doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo-doo-doo doo doo
February 14, 2012 6:54 AM Subscribe
I was living in Richmond, VA when the movie came out. For the premiere, instead of an evening gala event in Hollywood or something he had it held right there at The Byrd (an old school movie palace) in the middle of the day so he could invite dozens of schoolbuses carrying every middle schooler in town. His introduction went something like "yeah when I was your age, I drew cartoons all the time and everyone told me it wouldn't amount to anything, you can't always listen to grown ups."
posted by trackofalljades at 7:28 AM on February 14, 2012 [13 favorites]
posted by trackofalljades at 7:28 AM on February 14, 2012 [13 favorites]
My favorite thing about that show is I had an awesome Doug watch that I got by sending in some UPCs from my Life cereal. Man I loved that watch...
posted by inigo2 at 7:29 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by inigo2 at 7:29 AM on February 14, 2012
Loved Doug. Weird thing, I remember that Florida grapefruit juice commercial and never made the connection.
My favorite thing about that show is I had an awesome Doug watch that I got by sending in some UPCs from my Life cereal. Man I loved that watch...
OMG, me too!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:34 AM on February 14, 2012
My favorite thing about that show is I had an awesome Doug watch that I got by sending in some UPCs from my Life cereal. Man I loved that watch...
OMG, me too!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:34 AM on February 14, 2012
I loved Doug!
The OP indirectly led me to this wonderful blog: Doug Funnie is Crazy
posted by Jeff Morris at 7:39 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
The OP indirectly led me to this wonderful blog: Doug Funnie is Crazy
posted by Jeff Morris at 7:39 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
It’s pretty much common thinking that Skeeter was African-American, and I love that because I did not consciously set out for that to be the case; I just thought he looked good blue.
This thought never, ever occurred to me.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:41 AM on February 14, 2012
This thought never, ever occurred to me.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 7:41 AM on February 14, 2012
I'm sure this puts me in a very small minority, but I was never a fan of Doug--I kind of actively disliked it when I was of Nicktoons-watching age. I really liked most everything else on the channel--Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats... but I had a problem with Doug.
I think it was because I was a particularly emotional, sensitive kid (still am, really), and the conceit of the show--taking the ups and downs of preadolescence--which I was going through at that very moment--and literally turning that into a cartoon, exaggerating the experiences and making them funny, that really bothered me. Like the show was making light of what I was going through and not taking its audience seriously.
I probably wouldn't feel that way anymore, but I haven't watched an episode of Doug in a long time. I do like this insight into Nickelodeon and how shows like this get made though.
posted by Maaik at 7:54 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think it was because I was a particularly emotional, sensitive kid (still am, really), and the conceit of the show--taking the ups and downs of preadolescence--which I was going through at that very moment--and literally turning that into a cartoon, exaggerating the experiences and making them funny, that really bothered me. Like the show was making light of what I was going through and not taking its audience seriously.
I probably wouldn't feel that way anymore, but I haven't watched an episode of Doug in a long time. I do like this insight into Nickelodeon and how shows like this get made though.
posted by Maaik at 7:54 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
I always liked the soothing background music (the Beatles parodies were funny, too).
posted by Rhaomi at 8:12 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 8:12 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
(Also, if you liked the show I think they're still running re-runs of it nightly on the TeenNick network as part of their 90s block.)
posted by Rhaomi at 8:14 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by Rhaomi at 8:14 AM on February 14, 2012
I loved that show. It had heart. Of course, it didn't hurt that I, too, once had a crush on a girl named Patty.
posted by Gelatin at 8:18 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by Gelatin at 8:18 AM on February 14, 2012
Nothing makes you feel older than childhood nostalgia for shit you were too old for. Doug premiered when I was 15. Get off my oddly colored lawn.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:23 AM on February 14, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 8:23 AM on February 14, 2012 [5 favorites]
I'm sure this puts me in a very small minority, but I was never a fan of Doug--I kind of actively disliked it when I was of Nicktoons-watching age. I really liked most everything else on the channel--Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats... but I had a problem with Doug.
It wasn;t until i was in the upper levels of Doug's target audience that we got cable TV but my brother was smack dab at the right age and we liked to watch cartoons together and the one thing we both agreed on is that we hated Doug is a fiery white hot passion. Everything in the show seemed designed to annoy us, down to the color pallet and Patty's horrible cat wail of a voice and the fact that Doug never read visually as a middle schooler but always as a balding middle aged man suffering some terrible Benjamin Button curse and the bland, suspiciously Canadian plots and the damned theme song and dancing dog and aghhhhh!
