Is Disney's Doug Really That Bad?

On September 7, 1996, a continuation of the classic Nicktoon Doug premiered on Disney's Saturday Morning Block called Brand Spanking New Doug or Disney's Doug. Since then, it's regarded as a terrible cartoon and nowhere near as good as the original. Is this true? Well, sit back and relax as we delve over an hour to answering this long debated question.

5 Reasons on How Hey Arnold! was an Improvement over Doug

Continuing with Hey Arnold Month, Patricia lists 5 reasons on why, in her opinion, that the 1996 Nicktoon created by Craig Bartlett was a major improvement in every way compared to the 1991 Nicktoon Doug created by Jim Jinkins.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A VS. SERIES OR A VIDEO BASHING ON DOUG STATING IT'S TERRIBLE COMPARED TO HEY ARNOLD! 

The Legacy of Doug with Jim Jinkins

As we conclude our month dedicated to the original 3 Nicktoons, Patricia interviews Doug creator Jim Jinkins about the legacy of Doug. They discuss about his reactions to the overwhelming celebration of its 25th anniversary, his favorite episodes, and why is the town of Bluffington obsessed with beets.

How the 3 Original Nicktoons Influence Pop Culture with Mathew Klickstein and Caseen Gaines

Continuing with 3 Original Nicktoons Month, Patricia interviews book authors and pop culture enthusiats Mathew Klickstein and Caseen Gaines discussing about how Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show influence pop culture.

Check out the 4 part oral history of the 3 original Nicktoons that Mathew and Caseen wrote for Decider.

http://decider.com/2016/06/14/the-oral-history-of-nicktoons-part-i-how-the-storied-animation-block-came-to-be/

Check out Mathew's links down below

http://www.mathewklickstein.com

https://www.facebook.com/NickOralHistory/?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/NickOralHistory

Check out Caseen's links down below

http://www.caseengaines.com

https://www.facebook.com/caseengaines/?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/caseengaines

How Did Doug Become Influential with its Simplicity?

Continuing with 3 Original Nicktoons Month, Patricia talks about the 1991 Nicktoon Doug created by Jim Jinkins and discusses about on how, in her personal opinion, this simple cartoon about a 10-year-old kid living his every day life with school and life became influential with the people who watched it and the animation industry.

What the Original 3 Nicktoons Mean to Patricia

Continuing with 3 Original Nicktoons Month, Patricia discusses on what Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show mean to her...on a boat in New Jersey.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 60: Interview with Greg Lee

We have reached 60 episodes of Casual Chats and what better way to celebrate than with Patricia interviewing actor Greg Lee, mostly known for being the host of the 1989 Nickelodeon show Total Panic, the 1991 PBS game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and the voice of Major White in the Nicktoon Doug.

   

Check out Greg Lee's website at http://www.greglee.tv/.

Also, check out our good friend Bilaal Smith's interview with Greg Lee down below.

Old School Lane visited the You Can Do That on Television Slimed! book event

Hey guys, Patricia here. Last year, Kevin and I went to the Slimed! book event at 92Y Street in New York City. If you haven't read my article discussing about it, check it out right here.

Before I get to discussing about how the event went, I'll talk about what happened around 24 hours before the event started. It was originally suppose to be called A Night of Nickelodeon Nostalgia at the Hammerstein Ballroom at New York City, but when Mathew Klickstein was being interviewed by Pilot Viruet from flavorwire.com discussing about diversity, things didn't exactly turn out so well. It started out pretty normal with discussing about how late 80's and early 90's Nickelodeon were still fondly remembered today with the advent of nostalgia and the Internet. But then they were discussing about diversity in 90's Nickelodeon shows and that's when things began to crash and burn really fast. Mathew stated that diversity didn't matter to shows just as long as the writing and acting was good, in fact he found it to be rather pointless. Long story short, there were so many negative comments on Mathew's opinion and New York Comic Con officially cancelled the event. It had gotten many people who were excited so angry and disappointed, especially those who were traveling out of state with hotel rooms booked and buying VIP tickets. But Mathew and his friends miraculously pulled through and we had gotten You Can Do That on Television at the Treehouse Theater at NYC.



Kevin, his friend James, and I had difficulty finding the place since it was very small and the sign was practically hidden. We were lost for around 20 minutes until we accidentally saw Mathew being interviewed by some journalist. When we got inside the building, it was super crowded with at least 100 people crammed in waiting to get in the main stage. Then after 10 minutes of waiting, we got in and got front row seats (again) and Mathew came in and introduced the host of the evening Nick Arcade host Phil Moore. While he was no Marc Summers, he was as manic and zany as ever. He briefly talked about loving classic Nick, Nick Arcade, and his son appearing in a few Nickelodeon shows in brief roles.



