Where are the pets of television?

Mainstream scripted television doesn't do a very good job of reflecting America in its dramas and sitcoms. With, of course, several exceptions, it's very white, very straight, and very middle class. And it's also very, very petless.



In real-life America, over 70 percent of all households contain cats and/or dogs. I don't have any handy statistics that can pinpoint the degree of pet visibility on television, but if it's 7 percent of all TV households, I'd be shocked.



Oh, there are a few famous television pets, like Frasier's Eddie or Murray, the Manhattan mixed-breed from Mad About You.  There's Elizabeth Taylor, the Cav from Sex and the City, Baretta's cockatoo, and Tramp the sheepdog mix on My Three Sons... but you know, no matter how much you stretch the definition of "pet" -- I mean, does Flipper count? -- I'd actually guess there have been more television shows about ghosts, demons, angels, and other imaginary creatures than the flesh and blood pets that live in the majority of American homes.



I know some of you will argue that's not necessarily a bad thing. Kids raised on stories about Timmy and Lassie -- or, for that matter, Eddie -- are going to have a very unrealistic idea of what dogs are really like. And it's amazing how those TV pets simply aren't around when they're not wanted, apparently never needing their litter boxes scooped or their water bowls filled, or to be pottied at 3 in the morning in the rain.



And then there's the issue of the actors who portray the pets on television. It can be hard to coordinate a safe use of animal actors, particularly those other than dogs, on a television set, and human actors are notoriously reluctant to share the screen with animals, given the latter's tendency to upstage the former.



But even with all that, I think that making such an important part of our national life nearly invisible on television has an impact on the how we see pets in our society. It's part of the reason people don't take grief over a pet's death -- their own, or that of a co-worker, family member, or employee -- seriously. It creates a cultural norm that doesn't include most families, and reinforces the attitude that pets are an afterthought, even disposable. And it helps perpetuate the idea that those of us who lead very pet-focused lives are somehow weird.



What got me thinking about this is a completely different cultural visibility issue. Although mostly I'm a pet writer and blogger, I also occasionally do a bit of media entertainment writing. I'm a blogger and contributing writer for AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com, the gay and lesbian media entertainment websites owned by MTV's Logo Network, where a lot of my writing is about issues of gay and lesbian visibility -- or, mostly, invisibility -- in popular culture.



While almost everyone in America knows a lesbian or gay person or has one of us in the family, television doesn't reflect that reality at all. LGBT characters have historically been mostly relegated to "very special episode" status -- not unlike pets -- and when we do appear, it's either the entire focus of the show, as in the sitcom Will and Grace or the cable dramas Queer as Folk and The L-Word, or as an offensive stereotype. Until a few years ago it was unheard of, and even now it's rare, for gay people to be present on television as a simple part of the big human picture, in more or less the same way we are in real life.



In fact, it was those last two shows that got me examining how absent pets are from scripted television in the first place. I was talking about Queer as Folk with a friend, and I mentioned how completely weird it was that there was a whole show about gay people and yet, none of the characters had a pet. I invite you to the gay neighborhoods of America on any sunny day, and you can see for yourself how unrealistic that is. My people? We have pets. Trust me on this.



The L-Word did better, but just marginally. One cat owner; cat and human both die. One dog owner; she and her first dog die, and I have no idea what happened to her Pomeranian. In six seasons. On a television show about lesbians? If you're a single lesbian, may I recommend San Francisco's dog training classes or vet office waiting rooms as a great place to meet your match?



If you move beyond dramas and sitcoms, of course, things get much more representative. Every time I turn on House Hunters, they've got a lesbian couple moving to the suburbs so their dogs can have a fenced yard. And then there's Animal Planet, 24/7 real life animal shows.



But I think that the absence of pets in drama and comedy has a negative impact on our society that no amount of reality programming can counterbalance. Imaginative works have a tremendous ability to touch our emotions, to awaken empathy, to make us feel we've experienced things that we really haven't. And I have to return, once more, to the comparison with lesbians and gay men to make my point.



