I find that my favorite show on Nickelodeon back in the day that didn’t involve live people was Doug. I have been my rewatching kick so it was nice that Hulu had the first 4 seasons for a bit. I am sure they are on Paramount Plus now and Disney plus has the rest of the show. The original run consisted of 52 episodes over four seasons that were broadcast from 1991 to 1994. Nickelodeon opted against renewing the show for a fifth season, so in 1996, Disney green-lit the fifth season after acquiring Jumbo Pictures.  The show moved to ABC’s Saturday morning lineup for three years, also taking two title changes to differentiate the new episodes from the Nickelodeon seasons. It became a top-rated show, inspiring various books, merchandise, a live musical stage show, and a theatrical feature, Doug’s 1st Movie, released as the series’ conclusion in 1999.

I think I remembered the Nickelodeon version with love in my heart. My mom used to rent it on VHS on days I was home sick from school. (It was also one of the few kid’s show’s that she enjoyed.) I was never a fan of Rugrats so it was all Doug for me. The show focuses on the early adolescent life of its title character, Douglas “Doug” Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending school in his new hometown of Bluffington. Doug narrates each story in his journal, and the show incorporates many imagination sequences. The series addresses numerous topics, including trying to fit in, platonic and romantic relationships, self-esteem, bullying, and rumors. Many episodes center on Doug’s attempts to impress his classmate and crush, Patti Mayonnaise. When it was switched to Disney… I don’t think I ever gave it the chance it deserved. So here was the time to properly assess the show… without being annoyed about a few changes. People hate change… but not all change is bad.

I would say the Nickelodeon intro was the superior one though…

Let’s start off with a few of my favorite Nickelodeon episodes. I was almost convinced to keep a handwritten journal because Doug had one. One could argue that this has been my journal. “Hey, journal, it’s me, Doug.”―Doug Funnie

• Doug Can’t Dance/Doug Gets Busted – Poor Doug has moved to Bluffington… and is trying to fit in. And I hated going to dance’s as a kid and this episode highlights why. After Doug checks himself out in his slug costume in the mirror, he heads out to the dance. He already seems like an anxious 11 year old but Roger doesn’t help. Roger asks if the costume is a pile of manure, and if he’s paired up to dance with Patti. After questioning Doug about how he’s never danced before and stating that Patti is the best dancer at the school, Doug imagines everyone laughing at him. After a walk, Doug meets up with Mr. & Mrs. Dink, who are going as a “grade A thorough-bred chicken” and “the wife of a giant chicken.”  The trend is to go to ask Mr. Dink for advice but I don’t see where he has ever provided Doug with good advice. After mistaking Doug’s costume for dirty socks, the couple drives off. Doug hangs on a tire swing at the park and plans on not going to the dance, then Skeeter (after mistaking Doug’s costume for Godzilla) comes around, he gives him some dancing tips while beat-boxing. Poor Skeeter tries to help but ends up all tangled up. Check it out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGIpaV8gWnE) Doug finally shows up to the dance reassuring himself and fantasizing being a great dancer.  Patti then shows up as a sunflower, complimenting Doug on his slug costume (and being the first person to recognize it as a slug). Before the two enter the building, Roger (as a hammer) tells Doug he wants to dance with Patti instead, but Doug refuses. Roger decides to get back at Doug. After Doug gets the hang of dancing (with the help of Patti.) Gotta love Patti. She is super sweet. Roger plans to put ice down Doug’s back, but drops some and slips.  As the end of Roger’s hammer costume lands on Doug’s foot, Doug screams. After people start to laugh at Doug, Patti pretends it’s a new dance and everyone joins in (score another one for Patti), except Roger who has fallen on his back and can’t get up. For Doug Gets Busted, Doug makes a model of a volcano for a science project. Chalky teaches his Venus flytrap how to sing the opera, Beebe has a project that shows trees cause more pollution than her father’s factory, Skeeter dresses as the solar system, Roger has a firecracker disguised as a Super Nova, and Doug has a volcano, which he shows Patti, with Porkchop doing the hula dance. Suddenly, assistant principal Mr. Bone comes in and informs Doug that volcanoes are forbidden on school property.  Roger tries to blow out the fire from his firecracker, but to no avail. He tries to let Skeeter take the blame, but Mr. Bone catches him in the act and puts out the fire from the Super Nova as well. As the other students witness this, the rumors about the science lab being burnt down precipitates. When Roger takes the blame from his gang, Doug comes around and Roger gets Doug to believe that his volcano burnt down the science lab, and that Doug will get arrested by the cops for the act. In his imagination, he is wearing jailhouse stripes on the run from the cops. Doug runs away, only to get surprised by Mr. Dink’s newly installed car alarm. Back home, Doug sneaks in Judy’s room to find a disguise. Judy comes in and gives Doug a cape, hat, and a fake mustache, and Doug adopts the persona “Jack Bandit.” Doug later has a dream of escaping from Mrs. Wingo’s class as Jack Bandit, only to get caught by a police officer. Doug has no choice but to go on the lam. But first, he walks into his parents room to say goodbye. He and Porkchop set up a tent and a campfire outside as outlaws. Doug succmbs to hunger… Mr. Bone appears and tells Doug that the principal would like to have a word with him.  