I feel a bit lucky right now. You always hear about important bloggers and the like receiving special previews of TV shows, because they can greatly influence the number of people who watch the show when it’s revealed to the public. It just so happens that I have recently experienced a little of that.

The online world is a strange place, where you can meet (practically) neighbours without ever actually meeting them. And so it was when me and Henry from Puppets and Stuff met. He’s in the Dandenongs, about an hour drive from me; despite being there numerous times, I’d never known any puppetry to be there. What’s great is that it’s another person who’s local to me (in a sea of American puppeteers online) and that he has decided to share his work with me.

See, Henry is also known as Tall Ted (Bret is his real name, just to confuse things! Henry is just his P&S handle), a roving performer in a teddy bear costume. He and some fellow artisans have gotten together to make a TV pilot for a children’s show, which combines puppetry, craft, song, storytime and other such things. And I just finished watching a special DVD preview 

Of course, I’m not watching it because I have a huge sway with the local programming on TV; I’m watching it because Henry’s been talking about the pilot on P&S and was happy to send me a copy for fun. But it does make me feel special! (The show, as I understand it, will probably appear on Aussie TV on Channel 31 - our community TV station - if they can convince the programmers to show it)

Although the show has a certain unpolished feel to it, you can definitely tell it was done with love. The puppets are really well made, and the whole thing (while maybe not having the budget of you know, Sesame Street) has the overall feel of someone doing what they love and hoping to share it with the world, and in particular, children.

The good news is that I don’t have to tease you with tantalising hints of this pilot. Henry has put some of it online; the opening credits, which includes puppetry, Tall Ted, and an easily-stuck-in-your-head song . For anyone interested, the Tall Ted site also has some downloadable activities for kids, and info about hiring him for shows and the like. (Er, be warned, the site has some rather annoying moving bubbles as a background, which may not be pleasing to visually impaired people)… So yeah, watch some Aussie puppetry below: