Doug (TV series)

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

Doug
File:Doug Cartoon Title Card.jpg Title Card
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Jim Jinkins
Written by	Jim Jinkins
Directed by	Ken Kimmelman Carol Millican Yvette Kaplan
Voices of	Fred Newman Constance Shulman Becca Lish Alice Plarten Doug Preis Greg Lee
Narrated by	Billy West (1991-1994) Tom McHugh (1996-1999)
Theme music composer	Fred Newman
Composer	Fred Newman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	117 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Jim Jinkins
Producer	JoEllyn Marlow
Editors	Bruce Knapp Alysha Cohen Meredith Jeffrey
Running time	24 minutes
Production companies	Jumbo Pictures (1991-1999) Nickelodeon Animation Studios (1991-1994) Ellipse Programmé (1991-1999) Walt Disney Television Animation (1996-1999)
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon (1991-1994) ABC (1996-1999)
Release	August 11, 1991 – June 26, 1999

Doug is an American animated television program that was created by Jim Jinkins and produced by Jumbo Pictures for the Nickelodeon network, as the first of their successful line of Nicktoons Later on, the series was also produced for Disney for airing on ABC's One Saturday Morning block. Doug stars 6th grader Douglas Yancey Funnie.

Plot

The series takes place in the fictitious town of Bluffington (where Doug and his family had moved from Bloatsburg) and deals with the life and imagination of title character, grade-schooler and diarist Doug Funnie, his dog Porkchop, and good friends Skeeter Valentine and Patti Mayonnaise.

Nickelodeon's Doug (1991-1994)

Doug premiered on Nickelodeon on August 11, 1991, where it continued until December 16, 1994 and in reruns until 2002, being the first Nicktoon. As of 2009, Nickelodeon's Doug airs reruns on MTV Tr3́s affiliates KBEH and KMOH-TV (as a E/I program) in the USA and on Nicktoonsters in the UK.

In the pilot episode, we find young Douglas Yancey Funnie and his family (Phil, Theda and sister Judy), having just moved away from their former residence in Bloatsburg, coming to a new town called Bluffington. There he meets Skeeter, Patti, Roger and Beebe, and his new life in a new town begins.

Disney's Doug (1996–1999)

In 1996 Disney ordered new episodes of Doug to be produced (renamed Brand Spanking New! Doug and then later Disney's Doug) which was in production from 1996–1999.

Several differences between the original and Disney versions exist. The Disney episodes featured a new theme song and added a younger sister, named Cleopatra Dirtbike Funnie, into the Funnie family. Perhaps to account for time, Doug's age was changed to 12½ years old. Several other minor character changes were added, including a new haircut for Patti Mayonnaise, and Connie Benge's weight reduction. Less noticeable than Patti's new hairdo was the change in Doug's haircut, due perhaps to approaching puberty, perhaps to trademark considerations. The original Doug has eight hairs; Disney's Doug has nine. Other changes include Roger Klotz becoming rich, having lived poorly in a trailer park previously, the closing of the Honker Burger, Mrs. Dink becoming the mayor, and the Beets breakup.

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. 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 the course of the show, Doug was nominated for at least two Daytime Emmy Awards.

In the Disney version, every episode was a full-length episode about 22 minutes long and was split into three segments. Unlike in the Nick version, where most episodes where 11 minutes long and had two of these half-length episodes per episode. The only exceptions are the pilot episode, the Christmas episode, and the Halloween episode full-length episodes being split into two segments.

Creation

Created by former Nickelodeon artist Jim Jinkins in 1990, and produced through Jinkins' production company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Originating with an unpublished book Doug 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 which the main character Doug often pretends to be in the cartoon, was inspired by a similar superhero invented by the creator of the show, Jim Jinkins, when he was younger.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Doug

Notable in the series' character design is the frequent use of unusual names and skin colors. Doug is of Caucasian tone, whereas Skeeter is blue, Patti is orange, and bad boy Roger Klotz is green. Jim Jinkins said in an interview that his reason for this was that he felt skin tone shouldn't make a difference.

