Watch My Friend's TV Show!

Last night I received an email from Tom Townsend, an old friend. Normally, I hear from Tom and his wife Janet during the holidays, but he had some exciting news to share.

Not only does he have a new book out, a middle reader from Royal Fireworks Press called Evil Toy Tanks, but he also has a TV show.

Swashbuckling Tom Townsend

Tom's one of my favorite people, and he's had an astonishing and adventurous life. He's the only guy I know who was a merc at the same time he was writing Harlequin romances under a pseudonym. (Buy him a Scotch, and he'll tell you his tales.)

His Army background served him well in the writing of Panzer Spirit and Reichbahn 69, books ahead of their time since they had a paranormal element to them.

Tom loves military vehicles and finally had to turn it into a business to support his habit. He eventually started renting his equipment, and his services as a stunt driver, to movie production companies. He's worked with Courage Under Fire, Universal Soldier: The Return, Harold and Kumar II, and Miracle at St. Anne just to name a few. The Deuce and a Half shown above was in Miracle at St. Anne.

Consequently, Tom has inspired a lot of indie producers who, over the years, tried to put together a military type documentary show featuring him and his company Toyland Combat Vehicles. (Yes, they're just toys to him.)

Finally, one of the producers got Tom a show Military Motor Pool, an Internet TV show from Hulu, into production. The show is all about military vehicles, preserving history, and honoring veterans.

Military Motor Pool

Tom's show began airing on HuLu’s new Military Network February 17th, and, within the first 24 hours, it became the network’s most viewed program.

The 30 minute program is written, produced and hosted by Tom in conjunction with David Franklin, CEO of Webshark Productions of Houston.

Tom said: "When we preserve the vehicles of past wars, we are in truth honoring those men and women who had the courage to ride them into harm’s way.

The first episode, which I just finished watching -- and it totally hooked me--includes segments on identifying World War II jeeps, the history and collectability of the British Ferret armored car, and military vehicles used in the Ceremonial Air Force’s Wings Over Houston Air show. I'm so impressed with the show and with my "movie star" friend.

Long Time Coming

You probably already know that HuLu is a unique and highly successful internet TV network which airs many major network programs in addition to a growing list of original programming. The newly created Military Network is HuLu’s equivalent to cable TV’s Military Channel.

David Franklin, who directed the show, teamed with Tom and Jan Townsend’s Texas-based company Toyland Combat Vehicles over 5 years ago to produce the pilot episode.

Franklin said: "HuLu did not even exist then, and we submitted Military Motor Pool to The History Channel and other similar cable/satellite TV networks. Although they were impressed with both with our content and production values, we could not break the Hollywood `good ol’ boys network. It was not until HuLu came on line and opened up a new market for independent producers, that we were able to sell the program."

Help The Show

The fate of the show is all a matter of viewership and ratings. If ratings remain as high as they are now, Tom expects to produce another three episodes by the end of the year.

Want to view an episode? Here's the link for Military Motor Pool. Watch it and tell all your friends to watch also. Please?

Takeaway Truth

If you want to know about military vehicles, military history, and hear some great stories, watch Military Motor Pool and read Tom Townsend's books.