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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 school in his new hometown of Bluffington, Virginia. The series lampoons several topics, including puppy love, bullying, and rumors. Numerous episodes center around Doug's attempts to date his classmate Patti Mayonnaise.

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 on January 2, 1994. Following the acquisition of the former Jumbo Pictures by Disney in 1996, the series 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 in 1999 while having a feature film adaption. In 2011, the Nickelodeon series became syndicated on TeenNick's then newly-debuted The '90s Are All That block.^[2]

Plot[link]

Doug Funnie and his family (which consists of his parents Theda and Phil, sister Judy, and 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 loosely based on the city of Richmond, Virginia, due to the fact that creator Jim Jinkins was born and raised there.

Production[link]

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Jinkins in September 1990, and produced through Jinkins' production company, Jumbo Pictures, Inc. Originating with an unpublished book, Doug's Got a New Pair of Shoes, by artist and series creator Jim Jinkins and writer Joe Aaron, the 1991 animated series Doug emerged on the Nickelodeon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 channel. 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.

Nickelodeon series (1991–1994)[link]

Doug premiered on Nickelodeon on August 11, 1991 where it continued until January 2, 1994, and was aired in reruns until 2003, being the first Nicktoon. Doug was rerun 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 on 7.00am in the UK. on 10.30pm only on Nickelodeon (TV channel)

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.

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.

Disney series (1996–1999)[link]

In 1996, the series was picked up by The Walt Disney Company after Jinkins sold off Jumbo Pictures to the aforementioned corporation, and as such the rights to Doug with it. Disney ordered new episodes of Doug to be produced (renamed Brand Spanking New! Doug, and then later Disney's Doug) which ran from 1996 to 1999.^[4]

Several differences between the Nickelodeon and Disney shows exist. Doug was also voiced by McHugh now and Roger by Phillips, 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). The show also changed theme songs, with the vocalise tune used on Nickelodeon replaced by a mostly whistled tune in the Disney version. Many changes were addressed in Doug's Last Birthday, the first episode of the Disney series.

• The episode takes place 3 months after the Nickelodeon series, making everyone a few months older. As such, Doug is now twelve years old instead of eleven, though he was eleven throughout most of the episode.
• Throughout the episode, Doug learns about the meanings of change. He has a new long hairstyle and wears a red and blue cap that bears very noticeable similarities to the cap that was seen in the Nickelodeon episode Doug's Lucky Hat. Skeeter mentions that he sounds different (This refers to McHugh now voicing Doug instead of West, though McHugh was still perfecting his voice for Doug during the episode.), and he finally gets a new haircut that is identical to what he had before, only with nine pieces of hair instead of eight. He also gets a new shirt and pair of shorts, both of which are identical to what he had on before, but with longer sleeves.
• Patti, who was now 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 skin has even more blue in it.
• Connie, upon going to a beauty farm, had got a new hairstyle and wardrobe, and also lost a considerable amount of weight.
• The Beets had broken up, due to conflicts with each other
• Honker Burger (a parody of the real-life In-N-Out Burger) has gone bankrupt and replaced with a French restaurant named Chiz Honque, leaving Mr. Swirly's as 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 after selling the land their trailer is on to Bill Bluff for a large amount of money. She and Roger move into a mansion and get new clothes and hairstyles. Incidentally, Roger is rude to Doug far less of the time than he was in the Nickelodeon series, although when he does lash out at Doug he is far more cruel.

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, where every episode focused on Doug with him narrating, the Disney series had several episodes that also focused on several other characters, usually without any narration at all. For example, the episode "Doug's Chubby Bunny" focuses on Patti, and features no narration, save for a brief PSA made by Patti at the end.

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.^[5] 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.^[6][7]

Disney aired their series 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. Despite controversy from various fans of the Nickelodeon series, 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 series, every episode was a full-length episode of about 22 minutes, split into three segments. In the Nickelodeon series, 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[link]

Douglas Yancey "Doug" Funnie (Voiced by Billy West in the Nickelodeon series and by Tom McHugh in the Disney series): Doug is the title character, a shy, extremely insecure, somewhat clumsy, gullible, naïve, 11½ (turns 12 in the Disney 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 but also an outgoing environmentalist.

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. Skilled kite maker.

Roger M. Klotz (Voiced by Billy West in the Nickelodeon series and by Chris Phillips in the Disney series): Roger is Doug's arch-rival and the neighborhood thug. Roger and his divorced mother lived in a trailer park in the Nickelodeon series; in the Disney 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 meanie, 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 Nickelodeon series. He is normally seen with his three fellow gang members, all of whom together form a rock band called Roger and the Ulcers.

• 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.
• Willie White (Voiced by Doug Preis): Mayor Bob's son. He is short and has light brown skin and 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.

Patricia "Patti" Mayonnaise (Voiced by Constance Shulman): Doug's classmate and secret crush, Patti is 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 Disney series, she gets 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 Nickelodeon series, and a teepee in the Disney series.

