They were asking her if she wanted some more.
They pulled out a net, they pulled out a leash,
They said they were the…Dog Police!
One of the earliest attempts at original programming from MTV was The Basement Tapes. The network invited unsigned bands to send in their homemade music videos. Those videos would be broadcast, and the audience got to vote via a 1-800 number on which was the best. The Memphis-based Tony Thomas Trio, inspired by synth-based experimental bands like Devo, decided to create a novelty-based side project named ‘Dog Police’ and made a video at the local Antenna Club to send off to MTV. The weird video, which I am about to inflict on you, had such a slick look to it that it was very successful--it kept itself in the running and ended up coming in second. That meant the video was put into rotation for a while--I do have memories of seeing it at least once during my Hunter College tenure--and trickled its way down to other video outlets like USA Network’s NightFlight (from which most of this information on the band comes from). It sort of drifted around the public consciousness for a few month, then disappeared....
Until 1990. Apparently someone remembered this video in Hollywood, because someone, somewhere, put together an eight and a half minute sizzle reel for a proposed television show. I think it was meant to be a kid’s show, judging from the way Bowser mentions Saturdays in his pitch at the end. You will notice that Dog Police changed the chorus of their song, and with good reason, as the chorus of the original version cribbed more than a bit from The Electric Company’s Spider-Man theme. It’s a strange watch, and not just because Adam Sandler and Jeremy Piven show up in it. Judging from the two scenes in the sizzle reel, I don’t think I would have watched this program; it just seems like the ‘hey, they’re detectives, but they’re dogs’ is the whole extent of the humor.
Video courtesy Ang Bishop
Sizzle Reel courtesy Melslife.com
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