TV Maven: "Puppy Bowl IV": Animal Planet's Paw Up on Super Bowl Sunday

amp160At my house we look forward to Super Bowl Sunday all year The family hunkers down in front of the Sony to share guacamole and chips and to revel in the annual viewing ofamp8230 Puppy Bowlamp160This was the fourth year for Animal Planetamp8217s allpup gridiron show on the cable channel starting at 3 pm ET Sunday with repeats following and online highlights available It was the first year the threehour telecast was in highdef And it was the first time the proceedings began with the National Anthem all puppies sitting obediently at attentionamp160Among the stars of this yearamp8217s amp8220gameamp8221 were Rascal a border collie mix Mrs Roper a Labretriever mix Bruin an Alaskan malamute and our favorite Maiisey a blueeyed Aussie shepherd Drawing more than 22000 votes in an online poll during the show the amp8220Most Valuable Pupamp8221 was Jackson a feisty white West Highland Terrier who ran circles around the competitionamp160The sheer whimsy of the Puppy Bowl is the secret of its appeal The concept is ridiculously simple A bunch of cute puppies romp eight at a time in an enclosed amp8220stadiumamp8221 They tug on squeaky chew toys wag their tails bite each otheramp8217s ears sniff each otheramp8217s nether regions and generally have the time of their babydog lives If one gets a little overexcited the human amp8220refamp8221 an Animal Planet employee comes in and imposes a amp8220puppy timeoutamp8221 He occasionally has to remove a player from the game for unnecessary roughness and he often has to call amp8220personal foulamp8221 and clean up a little accident here or there nice time to show off the Oust odor removeramp8212itamp8217s one of the sponsorsamp160Harry Kalas voice of NFL game films provides the playbyplay amp8220Weamp8217ve only just begun and the action is fierceamp8221 he said at the top of this yearamp8217s show A typical call has him following a puppy with a rubber ball in its jaws down the field across the goal line for a puppy touchdown then back the other way for a TD on the opposing end Rules and players go unleashed hereamp160The production team doesnamp8217t do much in the way of creative editing or amp8220storytellingamp8221 with Puppy Bowl As Kevin Mohs vice president for production at Animal Planet told the Washington Post recently amp8220Puppies are so darned cute that we decided to just let their natural cuteness shine throughamp8221amp160Each year Puppy Bowl gets a little more popular with footballskipping fans It is now the mostwatched nonSuper Bowl program on TV drawing more than 7 million viewers many of whom tune in and out The three previous Puppy Bowls are available on DVDamp160Filmed over two days in a studio in the Washington DC area Puppy Bowlamp8217s participants are chosen from nearby animal shelters a few are borrowed from private owners too An animal handler a veterinarian and a rep from the American Humane Society oversee productionamp160Throughout the program info flashes onscreen letting viewers know how to adopt shelter pups through Petfindercom Thereamp8217s also a plug for felines with the Bissell Kitty HalfTime Show a hilarious stretch of footage of fluffy kittens gamboling over an elaborate scratching station At the end of halftime a confetti cannon blows bits of colored paper all over the little field scaring most of the kitties out of at least one of their nine livesamp160Back to the puppies and the gimmicks that make Puppy Bowl so darn funny Thereamp8217s an overhead camera instant replay and slomo The amp8220water bowl camamp8221 catches the doggies as they lap up some refreshmentamp8230or accidentally tumble into the bowl on a big play Puppies often lick the camera lensamp160Until somebody smart launches the Puppy Channel or the Dallas Cowboys get back to the Super Bowl weamp8217ll keep marking the calendar for the annual viewing of the Puppy Bowl a show that has a fuzzy paw up on the competitionamp160amp160amp160

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

TV Maven: "Puppy Bowl IV": Animal Planet's Paw Up on Super Bowl Sunday

Author

Publish date

Channel

Elaine Liner

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

TV Maven: "Puppy Bowl IV": Animal Planet's Paw Up on Super Bowl Sunday

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Elaine Liner

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

The payment was successful

Cookies