For the first time in its 135 year history, the 'Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show' (Tue., 8PM on USA) awarded the coveted Best in Show to Hickory, a Scottish Deerhound. She was a beautiful and well-mannered representative of her breed.

"For a lot of people at home, this is probably their first real good look at this breed," the announcers said.

It's certainly not a commonly seen breed in the United States.

'The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show' has become big business on television in recent years, and the opportunity to see breeds like this has to be one of its biggest draws. Sure, the 'Puppy Bowl' is adorable on Super Bowl Sunday, but the 'Dog Show' is a great opportunity to essentially window shop the best breeds in the world.

When it comes to competition and sports on television, the fare of late has been leaving fans wanting something better. Last weekend, the Daytona 500 -- the Super Bowl of NASCAR -- suffered in the ratings because of a pothole on the track that resulted in nearly two hours of delays. The NBA also served up their All-Star weekend of festivities; they were a major dud, especially the Slam Dunk contest that used to be one of the best exhibitions in sports. And the Vancouver Olympics? So far, so dull.

However, there was one very exciting competition on television and it aired over the last two nights -- the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Live from Madison Square Garden, the dog show was one of the purest contests I've seen on TV in a long time. It was exciting and tension-filled, especially last night between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. when the judge started to evaluate the best in show candidates.

This sounds like a stroke of genius. Make that two geniuses when it comes to comedy. Catherine O'Hara and Rob Thomas working together. O'Hara has been cast as the lead in Good Behavior, one of three Rob Thomas projects in the works for next season (although he has stepped back from Beverly Hills 90210 to concentrate on Good Behavior and Cupid). If the ABC dramedy manages to get picked up and O'Hara is heading up the project, they can count on me to tune in. Yeah, I said it. I'm committed if the SCTV-vet is committed.

Catherine, who might be best known as Kevin's mother in Home Alone and Home Alone 2, is better known to comedy devotees for her brilliant work on SCTV -- Lola "I want to have your baby" Heatherton, and the Christopher Guest mockumentaries like Best in Show (she was Cookie Guggleman Fleck, the trampy wife of Eugene Levy, both of whom adored their terrier).

Good Behavior is based on Outrageous Fortune, a New Zealand series about a criminal family. Catherine is Jackie West, the matriarch of the clan, and when her spouse is caught and thrown in jail for five years, she decides that it's time for the rest of the family to go straight.

Add Ricky Gervais to the list of cool kids who get to star in Christopher Guest films (This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman). Gervais, creator and star of The Office and Extras, will make his big screen debut in Guest's new movie, For Your Consideration. It's about the cast of an indie flick that starts to get high hopes when their movie gets internet buzz and rumors fly about possible nominations. The movie stars the usual Guest actors, including Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey and Fred Willard. Gervais and American The Office actor John Krasinski also have roles. Interestingly, Christopher Guest changed up his format for his new movie. It's not his typical, improvised 'mockumentary', but it's being called "a movie within a movie", with lots of scripted scenes. It's the first movie role for Gervais, who said he accepted the part because "Christopher Guest is the single biggest influence on my comedy."

For Your Consideration hits theaters in November.

Parker Posey, probably best known for her roles in the trio of Christopher Guest mockumentaries, is set to star in three episodes of Boston Legal near the end of this season. Parker will star as a lawyer named Marlene Stanger. She's dead-set on becoming a partner and because of her determination, she's earned the nickname of "The Squid."

I don't watch this show nearly enough. I caught the episodes that Michael J. Fox did a few months ago and they were very good. I also wrote about the possibility that Denny Crane may be having a bit of, uh, a "preference switch" sometime this season. But I haven't seen anything on that since and this is the first Boston Legal news I've read in sometime. Has anyone heard something?

[via Zap2It]