Our Adoptable Dog of the Week is River, a 5 year old Miniature Schnauzer mix from Bloomington, Illinois. She has been spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated. It was only a matter of time before the protests came for “Paw Patrol.” “Paw Patrol” is a children’s cartoon about a squad of canine helpers. It is basically a pretense for placing household pets in a variety of cool trucks. The team includes Marshall, a firefighting Dalmatian; Rubble, a bulldog construction worker; and Chase, a German shepherd who is also a cop. In the world of “Paw Patrol,” Chase is drawn to be a very good boy who barks stuff like “Chase is on the case!” and “All in a police pup’s day!” as he rescues kittens in his tricked-out S.U.V. But last week, when the show’s official Twitter account put out a bland call for “Black voices to be heard,” commenters came after Chase. “Euthanize the police dog,” they said. “Defund the paw patrol.” “All dogs go to heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol.” It’s a joke, but it’s also not. As the protests against racist police violence enter their third week, the charges are mounting against fictional cops, too. Even big-hearted cartoon police dogs — or maybe especially big-hearted cartoon police dogs — are on notice. The effort to publicize police brutality also means banishing the good-cop archetype, which reigns on both television and in viral videos of the protests themselves. “Paw Patrol” seems harmless enough, and that’s the point: The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm. The protests arrived in the midst of a pandemic that has alienated Americans from their social ties, family lives and workplaces. New and intense relationships with content have filled the gap, and now our quarantine consumptions are being reviewed with an urgently political eye. The reckoning has come for newspapers, food magazines, Bravo reality shows and police procedurals. Last week, Tom Scharpling, an executive producer of “Monk,” criticized his own show on Twitter: “If you — as I have — worked on a TV show or movie in which police are portrayed as lovable goofballs, you have contributed to the larger acceptance that cops are implicitly the good guys.” Griffin Newman, an actor who appeared in two episodes of “Blue Bloods” as a detective, donated his $11,000 in earnings to a bail fund, inspiring other actors who have played cops to do the same. LEGO has halted marketing on its “LEGO City Police Station” and “Police Highway Arrest” sets. A&E has pulled its reality show “Live PD” from the schedule. On Tuesday night, “Cops,” the show that branded suspects as “bad boys” and spawned the whole genre of crime reality television, was canceled after 32 seasons. Cops are not just television stars; they are television’s biggest stars. Crime shows are TV’s most popular genre, now making up more than 60 percent of prime-time drama programming on the big four broadcast networks. The tropes of the genre are so predictable that a whole workplace sitcom, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” is layered atop them. “A police station was a shortcut,” Dan Goor, the show’s co-creator, has said, “because people are very aware of how police television works. You know instantly who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.” That shortcut now feels like a cheat: After images of a very special episode where Terry Crews is racially profiled were passed around as evidence of responsible police TV, others marked the show as “copaganda.” Even on television, the good guys are not always so good. In a recent report, the racial justice organization Color of Change assessed depictions of the police across television and found that modern cop shows “make heroes out of people who violate our rights.” Many of them, it argued, show the good guys committing more violations than the bad guys, making police misbehavior feel “relatable, forgivable, acceptable and ultimately good.” An episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” depicted Terry Crews’s character, left, experiencing racial profiling.Credit...John P. Fleenor/Fox On television, the hero itself is a concept under review. Just a few years ago, at the height of the antihero craze, a prestige drama could seem a little fluffy if its protagonist was not an actual murderer. There is an artistic justification for humanizing bad people and complicating good ones. It’s hard