Kidstime with T.X. Critter

Kidstime (Sunday mornings title)^[1] and Kidstime Express (weekday afternoons title) was a local children's television show broadcast by WTXX Channel 20 (now WCCT-TV) in Waterbury, Connecticut in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was originally hosted by Mike Imfeld and his puppet companions with his cohost being T.X. Critter, a yellow precursor to ALF as he was created by the same puppeteer, Paul Fusco,^[2] a few years before the hit NBC TV show of the same name. At some point Imfeld was replaced by Lauren DeLisa who remained the host until the show was canceled in 1993.^[3]

The difference between Kidstime and Kidstime Express was in both duration and time slot. Kidstime was a Sunday morning TV show and Kidstime Express was a weekday afternoon collection of thirty-second spots played between toy commercials that aired along with cartoon episodes of Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Real Ghostbusters.

Children watching the show at home were encouraged to send in artwork, photographs, and safety tips that would be selectively chosen to be shown or announced on the air. One regular segment was "Funny Face Time" where a picture of a child viewer making a funny face that was sent to the TV station would be shown on the screen.

T.X. Critter also made live appearances, appearing at least once at Lake Compounce amusement park in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut. Commercials for other amusement parks were frequently shown while Kidstime was on the air, among them ads for Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, Connecticut, and Catskill Game Farm in Catskill, New York. T.X. also appeared at the Greater Hartford Fair,^[4] the "Kid'rific" Children's Fair in downtown Hartford,^[5] the Wadsworth Atheneum,^[6] the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor,^[7] the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival,^[8] the Connecticut International Auto Show at the Hartford Civic Center (now XL Center),^[9] and Hebron Elementary School.^[10]

Jim Henson Productions puppeteer Lisa Buckley created and puppeteered puppets for Kidstime from 1984 to 1986 when the show was entitled “JJ, TX & Friends" and later changed to "Kidstime”. The "JJ" in the original title referred to host J.J. Conlon and during his tenure there was a live studio audience and a second puppet on the show named Zeet.^[11]^[12] When Fusco left the show to work on ALF, Don Wonderly replaced him as the puppeteer and voice of T.X. Critter.^[13]

The show had a "Kids Club" fan club and children would be sent a membership card after joining. One benefit of joining the club was free admission to T.X. Critter's live performances.^[14] In October 1983 the fan club had nearly 1,500 members.^[15]

Kidstime also had at least one Christmas Special, airing on December 23, 1986.^[16]

References

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