Also noteworthy are the several fictitious and alter-egos of Doug Funnie in the series (ex Quailman and Jack Bandit).

Episodes

Main article: List of Doug episodes

Nickelodeon's Doug (52 episodes; 4 seasons) featured two 11-minute stories with a commercial break in between. Disney's Doug (65 episodes; 3 seasons) had a single story spanning the length of each episode. Disney also produced a feature film called Doug's 1st Movie.

Airings

The original version aired on Nickelodeon from 1991-1994 and re-runs from 1994-2003. Re-runs of the original version of the show also aired on Noggin from 1999-2002, on Nicktoons Network from 2002-2005 and on MTV Tr3́s affiliates KBEH and KMOH-TV (as a E/I program) from September 2007-present. These seasons were produced between 1991 and 1994. In 1996 Disney produced new episodes. The Disney version aired aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1996-1997. In September 1997, ABC started a new Saturday morning cartoon block called Disney's One Saturday Morning Doug aired on this from 1997-1999, and re-runs from 1999-2000. Re-runs of the Disney version of the show also aired on The Disney Afternoon from 1998-1999, on UPN's Disney's One Too block from 1999-2000, Disney Channel from 2001-2002 and Toon Disney from 2001-2004.

Popularity

The popularity of Doug spawned merchandise such as clothes, toys, and a number of books. Doug also had a theatrically-released feature film in 1999, Doug's 1st Movie, ironically his only movie. A video game called Doug's Big Game was also released in 2000. Even a live 30-minute musical stage performance called "Disney's Doug Live!" was created and performed at The Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. The show ran from March 15, 1999 to May 6, 2001.

In addition, Doug has retained a large cult following due to its nostalgic quality to young adults who grew up in the 1990s. In an episode of Robot Chicken, a guy recognizes Doug next to him in a bar. He asks him what he's been up to and Doug says "nothing" as he takes a sip of his drink. The melody for the "Doug" theme song was incorporated into the Suburban Legends song "Da Bomb", and is used by the band Muke in their song "Dreamsickle".

The alternative rock group Black Tie Bombers wrote a song entitled "Meet Me At The Honker Burger (Bangin' on a Trash Can)", which is a reference to both the Honker Burger restaurant from the show and the song "Banging On A Trash Can" that was performed by Doug and Skeeter. American rapper, Asher Roth, named Doug Funnie as his favourite cartoon character and a "cool guy" on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.

The pop-punk group Sexy Heroes in Transit wrote a song titled "Bluffington Diaries", with the content of the song chronicling events in the show. Many events, people, and places are referred to.

Media release

United States

• Nickelodeon (1991-1994) (re-runs, 1994-2003, 2006)
• ABC (1996-1999) (reruns, 1999-2000)
• The Disney Afternoon (re-runs, 1998-1999)
• UPN (re-runs, 1999-2000)
• Noggin (re-runs, 1999-2002)
• The Disney Channel (re-runs, 2001-2002)
• Toon Disney (re-runs, 2001-2004)
• Nicktoons Network (reruns; 2002-2005, December 2007, December 2008, July 2009-present)
• KBEH and KMOH-TV (re-runs, September 2007-present) (as a E/I program)

United Kingdom

• Channel 4 (1994-1996)
• CITV (1992, 1997-1998)
• Nickelodeon (1993-2002)
• Disney Channel (1996-2002)
• Toon Disney (2003-2006)
• Nicktoons UK (2002-2006)
• Nicktoonsters (2008-Present)

DVD and digital releases

Nick DVD name	Release date	Discs	Episodes
Season 1 (1991)	August 29, 2008	3	13
Season 2 (1992)	August 29, 2008	3	13

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. Disney's Doug is not yet available on Disney DVD.

The show is available from video on demand services such as iTunes Store.

External links

• Template:Bcdb
• Doug at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Disney's Doug at IMDb

Doug (TV series) on OpenStreetMap