to argue that a show like “Watchmen” (in which a black policewoman brutally beats suspected white supremacist terrorists) or “Unbelievable” (in which two female detectives repeatedly collar the wrong guys) would make for better television if their star cops acted more like German shepherd puppies. After Inkoo Kang, a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, described “The Wire” as painting police with a “heroic gloss,” Wendell Pierce, who played Detective Bunk Moreland on the show, pushed back. “How can anyone watch ‘The Wire’ and the dysfunction of the police & the war on drugs and say that we were depicted as heroic,” he tweeted. “We demonstrated moral ambiguities and the pathology that leads to the abuses.” The more salient critique of the crime genre is not how it depicts the police, but just how obsessively it privileges their ambiguities and pathologies over all other players in the criminal justice system — namely, the people cops target as suspects. “As TV viewers we are locked inside a police perspective,” Kathryn VanArendonk wrote recently on Vulture. Color of Change notes that defense attorneys, like Perry Mason and Matlock, “once embodied the character of the American hero,” defending the American people “against the many police officers, prosecutors and judges who jumped to conclusions too quickly and stood as symbols of a deeply flawed system.” But a sea change led by Dick Wolf’s mammoth “Law & Order” franchise has realigned the crime genre under the perspective of prosecutors and cops. “Our sympathies have generally been with victims,” Warren Leight, the showrunner of “Law & Order: SVU,” said last week on the Hollywood Reporter podcast “TV’s Top 5,” in a conversation about rethinking the show. He added: “Cops behaving illegally, that’s not part of Dick’s brand.” Cops and Hollywood enjoy a symbiotic relationship, as Alyssa Rosenberg detailed in a Washington Post series in 2016 on policing in popular culture. Cops consult on movies and series, helping mold the characters to their self-conception, and then they take cues from those characters in their own police work. Police officers in Detroit have been spotted wearing the skull insignia of the Marvel antihero the Punisher, and squads in Minnesota have watched Disney’s “Zootopia” as part of their anti-bias training. “LAW & ORDER” has become President Trump’s preferred call-to-arms as the government dispatches police forces and National Guard soldiers against the protesters. The “good cop” trope is a standard of both police procedurals and real-life police tactics, and now crowdsourced video of the protests has given cops a new stage for performing the role. In recent days, supposedly uplifting images of the police have spread wildly across the internet, competing for views with evidence of cops beating, gassing and arresting protesters. In Houston, an officer consoled a young black girl at a rally: “We’re here to protect you, OK?” he told her, enveloping her in a hug. “You can protest, you can party, you can do whatever you want. Just don’t break nothing.” In Nashville, the police tweeted a photo of cops kneeling next to a black boy with a “Black Lives Matter” sign, smiling from behind their riot helmets. And in Atlanta, a line of National Guard soldiers did the Macarena. On the final rump shake, a black rifle slung over one soldier’s back swung to the beat. These images show cops engaging in a kind of pantomime of protest, mimicking the gestures of the demonstrators until their messages are diluted beyond recognition. They reframe protests against racist police violence into a bland, nonspecific goal of solidarity. These moments are meant to represent the shared humanity between officers and protesters, but cops already rank among the most humanized groups in America; the same cannot be said for the black Americans who live in fear of them. Cops can dance, they can hug, they can kneel on the ground, but their individual acts of kindness can no longer obscure the violence of a system. The good-cop act is wearing thin. PAW Patrol is a Canadian computer-animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman. It is produced by Spin Master Entertainment, with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the series is primarily broadcast on TVOKids, which first ran previews of the show in August 2013. The series premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 12, 2013.