Me and my brother don't agree on a lot of things, but we are united in this one thing: Doug fucking sucked.
posted by The Whelk at 9:04 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
I was too old for Doug. But it was a really great name for a TV show.
posted by DigDoug at 9:20 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by DigDoug at 9:20 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
I tend to agree with The Whelk. I don't remember Doug very well, other than that I wasn't very fond of it. The other cartoons that were in its line-up (which Canada's YTV played in, apparently, more or less the same order as Nickelodeon did) were great and still hold water as an adult. Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, and even Rugrats always felt like cartoons for adults that were disguised as kid's shows. I mean, hell, the Rugrats Christmas Special showed all of the little kids watching that: SANTA IS YOUR MOM AND DAD.
posted by asnider at 9:29 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by asnider at 9:29 AM on February 14, 2012
...and even Rugrats always felt like cartoons for adults that were disguised as kid's shows.
There was also (self link alert) this.
posted by griphus at 9:33 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
There was also (self link alert) this.
posted by griphus at 9:33 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hmm. I didn't much like Ren & Stimpy when it premiered--it both grossed and creeped me out. For a bookish, contemplative kid, though, Doug hit the spot.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:36 AM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:36 AM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
The Whelk: "Doug fucking sucked."
I think the point of Doug was to be there for the lonely kids.
I hate myself, no girls will talk to me, I have no friends, I have zits all over, I smell, but at least I ain't Doug so things are lookin' up!
posted by wcfields at 9:47 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think the point of Doug was to be there for the lonely kids.
I hate myself, no girls will talk to me, I have no friends, I have zits all over, I smell, but at least I ain't Doug so things are lookin' up!
posted by wcfields at 9:47 AM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
Doug was awesome. I was in 2nd grade when it started and so I kind of saw Doug as a crystal ball into what would be my awkward middle school years.
I never thought about it before but... did Jim Jinkins also do those Red Bull ads and the Reach toothbrush ads?
posted by d1rge at 10:27 AM on February 14, 2012
I never thought about it before but... did Jim Jinkins also do those Red Bull ads and the Reach toothbrush ads?
posted by d1rge at 10:27 AM on February 14, 2012
Nickelodeon's Doug was great.
Disney's Doug is an abomination unto Nuggan.
posted by inturnaround at 10:31 AM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
Disney's Doug is an abomination unto Nuggan.
posted by inturnaround at 10:31 AM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
“Was Skeeter black?”
Watching the show this idea never occurred to me, but in hindsight it makes sense. Then again, people in the Doug universe are everything from tan to green to purple, so.
"...The show bible for Doug is huge.”
Indeed, Jinkins said that the bible — which every writer had to read cover to cover to keep the series consistent — included everything from floor plans of all the imaginary community’s houses to maps of each street.
I would pay serious cash money to read this.
posted by Gordafarin at 11:08 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
Watching the show this idea never occurred to me, but in hindsight it makes sense. Then again, people in the Doug universe are everything from tan to green to purple, so.
"...The show bible for Doug is huge.”
Indeed, Jinkins said that the bible — which every writer had to read cover to cover to keep the series consistent — included everything from floor plans of all the imaginary community’s houses to maps of each street.
I would pay serious cash money to read this.
posted by Gordafarin at 11:08 AM on February 14, 2012 [3 favorites]
Two mindblowing facts from the article:
- Billy West voicing Doug (I just never made the connection but listening now it's so obvious)
- Mr. and Mrs. Dink being DINKs
I hope the authors upcoming Nickeolodeon book does well. Selfishly, because I hope it gets the You Can't Do That on Television DVD set out of development hell.
posted by dr_dank at 12:40 PM on February 14, 2012
posted by dr_dank at 12:40 PM on February 14, 2012
Billy West voicing Doug (I just never made the connection but listening now it's so obvious)
I know, right? I was trying to remember Doug and his voice, and I suddenly realized he sounded just like Fry from Futurama. I looked it up an lo and behold, they're both voiced by Billy West. That guy is epic.
posted by grog at 12:50 PM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
I know, right? I was trying to remember Doug and his voice, and I suddenly realized he sounded just like Fry from Futurama. I looked it up an lo and behold, they're both voiced by Billy West. That guy is epic.
posted by grog at 12:50 PM on February 14, 2012 [2 favorites]
Pro Doug. Pro Porkchop.
