Monday, May 16, 2005

Wish List Item: More Dogs on TV Please!!!!


NG's Dogs With Jobs

Ever since we heard about The Puppy Channel on This American Life, we've had a hankering for quality television about dogs.

Unfortunately, much of what is out there doesn't really do it for us. There's the insipid Pet Star hosted by cheater-face Mario Lopez. Of course the pets are cute, but Mario's painfully stiff commentary is really awful. And the "celebrity" judges??? Please. They only make the show worse! In fact, it ain't even funny that the pets have to sit through that shit. I mean, I've seen a cockatiel with more talent in one of her little feathers! And I swear I've seen ponies and puppies roll their eyes. Stupid humans!

Then there's That's My Baby. Dogs sometimes have puppies on this show, and while most of the "people parents" are totally respectful of the whole birthing process, some people mommies are just a little too cuckoo for our taste. My sister, who adamantly believes people should stay out of it and let the mamma dogs do their things, threw her flip-flop at the TV during an episode in which this extremely annoying woman was clearly traumatizing her pet chihuahua. As soon as even a speck of the puppie was visible, this woman was pulling them out of the poor mom chihuahuah, leaving the little shaking mother to look really confused and lonely. It wasn't very kind. I don't think my sister would watch that show again.

There are some newer shows too: AP's Who Gets the Dog, NG's The Dog Whisperer, and Bravo's Showdog Moms and Dads. The Dog Whisperer is *by far* our favorite of the bunch. It's the best thing since Pet Psychic

And then there's the grand dames of dogs on TV, The Eukenuba Tournament of Champions and The Westminster Dog Show.

But none of these shows fulfill the promise offered by The Puppy Channel. The puppy channel promised to be all puppies all the time. *All* of the aforementioned shows have humans in them. And all too often the humans are B-O-R-I-N-G. I mean *SNOOZE*. I don't mind the commentary during the dog shows (and I even have a few "favorite" handlers) , but I *love* watching the videos on the Westminster website (set to generic elevator music) much more.

The closest anyone has gotten to our dream show is AP's The Puppy Bowl. For once, we were actually looking forward to superbowl weekend. This show, which aired at the same time as the SuperBowl, simply featured a bunch of puppies playing in a mini astro-turffed stadium. It was really cute.

Why doesn't someone hurry up and capitalize on this??!!! I mean, c'mon!!! This is a goldmine!!!

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