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.