The guys from American Chopper went to Alaska Thursday night and decided to drop in on Governor and ex-VP candidate Sarah Palin. The four of them sit around talking about snow machines and keeping warm in Alaska and how to ... holy crap, look at the giant bear hide on her couch!! Actually, it looks more like that giant monster pig that kid shot and killed a while back.

[via Newsweek]

Welcome to TV Squad Lists, a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Ever since the early days, pets have been a staple of many TV shows. Whether they are the star of the show like Cleo from The Peoples Choice or unforgettable supporting pets like Eddie from Frasier, these pets are often the best remembered part of any TV show.

Here is my own personal list of favorite pets. Before you start, I excluded Arnold Ziffel because the Ziffel family insisted he was their son not a pet. Feel free to add your own favorites.

1.Rowdy the stuffed dog (Scrubs)
I admit that having a stuffed dog for a pet is a bit unusual but when you think about it, it's a brilliant idea. He never has to be walked, fed or taken to the vet and he'll never run away. Seeing the hours of fun JD and Turk have with Rowdy makes me want to run to my nearest taxidermist and order myself a mounted hound.

Fans of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law have gotten used to seeing the silent bear who appears in the group scene at the end of almost every episode and inexplicably pops up now and again throughout the show. Adult Swim has a transcript of creators Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter talking about the origin of the bear, which first appeared in the episode "Very Personal Injury," the one where Apache Chief loses the ability to grow into a giant. The bear was designed by Vincent Waller, an animator and storyboard artist who worked on Ren and Stimpy and other John Kricfalusi projects, as well as SpongeBob SquarePants and Duckman. Ouweleen describes the bear as "the most zen creature on Earth." When you look at that serene face, you can't help but agree. He's the calm eye of the storm at the center of the Sebben and Sebben hurricane; the fuzzy lynchpin of the Birdman universe.

The fluff-stuffed bear of very little brain is not only popular here in the United States, having recently received a star on the Walk of Fame, but he also topped a recent poll in the UK of favorite animal characters, beating out other bears like Paddington and Baloo from The Jungle Book. Winnie the Pooh received fifty-one percent of the votes through a poll of 1,191 adults, with the daft but lovable Paddington Bear coming in second with forty-one percent of the vote, and Baloo coming in at  third. Other animals such as Peter Rabbit, Black Beauty, and Toad from The Wind in the Willows also finished in top spots. Rather interesting that all of these were originally literary characters before being re-imagined into TV and movie characters.

If you coated a Care Bear in honey and sugar you might end up with something as sickeningly sweet as Kissyfur, a cartoon which aired Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1986-87 season. Somewhat (but not really) like Walt Kelly's Pogo comic strip, the show focused on a group of animals living in a swamp and having crazy adventures while trying to protect themselves from danger, including a group of crocodiles who were always trying to eat the young cubs. "Kissyfur" was a young bear cub who escaped from the circus to live in the swamp. This is all explained in the opening credit sequence, which you can view here.

Despite my somewhat sarcastic first sentence, I actually loved this show as a kid, even if it did sometimes pile on the sentimentality a little thick. I suppose that's unavoidable when your main character is named "Kissyfur" for crying out loud. Still, it's probably that name which caused this cartoon to stick in so many people's heads. Also, save for early morning preschool programming, I don't know if cartoons like this still exist that so openly embrace concepts like love, trust, and family. I guess being cheesy isn't always so bad.