2 Stupid Dogs

2 Stupid Dogs
Created by	Donovan Cook
Starring	Brad Garrett Mark Schiff Jess Harnell Jim Cummings Tony Jay Brian Cummings
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	45 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Production companies	Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Turner Program Services
Original release
Network	TBS Superstation
Release	September 11, 1993 – January 21, 1995

2 Stupid Dogs is an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and Turner Program Services that originally ran from September 11, 1993 to January 21, 1995 on TBS Superstation.

The main segments of the show featured two dogs, "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), was shown in between the main "2 Stupid Dogs" cartoons in many of the 13 episodes, similarly to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1960s, but in 1994 it was changed to the 1960s Secret Squirrel segment, also in between the later "2 Stupid Dogs" cartoons. This show also aired on Cartoon Network from 1994 to late 2002 and Boomerang from 2005 until 2007. On June 1, 2009 (2009-06-01), Boomerang began re-airing the show on a daily basis until September 1, 2009 (2009-09-01).

Plot

2 Stupid Dogs is about a big dog and a little dog, who aren't very bright as the titles explains, and their everyday misadventures, with an animation style unusual for the time: a very flat, simplistic style similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s, but with early 1990s humor and sensibility. In addition, the Big Dog talks much less than the Little Dog does and most of the time, the Little Dog talks about food. 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.

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. The 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. 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 Spümcø 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 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. Larry Huber, who later served as executive producer on the What-A-Cartoon! program, teamed first with Seibert as producer on the 2 Stupid Dogs series and directed the middle cartoon, Super Secret Secret Squirrel. 2 Stupid Dogs eventually helped launch the careers of creators Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends), Miles Thompson, Paul Rudish, and Zac Moncrief.

Also, 2 Stupid Dogs had very brief sexual innuendos, as did other cartoons at the time such as Rocko's Modern Life.

Characters

The title characters were never named. They were referred to as simply "The Big Dog" and "The Little Dog" in the end credits (although one skit had the Big Dog named Jonathan).

• Big Dog - He is a large grey Old English Sheepdog (in an episode where they were in a farm, he was even able to herd sheep). He is much stronger than the Little Dog. The Big Dog is generally too lazy to bother with anything, and most of the time seemed more aloof and unconcerned about his surroundings than actually stupid. In some episodes, he surprisingly revealed deep philosophical intelligence. A running gag about the Big Dog is he would spit out a whole cob of corn he ate.
• Little Dog - He is a small orange Dachshund. Little Dog is much more energetic and hyperactive than Big Dog. Little Dog is completely scared by cats, and when a cat appeared (maybe got ailurophobia), it was Big Dog that had to scare the cat away. He does know a little about history (such as when in an Abraham Lincoln parody, when the Lincoln actor dies from a sword strike, the little dog remarks "I thought Lincoln was shot"). He often refers to things he doesn't like as "caca!"
• Kenny Fowler - A small skinny kid with nerdy glasses, who is often pushed around by other kids, and often asks the dogs for help, in a certain episode where he tries to talk to Buffy and gets nervous. He has a bully who often taunts him by saying "What a Fowler!"
• Hollywood - A large man who likes to point out others' mistakes, always in the same unnecessary fashion; he will begin by saying, in an admiring tone "Well isn't that cute?" and then shout at the top of his lungs "But it's wrong!" - always accompanied by the background sound of a striking foghorn. At the one occasion where he says "Well isn't that cute?" without adding "But it's wrong!", he breaks the fourth wall by telling the viewers they probably expected him to shout that. Whenever the dogs bump into Mr. H (the way he introduced himself as when he was a teacher) he has a completely new appearance and on one occasion is a woman. He has also had many occupations such as a teacher, farmer, Noah, casino manager and pet shop owner. In "Pie in the sky" he assumes multiple shop owners of a retail store.
• Cubby - A fat spotty teenager with big glasses, blonde hair and blue lips. In the episodes he appears in he assumes the role of a different job, like Mr. Hollywood, such as in the episode "Far-Out Friday" he is a clerk at the supermarket. In the episode "At The Drive Through" he is the attendant at the snack bar. He has a squeaky voice and often lets off gas when excited i.e. "Post Office". He helps the stupid dogs with questions and problems they have which mainly involves food.
• Buffy Ziegenhagen - A girl that Kenny has a crush on, who is in his class.
• Red - A parody of Little Red Riding Hood, she's a small, meek little girl that the Dogs often encounter. When she speaks, she shouts one word in the sentence very loudly compared to the quiet tone of voice she usually has. The Dogs usually just join her for food. She needs glasses and even with then her sight is far from 20/20 (which some viewers see as a logical explanation for why Red can't see through Big Bad Wolf's granny disguise - the Dogs are simply stupid). In her first appearance, Red mistakes Big Dog for Granny and Little Dog convinces him to play along for the cake. They miss Granny's home and end up at the Three Bears home. At her next appearance, they once again miss Granny's home and instead go to the gingerbread house, where the witch, not wanting to wait for Hansel and Gretel, decides to eat Red. In her third appearance, Red and the Dogs do reach Granny's but just because Big Bad Wolf got tired of waiting and dragged them there.

Episodes

Main article: List of 2 Stupid Dogs episodes

Principal Cast

• Brian Cummings - Hollywood
• Jim Cummings - Morocco Mole
• Brad Garrett - Big Dog
• Jess Harnell - Secret Squirrel
• Tony Jay - Chief
• Mark Schiff - Little Dog

Additional Voices

• Charlie Adler - Greg
• Yoshio Be -
• Jeff Bennett - Big Bad Wolf, Hot Rodney
• Greg Burson -
• Ruth Buzzi -
• Carol Channing - Wicked Witch
• Donna Cherry -
• Paul Eiding -
• Bernard Erhard -
• June Foray - Grandma
• John Frost -
• John Garry -
• Mark Hamill - Platypus
• Haven Hartman -
• Whitby Hertford -
• Casey Kasem - Bill Barker
• Jean Kasem -
• Jarrett Lennon -
• Pat Lentz -
• Tress MacNeille -
• Rose Marie -
• Roddy McDowall - Chameleon
• Scott Menville -
• Candi Milo - Little Red Riding Hood
• Pat Musick -
• Gary Owens - Principal Schneider
• Rob Paulsen - Cubby
• Kimmy Robertson - Penny
• Roger Rose - Quark
• Stu Rosen -
• Neilson Ross -
• Susan Silo -
• Kath Soucie -
• Ben Stiller -
• Tawni Tamietti - Buffy Ziegenhagen
• B.J. Ward -
• Derek Webster -

Reception

Several people who grew up in the '90s have fond memories of this show due to it being broadcast frequently on Cartoon Network. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described 2 Stupid Dogs as one of two "clones" of The Ren and Stimpy Show. The other one being The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show.

Broadcast history

2 Stupid Dogs originally ran on TBS from September 11, 1993 to January 21, 1995. It soon ran in syndication on Cartoon Network from 1994 to 2002, Boomerang from 2005 to 2007, June 2009 to September 2009, and currently from May 3, 2010 to the present.

See also

• Donovan Cook
• List of 2 Stupid Dogs episodes
• List of programmes broadcast by Channel 4
• List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera
• List of Hanna-Barbera characters

External links

• Toon Tracker: 2 Stupid Dogs
• 2 Stupid Dogs at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• The Cartoon Scrapbook – Informational profile on 2 Stupid Dogs.