22–23 minutes (special episodes only)Production companies
Paramount Media Networks (Worldwide)ReleaseOriginal network
present The series focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a crew of search and rescue dogs that call themselves the PAW Patrol. They work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas. Each dog has a specific set of skills based on emergency services professions, such as a firefighter, a police officer, and an aviation pilot. They all reside in doghouses that transform into customized vehicles, or "pupmobiles", for their missions. They are also equipped with special hi-tech backpacks called "pup packs" that contain tools relating to the pups' jobs. Spin Master has developed the show into a media franchise and released an ongoing line of toys based on it. PAW Patrol toy sales have generated millions of dollars in revenue for the corporation and increased Spin Master's presence in the preschool toy market.[2] The show, and its associated products, have received a variety of awards and nominations from associations such as the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. On February 19, 2020, the series was renewed for an eighth season of 26 half-hour episodes.[3] On February 18, 2021, the series was renewed for a ninth season.[4] On March 24, 2022, the series was renewed for a tenth season.[5] A theatrical feature film, titled PAW Patrol: The Movie, was released on August 20, 2021, with a sequel, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, scheduled to premiere theatrically on October 13, 2023. An untitled spin-off series focusing on Rubble is in development and is set to premiere in 2023.[6] Each episode of PAW Patrol follows a similar pattern and features recurring topics. Episodes normally open with a scene depicting the dogs going about their everyday lives, often playing with dog toys or engaging in activities at the local playground. Ryder, a ten-year-old boy, is advised of a problem by receiving a call for help or by witnessing a situation himself. His most frequent caller is an accident-prone marine biologist named Cap'n Turbot, who knows much about Adventure Bay's wildlife. Ryder always alerts the dogs via their blinking pet tags. The team members report to their base, the Lookout, and enter its elevator. Marshall typically arrives last causing a humorous mishap that makes the other dogs laugh as the elevator rises, although Rubble causes the elevator gag in some episodes. When they reach the top floor, they arrange themselves in a line. Chase announces that the team is ready for action as Ryder tells the pups what has happened. He chooses several members of the team, normally two first responders, to help solve whatever problem has emerged. They ride a slide down to their vehicles and complete their mission. When they have finished, Ryder says his catchphrase: "Whenever you're in trouble, just yelp for help!", and congratulates the pups.
The illustrated designs of Ryder, Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, Zuma, Everest, Tracker, Cap'n Turbot and Robo-Dog, as of Tracker's introduction.
According to Spin Master, the concept for PAW Patrol stemmed from a prototype for a transforming truck toy that Spin Master co-founder Ronnen Harary designed in 2010.[9] Later the same year, the company requested some proposals for a television show based on the transforming toy, and accepted one from Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman. Chapman sketched early designs of the PAW Patrol team under the working title Raffi & the Rescue Dogs. Spin Master hired toy designers to develop the format further; after the concept was in place, they started designing merchandise.[10] Chapman's original pitch focused on the idea that the six PAW Patrol dogs were rescued by Ryder before joining the team. Scott Kraft, the show's first writer, and Jamie Whitney, the show's first director, decided to abandon the rescued dog theme in 2012. The name of the series' protagonist, Ryder, was changed multiple times during production; he was originally called Raffi, Roddy, and Robbie before Spin Master settled on Ryder. Early models of the PAW Patrol pups. According to a 2017 Spin Master interview, "everything pup-related was debated endlessly: names, sizes, ages, breeds."[11] The pups' designs underwent major changes after Chapman's pitch; they were very realistic at first, with unique fur and textures based on their breeds, but they were later simplified and made more cartoonish. Cap'n Turbot's unique design, with his distinctive bead eyes and large nose, was based on the design of Chapman's Bob the Builder character. Ryder's hairstyle was based on Ronnen Harary's hair.[11] In January 2012, Spin Master began approaching television broadcasters. The company negotiated a broadcast partnership with Nickelodeon, and the network first announced that it had picked up PAW Patrol at the 2013 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.