TV’s reigning cat and dog claw their way into a third season

The powers behind The Ren and Stimpy Show are on a roll defending the rambunctious antics of the asthmatic Chihuahua and fetish-fancying feline who are venturing into season No. 3 on Nickelodeon.

New shows, such as “The Lair of the Lummox,” feature a wiley tree lummox who combs his hair with a pork chop and rubs mashed potatoes on his stomach. In “Blazing Entrails,” Stimpy gets knocked in the head with a hammer and in “Two-Midget Warning,” exploding cigars are highlighted.

“It’s cartoon violence,” creative director Bob Camp stresses. “It’s slapstick. It’s like the ‘Three Stooges.’ ”

Camp believes the show has been targeted as more violent, when other shows are more graphic. “Kids watch ‘Roger Rabbit,’ which is actually like a thousand times more violent than our show, but Disney gets away with a lot more than we do, because they are Disney and no one questions it,” he says.

Kids, he contends, are smarter than most adults give them credit for and are capable of making wise decisions.

“Kids like the show because it’s stupid and it’s funny,” Camp says. “How fun is it to eat brussels sprouts? Not very. But adults make kids eat them because they think they’re good.”

Kids also can differentiate between a cartoon and reality, Camp says emphatically. “We’re talking entertainment here and kids should be able to see what they want to see, not what adults think they should.”

New shows include Stimpy deciding to become a cartoon animator (featuring the voices of actors Jack Carter and Alan Young); a show with last season’s favorite guests Abner and Ewalt; and yet another where the twosome encounter an alien-like doctor (featuring June Lockhart and Billy Mumy from “Lost in Space”).

Camp doesn’t believe cartoons need to carry “messages.” “The good message in our show is to laugh and have a good time and just enjoy a silly cartoon. The overall message is really within the personal relationship between the characters. Stimpy looks at the bright side of everything and never gives up hope, whereas Ren is always grumpy. But, in the end, it’s Stimpy’s never-ending hope and faith that always wins out. They’re based on real human reactions. That’s a big appeal for kids.”

And besides, “No one gets hurts,” says Camp. “It’s a cartoon. I’m more concerned with all the guns and violence portrayed on the live-action shows kids are exposed to.

“The one thing about our show, it doesn’t talk down to kids, like a certain purple dinosaur whose name I won’t mention.”

“The Ren and Stimpy Show” airs Saturdays from 9-9:30 p.m. and rebroadcasts the next Sunday at 11-11:30 a.m. on Nickelodeon. For ages 2 and up.

MORE FAMILY SHOWS

The Disney Channel debuts the second of a two-part special featuring the Marx Brothers. The Unknown Marx Brothers: Lost Treasures and Last Remarx (Sunday 9-10 p.m.) looks at the years following their last film together and includes rare footage from the pilot for “You Bet Your Life.” For ages 9 and up.

Robby Benson and Diana Rigg guest on this week’s Avonlea (Monday 8-8:30 p.m. Disney), with Benson playing a wealthy heir trying to escape from his overprotective aunt (Rigg). For ages 8 and up.