The Cheap Show
by Robin Smith
“He’s tap dancing. Get it?” (Pause. He looks at me.) “It’s
a sock puppet. He has no feet!”
Filmmaker and executive producer Jage Toba took me back to the exact moment
when he knew that the “The Cheap Show” would air on Plum TV. We
were watching a clip from the pilot episode that, due to hilarity, also found
its way into the third show. “Mickey called us up. We knew who he was
and we said, ‘what have you got?’ He brought us the pilot, and
the second I saw Dunkin dancing, I knew.”
That shared ironic sense of humor and a confidence in the broad appeal of
nostalgia with a modern twist convinced Jage and creator Michael Paraskevas
that “The Cheap Show” had found a home at Plum. The fact that
sock puppets Dunkin Biscotti and his friend Jigsy Riggs do not have feet is
just the tip of the iceberg, as far as funny goes. “The Cheap Show”
is the latest creation of this week’s Dan’s cover artist, painter
and illustrator Pareskevas and his writing partner (and mother) Betty Paraskevas.
It answers the age-old question, where do all your lost socks go? And then
a few more, such as, what do they do all day? Who are their friends? What
do they do for a living?
As it turns out, they own a diner somewhere in Anytown USA, far off the beaten
path and away from the main highway. There, they see their friends and acquaintances
and relatives, like Uncle Carl, Maurice the Chef and Biscuit the Dog. And
more characters are on the way.
“We are writing episode 4 and there are more to come. It’s amazing
how many people watch this channel, and start conversations with me about
‘The Cheap Show.’ They want to donate their socks,” laughs
Mickey.
For Mickey, “The Cheap Show” started out as a way to prove a point.
He and Betty had been in a meeting with network TV executives, trying to figure
out what their next project would be and how much it would cost to get it
done. They had already written, produced, and directed several animated children’s
shows, some based on their own published books and others they had developed
for air on stations such as on Nickelodeon, PBS and The Cartoon Network. But
on this day, the conversation kept going back to the exorbitant cost of animation;
Mickey became more and more frustrated. “You know what?” he said.
“I bet I can make a really funny show, really cheap.” Though the
animation guys were not happy with this new approach, Mickey was determined.
He went home, got out his loose socks, some pipe cleaners and pom poms and
glue. Together, he and Betty created the personalities of the puppets. She
wrote a script. He built the sets, bought a camera and they shot the pilot
in their house. They were each a puppet. They lip synched their lines. And
then they shopped the show around.
“Everyone liked it,” Mickey admits, “but they weren’t
sure what to do with it. Marketing is the whole thing on network TV. Was it
a children’s show? It’s not animated, so they weren’t sure.
Is it for adults, late night entertainment? But it’s a puppet show.
I shelved it for a while.”
Then he read about Plum TV. “I thought it could work at Plum. I wanted
to stay local. I didn’t want to shoot in Toronto, though we got offers.
I didn’t want to hire name actors for the voices necessarily, though
we had done that in the past for our TV shows. I wanted what Plum wants. To
use local talent, to shoot here, to use the cast and crew that I wanted. The
Hamptons is an amazing talent pool. I have everything I need for the show,
right here.”
And no restrictions. With Plum’s programming philosophy of using common
sense over focus groups and an impersonal, textbook strategy, “The Cheap
Show” is offered to all audiences. It airs in the morning, when kids
are most likely to be watching, and also midday and late at night. Whoever
likes it is welcome to watch it. And the audience is growing.
Mickey explained, “Plum is for TV like the Sundance channel is for independent
film. They want creative people doing creative things. I love that.”
He continued, “But it probably looks strange from the outside. I worked
as an illustrator for years, for publications like TIME Magazine, Sports Illustrated
and Newsweek. I have an art gallery in Westhampton Beach where I sell my paintings
in the summertime. My mother and I created JR Kroll, a cartoon strip that
ran for ten years in Dan’s Papers and became a series of books. For
the last five years, we have had The Green Monkeys cartoon in Dan’s
and I have been writing and illustrating cartoons for Dan’s stories
for years and years.
“Mom and I had all this success working together on TV and books, with
projects like The Tangerine Bear and Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. And The
Green Monkeys movie is being made, by Paramount/ Nickelodeon. Now, “The
Cheap Show.” It’s like going backwards. Most people start out
small and move bigger. We started out with the big guys and now we’re
doing this.
What’s in it for the Paraskevases? “This is the way to get your
own vision produced. After you’ve earned a reputation, and have experience,
it’s great to be able to get things done that matter to you, and do
it your way.”
–Robin F Smith
“The Cheap Show” is shown on Plum TV (channel 18) Sunday - Thursday
at 12:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., and on Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. The Tangerine
Bear, now an annual holiday TV special will be shown on The Cartoon Network
on Friday, December 24th at 8:30 a.m and 8 p.m. Log on to for more information
on Mickey, Betty and all their projects.