Line #48 Series/MyMotherTheCar


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7	In 1965, Creator/{{NBC}} was looking for a show to air on Tuesday nights opposite ''[[Series/Combat1962 Combat!]]'' and ''Series/{{Rawhide}}''. Their answer: this FantasticComedy series about a woman who has been [[ReincarnatedAsANonHumanoid reincarnated as an automobile]].
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9	Creator/JerryVanDyke starred as Dave Crabtree, an attorney and [[BumblingDad typically hapless sitcom family man]] who discovered that the spirit of his deceased mother ([[TheVoice voiced]] by Ann Sothern) had returned to inhabit a 1928 Porter open touring car. Most plots involved Dave getting into situations with his family and neighbors, and dealing with the various headaches of owning a [[TheAllegedCar vintage]] car. The show even had a recurring villain in Captain Manzini (Avery Schreiber), an obsessed automobile collector who was bent on acquiring Mother to complete his collection. (Apparently it was the only make and model of the car to exist.)
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11	There is no real-life "1928 Porter"; the company was meant to be fictional and the actual car used on-set was one of two variations of a Ford Model T. One version was made for normal driving shots. The other was a "stunt" car, built to be driven by a hidden driver (to make it appear like a SentientVehicle). The "stunt" version was modified by the then-ubiquitous George Barris, who also helped to create the [[Series/TheMonkees Monkeemobile]] and the 1960s [[Series/Batman1966 Batmobile]]. Both vehicles survive; the normal version is owned by a fan, and the "stunt" car is on display at the Star Cars Museum in Tennessee.
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13	The show was critically lambasted, and led NBC to become something of a laughingstock for green-lighting it in the first place. The UsefulNotes/{{ratings}} were horrid across the board, save for viewers in the younger {{demographics}} who were more inclined to watch something fun and silly than the two serious dramas competing in the timeslot. (While that might actually be enough to keep a modern show on the air, in those days the networks only looked at total viewership numbers in deciding which shows to renew. Also, most households at the time only owned one [=TV=] set and parents were generally the ones who decided what to watch, limiting the potential audience further.)
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15	Despite this, NBC let the show air for its entire 30-episode season, probably to burn off the episodes and recoup some sort of investment (a common tactic in television). It should be noted that Creator/JamesLBrooks, now well known as a film director and as one of the executive producers of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', worked on this show as a writer. His [[OldShame dis]][[CreatorBacklash dain]] for the series allowed ''The Simpsons'' to [[TakeThat poke fun at it]] a few times.
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17	''My Mother the Car'' is considered by many people to be one of the worst television series ever made. However, to people who have deemed it SoOkayItsAverage, there are other shows much worthier of that title. Still, despite--or perhaps ''because'' of--its reputation, it has enough of a cult following to have gotten a complete release on DVD. It has also aired on Creator/AntennaTV, and you can find episodes (including the pilot) on Website/YouTube.
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19	----
20	!!This show provides examples of:
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22	* AndStarring: Miss Ann Sothern.
23	* AllJustADream: "The Blabbermouth" finally has the family learn of mother, as does the entire town, the news media and Manzini, setting up for more interesting stories... only to end with the revelation that Dave was dreaming all of it.
24	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Dave is a licensed attorney but often shows himself to be far too timid or lax in regards to his profession. While he has a few competent moments, Dave is more than willing to overlook Manzini's numerous felonies and even writes it off when his own mother-in-law commits several crimes to frame him so he will be arrested.
25	* AsHimself[=/=]TheCameo: In the episode "And Leave the Drive-In to Us", Dave and his family brave a cold day in order to take Mother to a DriveInTheater, where a movie co-starring Mother's favorite actor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Tufts Sonny Tufts]] is playing. When the picture is finally over, there are two cars left in the lot, and the other car is driven by Sonny Tufts himself.
26	* BackFromTheDead
27	* ChristmasEpisode: "Many Happy No-Returns", which has Dave and Barb bidding on one another's [[CrappyHomemadeGift hideous artworks]] at a charity auction to give to each other for Christmas.
