Before ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ Peter Boyle Played a Dog in a Rejected Pilot

Peter Boyle had a long and acclaimed career that spanned everything from Young Frankenstein to Taxi Driver, but he is perhaps best known for his Emmy-winning run as the gruff Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. However, before he became one of the most recognizable sitcom dads of the ’90s, he was the star of a pilot that never became a show—and it had a premise so strange, you may not even believe it.

On July 9, 1990, the pilot for a show called Poochinski was shown, starring Boyle as a cop who gets killed in the line of duty, and then gets reincarnated as a bulldog. He picks up the job where he left off with the help of his former partner, played by George Newbern.