Doug

This article is about the series. For other uses, see Douglas (disambiguation).

Doug
Title card of the first series
Also known as	Disney's Doug (originally promoted with the tagline Brand Spanking New!)
Genre	Comedy-drama
Format	Animated series
Created by	Jim Jinkins[1]
Developed by	Jim Jinkins and Joe Aaron
Written by	Jim Jinkins
Directed by	Ken Kimmelman Carol Millican Yvette Kaplan Adam Pennington
Voices of	Billy West (first series only) Tom McHugh Fred Newman Chris Phillips Constance Shulman Becca Lish Alice Playten Doug Preis Greg Lee
Narrated by	Billy West (1991-1994) Tom McHugh (1996-1999)
Theme music composer	Fred Newman
Composer(s)	Fred Newman Dan Sawyer
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	52 (first series) 65 (second series) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jim Jinkins David Campbell David Martin Christine Martin
Producer(s)	JoEllyn Marlow
Editor(s)	Bruce Knapp Alysha Cohen Meredith Jeffrey
Running time	23:30 (11 minutes each episode); Nickelodeon version 22:30; ABC version
Production company(s)	Jumbo Pictures Nickelodeon Animation Studios (first series) Ellipse Programmé (1992-1994) Walt Disney Television Animation (second series)
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon (first series) ABC (second series)
Original run	First series: August 11, 1991 (1991-08-11) – December 16, 1994 (1994-12-16) Second series: September 7, 1996 (1996-09-07) – June 26, 1999

Doug is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Jinkins and co-produced by his studio, Jumbo Pictures (now known as Cartoon Pizza). Doug centers on the surreal and imaginative exploits of its title character, Douglas "Doug" Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending middle school. The series lampoons several topics, including puppy love, bullying, and rumors. Many episodes center around Doug's attempts to woo fellow classmate Patti Mayonnaise (Constance Shulman).

Doug originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States. It, along with Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show, comprised the original three Nicktoons, premiering simultaneously on August 11, 1991 and ending in December 1994. Following the acquisition of the former Jumbo Pictures by Disney in 1996, a second series was produced and aired on ABC as part of the former Disney's One Saturday Morning programming block. The second series premiered on September 7, 1996, and ended on June 26, 1999 while having a feature film adaption. In 2011, the original series became syndicated on TeenNick's then newly-debuted The '90s Are All That block.^[2]

Plot

Doug Funnie and his family (which consists of parents Theda and Phil, sister Judy, and anthropomorphic dog Porkchop) move from the town of Bloatsburg to Bluffington after his dad receives a job promotion. Often, Doug will write in his journal about his experiences in his new hometown.^[3] Bluffington is a fictional town located in New Hampshire.

Production

Doug was created by former Nickelodeon artist Jim Jinkins in September 1990, and produced through Jinkins' production company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Originating with an unpublished book, Doug's Got a New Pair of Shoes, by artist and series creator Jim Jinkins and writer Joe Aaron, the 1991 animated series Doug emerged on the Nickelodeon TV. The creator of the show, Jim Jinkins, named the main character Doug after his godson, Doug Eckhardt, currently an art history major at the University of Pennsylvania. The idea for "Quailman", an imaginary superhero whom Doug often pretends to be in the cartoon, was inspired by a similar superhero invented by Jinkins when he was younger.

First series (1991–1994)

The first series of Doug premiered on Nickelodeon on August 11, 1991 where it continued until December 16, 1994, and was aired in reruns until 2003, being the first Nicktoon. Doug was reran on Noggin since its launch date on February 2, 1999 until March 31, 2002 and later premiered in reruns on its former night-time shift block The N on April 1, 2002, where it continued until February 12, 2003, and was in reruns again until September 2006. Doug aired on Nick on CBS on September 14, 2002, and where it continued until September 11, 2004. As of 2009, Nickelodeon's Doug airs reruns on MTV Tr3́s affiliates bb KBEH and KMOH-TV (as an E/I program) in the US and on Nicktoonsters in the UK.

In the first episode, Douglas Yancey Funnie and his family (Phil, Theda and sister Judy) arrive in a new town called Bluffington after moving away from their former residence in Bloatsburg. There, he meets Skeeter, Patti, Roger and Beebe, and his new life in a new town begins.

