TVSquad

(S08E11) All the people involved in Monk know that this is the last season. They've promoted it as such, and clearly they've planned it that way. That could explain why Monk is evolving in these last episodes. I was truly encouraged by last week's Sharona episode, which was one of the best Monks I've seen in a long time.

Could the next episode possibly be that good? Well, not quite, but it was wonderful. I'm giving anything away -- it's in the title -- but this was all about Mr. Monk and a dog. Yes, Adrian and a dog. More after the jump.

Animal Planet has once again slated the Puppy Bowl (this one is number 5) to take place on February 1st, the same day as the Super Bowl. The National Anthem will be sung by a parrot and there will be a half-time show involving kitties. Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.

I was informed that there was some excitement last year when one of the puppies knocked down a dalmatian who was carrying the ball and was penalized as a result and taken out of the game. I don't know exactly how that works, but it sounds exciting.

It's a cute gimmick that the Animal Planet has developed. You can't get much cheaper and cuter than filming puppies playing in a faux football stadium and people that watch puppies are definitely a different niche than those that watch football.

Still, there is some room for improvement. Why not throw a few bunnies and hamsters in there to liven things up? How would you improve the Puppy Bowl?

"George W. Bush: Still President": Despite President Bush's initial refusal to negotiate with baddies, he has decided to take back what he said about North Korea. That's a flip-flop, sir! So, no more Axis of Evil? Just Gaggle of Douchebags? It's more childish phrasing from Bush, just like the magic wand he likes to talk about when facing high oil prices. Oh, and Barack Obama likes to... use... that... too... Great.

There are so many jobs I'd love to have. I'd love to ghostwrite Melanie Griffith's blog "In 2 Me C." I'd love to join Jackie Chan's stunt team, but mostly, I'd love to produce Puppy Bowl. Sadly, the job has already been taken by Discovery Productions' Molly Hermann. For those of you who turn a blind eye to Super Bowl counter programming, the Puppy Bowl is the annual Animal Planet alternative to the blockbuster sporting event.

Puppy Bowl is the furry equivalent of those Yule Log or Aquarium DVDs that you pop in your player to create party time ambiance. It's like watching a traffic camera trained on one corner for three hours. Puppies come. Puppies go. Puppies drink water from a see-through bowl with a "water cam" attached to its underside. This year, Puppy Bowl included a Puppy Tailgate party and a Kitty Halftime Show to spice things up, but mostly, it really is just puppies running around in front of a handful of still cameras for three hours. It's the most adorable Warhol film ever.

Washington Post readers were lucky enough to chat with Hermann online prior to Puppy Bowl airtime. She provided some behind-the-scenes details to the annual pooch extravaganza. Among the shocking revelations:

(S06E20) This episode opens with Santa's Little Helper destroying the house. Everyone naturally assumes it's Bart, but as Bart points out, none of the destruction has his usual social commentary. They finally figure out it's the dog, but they can't figure out why it's behaving so crazy, so they take it to a pet store where the clerk performs a canine/human mind meld, a power only he and three other clerks possess. Really, he's just using this as a way to get the family to buy a lot of unnecessary doo-dads for Santa's Little Helper. On the drive home, the dog escapes out the car window and heads for the racetrack where Bart and Homer first found him. It's there that he finds love.

Santa's Little Helper's girlfriend moves into the house, and there's a funny montage in which the two animals go out for a romantic day in Springfield. The butcher shop gives them a steak, and for some reason the video store happens to have steak, too, as does an old woman who carries the meat in her purse. There's the obligatory Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene, but the two dogs actually fight over the spaghetti, just like real dogs. One of my favorite things about the pets on The Simpsons is how much they behave like real animals.

Is it possible to be paralyzed by cuteness? Because I think that's what happened while I watched these highlights from Puppy Bowl II on Animal Planet. Puppy Bowl was aired during the Super Bowl and consisted of three hours of different breeds of puppies frolicking on a tiny football field. The show was then repeated for a total of twelve hours. How could even the most jaded person not find this adorable? I think they should run this all the time. It would be the perfect respite from the nightly news.

Oh yeah, and halftime featured kittens, of course.

[via Onion AV Club blog]