# "How did anyone think that was a good idea?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380 "2020-03-13T02:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/21 "2020-03-13T17:56:26Z")
Wow was that punching-lasers-in-space clip from the OP ridiculous. I’m surprised that’s not a GIF meme to signify nonsensical flailing at big problems. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/22 "2020-03-13T17:57:41Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > You say this because you’re not Canadian and never saw [The Trouble](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Tracy)[With Tracy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEshPX5YHYE). Neither compare to the stupidity of a sitcom with Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun as main characters. Their neighbors are a Jewish couple!!! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil\_Honey\_I%27m\_Home!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_Honey_I%27m_Home!) ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/23 "2020-03-13T18:01:50Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I haven’t actually seen an episode of _My Mother the Car_, but just as counterpoint was the premise really that much more absurd than say _Mr. Ed_, or _Bewitched_? Plenty of absurdity going around back then wasn’t there?. We can add [The Flying Nun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CojNHPD_cOU) to the mix too. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/24 "2020-03-13T18:42:24Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Missed the edit window, but for my nomination, I pick _[The Greatest American Hero](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081871/)_. Years ago there was a bit of a revival in interest in the show, and one of the cable networks (maybe SyFy?) ran a marathon of all the episodes. I tuned in to a few thinking it might be fun in a kitschy, “so bad it’s good” kind of way. It wasn’t. It basically just felt like a bad 1980s cop show that happened to include a superhero. I doubt 44 episodes would be concidered a “flop.” (And I wouldn’t concider GAH “bad” so much as “good.”) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/25 "2020-03-13T18:55:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I doubt 44 episodes would be concidered a “flop.” (And I wouldn’t concider GAH “bad” so much as “good.”) Yeah, it seems like it’d be horrible, but the personalities of Ralph\* and Agent Maxwell\* saved it. Robert Culp was so self-important as he chewed a lot of scenery. Perfect for a great just-over-the-top FBI agent. \*WHY the hell do I remember these things, and not important stuff? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/26 "2020-03-13T19:01:50Z")
Anything by Lars von Trier. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/27 "2020-03-13T19:07:12Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > [My Mother The Car.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058830/) Probably the most inconceivable, absurd, POS to ever sail across the public airwaves Ironically, Jerry Van Dyke turned down Gilligan because he thought the island was too strange. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/28 "2020-03-13T19:19:48Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Neither compare to the stupidity of a sitcom with Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun as main characters. Their neighbors are a Jewish couple!!! > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil\_Honey\_I%27m\_Home!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_Honey_I%27m_Home!) But then you also have JoJo Rabbit and The Producers. Or a movie like Tropic Thunder where 90% of it is Robert Downy Jr in blackface. A lot of ideas seem like they should be stupid or offensive or at least simply unfunny, but for some reason they end up working. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/29 "2020-03-13T19:29:18Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > But then you also have JoJo Rabbit and The Producers. And\* [Look Who’s Back](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Who%27s_Back_(film))\*. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/30 "2020-03-13T19:31:57Z")
[Cop Rock?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Rock) The show only lasted 11 episodes and the cast broke the fourth wall in the final episode to sing with the crew. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/31 "2020-03-13T19:47:12Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > [Cop Rock?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Rock) > > The show only lasted 11 episodes and the cast broke the fourth wall in the final episode to sing with the crew. This - painful to watch even for a moment ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/32 "2020-03-13T20:17:53Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > My Mother The Car. Probably the most inconceivable, absurd, POS to ever sail across the public airwaves > [@WildaBeast](#): > > I haven’t actually seen an episode of _My Mother the Car_, but just as counterpoint was the premise really that much more absurd than say _Mr. Ed_, or _Bewitched_? Well, there’s absurd and _absurd_. When _My Mother the Car_ debuted, one TV critic commented the joke wasn’t the show’s premise but the fact a show with that premise was green-lit by a major TV network thereby making it one joke less than a one-joke show. Amazingly, many of the writers for _My Mother the Car_ went on to create and write some of best-regarded shows of the 70s and 80s like _Barney Miller_ and _Mary Tyler Moore_ (e.g.,[James L. Brooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Brooks) got his start on the show). Anyway, I’ve said this before but, from the hindsight of more than 50 years, one can’t avoid thinking drugs were behind the show’s production, placement on NBC’s schedule, and popularity among a small cult of viewers during its run. The premise of “My Mother the Car” seems like the product of an LSD trip, its approval by the networks suggests a decision made after too many martinis, and the fact enough people watched it to keep it alive for one season suggests there was already a segment of the viewing public that liked to watch TV while “herbally enhanced.” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/33 "2020-03-13T20:22:16Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > This - painful to watch even for a moment I must disagree. I loved Cop Rock from the first episode and I still miss it a little. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/34 "2020-03-13T20:28:16Z")
_[The Secret Life of Desmond Pfeiffer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Diary_of_Desmond_Pfeiffer)_. A sitcom about a Black butler of Abraham Lincoln who was the one who ran the White House. Lincoln was shown as an absolute dolt. Everyone hated it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/35 "2020-03-13T21:14:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Or a movie like Tropic Thunder where 90% of it is Robert Downy Jr in blackface. He’s not in blackface, he’s a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!! > [@Telemark](#): > > Well, since it’s (mostly) based on “Stalag-17”, an Academy Award winning picture, based on a successful Broadway play, that was proposed as a TV series a few years earlier, it makes a bit more sense. The translation to comedy certainly stands out as an interesting choice. The writers of Stalag 17 sued the producers of Hogan’s Heroes for infringement and lost. You and I may feel one was based on the other but a judge disagreed. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/36 "2020-03-13T21:18:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _[The Secret Life of Desmond Pfeiffer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Diary_of_Desmond_Pfeiffer)_. A sitcom about a Black butler of Abraham Lincoln who was the one who ran the White House. Lincoln was shown as an absolute dolt. Everyone hated it. That show’s show’s premise was only the second reason why I hated it. My main objection was it was an unauthorized and badly executed knock-off of [Blackadder the Third](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder_the_Third). I think even if the show had held on for a little longer, it would’ve been sued out of existence by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/37 "2020-03-13T21:50:00Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The writers of Stalag 17 sued the producers of Hogan’s Heroes for infringement and lost. You and I may feel one was based on the other but a judge disagreed. I’m aware of the lawsuit. But it was based on Stalag 17. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/38 "2020-03-13T21:54:38Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That show’s show’s premise was only the second reason why I hated it. My main objection was it was an unauthorized and badly executed knock-off of [Blackadder the Third](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder_the_Third). I think even if the show had held on for a little longer, it would’ve been sued out of existence by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. The idea that you can just take a successful English show and convert it to an American show while keeping only the jokes, sometimes completely misses the point. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/39 "2020-03-13T22:03:58Z")
Just thought of a classic: [_Theodore Rex_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJ5H_sgq0I). (Link is to the whole movie, if you dare watch it.) ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380/40 "2020-03-13T22:36:11Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I must disagree. I loved Cop Rock from the first episode and I still miss it a little. Same here. Some of the songs were very touching. I’m wondering if network pressure killed it more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-anyone-think-that-was-a-good-idea/849380.md?page=3)