Doug walks into the principal’s office (with Porkchop being kicked out in the process) and as he comes out, he explains that he won second place in the science fair. Mrs. Wingo liked his volcano, as well as Porkchop’s hula dance. So Doug reverts back to his normal life and is seen inside his room, saying that there might be another time where another evil science project might strike. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmt_fnnn6UM)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Dog’s Date/Doug’s Big Nose – When Porkchop begins acting very strangely, Doug tries to find out what’s causing his friend’s odd behavior. A boy and his dog. How Cute. The episode begins with a flashback of Doug as an infant riding on Porkchop as a pony. Doug narrates that he and Porkchop were best friends, like two peas in a pod. Later, Doug is shown sitting on his porch playing his banjo and singing about his lost dog. Roger shows up and mocks Doug for getting abandoned by his own dog, to which Doug reluctantly agrees to. Doug narrates the event a couples of days prior when Porkchop starts acting strange. He pays no attention to the paper airplane thrown by Doug that hits him on the head and refuses to eat a Peanutty Buddy chocolate ice cream Doug offers him. Knowing that something is wrong with his dog, Doug takes him to the vet immediately, only to find out that he’s okay, despite the fact that the dog can’t sleep or eat. So the vet convinces Doug to spy on Porkchop to see what his problem is. (The problem is pretty obvious though.) So the next day, 11:45 AM, Doug acts as a detective and notices Porkchop listening to sappy music and moping. Doug’s detective game doesn’t last long, as he becomes distracted by Patti, who invites him to play beet ball with her and the others. When Doug notices Porkchop is leaving, he turns it down and quickly follows him. The dog stops in front of a fancy house, and Mr. Dink shows up and tells Doug that Porkchop has a case of puppy love when he notices a female dog that Porkchop falls in love with. So Doug helps Porkchop get ready for his first date and tells Porkchop to be home by 10 o’clock. At 7 o’clock, Doug plays Barnyard Chess on his own and becomes bored. So he decides to draw instead and ends up drawing a picture of his dog. Doug soon begins to miss his dog. As Porkchop is still on his date, it is almost bedtime, and Doug begins to worry about his dog, not to mention the stormy weather.  When Porkchop finally shows up, Doug admonishes the dog for coming home late, but Porkchop is too love struck to heed anything Doug has said, even after the latter asks him if he would pick his lover or his owner, and the dog goes inside his igloo. The next day, Doug goes to Porkchop’s igloo and offers him a Doggy Delight, only to find out that he is missing. Doug is convinced that his best friend is leaving him. During a game of Barnyard Chess with Skeeter, Skeeter convinces Doug to get a new pet. Doug instantly disagrees, and when he hears Patti calling, he goes over to the baseball diamond and learns how to play beet ball. (He tells Skeeter to hold on.) When Patti reminds Doug to bring Skeeter over next time, Doug soon remembers that he had left his friend and apologizes for leaving him, using Patti’s effect on him as the reason. Skeeter forgives him. When Skeeter reminds Doug that the two are still friends, Doug soon realizes that Porkchop might be home too and runs to his house, where he sees the heartbroken dog sitting on the porch. The female dog that Porkchop fell in love with has dumped him for another dog. Doug reminds Porkchop that he still has his owner as a friend, and everything goes back to normal. Skeeter later gets a date of his own, but Doug isn’t worried, because he knew that his friend will be back. In Doug’s Big Nose, Mr. Bone announces through the intercom that everyone will be taken their school picture at photo swap day. (Man… I wish we did this in school seems super creative… but maybe not. I was not as popular as I would like to think.) As the bell ring, the students leave the classroom and Skeeter explains to Doug that everyone gets their photo traded with someone else. As Doug imagines Patti swapping her photos to him, he goes with Skeeter to pick up his 3-year-old brother Dale from Ding Dong Daycare. When Dale comes out, Skeeter introduces him to Doug. Dale greets him when he says “Hiya, big nose,” which cause Doug to lose his self-confidence. (Kids can be so cruel… Poor Doug.) Doug starts becoming insecure of his big nose. When Roger shows up, he mocks him and tells Doug to get two pictures taking: one for him and one for his nose. As if Roger’s nose is smaller. Doug becomes upset because he was the last to know that his nose was big and that he probably had one his whole life. Doug tries to contrive ways to make his nose more inconspicuous and