Then afterwards, the majority of the event was dedicated to Doug composer Dan Sawyer and Livewire host/Doug voice actor Fred Newman singing all the songs from The Beets as well as playing other songs. It was super fun and entertaining with everyone singing along to "Killer Tofu", "I Need Mo Allowance", "Shout Your Lungs Out", and the Doug theme song. Then, there was a very short Q&A where people ask questions and the event was over. There were suppose to be other guests such as Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna from The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Polaris from Pete & Pete, Michael Bower and Trevor Eyster from Salute Your Shorts, Kelly Brown from Hey Dude, and Marty Schiff from Out of Control, but when the event was cancelled, most of them didn't show up and Danny, Mike, and Polaris performed in The Bell House in another part of the city very late at night. It was very inconvenient and a huge let down since that was the event I wanted to see the most. I even bought a Polaris t-shirt for the occasion and bought the two songs from their new album to get prepared. But, sometimes, things don't always work out.



While Kevin, James, and I had a blast at the event, we knew coming in that it was going to be inferior compared to last year. It was planned more with so many guests and a bigger venue. He did his best to try to outdo himself and I give him credit for it, but it couldn't be matched. Maybe it never will. While I'm sure he'll throw more book events, there's something about last year's event that felt very special. A reminder that classic Nickelodeon is still fondly remembered by so many people at a time when even Nickelodeon didn't really cared about their humble roots. With that, I thank Mathew so much for it.

As for the controversial article, I'll discuss about it sometime in the future, so stay tuned for that. Did you go to the You Can Do That on Television book event? If so, what did you think of it? What are your opinions on the controversial diversity article? Post in the comments below.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 30: Interview with Jim Jinkins

Casual Chats has reached 30 episodes! With that, Patricia and Kevin interview Doug creator Jim Jinkins. They discuss about Jim's early years of television working on Pinwheel and Hocus Focus, Doug, and what he's doing now.

Check out Jim's links below.
https://www.facebook.com/jim.jinkins.9?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/JumboSouth
http://www.cartoonpizza.com/index1.html

Old School Lane Presents: What Nickelodeon Means to Kevin

Continuing celebrating Nickelodeon's 35th anniversary is a personal video on what the network meant to Kevin. What does Nickelodeon mean to you? Post it in the comments below and let us know. Enjoy!

Old School Lane's Not-Nickelodeon Tribute Week: Brand Spankin' New Doug

We now go from the first Nickelodeon teen sitcom starring a female protagonist to one of the 3 original Nicktoons. Doug, alongside with Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Showdebuted on August 11, 1991 in Nickelodeon. It starred a young 11-year-old named Doug Funnie living his everyday normal life in a small town named Bluffington with his family and his friends. The show became one of the most popular Nicktoons in the 90's. The show lasted in Nickelodeon until January 2, 1994 when Doug and his friends graduated from elementary school. Two years later in 1996, The Walt Disney Company bought Jumbo Productions that included Doug and Roly Poly Olie. Jim Jinkens, the creator ofDoug, was ordered by Disney to make new episodes for Doug for ABC's Saturday morning block, Disney's One Saturday Morning. On September 6, 1996, Brand Spankin' New Dougdebuted on TV.

The show takes place 3 months after the Nickelodeon Doug in which we see Doug Funnie going through his normal life as a 12-year-old boy surrounded by his best friends. As time went on throughout the whole show, there were many changes that occured. Billy West, the voice of Doug and Roger was replaced by Tom McHugh and Chris Phillips. West refused to be in the show due to the fact that there were many conflicts with the payment from Disney. Other than that, the majority of the voice actors from the original Doug came back.

A lot of people began to see that this wasn't the same Doug that they grew up with. Changes such as Skeeter getting a growth spurt, Connie losing a lot of weight, Roger becoming rich, Patti having a new haircut, Doug's mom having a new baby, the Honker Burger shutting down and being replaced by a French restaurant, and Doug's voice changing occurs...in the first episode. Other changes that occured in the show was the episode format. Instead of two 11 minute episodes like in the Nickelodeon Doug, the Disney version had one 30 minute episode broken into 3 segments. Also, some episodes focused on the other characters besides Doug. There was an episode that involved with Patti being concerned with her weight and going through an eating disorder to look good. Other changes included the animation being a little bit more brighter and the music being more different and upbeat with whistling instead of Fred Newman's scat and doo-bopping. Minor characters such as Al and Moo and Skunky Beaumont were more prominent and new characters such as Guy Graham were introduced. 

