Originally published at: Buy this limited-edition print of Drew Friedman's homage to 1966 television | Boing Boing
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My grade school pals and I would sing the first two lines of the theme song (“It’s about time, it’s about space”), followed with “it’s about time to slap your face” then slap the person we were talking to.
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I can’t believe they made a full season of this - they must have worn out that clip of the plastic dinosaur
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That meme is the only thing I know or remember about It’s About Time.
That character was the only element of this Friedan print I didn’t recognize, and when I learned from the text who he is, I immediately flashed back to my two older brothers perpetrating that gag, which in my home was considered the height of wit.
I recall the last line being “It’s about time that I punch you in the face”. I’m not sure whether that’s cultural variation or poor memory on my part.
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It’s about time IIRC used the same sets as Gilligan’s island and was about some astronauts that went back in time to cave men. starred Imogene Coco
Frankly even for my 10 y o mind it was pretty lame
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“It’s About Time” was the standard Sherwood Schwartz formula pared down to two characters. One astronaut the blowhard Skipper character, the other a cowardly simpleton. He pulled the same trick later with the awful “Dusty’s Trail”, basically “Gilligan’s Island” in the “Old West”. They all had catchy theme songs, though, even that one show about the combined family…
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Have you ever heard of My Mother, the Car? Very catchy theme music, too. Jerry Van Dyke’s character’s mom dies and her spirit inhabits a 1928 Porter roadster. It was terrible, but they made 30 episodes anyway, lol. A very young James L. Brooks was on the writing staff 
He got better.
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I first thought it was Agarn from F-Troop.
“It’s about time” was not even funny to my 9 year old mind. I did like the theme song though.
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American live action remake?
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It was just the intro for Mr Terrific that was animated.
Now, if we’re talking 1966 in cartoons…
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Cool McCool - is that the Bob Kane!?!
Because I do sense a vibe
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Didn’t the villains all seem kind of familiar, sort of?
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Thank you so much for bringing up My Mother The Car which is one of those shows which was terrible but never quite managed to be so terrible it circled around to being kind of good. No, it was just terrible, bordering on unwatchable.
But what fascinates me about it is a lot of really talented people were behind it. Most of them had already had successes and most, including Brooks, would go on to better things. It was very experimental, too, in its own way: moody lighting, no laugh track, a premise that was never really explained, muted performances. I have a special fondness for it because so many people involved with it were willing to try something so different and its failure didn’t end their careers.
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“Get Smart is an American comedy television series, parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of James Bond films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and had its television premiere on NBC on September 18, 1965.”
–Wikipedia
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Already an admirer of Friedman’s work and his prints, as well as 3/4 of the subjects on this one (I’ve heard of, but never watched It’s About Time), this print was an instant purchase when I received their email newsletter.
IAT seems like not the same caliber as the other three shows as far as historical impact (heh) goes, but Mr. Friedman seems to enjoy rendering Stooge-like faces like Joe E. Ross’, so I can see how that might have encouraged him making the cut here.
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Weird how memory of pop culture works. I always think how people remember specific bands from the 80s live Devo or Madonna because they are the ones who were good enough to last while most of the music that was actually on the radio was a lot of forgettable bland stuff. I think the same can be said of almost any era. And with TV too. There’s hundreds of shows that came and went that no one is nostalgic for the way they are for golden girls or full house or cheers. I wasn’t around in the 60s so was surprised by this post… I had no idea this show (it’s about time) existed, let alone that anyone loved it enough to put it on a sort of TV Mount Rushmore. Ha.
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