Don't Feed the Animals

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It seems that everyone in the Entertainment Industry, particularly television, is enamored with lists lately. For Mothers Day, TV Land had its list of the top TV moms.* TV Guide had its list of the top TV cars.** Discovery Animal Planet (http://animal.discovery.com) is the latest of the list makers, with its 50 Greatest TV Animals. I was only able to see the second half of the program, and as such can only mention numbers twenty-five counting down to one. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that dogs dominated the list, being represented by ten stars. The list includes live and animated animals and a mechanical one.

• 25. Woody Woodpecker
• 24. the Shaggy Dog (teenager Tommy Kirk changes into a talking dog)
• 23. Mr. Bigglesworth (From Austin Powers films, Dr. Evil's cat, real name Ted Nugent)
• 22. Willy (the Orca from Free Willy)
• 21. Podel & Perdia (adult dogs in the live version of 101 Dalmations)
• 20. Tyrannosaurus Rex (from Jurassic Park)
• 19. Puffy (the little dog in Something About Mary)
• 18. Wilbur (the pig in Charlotte's Web)
• 17. Donkey (in Shrek - voiced by Eddie Murphy)
• 16. Scratch (the squirrel like creature in Ice Age)
• 15. Flipper
• 14. Rin Tin Tin (the original German Shepherd was a WWII decorated canine)
• 13. Scooby Doo (the name comes from lyrics of Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night")
• 12. Stewart Little (CGI mouse, voiced by Michael J. Fox)
• 11. Kermit T. Frog (the T stands for "the")
• 10. Beethoven (a St. Bernard)
• 09. Old Yeller (I'll bet you cried too!)
• 08. King Kong (60+years and it is still a classic)
• 07. Benji (was also Mr. Higginson on "Petticoat Junction")
• 06. Babe (the piglet from the film of the same name)
• 05. Bruce (the mechanical shark of "Jaws")
• 04. Lassie
• 03. Bugs Bunny
• 02. Mickey Mouse
• 01. Toto (Dorothy Gale's dog from "The Wizard of Oz" - a Cairn Terrier, its real name was Terry, and also appeared as Rags in the film "Bright Eyes" with Shirley Temple)

You probably won't agree to their rankings, I certainly don't, but their rankings aren't gospel. The program is airing again tonight, Sunday 5/15, at 8PM EST, on the Animal Planet. I'll watch to satisfy my curiosity as to what animals are ranked 50 through 26. There are some obvious animal stars missing from the above list such as Eddie from "Kramer" and a horse of course, Mr. Ed.

*(see blog nbr. 130, "Mama Mia") **(see blog nbr. 91 "Cartography")

No. 142

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