Greetings, reader!
My girlfriend Martta suggested this topic some weeks ago, so here goes: the very best bonds between human and animal, from all of television, have been ranked below. I hope you enjoy!
Here are my honorable mentions: Jay and Featuring Ludacris (Big Mouth), Mac and Poppins (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), The Simpsons family and Santa's Little Helper (The Simpsons), Troy and the monkey (Community), Walt and Vincent (Lost).
10. Lorelai and Paul Anka (Gilmore Girls)
The odds were against Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), whose track record with pets was shocking and notorious. However, she proved the haters wrong when she got this lovable dog, who would go on to be one of the more consistent characters in the show's overall-turbulent final seasons. Paul Anka is such a great name for a dog as well, and made for some amazing jokes (as well as a classy cameo from his namesake). But yeah, Lorelai took good care of the little furball, and their interactions were always a joy to witness.
9. Daryl and Dog (The Walking Dead)
If I were to rank these purely based on how awesome the pet's name is, the dog called Dog would undoubtedly take the #1 spot. Bond-wise, there are some that earn even higher rankings, but the friendship between Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Dog (played by a dog named Seven) is very wholesome nonetheless.
It's touching how Dog appears shortly after Rick Grimes' disappearance and Daryl finds him, almost like the universe knew that Daryl needed a new best friend after he lost his previous one. They would go on to embark on some epic adventures together, and it's just so on-brand for Daryl to name his dog in such a manner.
8. Joey&Chandler and Chick&Duck (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)
A bit more unusual than your standard sitcom pets, the chick and the duck became an integral part of Friends after Joey (Matt Le Blanc) spontaneously bought them to the great delight of his roommate Chandler (Matthew Perry). The dudes didn't always know how to take care of them in the smartest way, but ultimately loved the birds like they were their children, always finding a way to fix any problems they may have created. The comedic mileage from the chick and the duck was fantastic ("You stay here and think about what you did!" is such an iconic moment), and the love the roommates had for them is sweet and endearing.
7. Data and Spot (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
This one is special - having pets is such a human thing, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's beloved android Data (Brent Spiner) is famously not human. While he never felt emotions or bonding in a conventional sense, Data's scientific curiosity about humanity was a fascinating and thought-provoking theme throughout the series, and a part of his quest for what it is to be human was taking care of the starship-dwelling cat, Spot (portrayed by an array of cats including Tyler, Bud and Monster).
They have many sweet moments together throughout the series, with their friendship exploring what it is that we as humans love about animals. The scene where Data recites his 'Ode to Spot' poem is heartwarming but also comedy gold, with Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) looking like a proud parent while everyone else is bored out of their minds.
6. Finch and Bear (Person of Interest)
Every great drama series needs at least a certain degree of humor to balance out the more serious stuff. In Jonathan Nolan's sci-fi crime series Person of Interest, the humor is unique, stemming from a very specific manner of the usually-gloomy main characters acting oddly in a deadpan-adorable fashion in certain key moments. This style was introduced already in the first season, and perfected from season 2 onward thanks to the addition of Bear (Graubaer's Boker), a vicious yet lovable Belgian Malinois who only responds to Dutch commands.
The poor thing is originally used as an attack dog by neo-nazi antagonists, but finds a new home (and a new name, inspired by the bearer bonds central to the season 2 premiere's plot) as John Reese (Jim Caviezel) frees him from them and adopts him. While he is Reese's dog first and foremost, it is Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) who ends up having an even more memorable bond with him, as their interactions are pure gold in comedic and warm ways throughout the rest of the series.
5. Jay and Stella (Modern Family)
It's a simple trope, used in many forms of media as well as the real-life instance of my Grandpa and his bunny, but it just works - there's something inherently endearing (and hilarious) about a grumpy old man who forms an emotional bond with a pet while being his grumpy self around any humans in the room. For Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill), this happens with his dog Stella (Beatrice), with whom he forms a relationship that can't help but cause occasional jealousy in his sons Manny (Rico Rodriguez) and Joe (Jeremy Maguire), as well as his wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara). There's just something about Stella that clicks with Jay, making for a wholesome exception to his general emotional unavailability.
4. Martin and Eddie (Frasier)
I'm still working my way through the iconic Cheers spin-off Frasier, and several seasons into it, I'm still having a hard time deciding who my favorite character is - between Frasier's (Kelsey Grammer) show-defining antics, Niles' (David Hyde Pierce) lovable hilarity, Martin's (John Mahoney) down-to-earth heart, Roz's (Peri Gilpin) cool aura and Daphne's (Jane Leeves) brilliant kookiness, there's a strong argument to be made for each of the main characters. Therefore, I often find myself looking at the show's lovable dog Eddie (Moose), and saying "f**k it, that's the best character".
Eddie really is great, and his bond with Martin is as funny as it is endearing. Martin spends a big chunk of the series with his two human sons, one of which lives with him, yet time and again he seems to have more in common with the weird-ass Jack Russell Terrier than with either of them. Eddie and Martin quite simply get each other, and this is made even more memorable by the amusing lightyears-long emotional distance between Eddie and Frasier, who never quite get on the same page.
3. Jon and Ghost (Game of Thrones)
This one hits hard. In the first episode of Game of Thrones, the Stark family finds five abandoned Direwolf puppies - and a strikingly different sixth one. As is the way of things in Westeros, the trueborn children of Ned Stark (Sean Bean) get the five, and bastard Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is left with the albino. While all of the Stark-and-their-wolf relationships are special (especially in the books, where there's more time to flesh it all out), it is the bond between Jon and Ghost that is undoubtedly the most powerful and unforgettable.
Every time they have to say goodbye, it's heartbreaking, and every time they reunite after being apart is a major emotional rush. Ghost goes out of his way to save the day multiple times, occasionally even rushing to save Jon's human bestie Samwell (John Bradley) when Jon is away, because the power of friendship is not lost on him. Throughout the series, few things keep a sense of heart and goodness amidst all the brutality as strongly as the relationship of Jon and Ghost.
2. Captain Holt and Cheddar (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
There are many good cases of friendship between human and animal on this list, and with any of them I'd imagine that the human would go to great lengths to protect their pet. But they should put their money where their mouth is in order to get a top 2 finish: in only one of these cases, the pet has been kidnapped and the human has gone on a full John Wick rampage in order to rescue him.
Yep, the bond between Captain Raymond Holt (the late André Braugher) and his Pembroke Welsh Corgi Cheddar (the late Stewart, played in later seasons by Stella) is quite something. Holt and his husband Kevin (Marc Evan Jackson) really love their fluffy boy, teaching him French and all sorts of etiquette while training him to retrieve items for the annual Halloween Heists. And like I said, the season 7 episode Ransom really showcases what extremes Holt would go to for his fluffy boy.
1. Fry and Seymour (Futurama)
It's just one episode, but Jurassic Bark is an unbridled television masterpiece that makes this bond thoroughly earn the #1 spot. One might not expect the series known as 'the Simpsons of sci-fi' to move them to tears, but Matt Groening found an emotional core with Futurama that he never quite uncovered with his more famous series. This is evident in several tear-jerking episodes such as Luck of the Fryish and Meanwhile, but most of all Jurassic Bark.
I'm guessing that 90 per cent of my readers haven't watched this tragically underrated series (at least episode by episode), so rather than give away any spoilers, I'll just give out this recommendation: watch Jurassic Bark (season 4, episode 7), and trust me, you'll understand why this is at first place. I'm crying just thinking about it. Philip J. Fry and Seymour Asses, your story will always be remembered.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my ranking of the episodes of Game of Thrones spin-off The House of the Dragon, which just finished the run of its second season.
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