As anyone who has ever been to a theatre knows, nothing is ever on time. Because the Olympics wasn’t over by 10:30 last night, the Sneak Preview of NBC’s Animal Practice was pushed back 20 minutes. When it started, I was left wondering if it was worth NBC finally cutting time out of the Closing Ceremonies to see it.

Justin Kirk plays Veterinarian Dr. George Coleman who is good with animals, not so good with the owners. When the woman who owned the animal hospital George works in passes away, her granddaughter, Dorothy Crane, takes over. Crane, played by Joanna Garcia-Swisher, also just happens to be Dr. Coleman’s ex-girlfriend.

The main human-centered storyline of the Sneak Peek episode is that after the owner of the hospital dies, Dorothy takes over and  tells George that they can keep the hospital running without it being too awkward. Other important story line centered around  a dog that swallowed something and needs surgery to remove it. The owner isn’t happy that the surgery will cost two-thousand dollars and demands to put the dog down despite the fact that it would destroy his young daughter’s happiness. George, angry with the owner, takes the dog and proceeds to hide it. He plans to do the surgery anyway despite the consequences.

Dr. Kim Yamamoto so far seems to be a filler character who is there to be the butt of a couple jokes, such as the inappropriate scene where Dr. Yamamoto is being strangled by a boa constrictor both George and Dorothy both completely ignored his pleas for help. The show also introduced Dr. Doug Jackson, who is terrible with women, and Nurse Angela, who is awkward to the point where she should stop talking. Hopefully in future episodes, we learn will more about the characters and they will become more endearing.

The lines seemed rushed and were easy to miss. The few easy to catch jokes seemed funny. The scene with George and Doug in the park checking out women was a human highlight of the episode because it was amusing that they associate types of women to the type of dog they have. Then Doug proceeded to ruin any chance he had with a woman because he doesn’t know when to stop talking.

In the end, George feels so uncomfortable working with Dorothy that he quits and Dorothy ends up trying to steal the dog because she doesn’t want it put down. Dorothy plans to take it to another vet to get the surgery done. They run into each other in the elevator. George agrees to do the surgery since he has technically quit. Dorothy assists in the surgery which seemed strange because as far as we know she has no background in the field and really should be worried about lawsuits. When they return the dog, George convinces the owner not to sue by saying the item ingested by the dog was a coaster from a strip club, which George somehow turned into the man’s daughter hating him and turning into a stripper if he sues.

Overall, the funniest part of the show is Rizzo. Rizzo, played by Crystal the monkey, is extremely well trained. While the show may or may not be a keeper, it is worth tuning into again just to see Rizzo in action.