Painless Productions’ Animal Instincts

Jim Casey, president and executive producer at Painless Productions, is getting back to his roots in the animal space, after having made a name for himself with paranormal programming. Casey had previously produced the live dog event AKC Eukanuba National Championship (Animal Planet) for nine years and 130 hours, as well as series such as Pet Plastic Surgery (FOX), Cat People (Animal Planet), Posh Pets: Lifestyles of the Rich & Furry (HGTV), Dog Park Superstars (GSN) and more. His latest project, Going Fur Gold, debuted last month on Nat Geo WILD.

“National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD seem to be the primary outlets focused on animal-centric content right now,” Casey tells TV Real Weekly. “We do occasionally see streamers buying animal programming, but they don’t typically seek it out. The animal and pet space is no different from any other genre; there are successes and failures. A lot of people will argue with me on this, but I believe it’s never a bad time for a good show, and it’s never a good time for a bad show. I believe successful TV shows create trends much more than trends create successful TV shows.”

He breaks down animal-related programming into two subgenres: natural history and pet-centric programming, “but they’re pretty similar in their goals. Both rely on giving viewers an up-close, genuine look at animals—one in their relationship to their natural environment and the other in their relationship to their human companions. But adding that human element can be a slippery slope. We’ve all seen pet series try to capture that human-animal bond in contrived formats, but it’s rarely worked. The series that have lasted longest are those that stayed true to that emotional human-pet bond.”

Casey says that the key to producing a successful production in the animal space is to make it personal. “In a series like Going Fur Gold, it’s always about bringing the story back to the human-animal bond that we’re celebrating. The trick is to also keep it relatable. Let’s face it, most viewers may have experienced a powerful bond with a dog or a cat but not a rabbit or an alpaca, so we need to help them understand that relationship through the journey of our characters. By the end of an episode, we want viewers feeling like, Hey, that could happen to me! In one episode, we feature a ‘guinea pig dad’ who accompanies his daughter to all of her competitions. Pretty soon, he gets hooked, and every time his daughter’s guinea pig is competing, the dad is pacing like an expecting father. This guy, who looks like a biker, never imagined that he’d get stressed out by a guinea pig competition.”

Twenty years ago, Painless Productions took over the AKC dog shows and reworked the presentation of the event. “The network had previously been emulating beauty pageants, with dogs serenely strutting around a large show ring while commentators chatted about breed characteristics,” Casey explains. “We transformed the show into more of a sporting event where the dogs’ personalities were front and center, and the bond between dog and handler was critical to the duo’s success. The dogs were no longer showpieces; they were half of a partnership that relied on teamwork. It worked, the ratings jumped, and we ran that series for another ten years.”

Painless produced a decade of dog shows until 2010, then produced a very successful special that Casey calls “the unscripted version of Best in Show.” Instead of dogs, it focused on celebrating show cats and the ultra-devoted pet parents who travel the country campaigning for them. “I loved producing that cat show, so once our development department showed me photos of champion rabbits, guinea pigs, alpacas and chickens and shared the stories of their human partners who have that same level of dedication, I was hooked.” And thus, Going Fur Gold was born.

Casey says that there may be fewer homes for animal-centric programming than there were five years ago but is optimistic this will change. “23 million Americans adopted pets during the pandemic—a 10 percent increase in pet ownership. More Americans now have pets than any other time in history, so pet-centric programming should be on every buyer’s radar.”