Saturday Six – Pop Culture Dogs

Welcome to the Saturday Six, where each week I let you get to know me a bit better with the help of a list. Any idiot can do a Top 5 list, which is why I kicked it up a notch to a Top 6. This week’s topic: Pop Culture Dogs

So the other day I caught one of those maudlin Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercials that everyone hates seeing because they are just so depressing. No one wants to see that shit, because really, who doesn’t love dogs? No one, that’s who. That’s an awfully depressing way to start an article. But it got me to thinking about all the cool dogs in pop culture that everyone loves.

1. Snoopy – No one dislikes Snoopy. He’s like the most loveable dog ever. Sure, I can’t watch A Charlie Brown Christmas without bawling my eyes out, but I don’t hold that against him. Plus he’s the mascot for aerospace safety because of his “‘outside the doghouse’ way of looking at things”, and the namesake of the Lunar Module of Apollo 10, and he’s got his own statue at Kennedy Space Center.

 

2. Ace The Bat Hound – While my own dog is named Krypto, I can’t help but love the insanity of Ace. Sure, he’s not as weird as the current Bat-Cow, but Batman didn’t need to make him a dog cowl to to prevent people from learning that Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne.

 

3. Barkley – If you asked most people to name a Muppet dog, they probably would think of Rowlf. Sure, he could play piano, but I always loved Barkley because he a huge shaggy real dog, and I liked seeing him just play with all the other kids in the end credits on Sesame Street. Plus, the sheer effort that must have gone into his puppeteering is crazy.

 

4. Triumph the Insult Comic – Probably the best sketch on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, I stayed up late every night in college hoping he’d be on, and when he was, he never disappointed. He was always great. . . for me to poop on!

 

5. Benji – I don’t really know why, but I’ve always remembered Benji. I caught one of movies on cable as a kid and it just stuck with me, the sheer craziness of it. It was like Lassie, but more contemporary for the 80’s. So you know, his TV show featured aliens and a talking robot, because of course it did.

 

6. 2 Stupid Dogs – This show only lasted two seasons, but it was pretty hilarious. I to this day still have the promotional button I got at ComicFest 93. It featured the voice of a post Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n Wrestling, pre Everybody Loves Raymond Brad Garrett as the voice of The Big Dog.

 

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook