"Katts and Dog" (1988) TV series 1988-1993

Directors:

Dennis Berry
Clay Borris

Writers:

Marc Eisenchteter (writer)
William Flaherty (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

17 September 1988 (Canada)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Family

Plot:

"Katts and Dog" is about the life of Canine Officer Hank Katts and his partner, Rudy; how they fight crime and the forces of evil...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Dog | Car Chase | Dog Actor | Police Dog

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Jesse Collins	...	Hank Katts (106 episodes, 1988-1993)
Andrew Bednarski	...	Stevie Katts (106 episodes, 1988-1993)
Dan Martin	...	Lou Adams (106 episodes, 1988-1993)
Rudolf Von Holstein	...	Rinty / ... (106 episodes, 1988-1993)
Denise Virieux	...	Officer Renee Daumier (80 episodes, 1989-1993)
Phillip Jarrett	...	Sergeant O.C. Phillips (62 episodes, 1990-1993)
Peter MacNeill	...	Sergeant Callahan (44 episodes, 1988-1990)
Dennis Akayama	...	Ron Nakemura (42 episodes, 1988-1992)

Also Known As:

Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop (USA)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

USA:GP | Canada:PG | Brazil:10 | UK:12 | Germany:12 | France:-12 | India:G

Filming Locations:

Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Atlantique Productions

Trivia:

For American audiences, this series was presented as a revival of "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" (1954) and was retitled "Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop". All mentions of "Rudy" were dubbed over with "Rinty".

Quotes:

Hank Katts: [Often said through out the series] Go get 'em, Rudy!

Movie Connections:

Follows "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" (1954)

Katts and Dog?

This was one of several excellent family-oriented Canadian productions from that time that were broadcast in the US and then disappeared. As other commentators have indicated, they were thoroughly enjoyable for all ages.

Imagine my shock when on visiting Montreal about ten years ago I turned on the hotel tv and, finding nothing better, checked out Katts and Dog. Which I had known exclusively as Rin Tin Tin, K-9 Cop. Now, you have to understand several things. First, Rin Tin Tin was a famous German shepherd dog character from a series in the late 50s. So it was perfectly logical for this dog to have that name. But the dog in Canada was Rudy, and I was amazed to discover that they had gone back over every single "Rudy" and dubbed in "Rinty" for the US audience. The dubbing was absolutely undetectable. But to this day I don't get the point.

Second thing you have to understand: They never made it clear where the show took place. It was intentionally an unspecified city in the Pacific northwest. The police uniforms looked plenty US to me but they must have been designed to look Canadian to the Canadians as well. (They did not have checkered caps.) Standard Canadian and standard US English, if there is such a thing, are scarcely distinguishable, so I guess they got by by not having the characters say "eh?" Because of PC or union considerations or both, there was a sequence of episodes in there where the female interest spoke with a French accent. In the context they made her French French, but obviously she was quebecoise.

Anyway, an excellent family show, and it is a shame that those of its ilk seem to be with us no more.