My Mother the Car

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My Mother the Car ranks 19,301 out of the 18,229 shows on TV.com.

The 53 users who count themselves as My Mother the Car fans have written a total of 5 reviews.

Status

Premiered

Ended

Genre

Show Type: Situation Comedy
First Telecast: September 14, 1965 Last Telecast: September 6, 1966
Episodes: 30 Color Episodes

My Mother the Car may very well be known as the most notorious short-lived sitcom of all... more »

Show Type: Situation Comedy
First Telecast: September 14, 1965 Last Telecast: September 6, 1966
Episodes: 30 Color Episodes

My Mother the Car may very well be known as the most notorious short-lived sitcom of all time and it's solely due to its premise, a talking car. The series was first seen in September of 1965 on NBC and joined the ranks of other "fantasy" driven sitcoms of the time, including Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, and Mister Ed, to name a few.

The pilot episode introduces us to the world of Dave Crabtree. Dave is your ordinary family man, married to wife Barbara and they have two children, Randy and Cindy. However, it's when he purchases a 1928 Porter, that he discovers that another family member is living with him, his deceased mother. It seems Dave Crabtree's mother has been reincarnated as a car. The voice of Dave's mother was provided by actress Ann Sothern and the only person the car would talk to was Dave.

Also in the cast was Captain Mancini. Mancini was a car collector who was always trying to find a way to purchase the Porter. Despite being quite unique, and low ratings, NBC dropped the series in the fall of 1966.

In 2002, TV Guide named My Mother the Car the second worst show of all time. It was beat only by The Jerry Springer Show.

NBC Broadcast History
September 1965-September 1966----Tuesdays----7:30 p.m.

Nielsen Ratings:
(Top 30 or Better)
Never hit the top 30

Theme song: "My Mother the Car"
Written and sung by Paul Hampton

Everybody knows in a second life, we all come back sooner or later.
As anything from a pussycat to a man eating alligator.
Well you all may think my story, is more fiction than it's fact.
But believe it or not my mother dear decided she'd come back.
As a car...
She's my very own guiding star.
A 1928 Porter.
That's my mother dear.
'Cause she helps me through everything I do and I'm so glad she's near.
My Mother the Car.
My Mother the Car.less «

• HEY NBC will probably remake this show....

  And make the Car a transformer!!!

  And make the Car a transformer!!!less «

  vidking Last online May 14, 2009
  1 comments, last one Feb 6, 2008 + Add Comment

• what was this show about?

  what was this show about?

  what was this show about?less «

  airbender63 Last online Dec 27, 2008
  4 comments, last one Jan 18, 2008 + Add Comment

• Was it really that bad?

  (I posted this same comment a few months ago, unaware that this site disposes of posts after 30 days, so I'll repost it here...more »

  (I posted this same comment a few months ago, unaware that this site disposes of posts after 30 days, so I'll repost it here. As I said on another forum, I miss TV Tome, which was much more navigable.) MMTC was not the Citizen Kane of TV sitcoms, but why is at the top of almost every list of the worst TV shows of all time? A few years ago it was the second worst according to TV Guide, saved from the THE worst only by Jerry Springer. And what was the best? Seinfeld, with such exquisite material as Jerry not knowing his girlfriend's name, except that it rhymes with a female body part; George discovering his father doing "the private thing"; and George discovering that his father has breasts, thus Kramer inventing "the Bro-zierre". How jaded tastes have become! If demographics had been employed in the 1960's, MMTC would have lasted longer than a single season, due to its popularity with children.less «

  tvking1 Last online 6 hrs, 20 mins ago
  4 comments, last one Jan 18, 2008 + Add Comment

•  

  1 Abysmal

  This show deserves to go to the hell for the truly bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad TV shows. hide « show »

  "My Mother the Car" is about a man who finds the sprit of his dead mother in this car. Sounds like an o.k. premise for a sitcom. But, this show takes a simple premise puts in very obvious jokes that even if you put in 50 monkeys in a room and told them to come up with a show.They won't even come close to coming up with this disater. This show suffers from the fact that its so stupid.
  
  "My Mother the Car" deserves its place on T.V. Guide's controversial list of the worst shows ever made. Its that bad. Its a good thing that this isn't on DVD or Video.
  
  This deserves a very high place in my personal top ten of the worst shows I've ever seen.

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  darkpuzzle Added Apr 18, 2008 All my reviews
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  8.4 Great

  Undeserving of all the abuse. hide « show »

  I don't know if it's really deserving of the rating I gave it, but I did it to counter the low ratings it does not deserve. Granted, MMTC was not the Citizen Kane of TV sitcoms, but perhaps it was the Three Stooges of sitcoms. It is not intended to be taken seriously. People who deride it so don't seem to be able to grasp that. Compare it with some of the more "sophisticated" sitcoms of today, with plots like a main character accidentally discovering his father doing "the private thing", or discovering that his father has breasts (thus the "Bro-zierre"). Ah! How exquisite!
  
  Give it a little credit. It was mainly for children, which is why it should not be judged by the same standards as, say, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I believe it would have survived at least another season if the use of demographics as a ratings method had been employed in the 1960s. Advertizers of children's products would have saved the day. Maybe the NBC execs should have rescheduled it to Saturday mornings instead of cancelling it. It represented a time of innocence on TV that seemed to die with the 60s.

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  tvking1 Added Jul 19, 2007 All my reviews
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  9.7 Superb

  Perhaps this show was so ahead of it's time, no one got it. Let's see what other show had a talking car, oh yes his name was KIT. hide « show »

  I actually remember My Mother The Car, when it came out. I was about 12 years old. The shows premise a guys mother's spirit comes back in an antique car to look after him was actually quite interesting, and the fact that the car spoke was a bit like "Mr Ed" which I also liked at the time. Now you have to remember this was 1966 and people were no where as sophisticated as they are now (am I kidding myself) so the Idea of a woman's spirit inhabiting a car was just over people's heads. Now, we have Ghost Whisper and Jericho and Heroe's and back them we had I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbilly's, Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, TV was very different. I defend the show and the concept, for the time it was quite good. And besides the next show to portray a talking car became a sensation and a very popular show, Knight Rider.

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  JohnnyGnote Added Jul 12, 2007 All my reviews
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  1.1 Abysmal

  Who rated this show an 8.3? hide « show »

  Wow. This premise of this show is disturbing beyond belief. You mean they didnt try a spin off - My Father the Pickup Truck? They could have used that old beater truck from Sanford and Son. Oh yeah, to come up with a concept like this you have to have a few screws loose or bats in the belfry. Probably came from the same warped mind that created Herbie The Love Bug - The people who remade that abomination will likely resurrect My Mother The Car next!!!! Ughhhh! Please NO! After an endless line of old TV series turned into godawful star vehicles for the like of Wil Farrell and Jessica Simpson, thats the last thing the world needs!

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  SoylentYellow Added Dec 7, 2006 All my reviews
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  5 Mediocre

  Worst Ever? No Way! hide « show »

  My Mother The Car has been called the worst sitcom of all time. TVGuide called it the 2nd worst show ever! Well,I'm here to tell you that it wasn't even the lousiest sitcom of the 1965-66 season. (O.K. Crackerby takes that honor; Mona McCluskey a close second.) Sure,it was a dumb concept. But was it any more ridiculous than My Favorite Martian or The Flying Nun? Hardly. It's the stupid name of this show that is responsible for all the ridicule it receives;but then the name is also the reason anyone remembers MMTC at all.

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  crazyrhythm Added Aug 31, 2005 All my reviews