Rant #1,504: So Bad It's Good

Now that we are in September, a lot of people get excited by the upcoming new TV season.

They wait with great anticipation as the networks roll out their new shows, and can't wait for the next seasons of their favorites.

I used to be that way, until I discovered that what the networks were rolling out was pure garbage. There was nothing there to interest me, nothing to get me all amped up for the new season.

So I looked for alternative TV choices, and evidently, I am not the only one who believes like I do, because the rise of classic TV channels has become a fascinating side story to the entire debate about what is good, and what isn't, on television.

The creation and rise of channels like Decades, MeTV, Cozi TV and Antenna TV has become a fascinating fad--or is it a long-lasting trend--that the networks must be looking at, at least a little bit.

There are people, like me, who won't settle for the garbage being spewed out by network TV today, where every subject is up for discussion, and where, in particular, the sitcoms are absolutely horrid.

I don't laugh at today's sitcoms. If nothing else, I cringe. The jokes are all geared around sex, and when you do that, you lower yourself into the gutter.

There is a time and a place for everything, but I think today's sitcoms have abused that privilege.

Anyway, these oldies TV stations also debut their new fall lineups, and one of these stations, Antenna TV, announced its schedule yesterday ... and I was completely taken aback.

They are bringing back two single-season shows that when they debuted in the mid 1960s, were also called garbage by the establishment, but they were two shows that I watched, liked, and always hoped would come back.

These two bottom of the barrel shows--"My Mother the Car" and "It's About Time"--are way more clever and funny than anything being shown today, but way back when, boy, did these shows get raked over the coals.

"My Mother the Car" starred Jerry Van Dyke as the owner of a classic car, but his fondness for his car is almost at the level that Wilbur has with his fondness for his horse on "Mr. Ed."

But there is a reason for the fondness, a reason which was laughed at back then as being preposterous, but turned up, in one form or another, on subsequent TV shows.

The car he owns--a 1928 Porter--actually is the reincarnation of his mother, voiced by Ann Southern. Yes, when he goes into the car, the car talks to him, and it is in his late mom's voice.

And he has a nemesis for the car, Avery Shreiber, who will do anything to get that classic automobile.

If this sounds like the precursor for "Knight Rider," well, you hit the nail on its head.

"It's About Time" is another one of those shows that critics completely shook their heads at.

It concerns two astronauts who somehow break the time barrier while on a mission, and end up in caveman times.

They meet up with a group of cavemen--Joe E. Ross and Imogene Coca--who they befriend while they try to get their ship in shape to go back home.

They eventually do this, but the two cavemen stow away on the ship, so one half of the series shows the astronauts trying to get home, the other half shows the cavemen trying to adapt to 1960s America.

Yes, the entire premise is completely preposterous, but with Ross and Coca carrying the show, it worked, at least for me.

It is also the middle show of producer Sherwood Schwartz's famous TV shows, debuting right in between "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch."

And as an aside, another reason to watch these shows is their theme songs, two of the best in TV history. In fact, Schwartz always said that the "It's About Time" theme song was his favorite of the three sitcoms' themes, and since he wrote all of them, he should know.

So while some people look forward to the spew of garbage emanating from network TV, I would rather watch the so-called "garbage" from my childhood.

I can't wait for that garbage, either. The new schedule begins September 14, and these two shows--running on Saturday afternoons with back to back episodes of each series--are greatly anticipated.

Yes, my own personal "big bang theory" will explode when I finally get a chance to watch these shows once again.

And you can bet I will be laughing, just like I did when I was a kid.