Peta not amused by ‘Animal Control’

There’s no accounting for taste. In my review of last Thursday’s debut of “Animal Control” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG), I felt that the Joel McHale vehicle and buddy-cop-inspired sitcom put too much emphasis on workplace shenanigans and pranks and did not spend enough time with its titular “Animal” stars, a potential source of mirth superior to doughnut jokes and poop humor.

If I thought “Control” was at fault for not accentuating critters enough, some were outraged that it used them too much, or at all.

PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, attacked McHale as an exploiter of innocent creatures. In a press release, the group called the show “A sickening soup of animal exploitation.” PETA accused him of being unaware that digital effects could have replaced the need for “dragging abused animals onto TV and film sets.”

While I’m still not a fan of “Animal Control,” I hope McHale and everyone else involved with this sitcom resist the entreaties of these humorimpaired Savonarolas. Written with the grim certainty of the true believer, PETA’s press release may be the funniest thing to have emerged from “Animal Control”!

› Ragnar’s back! And Sundance has got him! OK, maybe I exaggerate. But “Vikings” star Travis Fimmel returns in the six-part mystery thriller “Black Snow.” Set in Australia, it follows a detective as he reopens a 23-yearold missing-person case involving a young girl. “Snow” will stream on both the Sundance Now and AMC+ platforms.

› BBC airs several chances to watch and rewatch “Goldfinger” (6 p.m. and 11 p.m., TV-14) and “From Russia With Love” (8:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., TV-PG).

For those who have seen a laser beam run up Mr. Bond’s pant leg one too many times, there’s the 2022 documentary “The Sound of 007,” streaming on Prime Video.

The film does a great job of exploring the origins of the James Bond theme and early soundtracks by John Barry. It also explores the emergence of a “Bond” song for every movie as a major cultural event and one that ties each new iteration of the venerable franchise to contemporary pop trends.

So we go from the Jamaican sounds of “Doctor No” to Shirley Bassey’s iconic “Goldfinger” to ’70s artists like Paul McCartney (“Live and Let Die”) and Marvin Hamlisch’s disco-infused “Bond ‘77” for “The Spy Who Loved Me”) and on to themes sung by Duran Duran and Madonna.

It connects this history with Billy Eilish’s recent tunes for “No Time to Die,” and the ways that composer Hans Zimmer has linked recent films to past favorites by using brief hints of themes from the John Barry canon.

It’s a wonderful short film about the power of film composers and the ability of music to create mood, evoke memories and, in this case, to make a 60-year-old tradition seem both classic and of the moment.