TV REVIEW : Lamb Chop and Pals Celebrate Hanukkah

Christmas-themed TV shows abound at this time of year, but Hanukkah specials are few and far between. Tune in PBS Sunday, however, and you’ll find “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah,” starring longtime children’s entertainer Shari Lewis and her puppet pals Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy.

You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy this bubbly mix of nonsense and celebration. If you don’t know what Hanukkah is all about, Lewis and friends will clue you in. By the time they’re done, you’ll almost smell the potato latkes sizzling in the pan, you’ll meet a biblical hero named Judah Maccabee and you’ll know why dreidels are spinning and candles are lit.

You’ll also get an earful of comic puppet patter, aimed at adults as well as children.

The set up is simple: Lewis runs into Alan Thicke, Pat Morita and Lloyd Bochner and invites them to a Hanukkah party at her house. Preparations are accompanied by Lamb Chop’s smart-aleck quips in the kitchen and Charlie Horse trying to win a computer contest by creating 3-D superheroes in the living room.

When Lewis and the puppets put on a play to tell the Hanukkah story of Judah Maccabee, leader of a rebellion against an army of oppressors in 164 BC, Charlie Horse finds his real hero.

Lewis goes for laughs but deepens the meaning, too, with a sense of reverence for this celebration of freedom through words and song.

Bill Davis directed. Saul Turteltaub wrote the hourlong special, with music by Stormy Sachs and lyrics by Rob Battan.

* “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” airs Sunday at 6 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28.