Here's a thread for discussing your favorite animal characters on TV dramas, comedies and cartoons.

One of my favorites is Buck, the dog from Married with Children. Whether it was training involved, or simple editing, he always looked like he understood what people were saying to him. I also liked the voice-over dialog he got:

(After Peg calls herself Buck's "mommy") "You can't fool me. My mommy had six nipples and licked my belly."

Buck (his real name) eventually left the show and died soon after. Missed him, I did.

There have been very few felines on TV. I suppose there's a reason. Cats are neigh impossible to train (at least the one I had) and therefore make unreliable TV 'actors'. But, there have been a few....

* 'Lucky' from Alf- who was very well trained. So much so Alf could grab him by the scruff and make to eat him.

* a white Persian whose name escapes me from Top of the Heap (the failed spin-off of Married w/Children starring Joseph Bologna, Matt LeBlanc & Rita Moreno)

* Snowball2 from The Simpsons (and that's not even a real cat)

* Annie Potts' character had a cat on Love & War.

And that's it as far as I know....

ETA: well, there are lots of cats on commercials (Morris, et al)- so I guess that kinda blows my theory out of the litter box. But, I wonder why they're not on more sitcoms & drama TV shows?

Because dogs are funnier than cats.

Maybe that's true. Cats don't like to be laughed at or with. That being said- where's all the 'cat dramas', then? Couldn't someone on The O.C. or Everwood or one of the 80 million Law & Order shows have a cat?

The cat on Bob Newhart's third show (the one where he was a cartoonist) was amazing. He came down the stairs when Bob's wife shook the cat food box (okay, well, maybe not that amazing...). There was at least one scene in the pilot where the cat just looked at the actor talking as if to sympathize with the story he was telling...

And don't forget Data's cat Spot.

Of course! I forgot about Spot! Thanks, culturevulture73!


That was the only 'trick' I was ever able to teach my cat. And it's not even a trick. It was more like me ringing the dinner bell.

Cats may not be as funny as dogs- but they're smart enough to make us do all the tricks for them. ; )

The Chases had an imaginary cat on My So-Called Life. I don't know if that counts.

Happy the dog remains the best actor on Seventh Heaven.

Miranda's got a cat named Fatty on Sex and the City.

Don't forget Salem the talking cat, from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. That was one smarmy cat. God, I hate that cat.

My favorites are the chick and the duck from Friends. They're so cute! Remember when the duck swallows the engagement ring and there's the montage of the good times everyone had with the Duck? I got misty. I wish they'd come back for the final episode, they're way more exciting than the Mondler adoption storyline.

Almost all the people from Friends had their own animal mascot. There's Chandler's chicken, Joey's duck, Ross's monkey Marcel. Even Rachel had her cute hairless cat that hated her which stuck around for just one ep. I wish she would have kept her.

Funny -- I thought the show sucked, but I didn't mind Salem that much. He was actually funny once in a while.

I also loved Murray from Mad About You even though the show sucked.

I liked the cat. But only when it was a REAL cat, not that scruffy animatronic one. (Salem looks like my cat, Gypsy.) I like Nick Bakay, but a little Salem went a long way.

Word about Happy on 7H. Those Animal Planet cops should jump in and rescue that poor beast, though.

ETA: This is a philosophical issue that I wonder about from time to time, and came up again this week, on Blue's Clues of all things. How come in cartoons where humanoid, anthropomorphic animals are the characters, they always have animal pets? Where is the distinguishing line? Do some animals evolve into higher species, capable of subjugated the lesser-evolved animals? Sorry to overthink, it just bugs me!

Well, not a drama, comedy, or cartoon, but the greatest animal character was Wishbone. Who couldn't love a dog who introduced kids to Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities?

I don't watch the show any more, but when I did, I used to love Eddie on Frasier. Maybe it's just my fascination with Jack Russell terriers. That dog is just trained so well that everything he does is hilarious.

Can you give some examples?

Mickey Mouse and Pluto, for one.

