"Creature Comforts" seems determined to drive away any viewers who might actually tune in to the first few moments of the new animated show.

There will, no doubt, be viewers who have seen advertisements featuring the really cute animals in the show. And those viewers will, perhaps, show up expecting to see a really cute show.

What they'll get in the first few moments is two really cute animated dogs sniffing the, um, backside of another dog. And one of those really cute animated dogs says, "It smells pretty ripe. I'm getting medium to dark notes."

How charming.

The concept behind the show isn't new. "Creature Comforts" won an Oscar as best animated short in 1991. Average Americans were interviewed about a variety of subjects, and their words were put in the mouths of various really cute animated animals.

In the case of that opening segment, two men were talking about wine-tasting, and their words were put in the mouths of those sniffing dogs.

The entire show is full of little snippets like that. Some are mildly amusing; a few are gross (like the big bird-poop joke); most are tedious. There aren't enough of the mildly amusing ones to hold anyone's attention for a half hour.

As quick fillers between programs, "Creature Comforts" might work. For a half hour at a time, it doesn't.

The animation — from the folks behind "Wallace & Grommit" — is, indeed, really cute. But cute alone doesn't cut it.

YAAAAWN: MyNetworkTV has announced its fall slate of programming, which doesn't appear to have anything worth staying up late for. The lineup includes: the ultimate-fighting-ish IFL Battleground; The Academy, a reality show about cadets at a police academy that currently airs on the Fox Reality Channel; Jail, a self-explanatory reality show from the producers of "Cops"; "relationship reality" show Divorce Wars and a revival of NBC castoff Meet My Folks; and a couple of movie nights.

Oh, and 10 "all-new exposes" from the producers of "Access Hollywood"; and several pro beach volleyball events; and all-new episodes of the phenomenally cheesy "reality" show Paradise Hotel, which Fox (which owns MyNetworkTV) aired briefly in 2003.

Doesn't look like there's a reason for the local MyNetworkTV affiliate, KJZZ-Ch. 14, to move any of this programming from its current midnight-2 a.m. time slot.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com