Doug hate makes me .... Uneasy. Doug disinterest, that's okay.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 1:59 PM on February 14, 2012
Doug hate makes me .... Uneasy. Doug disinterest, that's okay.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 1:59 PM on February 14, 2012
Partly due to Doug Funnie is Crazy (Thanks, Jeff Morris) I have a sneaking suspicion that Doug (and probably also the TGIF lineup) actually gave me a measure of Doug's anxiety and self-doubt. Since I hadn't really claimed a strong identity at that age and adolescence is a time for figuring out social conventions, the heavy-handed lessons in the show gave easy answers. It certainly didn't explain that people prefer to drop hints as to how they feel, rather than risk the embarassment of confrontation, or that it's really more like "just be yourself, but c'mon let's not wax rhapsodic about your stamp collection* to someone you just met 10 minutes ago".
Reading DFIC a few years ago brought it home to me. Doug is absolutely fucking neurotic in just about any social situation, plagued by catastrophic visions of his impending failure that terrify him into self-defeat, and yearning — no, dying — to be "cool".
I'm not a nervous wreck by any measure and my life was not ruined or anything so dramatic. I just think that, among the many influences and experiences that have shaped me so far, that show was a bad one.
*Just a hypothetical example, not philatelist-ist.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
Reading DFIC a few years ago brought it home to me. Doug is absolutely fucking neurotic in just about any social situation, plagued by catastrophic visions of his impending failure that terrify him into self-defeat, and yearning — no, dying — to be "cool".
I'm not a nervous wreck by any measure and my life was not ruined or anything so dramatic. I just think that, among the many influences and experiences that have shaped me so far, that show was a bad one.
*Just a hypothetical example, not philatelist-ist.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2012 [1 favorite]
Although I was right about in the demographic, I was a huge Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life fan, and Doug was too gentle for me. Still, I remember I found it more charming than annoying, especially the fantasy sequences. It's good to hear this guy is still working and has such a solid outlook. Animators, especially former Nickelodeon animators, can be bitter, bitter men.
I didn't care for Rugrats, either, but I couldn't get enough of Aaahhh! Real Monsters. When Monsters, Inc. first came out, I thought TOTAL RIPOFF. I was wrong about that, of course, but I still think the show deserves more love.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:24 PM on February 14, 2012
I didn't care for Rugrats, either, but I couldn't get enough of Aaahhh! Real Monsters. When Monsters, Inc. first came out, I thought TOTAL RIPOFF. I was wrong about that, of course, but I still think the show deserves more love.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:24 PM on February 14, 2012
dude doug's beatnik sister kicked ass
i was all over rocko and ren & stimpy more but doug's gentle bizarre world was like what if pete and pete were inhabited by total wusses, what if that?
posted by beefetish at 2:31 PM on February 14, 2012 [4 favorites]
i was all over rocko and ren & stimpy more but doug's gentle bizarre world was like what if pete and pete were inhabited by total wusses, what if that?
posted by beefetish at 2:31 PM on February 14, 2012 [4 favorites]
I hope it gets the You Can't Do That on Television DVD set out of development hell.
It's in development? I always assumed that there weren't any DVDs because the show is owned by CJOH.
posted by roll truck roll at 4:50 PM on February 14, 2012
It's in development? I always assumed that there weren't any DVDs because the show is owned by CJOH.
posted by roll truck roll at 4:50 PM on February 14, 2012
roll truck roll, iirc, the you can't... DVD set was in the planning stages in 04-05 as part of the rewind series. Another season of Clarissa and Pete&Pete were due to come out at the same time. Due to a management shakeup in that division at Nick, those were all put on hold.
There is a vendor selling packaged burned DVD copies of YCDTOTV, but I still hold out hope of DVDs made from the masters at CJOH, if any survived the fire. Perhaps Nick has archival copies.
posted by dr_dank at 5:11 PM on February 14, 2012
There is a vendor selling packaged burned DVD copies of YCDTOTV, but I still hold out hope of DVDs made from the masters at CJOH, if any survived the fire. Perhaps Nick has archival copies.
posted by dr_dank at 5:11 PM on February 14, 2012
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posted by Mooseli at 7:24 AM on February 14, 2012