Porky Pig had a dog in some of the older Warner Bros cartoons, too.

Don't forget Phoebe's 'Mom', and that dog she took care of for friends that she snuck past Chandler. That dog was soooo cute.

Did Monica ever mention having a specific pet? I know her and Ross had a dog when they were younger, but did she mention any others that were hers? I donno, a fish? Anything?

Mickey and Pluto are weird because Mickey's best friend is Goofy, a dog. Mickey also has a pet named Pluto, also a dog. I'm sure no one figured that people would go "HUH?" But that just always bothered me about Mickey/Pluto/Goofy.

I think the stuff about pets for animals is just to stress that the pet-owning characters are more human-like than not.

Y'know the strangest thing about Pluto? He's a dog who "acts" like a dog- but he's got a set of human teeth. Look carefully next time. Weird.

Wow, I forgot all about his freaky teeth...and now I'm totally squicked at the thought of Pluto. Stupid logical thought ruining my memories of Mickey and his cartoon pals.

That being said: Pluto is still a good dog. Good dog, Pluto!

I like Dino and Astro.

Let's not forget everybody's favorite talking dog with a speech impediment: Scooby-Doo!

I don't think Mickey and Pluto are half as disturbing as some of the eating that goes on in Cartoon land. I've seen Donald Duck eating turkey at thanksgiving and Horace Horcecollar buying Clarabell Cow a hamburger. (Why doesn't Horace Horsecollar ever appear anymore? He was my favourite Disney character.)

I figure Pluto and Goofy are both dogs in the same way that humans and chimps are both primates. Goofy is never actually referred to as a dog and the default race in Disneyland land seems to be anthromorphic dog. I figure goofy is the disney version of a human. Only the non-dog anthromorphics have their species in their name. (ie. Scrooge Mcduck, Gladstone Gander etc. except the Beagle boys I guess) I'm thinking about this too much.

I call "Anthropomorphic Dog" for my band name.

I despise Disney and everything therein. Give me Bugs Bunny's Wagnerian opera and Tom&Jerry's Hungarian Dance-off any day.

I liked Kit the cat on Charmed when she was on there.

There were the Samurai Pizza Cats, if animated cats count.

Willow and Tara over on Buffy had the cute Miss Kitty Fantastico, who disappeared and ended up being speared by Dawn's crossbow.

Although in my world, Miss Kitty really had to kill the vampire cat she loved, then sadly took a bus to L.A. where Wolfram and Heart found her, and she became the White Room panther. I'm sure it'll be covered when Willow makes another appearance, right?

With Angel ending though...not really foreseeing Willow come back and meeting the Big Cat. Still, I think I like your world better than the one where Miss Kitty died.

What about Diefenbaker, Chicago's favourite lip-reading police dog?

Arthur the Aardvark has a pet puppy. Yet some of his classmates are bunnies, cats, apes and even one that looks like a dog. Oswald the Octopus has a pet weinerdog (literally!) that is very dog-like (i.e. doesn't talk.) Spongebob the sponge has a pet snail, and on Blue's Clues, I saw a rabbit or guinea pig in a habitat in an animal "pre-school" setting.

I forgot all about Arthur the Anthropomorphic Aardvark (yay for alliteration) But which one looks like a dog? Most of them are Aardvarks, too.

Prunella. Not that she was a big part of the show or anything.

I don't know from Arthur, but Rocko (from Rocko's Modern Life) was a wallaby who had a pet dog, Spunky. And of course there's the classic example of inequality among cartoon animals, Disney's Goofy and Pluto. Both dogs, but Pluto was a dog-like pet dog and Goofy was...well, a goofy, person-like dog. If I'm not mistaken, Pluto was owned by a mouse: Mickey.

When I was a really little kid, I was all about the animal TV characters: Lassie, Flipper, Gentle Ben, Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, Mr. Ed, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp...man, come to think of it, there were a lot of live-action animal shows for kids back in the day. The Wonderful World of Disney had a gazillion movies featuring animals, too. And we mustn't forget our claymation buddies, Goliath ("Oookaaay, Daaaaaayveeey...") and Pokey the pony (Gumby's pal).