While going through the agonizing fight for, and loss of, my right to marriage equality in my home state of California last fall, I did some phone banking from the No on Proposition 8 headquarters here in San Francisco. I spoke to a number of people who were also opposed to Prop 8, mostly middle-aged and older women who had first experienced a sense of kinship with LGBT people when characters on their favorite television shows, including soap operas, started being revealed or introduced as gay.



Studies have shown that straight people with a gay family member are far more likely to support civil rights for gay people than those who don't have (or don't know they have) a gay family member. I think that scripted television mimics that experience for those who watch it regularly; the characters on those shows are almost like "family" to some viewers.



And that's exactly the same way so many of us first discovered a powerful bond with animals in the pages of books, riding a wild pony on the moors or running through the forest with our faithful hound at our heels. When I wrote about classic children's animal books for my SFGate.com column last year, many of my readers commented on the lasting impression those books had made on your lives, and a few even said they had influenced career decisions that have lasted to this day.



Television could have a lot of power to accomplish the same thing simply by showing pets in just slightly more representative numbers, and giving them a little more screen time. I look at all the dramas that portray characters in highly stressful careers; is there some reason none of them go home to unwind in front of the TV with a lapful of purring cat? We see lots of doctors and stockbrokers out jogging; how come none of them has a black Lab at his side?



And from the dramatic point of view, what a rich source of characterization is being lost by not including pets! People let down their guard with animals. We talk to them, tell them our secrets, cry with them. All those shows with kids, but how many of them give us what I think is a near-universal experience, the feeling that no one on the planet understands you but your dog or cat?



Besides, I'm tired of feeling like a freak when I'm not. Maybe lesbians and gay men get under-represented on television because we're a minority group, but pet owners are the majority. Why should we be shunted off to our own cable network when showing us in our true numbers wouldn't just make pet owners feel better, or improve things for pets, but make for some damn good television, too?

Comments

[YesBiscuit!]

I don't watch a ton of TV sit-coms or dramas but "Lost" had a yellow Lab on it, Cartman on "South Park" has a kitty and a pig - not that either of these shows portray responsible pet ownership mind you.

[Susan]

Christie, do you watch "True Blood" on HBO? Although it's based on Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels -- not exactly great literature -- show creator Alan ("American Beauty", "Six Feet Under") Ball has given those books real heft in bringing them to TV. He does a marvelous job of using the whole vampire thing as a springboard to commentary about ivil rights, gay rights, religious repression and the rights/ capabilities of non-human animals, just like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" did for adolescent angst and alienation.



"True Blood" is currently in reruns on HBO on Saturday nights and starts its second season this summer. I highly recommend it.

[Linda Kaim]

there is nothing more to say than "I agree". It's a sad commentary that the only images people get in the media of animals are the publicity stunts of the likes of Paris Hilton and her little dog-as-accessory or the constant news insinuations that dogs are bad with the highlights always of irresponsible dog owners allowing their animals to wreak havoc and chaos across the land. Never of the "good dog-good owner".



A class war of yet another kind.



There is no longer a middle ground for pet owners to be viewed as "normal' or "just like you and me" in media. Today's pets are viewed as either fur-kids or harbingers of death; their owners as mentally deficient crackpots that have nothing better to do than sit cloistered in their little enclaves with their pets.



It is an implication that I resent and one that is often fostered by the sensationalism of shows like "Animal Cops" and the rest of the fare on AP.



It's a tragedy that the only thing the media offers in any of it's traditional forms is what they want to show, not necessarily things in the best interest of their "followers".

[el Todd]

Pets of Television? Pet's are all OVER the Web, baby!

[Eucritta]

Great post.



That pets are all over the Web is evidence, I think, of just how weird it is that few ordinary pets appear on television. Thing is, on the Web, we've the opportunity to make and control content -- and sure enough, a lot of it is about our pets. This was true back in the days of bulletin boards and USENET, too.

