Hmm, well the thing I forgot to mention (i hadn't slept) is that the second TV input field doesn't show up.
Since your original quick fix didn't work, i had to revert to using
var vars = bits[0].split('&');
to make the first TV field visible so I could enter a property. However, the second field is not visible. So I'm unable to enter any values.
As I mentioned, though, it's not a huge rush for the moment so I'll await your more thorough review and fix when your time allows. Thanks for keeping on top of it.