[12] The series became Spin Master's first solely-owned intellectual property (IP)[13] once it was released in August 2013.[14] Since it began production, the show's animation has been provided by Guru Studio. In a 2016 interview with Maclean's Magazine, Guru president Frank Falcone stated that his studio's animators were originally suspicious of the show's "toyetic" concept.[15] The series' rock-inspired[16] original score was composed by the Ontario-based group Voodoo Highway Music & Post. The opening theme song and the ending song used in each episode include vocals performed by Scott Simons. With each season of the show, new supporting characters and themes are introduced in its episodes. In a May 2016 interview for the Toronto Star, Spin Master president Ben Gadbois stated that his company would continue to introduce additional characters and concepts to increase the franchise's longevity and to expand upon the success of tie-in merchandise.[17] In August of the same year, Ronnen Harary explained that these changes were intended to keep the show's content "fresh" and "relevant".[18] The series has been sold to TV networks in over 160 countries.[19] In the United States, the series is aired on Nickelodeon as well as the Nick Jr. channel. Select episodes are available to stream on the Noggin app and Paramount+. In Canada, the series is primarily shown on TVOKids, Knowledge Kids, Télé-Québec, City Saskatchewan and Treehouse. As required for Canadian-American programs aired on federally-funded networks, PAW Patrol has been dubbed in French for Quebec broadcasts and for its broadcast in France on TF1.[20] Canal Panda airs a European Portuguese dub,[21] and it aired on MBC3 in the Middle East. In the United Kingdom, a British English dub was released in November 2013, using the same scripts as the Canadian-American version with minor changes and shown on Channel 5 and Nick Jr. UK. Also, a Welsh-language dub of the show titled Patrôl Pawennau is shown on S4C as part of its Cyw block.[22] Anione, JEI TV, and KBS have all broadcast the Korean-dubbed version.[23] The show has been aired in the Icelandic language on Iceland's public broadcaster RÚV since 2015.[24] The first two seasons were shown in Finnish on Yle TV2.[25] The video on demand platform Le.com obtained broadcast rights for a Mandarin Chinese-dubbed version of PAW Patrol in April 2016.[26] It aired on MiniMini+ in Poland, e-Junior in the United Arab Emirates, and Clan TVE in Spain. On April 6, 2019, TV Tokyo premiered a Japanese dub of the show, starring Megumi Han as Ryder,[27] who is renamed "Kento" (ケント).[28] In India, a Hindi dub of the series airs on Nick Jr. India. PAW Patrol has received largely positive reviews from critics. Common Sense Media reviewer Emily Ashby gave the show a four-star rating, stating that "perhaps the show's best attribute is how it demonstrates the value of thoughtful problem-solving".[29] Randy Miller of DVD Talk recommended the show, calling it "packed with all the harmless action and cornball jokes that kids can't help but snicker at".[30] Stuff.co.nz reviewer Pattie Pegler also wrote favourably of the series, but felt that some of the characters "seem rather arbitrary, like Rocky the Recycling Pup".[31] The About Group's Carey Bryson gave the series a mixed review, criticizing its "formulaic" nature but affirming that the "show is not without funny moments".[16] A research study, commissioned by Sky in March 2016, reported that 16 percent of surveyed British and Irish children named PAW Patrol as their favorite program.[32] Criticism had been directed toward the show's unequal gender representation because initially the team of dogs was primarily male and included only one female character. Brandy King of the Center on Media and Child Health "found the gender imbalance immediately noticeable" while watching the program.[33] Today's Parent noted in April 2015 that PAW Patrol images appeared frequently on Twitter with the hashtag "#IncludeTheGirls".[34] In response to these criticisms, the writers added an additional female character named Everest, a Siberian Husky and snow rescue dog, starting in season 2.[citation needed] The show's mobile app game, PAW Patrol: Air and Sea Adventure, was accused of behaving manipulatively towards younger viewers in a 2018 study by the University of Michigan which focused on app-based advertising techniques.[35] Within the game, characters recognizable from the show would express disappointment if players did not purchase items with money. In a 2020 paper published in the journal Crime, Media, Culture, PAW Patrol is criticized for sending the message that corporations are more capable of providing social services than the state.