[Dana Durrance]

I agree whole-heartedly that pets are not portrayed realistically in our media. And you're right...it sends the wrong message and probably perpetuates irresponsible pet ownership. We see that once and awhile at our pet hospital. People adopt a puppy or kitten impulsively and then regret the hassle later on. Sometimes they come to our pet hospital to find a way "out" of their mess.



You also bring up a much larger social issue about how our media "sanitizes" life. Just as with gay/lesbian couples and families, other common issues get swept under the rug on television. When was the last time we saw a pet owner grieve the death of their pet on T.V.? Thousands of people are feeling that grief as we speak and no one is seeing it.

[Edie]

Oh yes -- and that Pomeranian on the L Word that belonged to Jenny? It put in a final appearance, yapping around the pool when Jenny's body is found. That Pomeranian reminded me of Paris Hilton's Chihuahuas, though -- just an accessory. We don't even know its name, unlike more fleshed out pets like Eddie on Frasier and the aforementioned Gus on Saving Grace.

[Edie]

Sorry FrogDogz but I promise it's not a spoiler about Jenny -- that's the first thing you'll know as soon as the promos start running in Canada. The final season opens with her death, with episodes then revolving around trying to find out whodunnit.

[JenniferJ]

OK I've got one. the captain in Star Trek Enterprise had a pet beagle.



But lets also not forget that while they may not make into much TV, pets are usually the ONLY smart ones in most horror movies!

[glock]

Here's a TV series that had dog as a central character. Levi, the dog, is an assistance dog to the main character, Sue Thomas, who is deaf.



http://www.tvacres.com/dogs_retrievers_levi.htm

[FrogDogz]

I have no idea what happened to her Pomeranian



It committed suicide, obviously - which would be the only logical response to having to live with Jenny.



BTW, way to toss out a spoiler for those of us who are in Canada and a half season behind! Not that I'm unhappy it was Jenny, mind you...



Oh, and I second the vote for Gus on Amazing Grace as best animal on TV. He's a gorgeous AB, and he does play a big part on the show, as sort of the one thing that grounds Grace's character.

[Edie]

Hi Dana,

I'm not a Rachel Ray fan, but now maybe I'll have to watch her to see Isaboo. You've raised her in my estimation by the fact that she features a pitbull on her show but the idea of Nutrish frightens me!

[FrogDogz]

Well, shoot -- apparently it didn't commit suicide, although we must wonder if they were yaps of relief.



Best television dog mystery EVER - what ever happened to Tiger, on the Brady Bunch? They even made fun of it in the Brady Bunch movie, when Shelley Long calls him repeatedly, and then says "I wonder whatever happened to that dog...".

[Dana Durrance]

Hi Edie,



I just love to see Gus on Saving Grace! I also have a soft spot for the Food Network's Rachael Ray and her pitbull "Isaboo." What is that new food she's producing..."Nutrish?" As a pitbull owner myself, I know the troubled history of the breed but I also know what wonderful companions they can be!

[Christie Keith]

I'm sorry, too, FrogDogz! L-Word wrapped up here last night, and she dies in the FIRST episode of the season, so I figured everyone already knew that!



Besides, I wanted to spread the good news. ;)

[Tammy]

Wow - I actually don't watch a lot of television, so this was a realization for me. It is so odd to me that there aren't more pets portrayed in shows on TV. Is it because the pets can be difficult to work with for filming? Is it just easier not to have pets to "deal with" in scripts, etc.? Honestly, in thinking about some of the shows I have watched, there really aren't many pets. My favorite show (and the only one I really tune in to) is Lost. There was a dog on the island in some of the earlier seasons - Vincent - a great yellow lab. He is no longer part of the show, however. That's sad!

[Gina Spadafori]

It's a spoiler for me, too: Jenny was so annoying that I stopped watching two seasons ago.

[2CatMom]

I actually think its probably good that there aren't too many pets on TV. I always worry about the issue of stress to an animal on the set as well as the tendency to use multiples to cover filming time.