Cleopatra "Dirtbike" Funnie (Voiced by Fred Newman): The baby sister of the family, appearing only in the Disney series. She debuts 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, and sidekick. He is famous in both series for the honking sounds he frequently makes. Skeeter's family who has lived in Bluffington for some time. 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.

Dale Valentine (Voiced by Fred Newman): Skeeter's two-year-old baby brother. He is mischievous and commonly plays around with Doug, such as commenting on his big nose.

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. Always seen wearing a beret and dark glasses.

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". Speaks with a lisp. Claimed to be a writer in the first episode. Doug frequently goes to Mr. Dink for advice, but his advice usually ends up making the situation worse. Always refers to Doug as "Douglas".

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 Nickelodeon series, she defeated White in election as mayor. This role, which toned down her sarcasm, continued into the Disney series.

Lamar Bone (Voiced by Doug Preis): Assistant/vice-principal Lamar Bone is the stereotypical "mean principal" of Doug's schools, and is one of Doug's antagonists. Mr. Bone is generally uptight and serious about his job, and commonly threatens to put even the smallest mistakes on permanent records. 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 and appearance is akin to Don Knotts. Has a nephew named Percy Femur who visits on occasion. Percy is extremely large and muscular for his age and is also very dim-witted. He is a much more aggressive bully than Roger is.

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 Disney 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. Doug had his first kiss with her in the episode Doug's Secret Admirer, although it was out of gratitude rather than love, since she already 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 Disney series, they skip all of 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. The two try to hide the fact that their father is not as intelligent as them and is a hardworking doughnut baker.

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. Doug has gone to them for help a few times.

• Brian (Voiced by Doug Preis): Has cream-colored skin and a mouth appliance, which he is shown to be sensitive of.
• Elmo (Voiced by Alice Playten): The shortest member. He has dark blue skin.
• 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 skinny kid with light blue skin. He appears to be slightly modeled on Doug.

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 Nickelodeon series, he was commonly mentioned, but never seen nor heard.

Guy Graham (Voiced by Guy Hadley): A purple-skinned schoolkid appearing only in the Disney 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, Lord of the Polka, and an unnamed space slug. He was named after his own actor.

Connie Benge (Voiced by Becca Lish): A naïve schoolgirl and Patti's best friend. In the Nickelodeon series, she seemed to have a small crush on Doug. This relationship with him remains in the Disney 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 either show. 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. Comes from a family to whom winning "just comes naturally". This can put him under pressure at times along with his extremely busy extracurricular schedule.

Joe Valentine (Voiced by Billy West in the Nickelodeon series and by Fred Newman in the Disney series): Skeeter's father. Has a tendency to have short-term memory loss. He also has a foul temper, normally trying to count on himself, but he always skips to 10 after getting to 2, and normally turning beet red when angered (Mostly at Doug and Skeeter).

Coach Spitz (Voiced by Jeff Bergman): Doug's coach. Has no tolerance for anyone who's not strong, or can't squeeze the guts out of vegetables. Seems to worry more about the players, than about his experience on how to coach.

Mr. Swirly (Voiced by Bruce Bayley Johnson): The owner of Swirly's Ice Cream. He seems to be unsure what to do in dire situations, and, in at least one episode of the Nickelodeon series, didn't seem to be aware that chocolate and cement don't mix, or that he was responsible for it. In the Disney series, he had a more prominent role as the owner of a new Swirly's restaurant that immediately became the new hangout for Doug and his friends.

Elaine Perigrew (Voiced by Fran Brill): Doug's art teacher. She gushes even over the simplest form of art the moment she sees it, and in one episode of the Nickelodeon series, she mistakenly gave Doug the credit for the hand-painted drawing, that turned out to be the back of Doug's landscape painting that was covered by Porkchop and a Racoon chasing each other.

Emily Kristal (Voiced by Fran Brill): Doug's permanent teacher for middle school, appearing only in the Disney series. Has a friendly, understanding manner, and tends to get highly into whatever book she reads to the class. In the final season, she becomes the new girlfriend of Patti's father Chad, much to Patti's anger and frustration, but eventually learns how to deal with it, as Emily and Chad are married in the Disney series finale.

Broadcast history[link]

• Nickelodeon (1991–2003; 2007)
• ABC (1996–2001)
• The Disney Afternoon (1997–1999)
• Noggin (1999–2002)
• UPN (1999–2002)
• Disney Channel (2001–2002)
• The N (2002–2003; 2004–2006)
• Nick on CBS (2002–2004)
• Nicktoons (2002–2005)
• Toon Disney (2002–2005)
• TeenNick (2011–present)

Home video release[link]

Sony Wonder released a series of Doug videos between 1993 and 1996. Walt Disney Home Video released four videos of Disney's Doug 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.^[8] Seasons 3 and 4 of 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, 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.^[9]

All Nickelodeon episodes including the two that are missing from the season 4 DVD, are available from video on demand services such as iTunes Store, PlayStation Network, Zune Marketplace.

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up Appendix:Doug in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

	Nickelodeon portal
	Disney portal
	Animation portal
	Television portal
	1990s 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