If you’re someone who’s prone to have his car radio turned to NPR as often as not, then the Tappet Brothers are likely well known to you. Tom and Ray Magliozzi started their radio show, “Car Talk,” way back in 1977, but they’ve been a part of the National Public Radio family since ’87, making their voices and their often-awful jokes instantly recognizable to NPR listeners. After 20 years on the air, someone at PBS apparently decided that they were ready to make the transition to TV…in animated form, at least. “As the Wrench Turns” takes the guys’ radio show and makes it the center of the series, first giving them a producer named Beth Totenbag, then introducing us to the guys who work at the brothers’ garage: Fidel, Crusty, and Sal. (Actually, Sal’s a woman, but you get the impression that she could take on anyone else on the show and come out victorious.) While it might’ve been fun to see Click and Clack taking on car problems in cartoon form, with the solutions animated on the screen for educational purposes, what we get instead is light political commentary and mainstream sitcom shenanigans. There are moments when you imagine what creators Howard Grossman and Doug Berman were going for, but mostly you’re reminded that the Tappet Brothers are at their best when they’re solved car problems…and while they’re nice guys, their humor has always been more groan-worthy than legitimately funny. Unfortunately, that feeling translates to much of their animated series.
