Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for April 16, 2021

My Mother the Car

A talking horse is no more absurd than a talking penguin, Opus.

two centuries later, i still remember the lyrics….

You’re just now noticing, Opus?

I loved that show—the premise was silly, the plotlines embarrassingly contrived, the acting only adequate … but it was enough for this horse-crazy teenage girl to just enjoy watching that beautiful horse!

Good news/bad news, Opus…

Good news: Most TV shows in 2021 don’t even have a theme song.

Bad news: The writing is even more insipid than back when the network heads thought a talking horse or automobile (i.e., “My Mother the Car”) was worth a weekly series.

That show “Mr. Ed” was partially or fully based (I’m not sure) on the work of children’s author Walter R. Brooks. He is the writer who authored the many Freddy the Pig books which I absolutely loved as a child. I always wondered why Walt Disney never did an animated movie on those books as he did with others such as 1001 Dalmatians. I have managed to acquire my own little private library in the house, for myself, and my two daughters to pass down to. You better believe I have went back and added all the Freddy books to it for them and any kids they may have down the way.

It was insulting! It made so much more sense to listen to the thoughts of Cleo (the Basset Hound) on “The People’s Choice.”

Said the talking penguin.

And there was that mule named Francis that conversed with Donald O’Conner in several forgettable movies.

Yet, like the rest of us, he watched the whole thing. Life is more fun if you turn your brain off every once in a while and watch something mindless. “I love Lucy” got away with the same one plot shows for years

Wilbur! Wilburrr!

Loved that show! And yes, I’m quite old.

“That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed!”That’s how I remember the last line of the jingle!Rolf DOB 7/15/52

Poor research by BB here. The opening line is “Hello … I’m Mr. Ed”. There was no “everybody” and that’s no a surprise. … the fourth wall was pretty sacrosanct back then.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkksL5KYC_c 

Also, Alan Young was a legit legend. Just saying.

A concept done much earlier and much better (not well mind you; just better) in the “Francis The Talking Mule” movies.

Somebody didn’t go straight to the source and ask the horse, and it shows…

If you ever wondered where the name for the ill-fated ship on Gilligan’s Island came from, it was a dig at FCC Chairman Newton Minnow’s famous 1961 observation that television was a “vast wasteland”.

Opus hasn’t seen My Mother the Car yet I guess.

Hey dumb arse, no one says you have to watch it. Same as people screaming about covid, if you’re scared stay home and have everything delivered.

I read once that Alan Young came away from a shooting saying “I am exhausted!” and the director told him “No wonder, you’ve just been talking to yourself for an hour!”. I may have gotten the dialogue wrong but the incident is A True Story.

That’s wwwwwhat wwwwwe said, Wwwwwilbur!

Unlike most of the commenters here (myself included), “Mr. Ed will never speak, unless he has something to say.”

A host is a host from coast to coast

And no one will talk to a host that’s close

Unless the host that isn’t close is busy, hung, or dead

i like that his shower cap has a chin strap!

—Said the prissy talking penguin.

Harumph!

FUNNY!!

And of course every discriminating mind can handle a talking penguin…