2 Stupid Dogs
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| 2 Stupid Dogs | |
|---|---|
| Format | Animated television series |
| Created by | Donovan Cook |
| Starring | Brad Garrett Mark Schiff Jess Harnell Jim Cummings Tony Jay among several guest voices. |
| Country of origin | |
| No. of episodes | 36 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | TBS Superstation |
| Original run | September 11, 1993 – January 21, 1995 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
2 Stupid Dogs is an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons that originally ran from September 11, 1993 to January 21, 1995 on TBS Superstation. Reruns continued to air on Cartoon Network from 1994 to June 14, 2003 and currently airs on Boomerang. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, both of whom were referred to as "Big Dog" and "Little Dog." The big dog was voiced by Brad Garrett, and the little dog was voiced by Mark Schiff. A backup segment, a remake of Hanna-Barbera's Secret Squirrel (entitled Super Secret Secret Squirrel), were shown in between the main "2 Stupid Dogs" cartoons in each episode, just like early Hanna-Barbera cartoons used to do in the 1960s.
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2 Stupid Dogs was about a big dog and a little dog and their everyday strange misadventures, with an animation style that was unusual (at the time); it was a very flat, simplistic style similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s, with early 1990s humor and sensibility. 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 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 Hanna-Barbera 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 creator John Kricfalusi was credited to adding "tidbits of poor taste" to the three Little Red Riding Hood episodes, and a few other Spumco 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 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 and Samurai Jack), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends), Miles Thompson, Paul Rudish, and Zac Moncrief. Many of their shorts were imparted with the same strikingly two-dimensional, purposefully cartoony animation style.
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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!'. 'Ca-ca', 'caca', 'kaka' is a Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, Romanian, German and Hungarian informal word for excrement.
- The little dog usually is scared by a cat, and the big dog scares the cat. The little dog and the cat both freeze or faint. The cat (and at times the little dog) makes a girlish scream upon hearing the big dog give an unenthusiastic bark (or simply the word "woof") before freezing in place. The cat will make a sound similar to tapping on glass when it falls.
- When the little dog is singing and dancing or is on some sort of roll, the big dog instantly changes his mood by simply saying "Where's the food"?
- A character named Hollywood says "Well, now isn't that cute? BUT IT'S WROOOOONG!" when he corrects someone's (usually Little Dog's) mistakes.
- In a cartoon where the two dogs travel to an exotic locale or to a spot outside of their hometown, the little dog makes a comment about where they are (the scenery, etc.), then the big dog's first line is usually "Where's the food?"
- When the little dog is in preparation of performing some type of stunt, or to fulfill one his plans, he will often state "Ready, steady, go!"
- The big dog usually asks a question and the little dog often replies,"I don't know...".
- In any episode featuring Red, when the big dog asks "Where's the food?" while they're in a scenic locale, the little dog will usually reply "Food? I dunno. We're in nature. I guess we'll eat nature stuff. Just look around." He'll then show a few examples of common nature flora that they could eat, to which the big dog objects to. The fourth thing he shows is always a dead squirrel (which is in different states of decomposion every episode), as he says "This dead squirrel". The big dog then shows a sign of disgust. The little dog then points out a food item sitting on a stump, which turns out to be what Red's delivering to her grandmother.
The title characters were never named. They were referred to as simply "The Big Dog" and "The Little Dog" in the end credits. (However, one skit had the big dog named Jonathan.) 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 aloof 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.
- A big loud, fat man calling himself Mr. H (but credited as "Hollywood"), who likes to point out others' mistakes in a pseudo-alternative way: "Well isn't that cute... BUT IT'S WROOOOOONG!!" ('wrong' is always accompanied by the sound of a foghorn.) The credited name "Hollywood" may be a reference to his numerous appearances in various roles and occupations, including a construction foreman, actor, casino manager, and so forth. Like fellow cartoon network villain Red Guy from Cow and Chicken, he even apPears in female roles,though still having a heavy set of facial hair.He is prone to anger and to start screaming ,but faints when he sees but a drop of blood on his finger.
- The short-sighted Red (voiced by Candi Milo), 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). She had a habit of loudly exclaiming seemingly random words in her sentences while speaking. An interesting aspect is the Star Wars inspired use of the titles of the two "sequels" to "Red", the first being "Red Strikes Back" (The Empire Strikes Back) and the second being "Return of Red" (Return of the Jedi). In all of the "Red" episodes of 2 Stupid Dogs, "Red" "la-la's" the Tchaikovsky`s 1812 Overture on the way to "Grandma's house".
- A geeky 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 "What a fouler!" by the class bully, usually after he faints because of the stress.
- A pretty girl named Buffy Ziegenhagen, whom Kenny is in love with.
- A boy named Buzz who is the class bully. He says "What A Fouler!" when Kenny is in trouble or he faints. Usually Buffy hangs out with him. In one episode, his name is revealed by the teacher.
- A woman named Mrs. Crabface, who is Kenny, Buzz and Buffy's teacher. Her head is never seen. She was absent in one classroom episode.
- A fat geeky adolescent named Cubby (voiced by Rob Paulsen), usually appearing as a clerk at several stores during the show.
- A cat, 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 shriek, and fall over stunned, making the sound of tapping glass when it falls over.
- In two episodes a family that parodied the Brady Bunch were visited by the dogs (except the boys were blond and the girls were brunette). One of the gags involved the two oldest kids kissing in reference to Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams' (who played brother and sister Marsha and Greg Brady on the series) romantic involvement as teenagers while filming the Brady Bunch.