John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, stated on a DVD commentary for his show that among the three original Nicktoons (Rugrats being the other one), Nickelodeon was banking on Doug to be its major hit.^[4] This, however, was not the case; Rugrats would go on to be the biggest hit of the three original Nicktoons, going on to have the longest run of any Nicktoon to date and still airing on the channel as of 2011, where as Doug (in its Nickelodeon incarnation) had the shortest run of the three.

During the course of the show's run, it won two Kids' Choice Awards (one in 1992 and one in 1995).

Reruns of Nickelodeon's Doug began airing on TeenNick on July 25, 2011 as part of a newly-created block airing Nickelodeon's programming from the 1990s called The '90s Are All That. On August 24, 2011, TeenNick announced it will be replacing the show with Hey Arnold! on September 5.^[2] Reruns returned to TeenNick on September 26, 2011.

Second series (1996-1999)

In 1996, the series was picked up by The Walt Disney Company after Jinkins sold off his animation studio Jumbo Pictures to the aforementioned corporation, and the rights to the mentioned show with it. Disney ordered new episodes of Doug to be produced (renamed Brand Spanking New!, and then later Disney's Doug) which was in production from 1996–1999.^[5]

Several differences between the Nickelodeon and Disney shows exist. The musical style switched from a cappella to an orchestrated style (meaning that a new theme song was made), though cues from the a cappella style were taken. Doug was also voiced by McHugh now and Roger by Phillips, who was already the voice of various other characters, due to West refusing to return because of payment conflicts with Disney (West would later say that he hated the Disney series, citing his thoughts of McHugh's performance as Doug.). Many changes were addressed in Doug's Last Birthday, the first episode of the Disney series.

• The episode takes place a year after the Nickelodeon series, making everyone a year older. As such, Doug is now twelve years old instead of eleven, though he was eleven throughout most of the episode.
• Patti, whose skin tone was now darkened and was starting to wear earrings, decides to change her wardrobe, and also gets a new hairdo. She is also being schooled at home during mornings.
• Judy's hair is no longer shaved on the sides.
• Skeeter gets a new shirt that is identical to his older one, except with a zero instead of a thunderbolt and a slightly brighter color. He also gets new shorts that look similar to his old ones and is normally shown with a purple vest. Also, his green skin is now blue.
• Connie had lost a considerable amount of weight.
• The Beets (A loose parody of a combination of the Beatles and The Who) had broken up.
• Honker Burger (A parody of the real-life In-N-Out Burger) had gone bankrupt, leaving Mr. Swirly (A likely loose parody of Friendly's) becoming the new hangout for most of the characters (Mr. Swirly was a character that appeared a few times during the Nickelodeon years).
• Beebe gets her bangs cut.
• Roger's mother suddenly becomes rich, and she and Roger had moved out of their trailer and into a mansion. As such, they get new wardrobes and hairstyles.
• Doug is the last character in the episode to get changes, growing an extra hair (Now having nine instead of eight) and getting a new shirt and pair of shorts, both of which are identical to his older ones but longer. Skeeter also mentions that he sounds different, a direct reference to McHugh now voicing Doug instead of West, though McHugh was still perfecting his voice for Doug during the episode.

The next episode, Doug's New School, introduced Beebe Bluff Middle School, with Emily Kristal becoming Doug's new teacher, Bone transferring to the school with the same job that he had at Bluffington Elementary, and former mayor Bob White (In the Nickelodeon episode Doug Runs, Tippi Dink defeated him in election, becoming mayor for the rest of the series) becoming the principal. A later Christmas episode called Doug's Secret Christmas introduced a baby sister named Cleopartra "Dirtbike" Funnie. In addition to these changes, Skunky Beaumont also became a prominent character in the Disney series, having been mentioned but never seen or heard in the Nickelodeon series.

Unlike the Nickelodeon series, in which every episode focused on Doug with him narrating, the Disney series had several episodes that focused on several other characters, usually without any narration at all.

On March 15, 1999, Disney premiered a new musical stage show, "Doug Live!" at Disney's Hollywood Studios (at the time known as Disney-MGM Studios) at the Walt Disney World Resort.^[6] The show ran until May 12, 2001. Additionally, a theatrical feature-length film, Doug's 1st Movie was released on March 26, 1999, before production on the television show ceased. During this time, meet-and-greet costumed versions of Doug and Patti were seen in Disney World. The characters have been retired, but sometimes make appearances (usually if another character cannot make it to their meet-and-greet). Following the stage show, a version for Game Boy Color was released in 2000, titled Doug's Big Game.