You are right about gays on TV - more gay people just living their lives and dealing with the same problems as straight people (mortgage, job security, what to make for dinner) would go a long way to educate people that gay or straight we really are all in this together. Hey what goes on in anyone's bedroom other than mine is of no interest to me.



As for gay friendly TV - I heard on NPR that Erica Kane's daughter on All My Children is a gay character and just had a wedding. I don't know if she's a regular character or not, but if Erica can deal with it, so can the rest of us.



I'd also like to recommend the British sci-fi series Torchwood - I'd call at least some of the characters more poly-sexual than anything else, but its great fun and the sexuality is just there - no big deal whether its straight, gay, bi, alien or human. Its been on the BBC America Channel and is available from Netflix.

[eastofeden]

In regards to Bill Berloni...if I recall correctly that even though training is easier for tv/movie than theater (Think about it...you only get one chance in live performances vs various takes in recorded media). Bill prefers to work in theater. His thought was that for television/movie often times the animal is simply viewed as a prop. However, in live theater they become a part of the cast.

[nancy freedman-smith]

You missed the Bundy's dog who was smarter than they were.

[Dorene]

In Star Trek: TNG, Data has a cat named Spot.

[Sarah]

Great post.



I always found it strange that it took around 6 seasons before it was ever mentioned that Grissom had a boxer on CSI.

[puppynerd]

I think a decent chunk of it can be attributed to training. The old axiom 'never work with kids or animals'?

Not many t.v. shows have kids under 8 or so either. Nobody's complaining that t.v. doesn't promote a proper appreciation of toddlers or anything ;)

[Cait]

You forgot about Twyla the Cardigan on Dharma & Greg! (half-sister to my much-missed Bou)!

[Anne T]

From the brief synopses of these shows, I don't think I am missing anything pet related by no longer having a TV. :) Although I would welcome portrayal of gays on TV as being people just like the rest of us 'flukes of the Universe'.

[Susan]

Re Pai's post: Vincent did appear briefly at the start of the current season. But given what the writers have put Walt, the dog's young owner, and the other characters through, it's sad but not surprising that Walt wouldn't have asked Locke/Bentham anything about the dog. Heck, Walt didn't even know that his father, Michael, had died.

[Edie]

Holly Hunter, as Grace of Saving Grace, has a wonderful bulldog that she adores named Gus. A good part of an episode was devoted to Grace's guilt when Gus managed to escape, and her extended search for him. Gus has a cameo in every episode.

[Edie]

Tammy, I don't think its a training issue - or at least it shouldn't be. Bill Berloni wrote a terrific book, Broadway Tails, about being a dog trainer (for rescues, yet) for Broadway shows, an he seemed to suggest that it was easier to train for films than for theater. By extension -- though he didn't touch on the topic -- I would think that it wouldn't be a problem for TV, though you're right that it might be perceived as one.

[Lori]

Speaking of celebrities and dogs, did you guys hear about Martha Stewart's dog, Ghengis Khan?

So sad!



http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/03/09/martha-stewarts-dog-dies-in-kennel-explosion/

[Pai]

The thing about Vincent (the Lab) on Lost, is that he has conveniently disappeared without mention now, along with all the kidnapped children. None of the cast wonders where they are or cares anymore, apparently.

Even when Vincent's child owner is approached by characters off the island, the very people he entrusted his dog to before he left, he never asks about him. It's sad.

[Pai]

Another show with a dog: 'Ugly Betty' has a Chinese Crested (named Halston) in it. I don't watch the show myself, so not sure how often he appears.

[Barbara Saunders]

Oh - perhaps the best one! A lonely Law and Order detective took home a rescued pit bull. This was right after the Vick arrest.

[shadepuppy]

Excellent post.



