LITTLE ROCK — Everyone knows that cats are better than dogs.
Everyone except those who are positive dogs are better than cats. They say that cats are lazy and aloof. Give them a loyal, tail-wagging pooch every time.
Aloof? That merely shows a cat is vastly more intelligent and independent. They choose their owners and show affection without slovenly drooling and pack-mentality obeisance.
The better pet argument seems to have started thousands of years ago when the first feral cat was domesticated in Cyprus.
I’m certain that when that first kitty proudly brought his first dead rat up to the campfire, his owner patted him on the head and scratched his back.
Dogs had already made their case for the better pet thousands of years before when that first wolf decided that cozying up to the fire was far better than scrounging around in a pack in the cold.
As the eons went by, the critters became more dog like but kept many of their wolf pack tendencies. Their humans simply became thealpha dogs of the pack.
So, which is the better pet - cat or dog? Animal Planet will break it down and settle the score with Dogs vs. Cats at 7 p.m. Saturday. Pick a species and root it on.
Cats and dogs quickly become members of the family and frequently our best friends. They love us unconditionally and enrich our lives. How can we possibly prove that one is better than the other?
Animal Planet will give it a try. There will be seven rounds of events intended “to get to the root of pet lovers’ obsessions and preferences for each species.” There will be questions to pet owners and cat and dog head-to-head competition to gauge friendship, athleticism, cuteness, history, cleanliness, intelligence and cost.
The first side to capture four rounds will be crowned the superior pet.
Along the way viewers will learn interesting facts about each species and see cute kittens and adorable puppies at play. Nobody can resist that.
Longtime readers of this newspaper know that I’m a cat person (see Otus the Head Cat’s column each Saturday in the HomeStyle section), but I had a couple of swell dogs in my youth. Neither of them, however, ever brought me a dead chipmunk.
FASCINATING STUFF
Burn Notice airs at 8 p.m. today on USA and will feature Burt Reynolds as an ex-CIA spook marked for death by the Rooskies. Reynolds is 74 these days and has one of those unfortunate Kenny Rogers wind tunnel face-lifts. Still, it’ll be nice to seem him in action.
The Pillars of the Earth is an eight-part miniseries set in 12th-century England. The struggle for the throne debuts at 9 p.m. Friday on Starz and features Ian McShane, Donald Sutherland, Allison Pill and Rufus Sewell.
Hot in Cleveland airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on TV Land. I sort of liked the pilot because of the fun of watching Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White trade quips.
My fellow TV critics aren’t so hot on the series, however. Now I see why. Disney Channel’s Joe Jonas - the prettiest Jonas brother - has been signed to appear as Bertinelli’s son in the Aug. 11 episode.
Even though this means the series has already officially jumped the shark, it has been picked up for a second season of 20 episodes arriving in January.
Vanessa Marcil
returns to her 1992 Brenda Barrett role Aug. 11 on ABC’s General Hospital. Marcil, 41, will now go by her brand-new married name, Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo.
Marcil is her mother’s maiden name. Her birth name is Ortiz.
Marcil Giovinazzo was married to actor Corey Feldman (1989-93), had a son with (but never married) Brian Austin Green in 2002, and married CSI: NY actor Carmine Giovinazzo, 36, on July 11.
The nuptials occurred a month after Green, 37, married actress Megan Fox, 24.
CSI: NY is losing Melina Kanakaredes, 43, after six years. It was her decision to bail. She’ll be replaced by Sela Ward, 54. The series moves to Friday nights in the fall. Fridays are where aging shows go to die. Maybe Kanakaredes saw the writing on the wall.
Rookie Blue may be mediocre TV, but ABC likes the numbers enough to order a second season of Missy Peregrym looking hot in her cop suit. Canadian Peregrym, 28, is a former model. I say let’s have more episodes where she goes undercover as a hooker.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
Weekend, Pages 32 on 07/22/2010