2 Stupid Dogs
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Template:Infobox television 2 Stupid Dogs was an American animated television series created by cartoonist Donovan Cook produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons that ran from September 1993 to January 1995 on TBS Superstation. After it was cancelled, reruns continued to air on Cartoon Network and later Boomerang.
The main segments of the show featured two very stupid dogs, both of whom went unnamed (though the big dog was called 'Jonathan' in one episode). The big dog was voiced by Brad Garrett, later of US TV's Everybody Loves Raymond, and the little dog was voiced by Mark Schiff. A back-up segment, Super Secret Secret Squirrel, featured a modernized take on the classic Hanna-Barbera character Secret Squirrel.
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Premise and 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. 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 HB in particular. His first pitch and first series put into production in 1992 was 2 Stupid Dogs, by recent California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) graduate Donovan Cook.
The show was considered by some to be Hanna-Barbera's attempt to cash in on the popularity of Ren and Stimpy, which was at the height of its popularity when 2 Stupid Dogs hit the air. Ren and Stimpy was a cartoon about an insane chiuhauha and a stupid cat, with off-beat, weird gross-out jokes with a Bob Clampett-like animation style. 2 Stupid Dogs, similarly, was a cartoon about a stupid dog and another stupid dog, with similar jokes and an animation style that was unusual (at the time), although very different from the animation style of Ren and Stimpy.
Several artists and directors from the show became the first creators in Seibert's innovative What-A-Cartoon! program, 48 theatrical length, original character cartoons, made expressly for the Cartoon Network, and designed to find the talent and hits of the new generations. 2 Stupid Dogs spawned creators Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls), Miles Thompson, Paul Rudish, and Zac Moncrief. Many of their shorts were imparted with the same strikingly two-dimensional, purposefully cartoony animation style.
More about the dogs and other characters
The title characters were never named. They were referred to as simply "The Big Dog" and "The Little Dog" in the end credits. It seemed that the big dog is a bit stronger and more clever than the little dog. (The big dog most of the time seemed more autistic and unconcerned about his surroundings than actually stupid) In several episodes the big dog succeeds in playing tricks on the little dog or figuring out the correct way to do something.
Other characters include:
- A big, fat man calling himself Mr. H (but credited as "Hollywood"), who likes to point out others' mistakes in a pseudo-alternative way: "Well ain't that cute... BUT IT'S WROOOOOONG!!" ('wrong' is always accompanied by the sound of a foghorn.)
- The short-sighted Little Red, a Little Red Riding Hood clone (sort of) whose bad eyesight causes many mishaps on the way to her grandmother's house, as well as other adventures (which are always parodies of other fairy tales).
- A stupid boy named Kenny Fowler who fell in love with a beautiful girl in his class, but is often misguided by the "doggies!", and is followed by the catch-line "Kenny Fowler... what a fouler!" by the class bully, usually after he faints because of the stress.
- A pretty girl named Buffy Ziegenhagen, the girl that Kenny is in love with.
- A fat man called Cubby, usually appearing as a clerk at several stores during the show.
- Tiny cute cats, whose appearance causes the little dog to scream "CAAAAAAT!" and run for cover, and the big dog to just simply say "WOOF!", in most cases causing the cat to fall over stunned, making the sound of tapping glass when it falls over.
Episode list
- Fun!
- Seeing Eye Dogs
- Sheep Dogs
- Stunt Dogs
- Cornflakes
- Door Jam
- Trash Day
- Cat!
- Where's the Bone?
- Pie in the Sky
- Hollywood's Ark
- Home Is Where Your Head Is
- Inside Out
- Red
- Red Strikes Back
- Return of Red
- The Rise and Fall of the Big Dog
- Cookies, Ookies, Blookies
- Post Office
- Love Doctors
- Substitute Teacher
- Show and Tell
- Love
- Love in the Park
- Family Values
- A Quarter
- Let's Make a Right Price
- Jerk
- Hobo Hounds
- Las Pelotas!
- Bathroom Humor
- At the Drive-In
- Spooks a Poppin'
- Day Dream
- Vegas Buffet
- Space Dogs
- Cartoon Canines
- Spit Soup
- Far-Out Friday
- Shortcut
Running Gags
Running gags on the series include:
- Whenever the big dog throws up or coughs something up, it is usually followed by an apparently undigested corn on the cob. Corn also has other appearances elsewhere in other episodes.
- When the little dog gets excited a signature tune plays, and he jumps around dancing half-singing an improvised song with a poorly thought rhyme.
- When the little dog eats something disgusting, he says "This tastes like ca-ca!'