Checking in on Tom O’Dell.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve written about Cutlery Corner.

That’s almost completely due to the fact that we switched from Dish Network to AT&T U-Verse last December and lost the Cutlery Corner Network channel. Sure, I was able to do a little math and figure out the time slot that CCN was airing on the local station that carries ION, but it was on so freakin’ early in the morning and only for an hour. After one episode it seemed like too much trouble to record on the DVR.

A couple of Saturdays ago we were sitting around at my brother-in-law’s house and thought we’d check in on Tom, Sheila and the gang. What a disappointment.

There was no fun. No joking around. No thoughts in the back of your mind that might suggest they were drunk in the presence of all that cutlery. The strangest thing was going on — THEY WERE ACTUALLY SELLING.

Straightforward “features and benefits” type of salesmanship. It was dry and uncaptivating. We changed the channel after five minutes.

Before, when I just knew that if I watched long enough someone was going to lose a finger, I was ready to lay my credit card down for just about any crappy ol’ set of knives they were hawking. Now, those blades have lost their luster. Sometimes it’s best to leave old memories alone.

That doesn’t mean that when I visit my family in Oklahoma this weekend that I won’t be tuning in again to see if they can redeem themselves.