Keep your hands off Chase NIckelodeon.
In light of the protests against police brutality sweeping the globe, there have been calls for removing Chase-the police themed German shepherd puppy-from Nickeloeon’s super popular children’s program Paw Patrol. While many of those calls have been walked back or revealed as jokes, you can bet some were legit. And they obey got more sincere after Paramount cancelled COPS after 32 seasons (that show was still on?) and A&E cancelled Live PD.
But cancelling Chase would be wrong. And dumb.
Look, no one should lament the loss of COPS (seriously, how WAS that show still on?) and every other police show on the planet will need to do some serious self reflection. Right now the majority of cop shows depict the police as predominantly white people with infallible morality whose biggest enemies are the media (who fabricate the idea of systemic racism and concoct accusations of misconduct and brutality), politicians (it was the dastardly mayor who corrupted the force!) and Internal Affairs, who are constantly getting in the way of legitimate police work with their Machiavellian plots and schemes.
And that simply won’t fly anymore.
But Paw Patrol? Nope. Nope nope nope nope.
Let’s set aside the fact that this is a show aimed at toddlers who can’t begin to grasp the possible relationship between a talking cartoon puppy and the systemic flaws in our policing and legal systems. Remember when people were criticizing Zootopia for not diving deeper into the conversation on racism and discrimination that both plagues and poisons our culture? Remember how said critics seemed totally oblivious to the fact that the movie’s target audience still believed in Santa Claus and that some of Zootpoia’s more subtle nuance were still lost on some adults? It’s pretty much the same thing.
The whole reason Paw Patrol’s main characters are talking puppies is because children like puppies better than they like people (and seriously, who can blame them?) and there’s zero way to shoehorn any political discourse into that formula. Especially the kind that a three-year old can understand.
Second, if Nickelodeon did acquiesce and cancel Chase, it would be giving opponents of genuine reform and change one more bullet in their status quo gun. Already the likes of Ted Cruz and Rush Limbaugh are joking about the “woke snowflake Libs aiming their cancel culture gun at kids’ shows.” There’s no need to give the talking heads more ammo.
And finally, Chase presents an interesting and attractive opportunity. Right now the defund the police movement is having a serious moment. While the name definitely needs some work, the idea that the money the police spend on armoured vehicles and other military grade equipment should be invested in social workers, homeless programs and other community initiatives (while freeing the police up to more efficiently concentrate their existing resources) has proven wildly successful in places like Camden, New Jersey (once considered one of the worst places in the United Staes to live).
The above description is a severe oversimplification of the process and the necessary reforms (Camden had to fire the entire police force and use the re-application process to weed out ones with a history of violence and complaints) but it is starting some much needed conversations across the entire continent.
So why not include Chase in that dialogue?
A quick look reveals there are no Paw Patrol characters who represent doctors, teachers or social workers (wouldn’t a Burmese mountain dog be a perfect match for one of those professions?). So why not use this as an opportunity to introduce characters who represent those occupations and have a few episodes where Chase, realizing the problem facing him (maybe a lost child or someone who is constantly sad) is beyond his abilities as a police dog to help and he defers to one of the new pups who can.Â
Make a few segments centred around that narrative (if the current writers can’t manage that over 26 multi-story episodes a year, the show needs better writers) and make sure the new characters appear in a few episodes where they aren’t just there to support Chase. Give them some agency of their own.
Not only does that allow you to keep Chase with integrity but it allows you to provide an educational avenue for kids during their developmental years and allows Nickeledeon to sell more Paw Patrol merch to pad their annual profit margins (which is their only real objective). It’s a win-win.
Yes, some outdated stuff definitely needed to go (and there’s more that should follow). But Chase isn’t one. And like Chase, there are probably a thousand other characters that can be tweaked and turned into useful educational tools that will ease a child’s introduction into a (hopefully) new reality.
So let’s leave Chase on the case, shall we?
Image www.brobible.com
