Pumpkin may not have an actual favorite, but she leaves the room when Jeopardy! comes on.
Is it because she knows you’re about to start shouting answers at the screen?
That may be it, or else it’s the theme music. It’s a never fail event though.
Weezer hates anything with animals in it. He particularly hates horses. He even knows that it’s an animal when it’s animated. He hated the ads for “Bolt” equally as much as those for “Hotel for Dogs.”
He also despises cell phone company commercials. The strange thing about this is that it doesn’t matter which company it’s for. Any advertisement for a cell phone company makes him flip out. He jumps up and down in front of the entertainment center, growls, and barks. At first we thought it was just the Alltel ones because he couldn’t stand the wizard. (He is also able to recognize the Alltel guys even when they are animated/claymation or whatever they were in that ad around Christmas time.) But we have since noticed that Verizon commercials and others drive him nuts as well. It makes me wonder if there’s subliminal messaging going on or something.
My cat doesn’t watch any TV. She prefers to read.
Maybe 7:30 is stare-out-the-window time.
My ex-inlaws used to have a dog who hated Snoopy. She would have to be taken out of the room whenever a Peanuts special or a commercial for Knotts Berry Farm came on TV, or else she would bark and growl at the TV. She would also get upset whenever the Met Life blimp flew past their house, as it had Snoopy printed on the side.
My dog likes watching any show with dogs in it.
She scampers full speed, often with one of those “waaah!” sounds, down the hallway. Her stare-out-the-window time is earlier in the day as a general rule.
My cat used to ignore the TV until we got a 42" flatscreen. I was watching a nature show on there when a pika came on and the cat was transfixed. He would have jumped at the screen if I didn’t stop him. Since then, it’s as though the cat’s had an ephiphany regarding television. Not just the big screen but the little CRT in the bedroom, my wife’s laptop screen, etc. He’ll sit on the family room table whenever there’s a nature program on and try to stalk elephants, hippos, pronghorn antelope, etc.
This weekend was the first time I’ve seen something different from him – my wife was watching a show with a rottweiler in it. When the dog was on the screen, the cat would crouch low and looked ready to bolt once the dog attacked. Usually he’s fearless against the televised megafauna of Africa & Asia (not to mention foxes, wolves, coyotes, etc) but that dog had him thinking otherwise.
Milo and Otis and the Fox and the Hound.
Molly likes baseball. ::shrug:: The rest seem fairly oblivious to the tv. Except the bird. She chirps and whistles when there are any beep or ding noises on tv. Those Nextel/Sprint/Whatever commercials drive her into a chirping, whistling frenzy.
Sienna (Shar-pei x German Shepherd age 6) is entranced by Big Big World on PBS. She will diligently watch the entire show from theme to theme. She will half watch cartoons, or other bright and calm children’s programming. She HATES anything with angry shouting or gunshots and will hide or leave the room. We use the tv to keep them company while we are gone, and this minimizes her separation anxiety to a negligible level. Glo’ey, (Pit x mastiff 11 months) doesn’t seem to watch television much, but loves to watch the fish tank. Occasionally she will glance at the screen and cock her head in puzzlement.
My cat also doesn’t watch TV. She prefers to claw the sofa.
My cat used to seem fairly interested in Star Trek: DS9. I think it was the bright colors of the uniforms moving on the dark background that caught his eye.
As for least favorite show? When he was a kitten, I rented “Taxi Driver.” The menu screen shows Robert DeNiro with the shaved head glaring menacingly from the screen. My cat took one look at that, arched his back, puffed out his tail, yelled “Mrrroow!” and scampered away as fast as his paws could take him.
When Billy bob (cat), was younger he was a shoulder baby. And he wasn’t picky about the shoulders being three demensional. So, those news anchors were just asking for it. He would put his front paws on their shoulders and wait to be picked up, then smack their faces when they didn’t do what he wanted.
My dog is indifferent to TV, unless he hears another animal in distress, like on Animal Cops or those Vet shows on Animal Planet.
Peachy (cat), picked up on the TV not being real, very early. But I have seen her watch the news ticker at the bottom of the screen on CNN.
Liza doesn’t usually watch TV, but she loves it when my wife and I do because it means that we’re not moving around so she doesn’t have to keep track of us. Separation anxiety, you see.
That said, she does seem to particularly enjoy football. When we watch the Pats, she’ll pay attention for the first half or so, unless she falls asleep first.
My cat isn’t big on tv, but he is endlessly fascinated by the wiimote pointer. I can entertain him for ages just by turning it on and running the little dot around the screen.
Gryffin, I am somewhat embarrassed to say, has a real liking for Pokemon. It is the only show he gets very enthusiastic about watching, especially when the yellow blobby thing comes on.
The show he disliked the most was Alias. I think it had too much techno music for his taste. In general, he likes to sit with us when we are watching TV, but he would not stay in the room when Alias was on.
My dog loves the news. Local news, CNN, MSNBC. He prefers female anchors to men, he especially loves Rachel Maddow and Soledad O’Brien. He dislikes Larry King, though. But he also will sit for 15-20 minutes and just stare at us if we talk at him, or read out loud at him. He just likes listening to human voices speaking in moderate tones.