Buttons and Mindy

Buttons and Mindy are characters that were regularly featured on the animated children's television show "Animaniacs". Their segments centered on three characters: Buttons (voiced by Frank Welker), a heroic German shepherd-type dog; Mindy Sadlier (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), an accident-prone female toddler; and Mindy's mother (voiced by Tress MacNeille), who was often referred to as "Lady" by Mindy, except in the "Animaniacs" movie "Wakko's Wish" where Mindy finally calls her "Mom". Her face was never shown, in a nod to how Baby Herman's mother depicts in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and its spin-off short films, but her brown hair can be seen briefly in "Wakko's Wish". Mindy also had a father (voiced by Frank Welker), who appeared in a few episodes, but his face wasn't shown either.

The plots are deceptively simple. Mindy is left alone with Buttons, who is charged as babysitter by her mother. Soon after, ever-curious Mindy wanders off with Buttons chasing after her. Buttons faithfully keeps her from harm, often taking the brunt of horrible abuse and injury. Somehow Mindy manages to wander back home unharmed, yet Buttons is ironically always scolded for being inattentive and disobedient by Mindy's mother, as upon his return, he is set up to look like he misbehaved in some way (terrorizing the mailmen, letting Mindy get dirty, etc.); at one point, Buttons becomes so fed up with this routine that he storms off while holding a sign reading "I Quit". However, Mindy always hugs Buttons and tells her dog she loves him afterwards, which always seems to cheer him up. In the movie Wakko's Wish, Buttons' bravery and loyalty is noticed for once, and he is rewarded with a tower of steak.

A running gag in the cartoons is a moment where Mindy comes across somebody and asks what they're doing. This prompts a series of "Why?"s from Mindy until the person finally gets exasperated, at which point Mindy will say "Okay, I love you, buh-bye!" and continue on her way, at which point the person will finally realize what just happened. Another running gag, is usually Mindy calling her mother, "Nice Lady", which makes Mindy's mother to ask her to call her any mommy names to which Mindy always replies "Okay, lady, I love you, buh-bye!" In the movie Wakko's Wish, Mindy finally called her mother "Mom".

In several shorts, Buttons and Mindy have been re-designed as Flintstones, Jetsons, and even mermaid-type characters.

In a non-Buttons & Mindy short entitled "Lookit the Fuzzy Heads!", the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) use Mindy as a way to get Elmyra to leave them alone, by having Mindy follow a wind-up toy, then Elmyra follows Mindy, who subsequently receives the punishment that Buttons usually receives, much to the amusement of Buttons.