[36] Author Liam Kennedy argues that the show "encourages complicity in a global capitalist system that (re)produces inequalities and causes environmental harms." Kennedy suggests that PAW Patrol echoes the "core tenets of neoliberalism" by depicting the state and politicians as either unethical or incompetent while the PAW Patrol corporation is entrusted with crimefighting and conservation.[37][36] RatingsPAW Patrol has received consistently high ratings on Nickelodeon. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman cited the series as a source of Nickelodeon's 2014 ratings growth.[38] It ranked as the highest-rated, preschool TV program in the United States in November 2013[39] and held that position throughout the spring 2014 season.[40] The spot was briefly overtaken by Team Umizoomi reruns in July 2016, but PAW Patrol reclaimed the title later the same month.[41] Bloomberg L.P. described PAW Patrol as part of a "creative resurgence" that increased the Nick Jr. channel's viewership in 2016.[42] At Nickelodeon's 2016 upfront presentation for future advertisers, Cyma Zarghami named PAW Patrol one of two preschool shows to have significantly helped boost ratings for the network (the other being Blaze and the Monster Machines).[43] In March 2015, two back-to-back premieres of the show ranked among the top twenty weekday showings (among total viewers) in Australia.[44] In May 2015, it was reported that PAW Patrol broadcasts on TF1 had been viewed by 45 per cent of households in France with preschool-aged children.[45] Cultural impactThe show has received recognition from public figures and celebrities. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his children are fans of the show; Trudeau mentioned the characters by name in a 2017 speech.[46] After performing at the Super Bowl LII halftime show, Justin Timberlake filmed a segment for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in which he named Chase as his favourite PAW Patrol character and held a Chase plush toy.[47] During his opening monologue for the 90th Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel joked that Timothée Chalamet was missing PAW Patrol to attend the ceremony, but "Ryder and his team of pups saved the day, so".[48] The show was satirized by The Onion in a 2018 parody article; referencing police brutality in the United States, the article claimed that the show's writers defended police dog, Chase, for shooting an unarmed black lab.[49] In the wake of the George Floyd protests, the show was criticized for presenting a "good-cop archetype" after a post appeared on the show's Twitter account announcing that they would go dark in memory of Floyd received negative backlash.[50][51][52] In July 2020, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed the show was canceled due to "cancel culture"[53] but the show denied any such termination.[54] Awards and nominationsIn 2014, the series' theme song was nominated for Outstanding Original Song – Main Title and Promo in the 41st Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[55] In 2016, the season two episode "Pups Save a Mer-Pup" was nominated for Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children in the 43rd Annie Awards.[56] As of 2022, PAW Patrol has received twenty two Canadian Screen Award nominations with seventh wins.
In November 2017, Ronnen Harary confirmed that Spin Master was "currently considering whether to extend the PAW Patrol franchise into feature films at some point in the next 12 to 24 months." Animation tests were conducted in 2017 to measure how the characters "would translate onto the big screen" and the company developed a film script.[74] On May 9, 2019, it was confirmed during Spin Master's First Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call that an animated theatrical film based on the series, titled PAW Patrol: The Movie was in the works with an August 2021 release date.[75] On November 8, 2019, it was announced that Mikros Image in Montreal would handle the animation.[76] Development of the film was confirmed on February 21, 2020, with Cal Brunker attached as director. Spin Master Entertainment produced the movie with an association in both Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures.[77] On April 24, 2020, the release date was announced to be August 20, 2021.[78] A first look at the film was shown on Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2021 on March 13, 2021.[79] It was announced on November 3, 2021, that a sequel, titled PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, will be released on October 13, 2023.[80] Box office performance
