"Animal Precinct" (2001) TV series 2001-????

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Rebbecca Colins
Jamie Matson

Seasons:

1 | 4 | unknown

Release Date:

26 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Documentary | Drama

Tagline:

New York City... 8 million people... 5 million pets... 15 animal cruelty agents with full police powers... Welcome, to the Animal Precinct

Plot:

Animal Precinct follows the officers of the Humane Law Enforcement division of the American Society...

Plot Keywords:

Animal | Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals | Dog | Pet | Pets

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jerusa Paiva	...	Herself (13 episodes, 2001-2005)
Michael Madsen	...	Narrator (13 episodes, 2001)
Joann Sandano	...	Herself - ASPCA Special Agent for Humane Law Enforcement (13 episodes, 2001)
Annemarie Lucas	...	Herself - ASPCA Supervisory Special Investigator for Humane Law Enforcement (12 episodes, 2001)
Mark MacDonald	...	Himself - ASPCA Special Investigator for Humane Law Enforcement (10 episodes, 2001)
Mike Geller	...	Himself (9 episodes, 2001)
Paul Romano	...	Himself - ASPCA Special Investigator for Humane Law Enforcement (8 episodes, 2001)
Victoria Wells	...	Herself (7 episodes, 2001-2004)
Diane DiGiacomo	...	Herself - ASPCA Special Agent for Humane Law Enforcement (7 episodes, 2001)
Tina Salaks	...	Herself - ASPCA Special Agent for Humane Law Enforcement (6 episodes, 2001)
Michael Tietje	...	Himself - ASPCA Special Agent for Humane Law Enforcement (6 episodes, 2001)
Holt McCallany	...	Narrator / ... (6 episodes, 2004-2005)

Runtime:

60 min (including commercials) (later seasons) | 30 min (including commercials) (earlier seasons)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Norway:A (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Anglia Television

Trivia:

It was revealed in the episode that originally aired 18 July 2005 that "Agent H" is in fact Henry Ruiz who had appeared as both Agent H and Henry Ruiz separately before.

Quotes:

ASPCA Special Agent for Humane Law Enforcement: Well, I'm gonna give you my card and I want you to give it your brother and if I don't hear from your brother I'm gonna go and talk to him in the school and then he's gonna look real foolish when he could just... contact me.

Surprisingly engaging, but not always for the squeamish

This show is a documentary series that follows the New York City ASPCA enforcement officers around on their daily rounds. It's pretty much the doggie version of "Cops". The camera operators follow the officers around and film the action as they rescue animals from a remarkable array of abuse and neglect. They occasionally arrest someone, but for the most part they just take the animals out of harm's way.

I was surprised at how engaging this turned out to be. The things people do to animals are pretty disturbing. I don't know if I could tolerate this on a day-to-day basis, but they are all in there plugging. It's really very entertaining. There are obvious bad guys and they usually get what they deserve.

There are a few "stars". At times it seems like the "Annemarie Lucas Show". Cynic that I am, I imagine that the fact that she is blond and fairly attractive gets her more TV face time than her cohorts. But there is a reasonably full recurring cast (there are only something on the order of 20 officers for the entire city) so they all get their chances to shine.

This show, while is may on the surface sound like a great kids show, should really be reserved for early teens at the minimum. Some of the things that are shown would be very alarming for young children. I'm 41 and it bothers me to see some of this stuff; an 8-year-old would be traumatized. Everything usually works out, but that point would be lost on children.

Some of the injuries and diseases shown are nothing short of disgusting. Of course there probably a lot of editing going on and I suspect the most dramatic cases are the ones that make it to air. Disease, starvation, parasitic infestation - this show's got it all in living color. I suspect it's a good thing no one has invented "smell-o-vision" just yet. You'll quickly learn that dogs can really take a licking and keep on ticking, and that cats breed like rabbits and tend to have very poor dispositions!

There are relatively few episodes so far so you get to see a lot of repeats. But it's definitely worth watching. Animal Planet has several of these type of animal-based documantaries, and they are generally very well done.