TV Preview
'Greatest American Dog,' warm puppy
By Diego Vasquez
Jul 10, 2008 - 1:15:01 AM

Name of show
“Greatest American Dog”

Timeslot
CBS, Thursdays 8 p.m.

Synopsis
“Greatest American Dog” uses the trusty reality formula of placing strangers in a house to compete for a prize. The twist here: The contestants are teamed with their dogs.

For the series, CBS picked 12 dog owners from all walks of life. Travis is a 29-year-old aspiring actor living in Los Angeles who learned to train dogs growing up on a farm in Oklahoma. His dog is Presley.

Beth Joy, a stage mom/manager for her dog, Bella Starlet, has a tattoo of the canine on her leg. Bella Starlet competes in dog shows.

Over 10 episodes, the owners and their dogs undergo a series of challenges to determine who has done the best job training his or her pet, with one pair eliminated each week. The last surviving pair wins $250,000.

The show is hosted by a zoologist, Jarod Miller, and judged by dog experts. Victoria Stilwell is a trainer. Allan Reznik is the editor of Dog Fancy, and Wendy Diamondis the founder and editor of Animal Fair.

Outlook
As corny as “Greatest American Dog” may sound, its chances look fairly decent.

It has a built-in audience of America's dog lovers, who number in the millions--39 percent of households have one or more dogs--and there's the even larger crowd of animal lovers of the sort who tune in to watch whatever's airing on Animal Planet.

"Dog" also airs in an ideal timeslot, Thursdays 8 p.m., where the competition this summer has been notably weak. Last week’s top show among viewers 18-49 in the time period was NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” which posted only a 1.7 rating. A repeat of that episode airs tonight.

"Dog's" toughest broadcast competition could come from an original of Fox’s “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" But that doesn't look to be much of a threat. Last week an original episode earned only a 1.3.

Repeats of “Ugly Betty” on ABC and “Smallville” on CW don’t figure to be much of a factor either.

"Dog" could face a tougher time next week when “Comic” returns with an original episode. But presumably the show will have gotten a good sampling this week, and many of those should return for the second episode.

The Buzz
Media people are up on “American Dog.” It's one of those summers when goofy and offbeat seem to capture viewers' attention, and proof of that is ABC’s “Wipeout,” in which ordinary folks make fools of themselves attempting various stunts. It's one of the top new shows on broadcast.

“Opposite weak competition it should get people to tune in, especially initially,” says Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom. “It’s CBS’s version of ABC’s ‘Wipeout,’ but for animals, sort of a silly game show.”

Breslow thinks the stories of the dogs and their owners should create a tear factor in the vein of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

“I’m sure they’ll have back stories to make it sort of feel-good,” Breslow says. “CBS may have a minor summer hit on its hands.”

What critics are saying
“Should we expect alliances between the Bulldog and the Brittany? Will all the dogs gang up on the Maltese? These will be the water cooler conversations of the summer.” – Mark Medley, Canada National Post

“What dog owner anywhere would ever admit the superiority of another dog? (You’re the best American dog, Fuzby Bear. I'll be home soon.) After the standard reality show ‘nationwide search’ is conducted the chosen dozen will be subjected to different tasks and competitions. These segments will undoubtedly leave us viewers at home asking who's more badly behaved, the dogs or their owners?” – The Los Angeles Times’ “Show Tracker” blog

“CBS is leaning hard on promoting the show because--in theory, at least--it has something for everyone. Some will tune in because they love the animals, others because they can’t believe the owners.” – Don Kaplan, New York Post