TV Reviews : Sun Shines Weekdays on Lewis’ ‘Lamb Chop’

Can you lie down and wiggle a dime off your nose? Make a dancing puppet out of a scarf? Tie a knot in a rope without letting go of the ends? Sing a children’s song in Japanese?

A treasure trove of jokes, tricks, tongue-twisters, games and songs await young early risers who tune in to KCET Channel 28 from 7 to 7:30 a.m. each weekday beginning today to see “Lamb Chop’s Play Along,” a sunny, new, interactive children’s show hosted by the remarkable Shari Lewis.

Lewis, who began entertaining audiences three decades ago with puppet pals Lamb Chop, Charley Horse and Hush Puppy, lights up the small screen for a new generation. With youthful zest, Lewis offers fast-paced, funny (even to adults) and creative activities to encourage viewers to wiggle fingers, get up and dance, sing, draw and talk back.

The show, performed in a leafy, green back-yard setting, is divided into recurring segments such as “Betcha,” as in “betcha can--or can’t--do this,” with Lewis or one of the real kid regulars teaching viewers neat tricks. Jokes are told in the Comedy Barn and Lewis demonstrates simple word, math or nonsense games and leads viewers in active song-play. (You may want to set the VCR, so kids can review the activities.)

Other regular segments include comic storytelling, in which children fill in missing words as Lewis reads familiar classics--Lamb Chop gets them wrong--and “At Home With Lamb Chop,” a puppet play in four acts that centers around such issues as nail-biting, peer and advertising pressure and even the hazards of too much TV.

Lewis’ timing is impeccable, her effervescent charm unforced and her humor un-saccharine--comic anarchists Lamb Chop and Charley Horse see to that. Couch potatoes don’t stand a chance.