Sunday, November 23, 2008

Chuck Dickens: Illiterate Trucker


This one is for all my adoring fans in the world of scripted television, for all you thousands of TV show writers and producers out there who look to me for inspiration. Whether you work for NBC, CBS, Spike TV, Comedy Central, and even PBS this one is for you.

I have created a TV show born from the smoldering bonfires of past greats such as Kung Fu, Highway To Heaven, Touched By An Angel, and Knight Rider. I have created a show that rides on the wings of a c-130 Hercules transport plane forged from the smelting of thousands of classic tales.

I give you, Chuck Dickens: Illiterate Trucker.

Chuck Dickens: Illiterate Trucker or CDIT for short, is the tale of Chuck Dickens, a long-haul trucker on the road to nowhere. He travels the land helping unfortunate souls solve their larger than life problems with his knowledge of classical literature, while all along, searching for an "ending" to his own story. The irony floweth over the damns and dikes of this epic tale, for though Chuck Dickens knows every twist and turn of every classic tale from Emma to Ivanhoe, he is completely illiterate. He cannot read. Listening to thousands of books on tape has given him the ironic knowledge of classical literature that is both his gift and curse.

Characters:

Chuck Dickens - 50's - trucker with uncanny knowledge of classical literature

Basker - Chuck Dicken's dog, a faithful Boston Terrier

Claudet - 40's - trucking company dispatcher

Karl Grendelhousen - 50's - trucker and Chuck Dicken's nemesis


Notes:

I was thinking of having him pick up a teacher named Jim Smith who has given up on life. Maybe Jim could be his sidekick, always learning something from an old, illiterate trucker.

You can rip plot lines directly from thousands of books and short stories, and it is totally fine because that is the premise of the show. Brilliant. You PBS people might be interested in playing up this fact and trying to use the show to encourage people to read.

If you are a writer, producer, or trucker, get to work.

P.S. I subscribed to Ideas By Chuck today. It was so fun and easy.

P.P.S. If you use this idea, and the show is a big hit, I would appreciate a creator credit along with some money.

5 comments:

Robot Nine said...

My Dad would so watch this show. How many evenings did we share an hour with 'BJ and the Bear'. How I wondered why a truck driver would go through life with the unfortunate initials of BJ. Must have been a big hit in the truck stop showers. And a chimp as a traveling partner, named Bear. Why. Why an ape named Bear? So let's roll with Chuck Dickens, and admit his illeteracy, though he shifts through ten gears grindlessly, and let's lose the Chimp, as it is pure expoloitation to use such a noble beast for entertainment. Maybe Chuck can go green, filling up with grain based fuel, guest starring Willie Nelson as the fuel stop attendant. (Just don't mention how the grain based fuels are causing food prices to soar in a hungry world. Roll Chuck Dickens, roll.

Anonymous said...

alan, actually BJ is a brilliant name for a truck driver.... Very strategic.... Very clever.

I mean how many times have you picked up a hitch hiker and not known exactly how to broach the BJ subject?.... So you dance around trying to find ways to get to the word B and J and you talk and talk... hours of awkward sideways conversation

BJ, probably after years of honing this dance, came to the conclusion that it's better to just start off with one foot on the field. Hello my name is BJ, boom door open.

One thing you learn driving a truck is try not to take the long windy roads. Get there.

also he should have named bear JO

Anonymous said...

The only problem I have with this is how will he know where he is going if he cant read?

Anonymous said...

So, this is brilliant. It’s derivative, has a wide range of source material and iconic in a B-list way. Your references to these other shows are pitch perfect. I fully expect this to show up on air within two years. I will also expect whomever produces it to add the recurring character of a time-travelling villain named Fagan. Fagan will be played by Zeljko Ivanek. I call dibs on the season finale cliffhanger script where Chuck will learn his illiteracy is caused by Fagan having killed his father.

Anonymous said...

where on earth did you come up with name Claudet for the trucker dispatcher? it was from the addie corn ritchie dining hall was it??? Gina P