In a disturbing twist on the current wave of the rats-in-restaurants panic, television and city agencies now almost seem to be working in concert. The Health Department rushed to close the East 86th Street Papaya King the very day after Inside Edition gave the joint the familiar critter-footage treatment. There's something equally unseemly about the department's scramble to prove its worth and TV acting as if it had just invented a new genre, so it occurred to us that perhaps the two should take a cue from another bizarre intersection of entertainment and enforcement. Why not just join forces and let camera crews trail inspectors? Quick, someone call Chris Hansen.

Rats Shut Down Fabled 'Dog Joint [NYP]