Seattle Showdogs

When one door closes, another one opens. Just a few weeks after Bellevue's Willard was voted off Survivor, we are now represented, reality-TV wise, by two local fellas named Brandon and Ryan on Bravo's Showdog Moms and Dads.

The show is an extension of Showbiz Moms and Dads, where we watched bad parenting in action in the form of adults forcing their children to become child actors. The show was hilarious, but only because the producers and the viewers thought so--for the people featured, it was dead serious. The show also draws heavily from Best in Show, although at least in that movie you knew the people were acting.

Brandon and Ryan are introduced to us as they walk their long-haired chihuahua through Kerry Park, right before they trek to the hinterlands to spend $800 on a toy fox terrier. (It breaks our heart to think that they were less than a mile from the Seattle Animal Shelter as they filmed this.) We're a little bit worried about these two: while the others featured on the show are busy training their dogs, Brandon and Ryan take their dogs to get their teeth bleached, shop for clothes for their dogs, and hire someone to train the new one ("Liberace")--but then get mad when the trainer actually tries to train the dog. We know dog shows are ridiculous, but at least they are based on a modicum of substance: the dogs are judged pretty much on their physical structure and their obedience. Brandon and Ryan are in for a letdown when they figure out that it's not a doggie-costume competition.

The "scenes from upcoming episodes" suggest that we are in for some relationship drama as well. Should we consider it foreshadowing that their promo pic on the website is so clearly a collage of two different shots?

Catch Showdog Moms and Dads Wednesday nights at 10 on Bravo. Seattlest would like to remind us all that there are perfectly wonderful dogs available for adoption at both the Seattle Animal Shelter and the Seattle/King County Humane Society.