"As The Wrench Turns": faces made for radio

[Ccook50]

PBS's first prime time cartoon series, Click & Clack's As The Wrench Turns is testament proof that some things are better left to other mediums. It was hard enough trying to come up with cartoon shows based on TV shows and movies back in the 1970s, but trying to make a cartoon show out of a radio show (NPR's Car Talk) is like topping an ice cream cone with ketchup.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi (Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers) voice their cartoon selves which depicts them as mechanics at their Boston garage and sidelining as their advice radio show hosts. They are surrounded by some rather non-descript friends:their producer, Beth Totenbag; full-of-himself mechanic Fidel; vacant yet smart Crusty; burly Stash; atypical receptionist Sal; radio show engineer Dave; and canine mascot Zuzu. The stories are humorously inert comedies of manners that depict what Tom and Ray go through (and what Beth puts up with) to do their radio show.

There are set pieces that are run up the flagpole but nobody salutes, mainly because they play off the piece and beat it to death. Even Tom and Ray's attempts to do their radio wisecracks fall flat, mainly because the scripts are so failsafe, so empty. The animation looks to be Flash and really looks comparable to some of the fare on kidvid.

The biggest disappointment is that there are no bogus credits like on the radio show, like windsurfer Eileen Wendy Windblows; news reporter Phil Mataleven and southern short order cook Everett Possum. Looks like As The Wrench Turns needs to go back to the garage for an overhaul.