During the course of the show, Doug was nominated for at least two Daytime Emmy Awards.^[7][8]

Disney aired Doug as part of ABC's Saturday Morning lineup in 1996 (following Disney's purchasing of the network), and the show became part of Disney's One Saturday Morning block in 1997. It proved to be a very popular show, spanning a number of different types of merchandise, and was for a time the most popular show on the block, with the title quickly taken by Recess.

In the Disney version, every episode was a full-length episode of about 22 minutes, split into three segments. In the Nick version, most episodes were composed of two 11-minute segments. The only exceptions are the premiere, Christmas, and Halloween episodes, which were full-length episodes split into two segments.

Characters

Douglas Yancey "Doug" Funnie (Voiced by Billy West in the first series and by Tom McHugh in the second series): Doug is the title character, a shy, extremely insecure, somewhat clumsy, gullible, naive, 11½ (turns 12 in the second series) year old boy with an enormous heart, a large imagination a talent for writing, and a love for music. Doug's favorite instrument is a banjo, and uses it in his spare time. Doug narrates every episode, and writes his experiences in his journal. Doug also imagines himself as several alter egos, particularly a superhero named Quailman, spy film character Smash Adams, and adventuring archaeologist Race Canyon. Doug is left-handed. His birthday is August 22, 1980.

Theda Funnie (Voiced by Becca Lish): Doug, Judy, and Dirtbike's mother, generally portrayed as a housewife, but sometimes a working mother too. Her skin is slightly brighter than Doug's, her hair is blue, and is shown to be rather meek and somewhat clumsy.

Douglas Phil Funnie (Voiced by Doug Preis): Doug, Judy, and Dirtbike's father, a photographer for a department store. His personality is friendly, outgoing, and sometimes clumsy. His skin has a hint of orange, and he can be seen giving Doug advice, most of which is mostly, if not completely, useless.

Roger M. Klotz (Voiced by Billy West in the first series and by Chris Phillips in the second series): Roger is Doug's rival and the neighborhood bully. Roger and his divorced mother lived in a trailer park in the first series; in the second series, Roger's family become wealthy after a real-estate deal struck between the owner of the trailer park and the Bluff family. As the bully, Roger always tries to poke fun at those around him. Doug uses Roger as a villain in most of his Quailman comics, most notably mad scientist Dr. Klotzenstein. Roger has a crush on Doug's sister Judy, and owns a cat named Stinky who rivals Doug's dog Porkchop. Roger plays lead electric guitar for his band and is also an accomplished ballet dancer, much to Doug's surprise. Despite his nature, he is also portrayed as generally closer to Doug in the second series than in the first, sometimes acting more like a friend. "Joeycookamonga!" is his catchphrase, though it was said only once in the first series. He is normally seen with his three fellow gang members, all of whom together form a rock band called Roger and the Ulcers.

• Willie White (Voiced by Doug Preis): Bob's son. He is short, has light brown skin, and has purple hair. Willie is much less inclined to politics than his father (in fact, the one time he ran for class treasurer, his father controlled the entire campaign), and is extraordinarily stupid. He also takes piano lessons.
• Boomer Bledsoe (Voiced by Chris Phillips): Has orange skin and green hair and is shown to be more nice to Doug than rude.
• Ned Cauphee (Voiced by Fred Newman): Has ten brothers and twin sisters and two different-looking eyes. He is the smartest and most vocal of the gang.

Patricia "Patti" Mayonnaise (Voiced by Constance Shulman): Doug's classmate and secret crush, a star athlete with multiple talents. She notes that for all her talents, she is unable to cook. Her father, Chad, is a paraplegic, and her mother is deceased, as revealed in the episode "Doug Rocks the House", where Doug accidentally destroys her old house by throwing rocks at it. In the second series, she has a super heroic persona named Supersport.

Porkchop (Voiced by Fred Newman): Doug's anthropomorphic dog who is generally more reformed than others. He lives in an igloo-shaped doghouse in the first series, and a teepee in the second.

Cleopatra "Dirtbike" Funnie (Voiced by Fred Newman): The baby sister of the family, debuting in the episode "Doug's Secret Christmas". She gets her name from Judy snatching Doug's Christmas list and making fun of the names of what was on it and then sarcastically making relevant suggestions, one of them Cleopatra. In the end, Theda, who had been present at the time, says that she took a name suggestion from each of them. The name was decided via a Disney Adventures contest, with the winner receiving a drawing of himself with Doug and his friends.