28	* ContrivedCoincidence: Mother doesn't actively seek out Dave in the pilot--he discovers her accidentally while shopping for a car. She merely happens to be at the lot he's visited that day and had he passed that specific car by instead of checking it out, probably never would have even known his mother was in that particular vehicle.
29	* CoolCar: The series itself never really regards the Porter as such (outside of Manzini's obsession with owning it due to its collectability), but once Dave fixes it up in the pilot episode, a vintage 1928 car in top condition today would be considered a valuable collector's item.
30	* DastardlyWhiplash: Captain Manzini is a pastiche of silent movie villains, complete with sinister mustache.
31	* DeadPersonConversation
32	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's a show about a man and his relationship with his mother, who is a car.
33	* ExpositoryThemeTune: Complete with FollowTheBouncingBall!
34	-->''Everybody knows in the second life we all come back sooner or later\
35	As anything from a pussycat to a man-eating alligator\
36	Well, you all may think my story is more fiction than it's fact\
37	But believe it or not, my Mother dear, decided she'd come back\
38	As a car\
39	She's my very own guiding star\
40	A 1928 Porter, that's my Mother dear\
41	She helps me through everything I do\
42	And I'm so glad she's here\
43	My Mother the Car\
44	My Mother the Car''
45	* InsistentTerminology: The way Mother's spirit returned to inhabit a car is always described as her having "reincarnated" in it, despite reincarnation being usually understood as a spirit migrating to a newborn body, so [[TemporalParadox how does a dead mother get "reincarnated" into a car that already exists?]] As such, it seems that a better term would be that Mother is possessing the car. The only explanation from the show is that you 'apply' for it in the afterlife and you don't get to choose what you can come back as.
46	* InvincibleClassicCar: Granted, the show was made in the ''era'' of invincible classic cars, but Mother is particularly resilient.
47	* MagicalGuide: This is Mother's reason for coming back: to help her son. Justified in that her son is somewhat lacking in common sense.
48	* MaliciousMisnaming: Done as a RunningGag with Captain Manzini. ("I'll get my hands on that Porter yet, Crankcase." "Crabtree." "Whatever.")
49	* MyBelovedSmother: Surprisingly averted. Mother is actually very reasonable. (Well, usually. She does have her moments).
50	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Mother, although in one episode ("I Remember Mama, Why Can't You Remember Me?") it's revealed that her maiden name was Gladys Brown.
51	* {{Pilot}}: Filmed in black-and-white and originally unaired, it was re-shot in color and that version was broadcast as the first official episode.
52	* PoesLaw: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuYCgbuPuSY Series co-creator Allan Burns has said]] that ''My Mother the Car'' was intended to be a parody of the [[FantasticComedy fantastical sitcoms]] that were popular the time, but it ended up playing the trope so straight that nobody realized it was supposed to make fun of the genre.
53	* ReincarnatedAsANonHumanoid: An elderly woman dies and comes back as her son's classic car.
54	* SentientVehicle: Sort of zigzagged. Mother can drive herself to some extent, and can outright refuse to be driven. She does seem to need some sort of driver behind the wheel to go long distances though (yet this is all DependingOnTheWriter, as a few episodes show her doing this just fine). She can also do things like open the car's door.
55	* ShoutOut: The name "Porter" was one to Don Porter, Ann Sothern's former costar on ''Private Secretary'' and ''The Ann Sothern Show''.
56	* SimpleSolutionWontWork: It's mentioned repeatedly that Mother is the only Porter car in existence, so the audience will understand that telling Captain Mancini to find another Porter to buy (or a wreck to refurnish) is out of the question.
57	* SignatureSoundEffect: Mother has a very distinct "ooga-ooga" horn sound.
58	* WhatAPieceOfJunk: Everyone except Dave and Captain Manzini treat it like TheAllegedCar. It actually performs rather well, for an old car. This is aided by Dave taking it to the mechanic ''very'' often.

Context Series / MyMotherTheCar