Spot in his school guise, sports a sassy pair of red trousers and comfortable shoes. © Disney. All rights reserved.

Arriving on Disney’s One Saturday Morning lineup this past fall, Teacher’s Pet delivers the rich and playful animation of Gary Baseman and the experienced storytelling of Bill & Cheri Steinkellner. The series introduces viewers to its endearing cast with the flare of a Broadway musical. Central to the story are the desires of a boy, Leonard, and his best friend, his dog Spot, but Spot isn’t an ordinary dog. Spot, in fact, doesn’t even want to be a dog. He wants to be a boy. Leonard is trying to be just a regular fourth grader -- normal in the blandest way possible -- but between the antics of Spot and the fact that his mother teaches his class and periodically humiliates him by calling him "doodlebug," he’s having a tough time. His difficulties multiply when, much to his horror, he realizes that the new boy in school, Scott Leadready II, is Spot! His goal of being "normal" is further confounded when he becomes the sole human emissary to the world of fuzzy (and feathery) critters. Yes, he can talk to the animals. His attempts to avoid being the teacher’s pet are abruptly, and ironically, alleviated by the exemplary academic performance of the new kid -- his dog -- who ends up becoming the teacher’s pet. While of course comedic situations arise, the stories always end in lessons being learned and intelligent realizations made to mediate all the canine madness.

Bunkmates in the Helperman household, Leonard and Spot share more than a room ever since Spot started to talk. © Disney. All rights reserved.

If the Dog Could Only Talk
Co-creator and co-executive producer Gary Baseman is known for his creative genius. One can see his works in esteemed periodicals like Time, Rolling Stone and The New York Times, and he has done commercial artwork for clients such as Nike and Microsoft. He’s an accomplished and talented artist but stroking aside, here’s the really amazing part -- there was a particular moment when he looked down at his cocker spaniel, Hubcaps, and the seed of a simple story was planted. Baseman has maintained that the tag line for his work is, "Where the line between genius and stupidity has been smudged beyond recognition." He also offers that, "I’ve always strove for a balance between a very adult, sophisticated sense of esthetic mixed with images that are stupid and absurd." In the April 2000 issue of Communication Arts he goes on to assert that, "The most important thing I’ve learned in communication, in making messages, is to be able to push buttons. Understand who your audience is, whether it’s you who I’m talking to right now, or to a million people or even a TV show -- what’s going to make them happy, what’s going to make them miserable, where their touchy subjects are and not to do it maliciously, not to hurt somebody. I love getting a rise out of people. I love making them think. And hopefully maybe they learn from it."