do you know jack?

Do you know these guys? It's Jack, Mary, and Mel from Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin. Emerson has fallen in love with this show and asks for it by name. (Even at 2 in the morning when she should be sleeping!) And I've fallen in love with it too. Not just for the great variety of music that it introduces kids to (zydeco, samba, Irish folk, yodeling, and much more!!), but also for the references to one of my favorite comics of all time, Jack Benny. In fact, the creators are huge Jack Benny fans and even named the main characters after Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, and Mel Blanc. If you're a Benny fan, you'll love the references to the old show (picture it: the doorbell rings, the crew says "come iiii-n, and who should appear but the Schwartzman Quartet! Mmmmmmmmm!!) If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you'll still love JBMS. So check it out on Noggin...8 and 8:30am daily (CST). You can also find in On Demand (at least thru Comcast in Chicago anyways) under kids shows, and then Noggin.

In fact, I love the show so much that I wanted to drop a quick email to the creators to thank them for such a creative and educational show. After going through many hoops, I finally found the website for their production company, Spiffy Productions. The email link didn't work for me, so I decided to call them and leave a voicemail. I was surprised to see that they're a Chicago-based company. When I called, man answered, and after stammering that I wanted to leave a general message for the JBMS crew, he said that he would be happy to answer my questions. Then I explained that I didn't have any questions...just wanted to tell them what a great show they have and how much I appreciate the Jack Benny ties. Well, THAT really got him going. He said "YOU know Jack Benny? So you GET all the jokes?!" (he was suprised to hear that since I'm only 31.) He asked how I got invovled in Old Time Radio, and we found out that we both listen to the same show on Saturday afternoons called "Those Were The Days" with Chuck Shaden. We even commented that the annual "Jack Benny Month" in honor of Jack's b-day is coming up soon!

I finally asked who I was speaking with and found out that it's none other than David Rudman, aka JACK from JBMS! What a thrill. Now, if you think this is all crazy, let me put it to you this way. David Rudman was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayl of COOKIE MONSTER on Sesame Street! He was on that show for over 20 years! He's also done work with the Muppets (he was the Swedish Chef among others), and was even the "finger" in the Ziplock bag commercials!

We went on for about 15 minutes. I honestly think he as appreciative of my call as I was with his show. So you can imagine my horror when I found out that the show is no longer in production. BOOOOOO!! Noggin only ordered 2 seasons, and as of now, they're not planning on making more episodes. But David implied that he'd love to keep going. He told me that it's all up to Nick (Noggin's parent company). So people, I know you're out there. Watch JBMS. See what it's all about. Then email Nickelodeon and tell them that you want more!!!!

Phew. Ok, enough with my infomercial. If you watch JBMS, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you try it out after reading this, let me know what you think!

Make it a great night~
a.