Crabtree heard the car call his name in a woman's voice which turned out to be that of his deceased mother, Gladys (voiced by Ann Sothern). The car, a valuable antique, is a reincarnation of his mother who talks (only to Crabtree, of course) through the car's radio. The dial light flashed in sequence with "Mother's" voice. In an effort to get his family to accept the old, tired car, Crabtree brings it to a custom body shop for a full restoration, which in turn brings it to the attention of a rather shifty car collector.

For the rest of the series, Crabtree is pursued by the avaricious Captain Manzini (Avery Schreiber), who is determined to acquire the valuable automobile from Crabtree. In a running gag characterizing his shifty nature, Manzini (who resembles a 1920s silent film villain) always mispronounces Crabtree's name when speaking to him. "Now, then, Crabapple..." "That's Crabtree." "Whatever."

The plot of this episode finds that Mother is furious when she learns that Dave intends to let Barbara choose her own Christmas present.

So here it is, the Christmas episode of "My Mother The Car"  My Mother The Car is not available on DVD although the owners of this show could make a killing by releasing it.  However, uou can watch the entire series at Hulu.Com by clicking here.

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