My Mother the Car

My Mother the Car
Genre
Created byAllan Burns
Chris Hayward
StarringJerry Van Dyke
Maggie Pierce
Voices ofAnn Sothern
Theme music composerRalph Carmichael
Paul Hampton
ComposerRalph Carmichael
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes30
Production
ProducerRod Amateau
EditorsRichard K. Brockway
Dann Cahn
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time24-25 minutes
Production companiesCottage Industries, Inc.
United Artists Television
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 14, 1965 (1965-09-14) –
April 5, 1966 (1966-04-05)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

My Mother the Car is an American fantasy comedy that aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965, and April 5, 1966. Thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television. The premise features a man whose deceased mother is reincarnated as an antique car, who communicates with him through the car radio.

My Mother the Car had an experienced production team with extensive comedy credentials: Rod Amateau (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis); Allan Burns (wrote for Jay Ward and went on to create several critically acclaimed shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, and Lou Grant); James L. Brooks (Room 222, Taxi, and later served as executive producer of The Simpsons)[1][2] and Chris Hayward (produced and wrote for Barney Miller during its first several seasons).

Critics and adult viewers panned the show. In 2002, TV Guide proclaimed it to be the second-worst television show of all time, behind The Jerry Springer Show.[3] TV Land's first day of programming in April 1996 included the series premiere as a collection of television firsts and rarities, billing it as "the strange but true...infamous series". The show's premise was similar to other popular comedies of the 1960s that featured a fantastic gimmick, such as a talking horse (Mister Ed), a martian (My Favorite Martian), a suburbanite witch (Bewitched), an obedient genie (I Dream of Jeannie), or a flying nun (The Flying Nun).

  1. ^ "The New South has risen in the post-industrial North". The News Sun. March 31, 2006. p. A6.
  2. ^ Alex Simon (December 1997 – January 1998). "James L. Brooks: Laughter That Stings In Your Throat". Venice Magazine. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  3. ^ Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie (July 12, 2002). "The Worst TV Shows Ever, 'The Jerry Springer Show' Tops TV Guide's List Of Worst Shows – CBS News". cbsnews.com. CBS Broadcasting Inc. Archived from the original on August 10, 2002. Retrieved July 12, 2015.