Neil Patrick Harris And Puppies: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

On April 21st, Neil Patrick Harris will be narrating a PBS documentary called Through a Dog’s Eyes, about our furry friends trained to be service animals. Set your TiVos! Or not? Far be it from us to start the NPH backlash, but lets just say that everything that goes up in the cultural zeitgeist must come down, and that applies even to the awesome Neil Patrick Harris. We love him, we really do, and the breadth of his recent work on stage, television, web shows, and films has made him this generation’s comeback kid (as well as serving as a positive counterpoint to all those child stars who didn’t make it).

But maybe it’s a little too much. From hosting the Tony’s to the opening number at the Academy Awards to his recent Twitter faux-fight with Torchwood‘s John Barrowman, NPH is everywhere. And while we applaud taking on such an inspiring subject as service dogs to lend his voice to, we fear the cultural threshold of Neil Patrick Harris tolerability is nearing its limit. Maybe if the actor took a season off How I Met Your Mother, or wasn’t about to guest-star in Glee, on top of leaking rumors of a Dr. Horrible feature-film, we could relax and let the unicorn-riding Doogie Howser shower us with his ironic affability. But we’re wary: Even your best friends can get grating if you see them every day. And if NPH wants to prove his staying power in our culture, he needs to take a breather before the overexposure makes him into another John Mayer-style cringe-fest.