Going To The Dogs

The third season of Suburgatory premiered a week ago.  As a show it's okay, though I suppose I only watch it because it's between The Middle and Modern Family.  Anyway, part of the plot was about the protagonists taking in a dog that one of the neighbors wanted sent back to the pound. It would have been fascinating if the neighbor found the dog and had it put down, but that's never going to happen on a sitcom--they compromised and the dog was neutered.

I note this because before Suburgatory I watched a rerun of Modern Family where the plot was about how Stella, the dog, was eating Gloria's shoes and getting too much attention from Jay.  Then I watched The Middle, where the plot was about Colin Firth, the dog the Heck's have found, and how they think it may be the missing dog of Frankie's boss, so they return it.

Quite a few sitcoms have had dogs--The Simpsons, Frasier, Married With Children, The Brady Bunch and probably about a hundred others.  I generally don't like pets in sitcoms, because they're often there for the "aw" factor, plus they're not good at handling dialogue.  I suppose it's how you write around them that counts.  And now that ABC Thursday has three dog shows in a row (I haven't kept up with Super Fun Night so it might be four), I suppose I should get used to it.