Terry Pratchett's Hogfather to make U.S. debut

U.S. fans of Terry Pratchett would be please to know that the British-produced mini-series Hogfather will get its U.S. debut on ION this coming Sunday night. I don't get ION on my channel line-up, but if you do I recommend watching this mini-series.

Through the miracle of the Internet, I've managed to watch this series already and am a long-time fan of Pratchett's writing. Hogfather is one of my favorite novels of his. It's difficult to explain Terry Pratchett's Discworld in a paragraph, but here goes.The world of Hogfather is flat. It spins on the backs of four giant elephants who themselves ride on the back of a giant turtle that swims through space. The Hogfather is the Discworld's version of Santa Claus. In the story, he is "killed" (I use the term loosely since it can't properly be explained what happened to him) and Death (who is an anthropomorphic personification and as real as the Hogfather himself) steps in to deliver presents on Hogswatch. Then things get weird.

Terry Pratchett's novels are marvelous, humorous satire wrapped in fantasy and translate well to the screen. It's recommended to read the books in order of publication but usually the stories are independent enough to stand on their own. And since this is a television blog, you can start by watching Hogfather on Sunday.

The Hogswatch season is upon us. Ho ho ho.