OK, people! I know that this is not a Cozy Mystery topic, but:

If you are an avid fan of the SuperBowls, and an avid lover of puppies, then today, you’re in for a treat! The Animal Planet channel will be broadcasting the seventh Puppy Bowl, and it promises to be good, family fun for all of us.

The action is intense, the rules are fast and easy, and the players are the cutest players to hit the “football field” in years! Let’s face it, any show that has this in their description (from the Animal Planet website):

“Featuring fan favorites like the Water Bowl Cam, tail-gating fans, and the Ice Breakers blimp and its hamster crew, this year’s big game is sure to be a tail-wagger. For the first time ever, viewers can watch the action from the puppy’s point-of-view with the new Puppy Cam.”

And, for all of you cat fans, the half time will be “the popular Bissel Kitten Halftime Show”! (I’m looking forward to finding out what this is!)

This is yet another fun thing I was introduced to on The Bonnie Hunt Show. Hunt showed a segment from one of the Puppy Bowls, and I was instantly hooked! Of course, I only saw a short segment, so I don’t know how this will fare for two hours. (But, the beauty of taping a show is that I am in control of my remote’s fast-forward key.) Either way though, I am looking forward to watching these puppies “play football.”

A comment from a Cozy Mystery site reader started me thinking about two of the hosts I can remember from the PBS Masterpiece Theatre shows. Let me see….

Years ago, Alistair Cooke was the host of this show. He was highly informative. Cooke’s job seemed to be to “fill us in” on the pertinent facts of the actual book/story on which that night’s episode was going to be based. He would tell us about the author of the highlighted story/book, and he would often describe the time era in which the particular show would take place. He was a fountain of background information. Perhaps this was because he actually had a degree in English Literature, or perhaps it was because he was a newspaper journalist. He did an exemplary job at setting the mood for the particular shows he introduced.

Enter Russell Baker! He was yet another terrific host of the Masterpiece Theatre shows. Baker also had a degree in English Literature, and also was a correspondent/newspaper journalist. He provided us with the sort of information that many of us wanted… information about the author of the book/story and many times he would tell us about the period of time that the piece took place. I truly enjoyed this Pulitzer-winning host’s introductions of Masterpiece Theatre. He truly was a phenomenal host of the Masterpiece Theatre shows.

They were master hosts of Masterpiece Theatre!

PS>>> I pre-wrote this entry back in November of 2010 and decided to wait and post it another time. Today I found out that my local PBS station is going to be showing “Masterpiece: Unseen Alistair Cooke” next Sunday night (Feb. 6, 2011) so I decided to post this today.