Welcome to the new Tough Pigs reality show, My Week with Tomie dePaola. This week, we’re going to watch every episode of the new Hallmark Channel show, Jim Henson’s Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola. The last one left standing wins.
This week gets off to something of a slow start because the Hallmark Channel is commemorating the Labor Day holiday with a “Comedy Kick Back” marathon of My Three Sons and Bewitched. You gotta hand it to the Hallmark Channel; they certainly have their finger on the pulse of American entertainment. I hope you can all pause in your My Three Sons viewing today long enough to pay your respects to the working men and women of our great nation. Then, it’s back to My Three Sons.
Actually, in the Tomie dePaola slot this morning, we get three minutes into a My Three Sons episode — about my three-tenths of a son, really — and then suddenly the picture breaks, and a Bewitched episode starts. Apparently they’re kicking back a little too much at the Hallmark control room this morning. Won’t it be nice when the Hallmark Channel grows up and becomes a real cable channel?
Although I have to admit that things have changed since the Odyssey days — for starters, they have actual ads during the commercial breaks, rather than endless station promos. Unfortunately, the ads are all for Zantac heartburn pills, Dr. Scholl’s insoles, Efferdent denture cleaners, and the Physicians Life Insurance Company. Are they sure they want to run a puppet show on this channel? Maybe the elderly don’t like puppet shows. Who’s in charge here? Hello? Is this thing on?
by Danny Horn