In February 2018, a video game based on the series, titled PAW Patrol: On a Roll was announced. Developed by Torus Games and published by Outright Games, it was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows on October 23, 2018.[89] Another video game, titled PAW Patrol Mighty Pups: Save Adventure Bay, was announced on July 17, 2020. Developed by Drakhar Studio and also published by Outright Games, it was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, and Microsoft Windows on November 6, 2020.[90] Another video game for the film, titled PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls was announced on June 10, 2021. Developed by Drakhar Studio and also published by Outright Games, it was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, and Microsoft Windows on August 13, 2021.[91] It was announced in May 2022 that Outright Games is releasing a racing game for the series titled PAW Patrol: Grand Prix. It is being developed by 3D Clouds and will be released on September 30, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, and Microsoft Windows.[92] Live eventsIn April 2016, a stage show titled PAW Patrol Live: Race to the Rescue was announced.[93] The show features the PAW Patrol characters competing in a race. It toured Canada, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines.[94][95] A sequel show, titled PAW Patrol Live: The Great Pirate Adventure, was announced in June 2017. It follows the PAW Patrol as they rescue Cap'n Turbot from a cavern, and it will tour the same countries as its predecessor.[96] The shows are produced by VStar Entertainment Group, which is best known for producing the popular Sesame Street Live touring shows for 37 years. Mascots based on the PAW Patrol characters have appeared at events across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. They joined an "Etch A Sketch Day" celebration at Spin Master's office in Toronto on July 26, 2016.[97] The characters, along with replicas of the Lookout tower from the program, were included as part of the Nick Jr. Play Date Tour in autumn 2015.[98] Marshall and Chase made appearances at shopping malls throughout Nottingham, Suffolk, and Somerset in the U.K. in the summer of 2016.[99] Multiple meet-and-greet events attracted far more attendees than expected, with some reaching over 5,000 visitors.[100][101] They appeared for the first time in Northern Ireland at Glenarm Castle on July 13, 2016.[102] They are scheduled to appear regularly in a Nickelodeon-themed area of the Thurrock's Lakeside Shopping Centre located on the outskirts of London, England.[103] Like many children's properties, unauthorized productions and events using copyright infringing costumes featuring the show's characters have attracted the attention of Spin Master and Nickelodeon. In February 2016, several Greene King pubs in the U.K. scheduled breakfast events with costumed characters modelled after the pups. Nickelodeon forced the chain to stop every event by threatening a lawsuit if they went ahead.[104] There was some consumer backlash as a result, but the events were not held.[105] Rubble spin-off seriesOn November 3, 2021, Nickelodeon and Spin Master stated that an untitled spin-off series focusing on one of the main six pups was in development, and is set to premiere in 2023.[106] On March 24, 2022, it was announced that the spin-off series will focus on Rubble.[6] A set of PAW Patrol figures On May 18, 2014, Spin Master introduced a toy line based on the television series at Toys "R" Us locations across Canada.[107] The line was not distributed to international markets until June 22 of the same year.[108] Dion Vlachos was in charge of the U.S. product launch.[109] PAW Patrol has since become one of Spin Master's most profitable brands. Analysts for the National Bank of Canada reported that toys and games based on the show accounted for approximately $245 million U.S. (or 25 per cent) of Spin Master's gross product sales for 2015.[2] Spin Master chairman Anton Rabie noted in August 2016 that the "continuing strength" of PAW Patrol toys, in addition to new acquisitions and movie licenses, made up 40.5 per cent of the firm's second-quarter revenue.[110] Marketing manager Emma Eden said that the toys were responsible for increasing the company's presence in the preschool market.[111] Throughout 2016, Spin Master's revenue grew more in this market than in any other toy category. PAW Patrol has been cited as the sole reason for this.[112] The NPD Group named PAW Patrol the top new toy brand of 2015 in the United Kingdom.[113] The group also reported that it was the best-selling preschool license in France in the first quarter of 2015.[45] Dave Brandon, the chief executive officer of Toys "R" Us, listed the PAW Patroller vehicle toy as one of the 2015 holiday season's "hottest" items.[114][115] Argos the U.K. catalogue retailer included the PAW Patrol Air Patroller vehicle on its list of the toys it predicts will be bestsellers during the Christmas 2016 season.[116] In 2018, it was estimated that total retail sales to date were approximately US$7 billion.[117][118][119]
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