Rather than changing your coding habits to wrap all the template-related calls in eval, wouldn't it be simpler to use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser) at the beginning of your script, or perhaps set up a $SIG{__DIE__} handler? Or is there something unusual about the way that HTML::Template dies that makes this inappropriate?

        $perlmonks{seattlejohn} = 'John Clyman';