Doug

Most would criticize Doug as formulaic, unoriginal, and all around bad. I watched this show (and it's Disney pimped sequel) for years, and I have to say, it was one of the best cartoons produced during its time; and it still holds up well.

The premise behind the show is simple: Doug is a young boy trying to make it through life, but learning a lot of hard lessons along the way. The difference in the show is just how outlandish the accidents, mishaps, discoveries and general mayhem gets. Despite an amount of predictability (it WAS written for children) the show had great humor that surprised me, given the low age of the target audience. Most of the jokes aren't great repeatable quotations like Family Guy or Futurama's, but they were entertaining (and educational) for us as kids. The Disney sequel had more adult humor and a little more maturity about using a cartoon as social commentary, but the original Nickelodeon production is rife with memorable episodes and characters.

If you don't think Doug's fumblings with Patti or self-indulgent daydreams of Quailman were at all humorous, you don't know Funnie.

I've been asked when I tell little kids 6 years younger than me that "Doug" was my favorite TV show, what is it about? And's the beautiful thing about this show. It's called life and Doug writes about it in his journal, almost like an adventure theme, but with kind of situations that are ALMOST out of real life. Plus, like me, Doug has a very active imagination. I really ID'd with this shoe So much so, that for a long time afterwards, I started writing my journal entries the same way.

I never thought I'd even like this show until I got suckered into watching the episode where Doug is put on a printing committee or something and well, It would take to long to describe. I hear all these questions about why people in the show are different colors? Well, I didn't even notice it at first because in a way, the color of that person simply blends in with the rest of the animated world, and (this will sound CRAZY) I think it really makes the show more realistic. No one else to my knowledge has ever done this with a cartoon. The music was very good also and along with Rugrats made for a fun hour of Cable TV.

DOUG follows the misadventures of the eponymous main character, Doug Funnie, his dog Porkchop, his best friend Mosquito (Skeeter) Valentine, and other quirky characters from the fictional town of Bluffington. DOUG was one of the 'Original 5' nicktoons on Nickelodeon, and is by far the best of them all. It is a show about an 11 year-old boy who uses his imagination a lot and gets into funny situations. The reason DOUG was so good was because it is a show that is based on reality and real people; in this case, multi-colored people. Unfortunately, Jim Jinkins and his Jumbo crew moved from Nickelodeon to Disney in 1996, and the show was completely ruined after that. not only was the title changed to BRAND SPANKING NEW! DOUG, but other aspects of the show were changed as well. Hopefully, Nickelodeon will release this show onto DVD or put it back into syndication on Nickelodeon, because it is much better than the garbage that they show now.

Nickelodeon's saga of adolescent and suburban angst has had a bumpy ride, but overall the quality is pretty good. An interesting concept was the idea of colouring characters' skin to colours corresponding to their personalities. What truly made the series shine, however, was the voice acting.

Billy "Ren and Stimpy" West played Doug, Roger and several minor characters. He didn't go for laughs, choosing to play Doug down and Roger up. It is also impressive to hear him have a conversation with himself.

The award, however, should go to the invaluable Fred Newman. He was Porkchop's every bark and growl, Skeeter's eccentric dither, and Mr. Dink's lisp and chuckle. Moreover, he was responsible for composing the music and sound effects. All that scat, rap, vocals, acapella vocal sounds are all him. Listen next time and you'll here what a genius this man is.

Finally, a word on Doug Preis as Mr. Bone. Am I the only one who thought it was Don Knotts?

This cartoon is was one of the best things on nickelodeon. Doug is a show about a boy who moves to a new town and how he meets friends, enemies and wacky neighbors. It's great to see how Doug day dreams on how he's going to get himself out of a jam. Most of the time his imagination gets away from him which get him in trouble in the first place but it's only innocent fun. ''Doug'' is a funny show and hopefully the movie will finally give Doug a chance to tell Patty Mayonnaise how he truly feels.