Lamb Chop's Play-Along
| Lamb Chop's Play-Along! | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's television series |
| Written by | Lan O'Kun Bernard Rothman |
| Directed by | Michael Watt Stan Jacobson |
| Presented by | Shari Lewis |
| Opening theme | "It's Lamb Chop's Play-Along!" |
| Ending theme | "The Song That Doesn't End" |
| Composer(s) | Bob Golden John Rodby |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 85 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Paragon Entertainment Corporation WTTW Chicago DreamWorks Classics |
| Distributor |
NBCUniversal Television Distribution (on behalf of DreamWorks Classics) |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS (USA) |
| Original release | September 15, 1991 – August 29, 1997 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Charlie Horse Music Pizza |
Lamb Chop's Play-Along! is an American half-hour preschool children's television series that was shown on PBS in the United States from 1991 until 1997. It was created and hosted by puppeteer Shari Lewis, and featured her puppet character Lamb Chop.
PBS commissioned the show from Shari Lewis in May 1991, and the show premiered in September 1991. This marked Lewis' return to television after about 15 years (following the BBC version of The Shari Lewis Show in 1975). Lamb Chop's Play-Along was shot at the CBC Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The series honoured Lewis's father, college professor Abraham Hurwitz - "the official magician of New York City".
Ellensburg Daily Record explains: "each half hour is filled with jokes, games, songs, and tricks".
Shari Lewis said her goal for the audience is "participation, not passive observance". She said: "our goal is, don't just sit there - come play with me". She wanted to "attack the shorter attention span of today's children with a fast-paced show using colorful electronic effects". She said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer: "I know that when children watch TV, they go into a stupor. Parents think (their children) are interested, but what they really are is [bored]".
Lewis testified that making smart content for kids was not that hard to produce and should be done with increasing frequency. She said that if kids are challenged, they will be productive members of society. She said, "I don't care if you tack a prosocial message at the end of the show. You have not done a quality show".
Appropriately, Lamb Chop is a sheep; other characters are puppets of other farm animals, including Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy.
86 half-hour episodes produced.
WTTW jointly distributed it with Paragon Entertainment Corporation to PBS stations across the country. The rights to the show are currently owned by Universal Television on behalf of DreamWorks Classics.
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