"Seventh Heaven" included a wonderful dog, Happy, in their stories, but mostly only for "reaction shots" - he would look surprised or would whine with worry according to the events of the story. They did have the younger son wish and pray for a dog, and Happy was a rescue dog that Mom brought home. There was also a very nice episode when the minister was asked to take the old and suffering dog of elderly church members to the vet for euthanasia because they couldn't handle saying goodbye. The minister could not handle it either, and hoped/prayed that the dog would soon pass on her own. True to episodic TV, the sweet dog (named Mom) passed painlessly in the next few hours while attracting the attention of a dog that had broken free from it's abusive owner and would come near only Mom (the dog). The abused dog made up with the minister, who convinced the elderly couple that Mom would have wanted them to care for the homeless dog. Gets me every time I watch the rerun...

[Eucritta]

I always found it strange that it took around 6 seasons before it was ever mentioned that Grissom had a boxer on CSI.



It's also been *mentioned* -- but not shown -- that Doc Robbins is fond of cats, and at one point he said he had Siamese. I forget which season that was.



I *heart* Doc Robbins, and dearly wish there'd be more of him in the show.

[H. Houlahan]

Sarah Silverman has a really OLD dog named Doug on the Sarah Silverman Show.



Two degrees of separation. I don't get HBO and have never seen True Blood, but the two dogs (playing one character) who are on it are Pip's younger half-brothers. They were also on an episode of House and The Women's Murder Club. I have yet to see them onscreen.



I think that TV writers don't know how to write realistic animal characters that are natural parts of the lives of the humans. Directors often don't know how to work with them. So they don't try.

[Kim Thornton]

Next week House will have a cat that predicts people's deaths, a la Oscar the nursing home cat.

[Cait]

Oh! And I forgot Ducky, on NCIS, who has corgis! (and a crazy old mother, who I think also has corgis.)

[Christine H]

Digby on Pushing Daisies played a pretty big part in the show's mythos and was spotted in most episodes, even if he didn't play a role in that plot.



It seems like even he disappeared a bit in the later episodes of the second Season (that aired), though, along with Pigby who debuted at the beginning of the second season.

[JenniferJ]

Not TV but looks like Pixars new movie due out in May has a dog that plays a role,



Plus the movie trail made me smile



http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/216386/new_trailer_for_pixars_up.html

[Tina Clark]

Don't forget Paul Anka on Gilmore Girls.



Further on Porthos, the beagle on Star Trek Enterprise: There was one episode where Porthos was near death and it was taken very seriously. He survived.



And as far as Data's cat, Spot, I remember being extremely distressed by one episode where Data had written a poem to Spot, and part of the poem said, "and though you are not sentient...." What????

[Barbara Saunders]

As with many things, "I Love Lucy" pioneered. The Ricardos got a dog right before the country move. He played a central plot role in the final episode. I just watched an old "Odd Couple" where Felix gives his parrot a funeral (turns out he's alive, but he's never in another episode. The Cosby family held a pre-flushing ceremony for a deceased goldfish.

[Suzie]

70% of Americans have pets?! Wow, my friends and family must be true aberrations. Among us the percentage is, at most, 25%.

[Susan Fox]

I do agree with the idea that an increased presence of pets, which would portray more accurately how families live in America, might cause people to consider their pet's needs more seriously.



My first thought, though, when I read the post, is what the implications of a greatly increased use of animals in television would be for the welfare of the dogs and cats involved in the filming.



I get nervous when someone's revenue stream/income is dependent on getting a certain behavior from an animal on a schedule. The trainers aren't all Rudd Weatherwaxs and Bill Berlonis, I would imagine. American Humane can't be everywhere at once.



I have some of the same concerns about the game ranches where photographers, and some artists, go to get a large percentage of the wildlife photos we see in the media.

[LauraL]

Thanks for an interesting and thought-provoking post! Couldn't agree more about the pet-deficient L-Word. I mean, seriously - not one dog or cat in the bunch? That is SO not our community.



One thought re cause and effect - I wonder whether the upsurge in pets in 50s-60s TV caused more acceptance of pet ownership, or whether it was a reflection of a cultural trend already underway. One could (and ought to) ask the same about GLBT characters on TV.



(Then again, early TV pets didn't have to battle national organizations' boycotts every time they got a recurring role. But I digress.)