The Charlie Horse Music Pizza

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza is a children's television show that was shown on PBS Kids in the United States from January 5, 1998, to January 17, 1999, with reruns continuing to air until September 3, 1999. Reruns again aired on PBJ until 2016. It is the short-lived spin-off of Lamb Chop's Play-Along and was hosted by Shari Lewis, whose strong belief in the benefits of music education for children led to the creation of the series. The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was shot at the CBC Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was Shari's final project.

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza
Genre	Preschool
Created by	Shari Lewis Jeremy Tarcher
Developed by	Mallory Tarcher Shari Lewis Bernard Rothman
Written by	Shari Lewis Mallory Tarcher Bernard Rothman
Directed by	Niles Davenport Stan Jacobson
Presented by	Shari Lewis
Starring	Shari Lewis Lamb Chop Charlie Horse Hush Puppy Dom DeLuise Wezley Morris Chancz Perry Chantal Strand
Opening theme	"Charlie Horse Music Pizza"
Ending theme	"Still Be Friends"
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	23 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Bernard Rothman
Producer	Shawn Williamson
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	Golden Books Family Entertainment KCET
Original release
Network	PBS Kids
Release	January 5, 1998 (1998-01-05) – January 17, 1999 (1999-01-17)
Related
Lamb Chop's Play-Along

Plot

The show takes place around a pizzeria on the beach. Alongside the original cast of Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, and Lewis, Charlie Horse Music Pizza introduced five new characters: Take Out, a big anthropomorphized dim-witted orangutan who makes deliveries on roller skates (played by Chancz Perry); Fingers, a giant, sassy purple raccoon that lives in the dumpster behind the pizzeria (played by Gordon Robertson); Cookie, the soft-hearted opera loving cook (played by Dom DeLuise), Junior, a cool teenager who works at the pizzeria part time and plays the tuba for his high school marching band (played by Wezley Morris), and Holly, a young girl in a wheelchair (played by Chantal Strand).

Episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired (U.S. dates)
			Season premiere	Season finale
	1	20	January 5, 1998 (1998-01-05)	January 30, 1998 (1998-01-30)
	2	3	January 3, 1999 (1999-01-03)	January 17, 1999 (1999-01-17)

Season 1 (1998)

#	List of Episodes	Release Date
1	Back Story	January 5, 1998
2	My Dog Has Fleas	January 6, 1998
3	Musicians of Bremen	January 7, 1998
4	Blow Hard	January 8, 1998
5	Follow the Leader	January 9, 1998
6	Spooky Opera Show	January 12, 1998
7	A Pirate's Life	January 13, 1998
8	The Audition	January 14, 1998
9	Group Soup	January 15, 1998
10	Rapunzel	January 16, 1998
11	Toy Exchange	January 19, 1998
12	Charlie on the Run	January 20, 1998
13	Wise Queen	January 21, 1998
14	Star-Spangled Charlie	January 22, 1998
15	Charlie's Ant	January 23, 1998
16	Whistle While You Work	January 26, 1998
17	Jazzy	January 27, 1998
18	Hush Puppy the Hero	January 28, 1998
19	Can I Sing You My Song?	January 29, 1998
20	Drum Show	January 30, 1998

Season 2 (1999)

#	List of Episodes	Release Date
21	One Man Band	January 3, 1999
22	The George & Bill Show	January 10, 1999
23	Hello, Goodbye	January 17, 1999

Cancellation

When Lamb Chop's Play-Along! ended, Shari and her husband Jeremy created The Charlie Horse Music Pizza to teach children about music after talking about what kids loved the most.^[1] Because a third of elementary schools were cutting music class from their curriculum at the time, Shari and Jeremy felt that they should introduce kids to music through the show.^[2] After Shari was diagnosed with inoperable uterine cancer, the show was put on hold on June 18, 1998, while she underwent chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. She died from viral pneumonia on August 2, 1998.^[3] After her death, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was cancelled.^[4] The last episode of The Charlie Horse Music Pizza aired on January 17, 1999, on what would have been her 66th birthday.^[5]

Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2000	Shari Lewis for playing "Host" (posthumous award; accepted by Mallory Tarcher Lewis)	Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series	Won

References

1. Seaman, Debbie (May 3, 1998). "Signoff; Shari Lewis's Jazzy New Pals (Published 1998)". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
2. Levy, Claudia (August 4, 1998). "Shari Lewis, Television Puppeteer, Dies at 65" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
3. Kogan, Rick (4 August 1998). "Puppeteer Shari Lewis, 65, Creator, Voice of Lamb Chop". chicagotribune.com.
4. Oliver, Myrna (4 August 1998). "Puppeteer Shari Lewis Dies". courant.com.
5. Edelstein, Andy (January 20, 1999). "Shari Lewis' Farewell / Ch. 13 to broadcast late puppeteer's last". Newsday.

External links

• The Charlie Horse Music Pizza at IMDb