2 Stupid Dogs

2 Stupid Dogs
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Donovan Cook
Developed by	Hanna-Barbera Turner Program Services
Directed by	Donovan Cook
Voices of	Mark Schiff Brad Garrett Brian Cummings Jess Harnell Jim Cummings Tony Jay
Theme music composer	Chris Desmond and Tom Seufert
Opening theme	"2 Stupid Dogs Title Theme" by Chris Desmond and Tom Seufert
Ending theme	"2 Stupid Dogs Ending Theme" by Chris Desmond and Tom Seufert
Composers	Vaughn Johnson and Guy Moon
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (whole) 39 (segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	William Hanna Joseph Barbera Buzz Potamkin
Producers	Donovan Cook Larry Huber
Running time	22 minutes (7 minutes per segment)
Original release
Network	TBS Syndication
Release	September 5, 1993 (1993-09-05) – May 15, 1995 (1995-05-15)

2 Stupid Dogs is an American animated television series, created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services, that originally ran from September 5, 1993, to May 15, 1995, on Syndication and TBS. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, called "The Big Dog" and "The Little Dog" in the credits. The Big Dog was voiced by Brad Garrett and the Little Dog was voiced by Mark Schiff. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network and later its classic animation network Boomerang in 2005 through 2006, and returned on June 1, 2009 (though only showing it every summer), and also returned on July 5, 2011, to Cartoon Network for the first time in ten years, but it left on September 23, 2011, and it was removed from the lineup for a replacement for Courage the Cowardly Dog on September 26, 2011.

A backup segment, a remake of Hanna-Barbera's Secret Squirrel, titled Super Secret Secret Squirrel, was shown in between the main 2 Stupid Dogs cartoons in many of the 13 episodes, similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1960s.

Plot

2 Stupid Dogs is about a big dog and a little dog, neither of whom, as the title explains, is very intelligent, and their everyday misadventures. The animation style is unusual for the time: a very flat, simplistic style similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the '50s and '60s, but with early '90s humor and sensibility. In addition, the Big Dog talks much less than the Little Dog does and most of the time, the Big Dog talks about food. It also did not have a series structure, similar to many humorous cartoons and sitcoms. The show did not follow a continuous storyline — what happens in one episode has little to no effect on another. 2 Stupid Dogs contained very brief sexual innuendos, as did other such cartoons of the time such as Rocko's Modern Life.

Production

2 Stupid Dogs was the beginning of the successful revival of Hanna-Barbera's fortunes, since the studio had not launched a bona fide hit since The Smurfs in 1981 and The Snorks in 1984. The Turner Entertainment president installed MTV and Nickelodeon branding veteran Fred Seibert as the head of production. Seibert's plan to reinvent the studio was to put his faith in the talent community, a first for television animation, and Hanna-Barbera in particular. His first pitch and first series put into production in 1992 was 2 Stupid Dogs, created and designed by recent California Institute of the Arts graduate Donovan Cook. Ren & Stimpy's creator, John Kricfalusi, was credited to adding "tidbits of poor taste" to the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes, and a few other Spümcø artists also contributed to selected episodes during the course of the show.

Several artists and directors from the show became the first creators in Seibert's What a Cartoon! program; 48 short, original character cartoons, made expressly for the Cartoon Network, and designed to find the talent and hits of the new generations. Larry Huber, who later served as executive producer on the What a Cartoon! program, teamed first with Seibert as producer on the 2 Stupid Dogs series and directed the middle cartoon, Super Secret Secret Squirrel. 2 Stupid Dogs eventually helped launch the careers of creators Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Sym-Bionic Titan), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Wander Over Yonder), Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy) Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show) Miles Thompson, Paul Rudish, Rob Renzetti (My Life as a Teenage Robot), and Zac Moncrief.

Characters

• The Little Dog (voiced by Mark Schiff), a small tawny colored Dachsund, is much more energetic and hyperactive than the Big Dog. The Little Dog is completely scared by cats, possibly due to a case of ailurophobia and when a cat (the very same cat) appears, it is the Big Dog who scares the cat away. He often refers to things he doesn't like as caca!. In Sheep Dog, it was revealed that he does not know his own name, and nor does the Big Dog.
• The Big Dog (voiced by Brad Garrett) is a large grey Old English Sheepdog with a purple nose. He is much stronger than the Little Dog. The Big Dog is generally too lazy to bother with anything, and most of the time seemed more aloof and unconcerned about his surroundings than actually stupid. In some episodes, he surprisingly reveals deep philosophical intelligence. His name was confirmed to be Jonathan on two separate occasions (Love, Spit Soup).
• The Cat is a small innocent cat which the Little Dog is terrified of, despite its being harmless. The Big Dog's bark causes the Cat to freeze in terror; however, the Cat is not afraid of the Big Dog unless it barks.
• Mr. Hollywood (voiced by Brian Cummings) is a large man who likes to point out others' mistakes. Whenever the dogs bump into him, he has a completely new appearance. He has also had many occupations such as a teacher, farmer, casino manager, Noah and pet shop owner. When pointing out others' mistakes he will say, "Aww, isn't that cute? BUT IT'S WRONG!!"
• Kenny Fowler (voiced by Jarrett Lennon) is a small skinny kid with nerdy glasses, who is often pushed around by school bully Buzz and often asks the dogs for help.
• Cubby (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is a fat, spotty teenager with big glasses, blonde hair and blue lips. In the episodes he appears in he assumes the role of a different job, like Mr. Hollywood. He has a squeaky voice and often lets off gas when excited. He helps the stupid dogs with questions and problems they have, which mainly involve food.
• Buffy Ziegenhagen (voiced by Tawni Tamietti) is a girl in Kenny's class that he has a crush on and who has a secret crush on him.
• Red (voiced by Candi Milo), a parody of Little Red Riding Hood, is a small, meek little girl that the dogs often encounter. When she speaks, she shouts one word in the sentence very loudly compared to the quiet tone of voice she usually has. The dogs usually just join her for food. She needs glasses and even with them, her sight is far from 20/20. On one occasion the Dogs have shown fear and anger towards her and the Little Dog even called her an evil little girl, one of the few times the Little Dog shows genuine intelligence.

Reception

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described 2 Stupid Dogs as one of two "clones" of The Ren & Stimpy Show, the other one being The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show. The show was generally well received critically and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award (but lost to Rugrats).

See also

• Donovan Cook
• List of 2 Stupid Dogs episodes
• List of works produced by Hanna–Barbera
• List of Hanna–Barbera characters

External links

• 2 Stupid Dogs - Cartoon Network Department of Cartoons (Archive)
• Toon Tracker: 2 Stupid Dogs
• 2 Stupid Dogs at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• The Cartoon Scrapbook – Informational profile on 2 Stupid Dogs.