Puttnam's Prairie Emporium
Puttnam's Prairie Emporium was a half-hour
The series was centered on the titular emporium, a long-standing general store run by eccentric owner Mr. Puttnam (George Alexander), whose daughter Ellen (Coral Crum) and grandchildren Katy (Brandie Mickleborough) and Mark (Jeremy Drummond) have moved in with him. Although the emporium retained the look of an old-fashioned five-and-dime (and the set for the store itself was virtually the only location seen throughout the show's run), there were "things there...you would not believe" and "new adventures all the time" (as mentioned in the show's theme song) which were often of a fantastical nature.
The other-worldly aspects of the series were also reflected in the remainder of the regular cast, which included Ivan (Billy Morton), a scientist who developed a Time Closet in the confines of the store; Caldicott C. Catt (voiced by John Wilson), a saxophone-playing cat who lived in a basket on the store's counter; and Benjamin (voiced by Rosco Bell), a talking beefalo head hanging on the wall behind the counter. The characters would also frequently travel to alternate dimensions to battle dinosaurs, zombies, and robots.
The aforementioned Time Closet was the catalyst for several episodes involving
Another intriguing aspect of the show—almost an "inside joke"—was the use of two "utility players" who appeared in each episode as different guest characters. Ian Paul, an actor with a flair for foreign accents, was one of the players through the series; Drew Snider, another character actor, left the series midway through Season One. They would play gangsters in one show, then battling comic book characters in another (Snider was Captain Marvellous and Paul the evil Doctor Venom). Snider also played Gene, a hippie genie whose bottle was lost at Woodstock and turned up at the Emporium, Insp. Hector Vector, Apollo and Albert Einstein. Paul's roles included a customer who bought cough drops that made him cough, and another (unnamed) superhero.
A rare contribution to a Canadian national
References
- ^ "05/22/2003: Thursday Morning Picture Party". The X-Entertainment Blog!.