The show lasted for 3 years until it ended its run in 1999. It was the most popular show on Disney at the time. That is until Recess came along that same year and took the spot. With that said, many people hated the Disney version of Doug. Even Billy West himself says that it sucks. They hated the changes that occured in the show and found it to be just plain awful. Do I think it's a bad show? Well, to be quite honest, no. In fact, it needed this change to stick out on its own. If Doug would have been the same as it was on Nickelodeon, then people would have been more furious. I think that if Jim Jinkens would have added these changes to Doug when it was still on Nickelodeon, they would have either complained about it or they wouldn't have minded. Seriously, no one is satisfied with anything anymore. I think that the fact that it was on Disney and that Doug and Roger weren't voiced by Billy West made a lot of people turned off by it. I do agree that Billy West made Doug and Roger stand out, especially Roger, and having the new voice actors didn't really cut it. He's one of my favorite voice actors of all time and the show did go down a bit for me when he wasn't there. 

As for the changes, I really didn't mind them. I just would have preferred if they were more spaced out instead of jammed into the first episode. The fact that people mostly hated the Disney Doug for the changes that happened on the show is what gets me irritated. We all go through changes in our lives. We grow taller, we move into a new town or state, we make new friends, we lose old friends, we go to different schools, and things that we treasure are there one day and are gone the next when we least expect it. That's called life. It happens every day. The fact that the Disney Doug was able to take many risks to stand out on its own and show what everyday life really is to kids and teens is something to be commended, not hated. I don't hate the Disney Doug like everyone else who grew up with the Nickelodeon Doug does. It's a different take, while still keeping what made the original great. I recommend to give the show another chance and keep an open mind when watching it.

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we conclude the 90's with a short from KaBlam!getting its own TV series with Angela Anaconda.

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Doug

In 1996, when I was in the 4th grade, I dressed up as one of my favorite cartoon characters, Doug Funnie. When I showed it off to my classmates, none of them knew who I was, with the exception of Patricia. I couldn't believe what I heard. Even the show had been off the air two years before, it seemed that no one remembered Doug. I was so pissed that I didn't speak with the majority of my classmates for the rest of the day. Years later, when working on this tribute with Patricia, I saw Doug again for the first time since I was a kid. It brought me back so many memories and happiness that when the time came to put this tribute together, I said that I wanted to review Doug. So, here's my recollection on why Doug is still to this day a great cartoon.

The show was about an average kid named Doug Funnie (played by Billy West) who moves into a new town called Bluffington with his family and dog Porkchop. He meets up with all the residents of Bluffington and makes some new friends. His best friend is Skeeter Valentine (played by Fred Newman from Livewire) who's this happy, sound effect sounding kid who loves listening to the rock band The Beets. The girl he falls in love with is Patti Mayonaiise who's an athletic chick with a kind, sweet personality. There's Bee-Bee Bluff, Patti's best friend and the snotty rich girl, Connie, who's the heavyset girl with a nice personality, Chalky, the jock of the group, Al and Moo, the AV nerdy science geeks, and Roger Klotz, the bully of the group. Roger (also played by Billy West) is an homage to the 50's with the goofy puns and the leather jacket.



Each episode shows a real life situation that kids would be going through like dances, playing video games, parties, going to school, dealing with family issues, and friendship. It was always relatable to see these characters go through the same thing you were going through. You could always find a friend that you actually knew in all of these characters.

There were also many Doug plushies. I wanted to get a Doug doll, but I came across a Patti Mayonaiise doll a few years ago. When I was in high school, I was dating a girl that loved Doug as much as I did and her favorite character was Patti Mayonaiise. I had the Patti doll and I decided to give it to her when we went out on a date at a restaurant. She was so happy that she had gotten that doll. We've broken up since then, but I don't regret giving her that Patti doll.



There was also a live theater show of Doug that my mom took me to see. I had loved the show so much that by the end of it, I went up to the actor who played him and told me that I was a huge fan of Doug and that I had loved the show. He smiled and gave me a hug. I knew that that wasn't the real Doug, but still, that was one of my cherised memories that I will never forget. I still hold it dear to this day!

I have talked to a few people about Doug a while ago and there are some who still have fond memories of it like I do, others said that the show is boring, dull, and forgettable. The people who had said that were the younger people roughly about 18 or younger. Now, I'm not going to critique their opinions, that's fine. If you don't like it, then okay. But for most of those people that I discussed with, they didn't talk about it more than 30 seconds of Doug with the exception of bashing it. I said to them, "Have you ever seen Doug?" They either said, "Oh, once and I didn't like it" or "No, but the Nostalgia Critic reviewed Doug and it sounds like it's boring."



I told them "Look, I respect your opinion, but I want you to give the show a chance. You don't have to take the Nostalgia Critic's opinion word for word." I said my two cents on that and walked away.

Overall, for all you readers out there, give the show a chance. It's one of the more realistic animated shows that came out in a time of unrealistic shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's the kind of show that speaks to you, shows you real life with real people, takes you into the mind of an average kid with a vast imagination and his many diverse friends, and gives you something to truly remember.



That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane.

-Kevin