wears a suit, glasses, and plastic ears. He shows up late in Mrs. Wingo’s class as she is teaching. Doug compares the math problems to how big his nose would grow as he ages: thinking if A equals how big his nose is now, and B represents his nose’s annual rate with growth, then it would be his nose that would get a college degree. In his imagination: Doug swaps his photo with Patti and Patti looks at it, only to get poked in the face by the growing nose that emerges from the photo. During photo swap day, Skeeter had just taken his picture and as Patti and Beebe sit with them during lunch, Beebe asks Patti how her picture came out, to which the latter responds “Who knows?” Doug, trying to hide his prominent nose in front of them, becomes convinced that Patti and Bebe are mocking him already, and Bebe also adds that the girl in front of her was “nosey.” Patti also adds that people should “keep their big noses out of others’ business”. Doug leaves the table and refuses to take his picture. Skeeter tells Doug that it’s the rules to get your picture taken, unless you got sick. So Doug goes to the nurse after painting yellow spots on his face and fakes being sick to avoid taking his photo, telling the nurse he has “turkey pox.” But the nurse doesn’t buy this, telling Doug that he is the fourth kid that day to make up that story. So Doug says instead, he has the “kangaroo flu”, which also proves to be futile. When Doug’s story about having an “allergic reaction to beets” is also equally implausible, he gives up in making any excuse and decides to just take his picture. Mr. Bone later announces that the students with their last name beginning with F should take their photos immediately. Patti comes around and lets Doug know that she heard Roger teasing him of his nose and tells him that his nose gives him character, making him one-of-a-kind. (Patti is great. We love Patti.) This causes Doug to regain his self-confidence and he proudly goes to get his picture taken. When everyone gets their photos back, Doug looks at his and swaps it to Patti, who also swaps her picture to Doug. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGeCXmkABx0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug Gets His Ears Lowered/Doug on the Wild Side – Doug’s hair is getting too long but he hasn’t found a barber yet since moving to Bluffington. (seems like a long time to go without getting a haircut.) Doug wakes up in the morning and decides that it is time for him to get a haircut. He states that no one has ever cut his hair other than his old Barber Big Al Sweeney from Bloatsburg. While searching for a barber, Doug runs into Mr. Dink, who introduces him to the Cutting Edge Hair gadget. As Doug tries to find the barbershop, he later rebuffs the idea, figuring he doesn’t want to look like Mr. Dink. Skeeter comes around and asks if he wants to go to the mall with him to purchase the new video game Canine Space Race. When Doug tells him that he is getting a haircut, Skeeter says that Doug is “getting his ears lowered.” Judy runs into the boys and takes Doug to the barber shop she goes to called Slash, Burn and Curl. Doug looks around the shop to find many customers getting the most absurd hairstyles he has ever seen. (What else did you espect from Judy’s hair salon?) Judy then introduces him to the barber, but Doug later rejects the shop as well, and Skeeter asks Doug if he would like to go to the barbershop at the mall with him, adding that they would make his hair perfect. So he goes to the Four Leaf Clover Mall with Skeeter, where they encounter Roger. Roger decides to join Doug on his hair cutting adventure… but honestly… why? Roger is weird. Skeeter introduces Doug to the hair shop Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. Before Doug goes in, Skeeter warns Doug to not run into a lady known as “The Fluke”, for she is crazy, and Doug’s friend walks to the video store. As Doug steps into the shop, he takes a seat in the barber chair and find that Patti is there as well. Doug unwillingly gets Cynthia, nicknamed “The Fluke”, who turns out to be a white-haired lady with an Australian accent. When she offers Doug a number of bizarre hairstyles, Doug runs away from the shop and Roger takes his spot to get his haircut. Doug feels defeated because every barbershop he has been to is what he didn’t want and ended up not getting a haircut in the process. He later meets a barber named Joe, who had just moved in Bluffington. The barber gives Doug a perfect trim, and Joe reminds Doug of Al Sweeney back at Bloatsburg. Doug discovers that the barber Joe is Big Al’s cousin and Joe offers Doug and Porkchop lollipops. Back in his room, he gets a knock on his door and Skeeter rushes in and tells Doug to look out his window. The two find Roger with a absurd haircut arguing with a couple of squirrels. Skeeter states that apparently, no one has warned Roger about the Fluke and he and Doug laugh at Roger’s embarrassing haircut. In Doug on the Wild Side, Doug’s risk taking grandmother comes to town and shows him a variety of new things. She is apparently not your typical grandmother… Grandma Opal arrives bearing some eccentric gifts. Judy gets a pair of Indian boots, Phil and Theda get caveman clothing, and Doug receives a white jacket, which he finds interesting.  