Among the myriad shows Miles shifts back and forth between watching is Puppy Dog Pals, a fairly inoffensive Disney Junior show about an inventor and his two dogs. The dogs travel the world, have adventures, learn to work together…you know, typical preschooler television. What caught my attention as he was watching it one day was the “created by” credit at the end of the opening titles: Harland Williams.
I had to do a double-take. Harland Williams? Really? Was there maybe another Harland Williams I didn’t know about? A quick internet search (and, frankly, listening to the main human character speak for more than three seconds) revealed that yes, it was THAT Harland Williams. If you’re asking yourself “Who’s Harland Williams?” you might remember him as the “Seven-Minute Abs Guy” from There’s Something About Mary. You can find the clip yourself. There isn’t a single scene from that movie suitable for a blog about my kid.
I’m not sure I’ve seen him in anything since Mary, and I was left wondering just how he went from appearing in over-the-top comedies in the ’90s to creating a kids’ show for Disney. Well, fast forward to this week, and Miles’s latest binge watch is a Netflix series called Super PupZ, a Canadian production from (I guess) the people behind the Air Bud franchise. It is, yes, another show about puppies, but these ones are super powered. And who should show up as a scientist pursuing those dogs? HARLAND WILLIAMS.
This time I felt compelled to point out the connection to Miles. “You see that guy?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s the guy who made up Puppy Dog Pals. In real life.”
“Huh,” Miles said, considering this. “Do he really like puppies?”
I shrugged. “I mean, I guess he’d HAVE to, right?”
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 