Daily post 09 Jul 2008 07:50 am
Car Talk
- Tom Sito‘s been working for the last year and a half on a tv series for PBS. We knew it was an animated version of the delightful Car Talk radio program on NPR, but we weren’t sure how it was going to evolve. Years ago I’d read a blurb saying that the show was going to animate segments of the radio program.
Tonight, the show arrives on PBS. There’s plenty of on line representation, so you can get a good idea of the show even before it airs Wednesday night. The schedule is a little goofy, as it usually is with PBS shows. Tom Sito’s site gives us this info:
- In the two largest media outlets, WNET New York and KCET Los Angeles, CLick & Clack will premiere this weds July 9th at 10:00PM, right behind a Science documentary on Iraqi bacteria. WGBH Boston at 8:00PM, WETA Washington on the Friday the 11th at 10:30PM. All these channels do reruns during the week as well.
In other words, check your local listings, but watch it. The show needs support. This is the first time PBS has a Prime Time animated series, and we want it to succeed.
- The official site is called Car Talk: As the Wrench Turns. There, you can find actual episodes of the show.
- Then, there’s the PBS version of the website called simply, PBS: As the Wrench Turns. There, you’ll __________Producer, Bill Kroyer and director, Tom Sito
find more videos as well as ___________________at the show’s wrap party at MIT.
games, episode guides and character ID’s.____________________(From Tom’s site.)
- At the band’s website: Brave.com, you’ll find
LOTS of music cues done for the show.
The show uses Flash gracefully with lots of residual action and follow through. It’s one of the first times I’ve seen Flash used almost like a real animation program. I assume that by using Flash, they were able to do all six episodes in LA without having to outsource the animation.
Kelli O’Hara, the darling of Broadway, currently appearing in the famous revival of South Pacific, acts as the voice of Click and Clack’s recording manager. In an interview posted this June on Talkin’ Broadway‘s site, Kelli had this to say about her work in the show:
- BH: I read that you’re in an upcoming animated series on television.
KO: I am. I did a full season of a show called “Car Talk.” It’s on PBS, and I think it will premiere in June. I think they changed the name to “Click n’ Clack.” It’s very funny, actually. It’s based on the PBS radio show featuring two guys who take calls about car work. They’re very funny, they’re brothers. So they made this whole cartoon series about it. I play their producer in the record studio, their kind of neurotic little Harvard grad producer. It’s a lot of fun.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 9:37 am 1.Brett McCoy said …
The Click and Clack cartoon’s character designs are done by Stephen Silver, BTW
http://stephensilver.blogspot.com/2008/06/click-and-clack-as-wrench-turns.html
on 09 Jul 2008 at 10:40 am 2.David Nethery said …
Good luck to Bill and Tom & Co. Here’s hoping for a hit and more episodes ordered up by PBS.
I’ll be watching , but I’ll probably have to record it with my DVR. Gotta love those crazy PBS schedules … here in Orlando, FL the PBS affiliate WMFE is showing it on Fridays and Mondays at 5:00 AM (that’s right AM !) , with “encore screenings” Sundays at 6:00 pm.
“I assume that by using Flash, they were able to do all six episodes in LA without having to outsource the animation.”
Actually I think I read on the ColdHardFlash.com site that the animation was done at Powerhouse Animation in Austin, TX and by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, BC.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 11:37 am 3.Michael said …
Yes, David, you’re right. Powerhouse and Atomic Cartoons did do the animation. My error, sorry.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 11:44 am 4.Tom Sito said …
Thanks Mike for a nice posting. I appreciate the sentiment that such shows need supporting.
And just for the record, we did get help from Atomic Cartoons, but we never used the Austin company.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 11:52 am 5.Beth said …
My dad and I might just be able to connect because of this show. With his love of “Cartalk” and my love of Kelli O’Hara. xD
I can’t wait.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 12:22 pm 6.Tom Minton said …
Preproduction on “As the Wrench Turns” was done by a small crew in L.A. working on laptops, which would’ve meant sixty people toiling in a warehouse thirty years ago. The second episode running tonight, “Outsourcing” is funny, entertaining, topical and was not reviewed by any of the major media critics. “As the Wrench Turns” was accomplished on a budget roughly one-tenth that of “The Simpsons”, no minor feat.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 1:52 pm 7.Bridget Thorne said …
I love NPR’s Car Talk. I look forward to watching the animated version as those pesky weeds wrap around my rusting truck.Good luck to Tom Sito et al.
on 09 Jul 2008 at 7:17 pm 8.David Nethery said …
“And just for the record, we did get help from Atomic Cartoons, but we never used the Austin company.”
Oops , then my mistake . I thought I had read on ColdHardFlash.com that Powerhouse Animation in Austin was providing some of the animation on Car Talk. (at least I got it half right , with Atomic Cartoons) .
Looking forward to it. Like I said, it won’t be airing in Orlando, FL until this Friday and then again on Sunday evening. I’ll probably catch it on Sunday.
on 14 Jul 2008 at 1:38 am 9.Billy bob said …
Hey Mike, Love your blog.
Saw the show, I got bad news…..It is BORING.
I REEALLLY wanted to say something nice about it, but it really has nothing to offer anyone beyond hardcore Car Talk fans. I never listened to Car Talk, so I may missed something, but still the show is so bland and middle of the road.
This is in terms of writing and animation (well it is flash). The self refrential jabs at PBS were nice, but the mood of the show cuts dangerously close to the STEREOTYPICAL PBS audience. Old fogies whose sense of humor and entertainment died at least 2 decades ago.
Thourougly unremarkable in every way (except maybe design), I wanted to like it and PBS is to be commended for doing something new, but if they want more pledge dollars, they won’t get it with this.