Mosquito "Skeeter" Valentine (Voiced by Fred Newman): Skeeter is Doug's lanky best friend. He is famous in both series for the honking sounds he frequently makes. Skeeter's family who has lived in Bluffington for some time. He has a mischievous two-year-old brother, named Dale (also voiced by Newman). Skeeter initially helps Doug order food from the popular Bluffington restaurant Honker Burger (sold and converted into a French restaurant in the second series) in the series premiere (resulting in their friendship), and later helps Doug learn how to dance. He has a superhero alter-ego, whom he calls The Silver Skeeter. It is revealed that Skeeter is highly intelligent (much to Doug's discomfort), later gaining the respect of geeky twin brothers Al and Moo.

Judith Anastasia "Judy" Funnie (Voiced by Becca Lish): Doug's older sister, and the oddball of the family, she is obsessed with the works of William Shakespeare, and is a wanna-be actress and artist who attends a special art school for gifted individuals. She is a rather intelligent person, but at times is embarrassed by the banality of her family. She and Doug have normal bouts of sibling rivalry, but usually put it aside when faced with a problem. She is a stereotypical beatnik.

Buddy "Bud" Dink (Voiced by Fred Newman): A slightly eccentric, purple-skinned, retired neighbor of the Funnies, the first neighbor Doug meets. Always has a number of high-tech gadgets that were "very expensive". Claimed to be a writer in the first episode. Doug frequently goes to Mr. Dink for advice, but the advice Dink gives usually ends up making the situation worse.

Tippingdale "Tippi" Dink (Voiced by Doris Belack): Bud's sarcastic and normally monotonous, but generally well-intentioned and friendly, wife. Near the end of the first series, she defeated White in election as mayor. This role, which toned down her sarcasm, continued into the second series.

Lamar Bone (Voiced by Doug Preis): Assistant/vice-principal Lamar Bone is the stereotypical "mean principal" of Doug's schools. Mr. Bone is generally uptight and serious about his job. In his personal life, he enjoys yodeling and clog dancing which have earned him many accolades and trophies -- some of which he kept at Bluffington Elementary. Mr. Bone's speech is akin that of Don Knotts.

Robert "Bob" White (Voiced by Greg Lee): The former mayor of Bluffington and principal of Beebe Bluff School; a stereotypical fast talking glad-handing politician. He is best known for his campaign slogan "Vote for me!" and is overweight, is almost always shown wearing a grey suit and tie, and his white hair is always styled. He is eventually voted out of office in favor of Mrs. Dink, after which he takes the role of middle school principal (and Bone's superior) in the second series, a role he uses (somewhat unethically) to campaign for his old office back.

Beebe Bluff (Voiced by Alice Playten): A stereotypically spoiled heiress to the Bluff family fortune. Beebe is the daughter of Bill Bluff, the richest man in the town and a friend of Mayor White. The Bluff family is the namesake of the town of Bluffington, and in the second series, the school is even named after Beebe. Despite a certain air of superiority over her peers, Beebe maintains friendships with Patti Mayonnaise and most of her other contemporaries. She has a crush on Skeeter. Beebe was Alice Playten's final animated role before her death in 2011.

Al and Moo Sleech (Both voiced by Eddie Korbich): Smart twin brothers, both of whom have light purple skin. Doug looks to them for help whenever needed. In the second series, they skip the middle school grades and end up going to high school, but their relationship with Doug and others are still intact. They are each shown to have a crush on Judy.

William "Bill" Bluff II (Voiced by Doug Preis): Beebee's father, the richest man in Bluffington, and the descendant of Bluffington's founder. He tends to be somewhat greedy and can be the main antagonist, such as in the movie. He is fairly close with Mayor White, suggesting that Bluff uses White as a pawn through lucrative campaign contributions.

The A/V Nerds: A small club at Bluffington Elementary and then Beebe Bluff Middle that, as their name suggests, specializes in audio and video. They consist of Larry (Voiced by Chris Phillips), a pink-skinned and obese kid that is normally meek but can have a temper, Lincoln (Voiced by Tom McHugh), a somewhat skin kid that seems to be modeled slightly on Doug, Elmo (Voiced by Alice Playten), a shorter member with darker blue skin, and Brian (Voiced by Doug Preis), who has cream-colored skin and wears a mouth appliance.

