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Television finds a new best friend
Boston Globe - October 2, 1999
By Vicki Croke, Globe Staff
National surveys show that we vacation with our dogs, sleep near them, carry their pictures in our wallets, and overfeed them until they are as fat as we are. So it shouldn't surprise anyone
that we are opening up our great household pastime - television - to them, too.
Sure, sure, our little domesticated wolves have been denning with us for a long time in the TV room, but now they're appearing on the little screen in ever-increasing numbers.
What's the big view of this little screen phenomenon? Does this mean we yearn for the innocent years of Lassie and Rin Tin Tin? Are we returning to family values?
Well, maybe. ''Judging Amy'' and ''Providence'' are about young, high-powered women who give up the fast-paced life in LA and NYC to return to their roots - what else, hometowns in New England.
And dogs rightfully figure into the scenario. Amy's brother runs a grooming business called Scrub 'n' Scram. And Syd's dad in ''Providence'' is a kindly veterinarian. When he lay down with dogs in
one episode, he woke up with insights.
''Mad About You'' had Murray, and ''Dharma and Greg'' have Nunzio and Stinky.
If you want cozy hearth and home feel, make Fido part of the formula, suggests Karen Rosa of the American Humane Association. She works in the Western Regional Office in Los Angeles, the branch
that serves as the watchdog on the use of animals in the entertainment industry. (That work started in 1939, when a horse was run off a cliff during the making of the film ''Jesse James.'')
Rosa says there's been a profusion of parts for dogs on TV, and for animals in general. ''Our workload has tripled in just the last few years,'' she says. '' TV work is growing by leaps and
bounds. We worked on 800 productions last year.''
But the surge of dogs on TV defies one simple explanation, or any one-dimensional role. The portrait of the dog has become much more nuanced, textured, complex, even ... in the TV world, that
really just means that as well as signifying wholesomeness, dogs can now figure into sophomoric jokes about sex.
Take a recent scene from ''Stark, Raving Mad'' ... please. The main character, an anal-retentive book editor played by Neil Patrick Harris, visits the apartment of a horror novelist suffering from
writer's block. And before Harris can say, ''Nevermore,'' the novelist's dog Edgar is romancing his calf.
''How do I stop him?,'' Harris cries, as Edgar clasps his knee and gyrates.
''With those legs, good luck,'' the writer responds.
But there's more. ''The Norm Show'' hit early this season with an episode entitled ''Norm Pimps Weiner Dog.'' Here, Norm put his Dachshund out to stud, as they say in the fancy. And that led to
all kinds of ''bitch'' humor.
Clearly, there's a chance for growth. Dogs as characters have room to stretch.
''We as a society are becoming more and more aware of the bond between animals and human beings,'' Rosa says. ''And animals and children are incredibly compelling. So many filmmakers and
storytellers are including them simply as part of the reality of life. ... Plus they're funny. Animals can enrich the storytelling process because they are a wonderful part of our lives.'' What
more proof do you need, Rosa asks, than the visceral reaction to just the name Old Yeller?
Copyright © 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. All rights reserved.
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