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Why is Mary Jo always giving her dog a flea dip?

posted 16 years ago by jonieblon
14 replies | jump to latest

I am watching reruns on TV Land and I swear in every episode, Mary Jo mentions she has to give her dog a flea dip. Is this some kind of inside joke...a running gag?

[–] supahfreshg 16 years ago

I know! I was thinking the same thing - been watching Season 6 too I see. I think it was just a running gag. More noticeable when you watch it every day.

[–] rivergirl301 16 years ago

I don't think it was a running joke as much as sometimes they repeated jokes they thought you wouldn't remember. Mary Jo giving her dog a flea dip was meant to illustate how dull her life as a single mom was.

[–] cshep79406 14 years ago

I noticed this too. The others would have plans, and Mary Jo would comment that she had to give her dog a flea dip, or brush its teeth, or something like that.

[–] BURSTYNFAN2005 14 years ago

Didn't the dog belong to ted?

[–] cshep79406 14 years ago

No, the dog belonged to her.

[–] Tardis1977 13 years ago

the dog was best friends with slimer and the stay puft marshmelllowmaN

Basil: Don't mention the war. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.

[–] shop-62 13 years ago

Mary Jo had a dog named Brownie and she often referenced giving Brownie a flea dip etc. It was used as a plot point to indicate her dull life or as her excuse as in "I have to wash my hair" becomes "I have to give the dog a flea dip."

[–] BURSTYNFAN2005 13 years ago

If i remember right the dog belonged to her ex husbund ted?

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] morningsidemary 12 years ago

Flea dips are so dangerous too LOL.

[–] hunterofserenity-2 12 years ago

Imo, while Mary Jo was really beautiful, she was incredibly boring. She wasn't that funny, so I guess all they could do was give her mundane things to do on screen.]

[–] rockethulsey 11 years ago

Can Mary Jo give Russell Brand one?

[–] laurelataylor 11 years ago

I think the writers had her say this in a lot of episodes to show that Mary Jo led a pretty boring, uneventful life. To save herself so much work, all Mary Jo had to do was take the dog to the vet and get some flea control to give him once a month.

A lot of the things Mary Jo did (like this and doing her kids' homework) gave her an excuse for not having a social life, especially after she and J.D. broke up. After the breakup, the writers kept using these plot devices for Mary Jo because I think that they wanted her to stay single.

[–] Aztec_Camera 11 years ago

I think everyone's comments are pretty spot-on.

The constant referencing of MJ giving her dog a flea dip was a lazy way for the writers to say "Hey look at boring ole dishwater Mary Jo! She has no life so we'll just bring up her dog getting a flea dip every other episode to painfully illustrate this to the audience!"

In retrospect, it was pretty annoying actually.