Walter "Skunky" Beaumont (Voiced by Doug Preis): A typical slacker surfer dude, with a voice that is reminiscent of the Fast Times At Ridgemont High character Jeff Spicoli. In the first series, he was commonly mentioned, but never seen nor heard.

Guy Graham (Voiced by Guy Hadley): A purple-skinned schoolkid appearing only in the second series, a very handsome and eccentric, but rather selfish and inconsiderate kid. He is editor-in-chief for the school newspaper and is both Doug's boss and his rival, most especially for Patti's love. In Doug's Quailman fantasies, he has the villain identities of Golden Salmon, Rupert Schmupert, and an unnamed space slug. He was named after his own actor.

Connie Benge (Voiced by Becca Lish): A naive schoolgirl. In the first series, she seemed to have a small crush on Doug. This relationship with him remains in the second series, though she also tries to develop a similar relationship with Roger. Although she was rather heavy-set in the first series, she lost weight between the two series and got a new wardrobe and hairstyle after visiting a beauty farm, making her look quite different in both shows. During the first season on Nickelodeon, she had purple skin and blond hair, and was never mentioned by name.

Chalky Studebaker (Voiced by Doug Preis): A surprisingly friendly and helpful school jock with light green skin, who wants to follow the footsteps of his older brother Cliff.

Joe Valentine (Voiced by Billy West in the first series): Skeeter's father. Has a tendency to have short-term memory loss.

Home video release

Sony Wonder released a series of videos of the first series between 1993 and 1996. Walt Disney Home Video released four videos of the second series in 1997; each collection featured two episodes.

In 2008, Nickelodeon partnered with Amazon.com to allow new and old programming to be made available on DVD through CreateSpace. As part of the deal, Amazon.com is responsible for producing the discs (on one time burnable media) on-demand as well as cover and disc art.^[9] Seasons 3 and 4 of Nickelodeon's Doug were released on DVD on December 8, 2009, and December 22, 2009, respectively.

Season 4 was supposed to be released as a complete season, like its previous editions, but Nickelodeon was unable to locate two episodes from the final Nickelodeon season of the show, and opted to rename the DVD release "Doug: The Best of Season 4". The two missing episodes of Season 4 are available at iTunes Store .^[10]

Nickelodeon episodes are available from video on demand services such as iTunes Store (all seasons) and Zune Marketplace (all seasons).

It is not yet known if Shout! Factory will be releasing the Nick Doug.

Nick DVD name	Release date	Discs	Episodes
Season 1 (1991)	August 29, 2008	3	13
Season 2 (1992)	August 29, 2008	3	13
Season 3 (1993)	December 8, 2009	3	13
The Best of Season 4 (1993–94)	December 22, 2009	3	12

However, it is currently unknown if Disney will release the second series' seasons on DVD yet.

References

1. ^ Durden, Douglas (September 06, 1996). "'DOUG' CREATOR DOODLED WAY TO SUCCESS". Richmond Times. 
2. ^ ^{a b} [1]
3. ^ Roberts, Tom (September 09, 1991). "NEW TV 'TOON' HAS ROOTS HERE JIM JINKINS' 'DOUG' PREMIERES SUNDAY". Richmond Times. 
4. ^ The Ren & Stimpy Show: Seasons 1 and a Half [[]]
5. ^ Eller, Claudia (March 9, 1999). "With 'Doug,' Nickelodeon's Loss May Be Disney's Gain". LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/09/business/fi-15344. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 
6. ^ "New Musical Comedy Brings Doug To `Life'". Orlando Sentinel. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-05-13/travel/9905130333_1_doug-musical-comedy-funnie. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
7. ^ "Daytime Emmy Awards 1999". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000206/1999. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
8. ^ "Daytime Emmy Awards 2000". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000206/2000. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
9. ^ "Amazon and Nickelodeon/Paramount Strike Deal for Burn-on-Demand Titles". Site News. August 21, 2008. http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-Nickelodeon-Amazon-CreateSpace/10375. Retrieved 2008-08-24. 
10. ^ Doug DVD news: Release Date for Doug - The Best of Season 4 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

External links

	Nickelodeon portal
	Disney portal
	Animation portal
	Television portal

• Doug at TV.com
• Doug at the Internet Movie Database
• Disney's Doug at the Internet Movie Database
• Doug at the Big Cartoon DataBase