I am pretty sure that I have never written an entry about not being able to sit through movies or shows that feature dogs… I think this comes from watching “Old Yeller” or “The Yearling” as a young child. The pet-sob-story movies have been off limits to me for years (and by that I mean LOTS of years) since my early childhood. People have told me about “Marley”… both the book and the movie. Nope! Not for me! I’m not willing to watch or read anything that is going to be happy… and then show how the cycle of life is inevitable.

But, “Through a Dog’s Eyes” is totally different. It is uplifting, it is inspiring, it is… terrific. This PBS one-hour show follows Jennifer Arnold’s dog assistance group as they pass their beloved trained dogs to the people whose lives these very smart, well-trained, beautiful dogs will change for years and years to come. It is a wonderful “investment” of an hour of your time. (Milk Bones is the proud sponsor of “Through a Dog’s Eyes” and they should be proud!!!)

This one hour show will be inspiring, I can almost guarantee that! These dogs truly change the lives of the people they are entrusted to. Unfortunately, I am not sure how many more times your local PBS channels are going to air the show. So >>> Go check and see! (My PBS channel will be showing it one more time, on Tuesday at 2:30 AM.)

I don’t think the reason I enjoyed this show so much is my love of dogs, or the fact that my master’s degree is in Special Education. I think it’s just that this show is a wonderful sign of what people and animals can do when they choose to be kind, loving, patient, and caring.

OK, OK >>> I realize that some of you are not television fans, and that you would rather be hearing about books.  But, I have one more thing to add, which I found while looking around for the upcoming Jesse Stone movie.

Here’s some good news for fans of Tess Gerritsen‘s Jane Rizzoli mystery books: TNT is going to be airing Rizzoli & Isles, a new medical examiner/police procedural television show very soon >>> starting some time this summer.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this non-cozy Gerritsen mystery series, it features a detective (Jane Rizzoli) and a medical examiner (Maura Isles) who solve mysteries in Boston, Massachusetts. The Jane Rizzoli role will be played by Angie Harmon (remember her from Law & Order?) and Sasha Alexander (NCIS) in the part of Maura Isles. Lorraine Bracco will be in the show playing Harmon’s mother… which is great news for me, since I enjoy her work so much.

I don’t have a lot of details, other than they are filming the show, and TNT has ordered ten episodes.

TNT has “gone outside of the box” with several of their shows, and I LOVE that! It seems that the TNT higher-ups don’t believe that shows’ strong leading roles have to be carried by men. I watch several of the TNT shows with female leads (one of which is The Closer with Kyra Sedgwick) and am absolutely delighted that in this day, when we are telling our young women that yes, they can and should be majoring in fields like engineering, physics, and math, that TNT is willing to put their production money where society’s mouth is! (Does that make sense? Probably not, but I think you can get my drift…)