Mutt's musings give ABC's 'Downward Dog' a comic bite

Most dog owners have at one time found themselves looking into the eyes of their pets and thinking, “If only they could talk.” A promising new comedy series debuting on ABC follows through on that idea.

“Downward Dog” premieres with a sneak peek Wednesday, May 17, before settling into its regular time slot the following Tuesday. Allison Tolman stars as Nan, a Pittsburgh millennial trying to juggle a turbulent personal life and an ex-boyfriend (Lucas Neff) who can't let go with a stressful career and a self-obsessed boss (Barry Rothbart) who undercuts her at every opportunity.

Her struggles are observed by Martin (voiced by series co-creator Samm Hodges), her philosophical and somewhat narcissistic mixed breed, whose ruminations on every aspect of his life — from the doggy door and the neighborhood cat to being locked in the bedroom during his owner's sex sessions — he shares in asides to the camera.

But this isn't your garden-variety talking-dog sitcom. There is no setup/punch line dialogue or laugh track, and Martin doesn't speak to the people or animals around him, just the viewers. And what this sensitive, introspective and rather neurotic canine has to say is quite amusing.

Based on a web series, it's a well-written comedy with potential.

“It's a talking dog show that's not about a talking dog ...,” Tolman told a recent gathering of reporters in Pasadena, Calif. “It's about humanity, and it's about humanity through the eyes of this dog who can look at us and see things that we can't say, and say things that we can't say about each other. I think that's what ultimately works so well.”

Martin is a tormented soul. When he's not fretting about Nan's frequent absences to go to work, he's wondering what's going on with Jason, the ex, coming in and out of their lives.

One of the show's most amusing elements is Martin's relationship with the neighborhood cat, whom he views as an emotional terrorist. The feline stares him down through the window, scoots into his house through the doggy door and claws at him under the bed, basically playing an ongoing series of head games with him. The pooch even has nightmares about it.

The star in all this is, of course, Martin, a young terrier mix with expressive eyes whose real name is Ned, who came from a rescue shelter in Chicago.

“We wanted to do something that was the opposite of how talking dogs are usually done ...,” Hodges explains. “It was kind of like if a dog had all the modern anxieties of a modern human being, and ... putting (them) in a character who wants to matter and be remembered, and has a really big ego, into the mouth of a dog. And it kind of allows you to see very human anxieties in a different way.”