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Dog's Bite Matches His Bark! Monday, July 21 2008

When Dog the Bounty Hunter was taken off the air last November Beth Chapman vowed it would not set them back. "We're Chapmans, and we're fighters," she said. "And brother, we're not going to settle in our setbacks. We're going to have a comeback."

And what a comeback! Network officials reported that the season five premiere of Dog drew 2.7 million viewers in its July 16 return, well ahead of the show’s 2007 season four opener which generated 2.1 million viewers.

Bounty Hunter had been canceled in November of 2007 after an audio recording of Chapman using racial slurs was released by the National Inquirer. But after many petitions from disgruntled viewers and calls of support from various civil rights groups, A&E finally brought the show back. “It's not about ratings,” a network spokesperson said during an announcement last May. “We know him and know he's not a racist.” Still, ratings are what will keep Dog on the air, and it looks like he's off to a good start.

The season premiere started where the fourth season left off, in Colorado, with Dog and his family executing what the network describes as “one of their most exciting captures ever.” They chased a felon with an apparent love of sawed-off shotguns, a desperate addict, and an informant who was willing to risk her life to help Dog bring the fugitive to justice.