The Commander Tom Show

The ''Commander Tom Show'' was a children's television series that aired weekday afternoons on Channel 7 WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, premiering on December 20, 1965.

The host of the show was Tom Jolls, who had joined WKBW as a weatherman earlier in 1965. When the show launched, it consisted of interstitial segments with Jolls shown around episodes of the '' Adventures of Superman'', a TV series that ran from 1952 till 1958. Dustmop the puppet (a dog) was introduced in 1967. An alligator puppet, Matty the Mod followed, along with the first female puppet Cecily Fripple, modeled after the American comedian Phyllis Diller. A similar appearing puppet was Cecily's evil sister Cecile. Jolls used his own puppets for the program and continued to hold possession of the puppets until his death.

Exactly what Commander Tom was commanding was never made clear during the course of the show's run. The format was meant to evoke the virtues of superheroes, though Commander Tom never had any identifiable superpowers of his own. The show's set, built by the same set designer that had built ''Rocketship 7's'' studio, was comparatively barebones, featuring only a window for Jolls's puppets to converse with the commander. During each shows' respective original run, the two never crossed over, as Jolls and ''Rocketship 7'' host Dave Thomas worked different shifts. Over time, while ''Rocketship 7'' maintained an explicitly educational Space Age theme meant to promote the virtues of local business Bell Aerospace, ''Commander Tom'' eventually evolved into a more comforting, homely presence, akin to other puppet shows such as Mr. Dressup and ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood''.

In the early 1970s, Superman (whose rights had moved to the networks) would be replaced with other family and children's programming including re-runs of ''The Three Stooges'', ''The Flintstones'', '' Batman'', '' Little Rascals'', ''The Munsters'', and ''The Addams Family''. Many short animated cartoons also were shown: Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' and '' Looney Tunes'' were staples for many years, including some of the earliest '' Porky Pig'' and ''Bugs Bunny'' shorts from the 1930s. Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as '' Touché Turtle'' and ''Peter Potamus'' replaced Bugs and his friends after a time. A number of MGM cartoons from the 1930s were shown as well. Near the end of its run, the show was renamed ''Commander Tom's World'' and relegated to weekends. In later years, it played such shows as ''Davey and Goliath'', ''Rainbow Brite'', and '' The Getalong Gang''.

After the show was cancelled in 1991, the "Commander Tom" character was merged into another show, a revival of ''Rocketship 7'' in 1992. That, too, came to an end in 1993, and the character of "Commander Tom" had gone for good.

Tom would often travel from school to school to speak to young children. He was an annual event in the Holland Central School district's "Let's Give America a Chance" career day.

Episode status

Jolls noted in 2019 that he held an archive of ''Commander Tom'' episodes that he showed to his great-grandchildren.

References

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1960s American children's television series
1970s American children's television series
1980s American children's television series
1990s American children's television series
Local children's television programming in the United States
American television shows featuring puppetry
1965 American television series debuts
1991 American television series endings