Wow. I clearly don't watch enough cartoons. I do remember the weirdness of Mickey and Pluto, especially in light of Goofy. What I did not remember is Donald Duck eating turkey. Having grown up on Disney films and tv, I suddenly understand the source of my tangled psyche.

Favorite tv cat: Mrs. Whiskerson, Rachel's one-day cat on Friends, with the "Rrrhhaachelll" hiss. Nothing like an evil, hairless cat to put a princess in her place.

Animated dogs... I always loved Ein on Cowboy Bebop. He was smart, too.

How about Bam-Bam, the orangutan from Passions. She is so cute. She's probably the best character on Passions.

How has nobody mentioned Veronica Mars's Backup? Both of those dogs are/were so damn adorable! So big and tough-looking, but totally mushy when not on duty.

I love Ein too! I've only seen Cowboy Bebop a few times, but Ein is awesome. And Weenie from Oswald! Oh she was so cute!

Porthos the Space Beagle on ENTERPRISE. Sadly underused, but oh so adorable.

Yes, Spot and Backup (both 1.0 and 2.0 versions), and Eddie and Porthos all rock, but I have yet to see my favorite animal character of all time: Speak, the Capybara. Gotta love the mangy little rodent. After all, The Tick did.

Oh, and my favorite name for a TV animal has to go to Sam Carter's cat, Schroedinger. Hee!

On Lost they have Vincent, the shifty-eyed dog, who I think is kind of sweet and the actor who plays him is female, and bravely tackling taboo gender issues with the most unapologetic attitude the industry has seen since the days of Lassie. But moving on.

Assuming Joan of Arcadia comes back for a third season, and assuming Constance Zimmer comes back with it, Lilly has at least two cats in her apartment, which I quite enjoy. They didn't seem to be like the usual well-behaved TV pets you're used to seeing either. They were in everyone's way, crashing things over, and their hair was all over everything. It made for quite a nice change.

Caroline from Caroline in the City had a longhaired Siamese named Salty. I remember that cat fondly because not only did s/he look like my kitty, s/he had a personality beyond being a prop or comic relief.

Schotzie from That 70's Show! He's the second cutest weiner dog ever! (Mine is first, of course) What the hell happened to Schotzie anyway? He liked to be tall!
If my dog will let me have another dog, I will name it Schotzie.

Aw, Salty. Salty was the best character on that show.

Did we ever learn Lilly's cats' names? I know one was "Tippi," but what about the other one? I was dying when the one cat had parked on her lap during their "date." Reminded me of my old cat, who would fling herself about for pettings regardless of what was going on. I took my SATs at home, and she sprawled on the answer sheet midway through.

How about Kim Possible's Rufus? Naked mole rats rock.

I loved Columbo's dog (did it have a name?), it was so dopey, wandering off when Columbo wanted it to sit. I think there was one episode where Columbo's trying to get someone to watch it while he does something and Columbo says something like ‘He likes human company - he doesn't mind who they are, as long as they're human’, which I thought was funny.

Eddie in Frasier was cute of course (like when he had reindeer antlers on in one of the Christmas episodes), and I loved when he used to stare out Frasier. Jack Russels are the only small dogs I really like.

I loved K-9 on Doctor Who. Technically a robot, I know, but still kind of a dog.

Oh, and I loved The Littlest Hobo when I was a kid - I always used to cry when he moved on at the end of each episode. I was such a wuss!

I agree with the above mention of Diefenbacker - he was cute and so was Paul Gross - I guess dogs do look like their owners!

He was just called 'Dog'. And he totally rocked. I live for the Columbo eps where Dog makes an appearence.

My favorites are Nunzio, Dharma's pet dog, and Stinky, Nunzio's pet dog. I think those two and Salty are the TV animals that best fit their surroundings.