Opal later suggests that Doug would take her to a tour around Bluffington, which Doug quickly agrees to. Theda tells Grandma Opal to be back by 6:00 since she is cooking a special supper. Doug brings Porkchop along to ride with his grandmother on her motorcycle sidecar and they ride through the town. As Grandma Opal continues riding, a bunch of bikers come their way. Grandma Opal pulls over and the biker named Bubba pulls up in front of her. She shows him her grandchildren and Bubba shows her grandchildren of his own as well. (Doug thought that it was going to go a different way.) Doug and his grandmother stop by the Sushi Bar to get some lunch. When Grandma Opal tells Doug that sushi is raw fish, Doug starts to lose his appetite instantly. Doug decides to go on a temporary diet. But Grandma Opal tells Doug to at least try it. So as the sushi is delivered at their table, Grandma Opal tells Doug to pretend like it is ice cream he once tried for the first time. Doug then reminisces on this event and voraciously scarfed the ice cream his grandmother offered him as a child. So Doug gives sushi a taste and likes it. Soon, he takes another taste of another sushi and enjoys it. (I used to think the same thing… but Sushi is really great.) Doug asks his grandmother if they could just go, saying that Patti might not feel like talking. But Grandma Opal encourages him to talk to her. So when Patti spots him, Doug diffidently tells her that she looks nice today. An appreciated Patti thanks him for his compliment. Doug and Grandma Opal continue riding and Doug realizes the time. So Grandma Opal rides to the house. The next day, Grandma Opal says goodbye to the Funnie family and rides off. Doug decides to find an adventure of his own and he and Porkchop ride away on their bikes as Doug once again imagines him and Porkchop riding off on their motorcycles. Check it out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4spHDU0VTg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Cookin/Doug Loses Dale – The episode starts in Ms. Wingo’s class when Ms. Wingo puts the students in pairs to work on a cooking recipe for the bake-off tomorrow. The duo who makes the most original and tastiest dish win win the bake-off contest. Skeeter gets paired with Beebe and Doug fantasizes himself as a chef. (I often wondered what kind of school Doug went to… because we never did anything like that until high school.) In Doug’s imagination: Doug is demonstrating the technique of grilling a cheese sandwich while speaking in a French accent. He places a slice of cheese between the slices of bread and places them on the pan. When it finishes cooking, he places it back on the plate and an impressed Patti congratulates him as he holds the plate in his hand. (His imagination is pretty funny.) Back in reality, Doug gets paired with Patti. Patti explains that she is less enthusiastic about the bake-off due to her poor cooking skills, stating that she permeated her house with smoke the last time she tried. So Patti suggests that the two should cook something tonight. Due to their being an odd number of students in the class, Roger is picked as Ms. Wingo’s partner, much to the bully’s disgust. (Younger me was glad that no one would be stuck with Roger. But he always manages to ruin things.) At his house inside his kitchen, Doug prepares to make everything perfect before Patti comes over by finding the right recipe, something less rudimentary and, at the same time, less exhaustive, as well as something unique, but familiar. So Porkchop suggests that Doug asks Mr. Dink for a cookbook to borrow. Mr. Dink introduces him to Julia (voice and similar to Julia Child), his kitchen cooking unit. He later offers Doug his cookbook (as well as a carrot to go with it) and Doug decides to make a carrot cake. But when Patti comes over to cook with Doug, her inept cooking skills causes problems for the two’s impending recipe and Patti decides to call in sick tomorrow. But Doug refuses, saying that he and Patti are in it together. So he cancels the cake recipe and after looking at a pizza commercial, he instead decides to make a pizza, believing that Patti would do great on the recipe. The next day, everyone is cooking their recipes for their dish. Beebe has Skeeter doing the work for their dish and Ms. Wingo leaves Roger to make banana pudding as she takes care of a problem in the kitchen. Doug and Patti make their pizza and cook it in the oven as Patti gets the hang of cooking. Roger fails on his banana pudding recipe and takes it to a trash can to dump it. Doug and Patti successfully cook their pizza and take it out of the oven. As they attempt to take it to the counter, they bump into Roger and drop their pizza. The pizza lands on the ground okay, but it becomes ruined when the banana pudding falls on top of it. Doug and Patti set the banana pudding-covered pizza on the counter and walk away disappointed. Skeeter wakes up to the smell and runs to Doug and Patti, telling them how great their banana pizza is and that everyone loves it. Ms. Wingo gives Doug and Patti accolade for their dish, saying that it is creative and original. When asked how they came up with it, Doug responds that it was an accident. Doug is later at home eating his banana, using pizza sauce as dip while writing in his journal about how everyone loved his and Patti’s banana pizza and that Patti said they made a great team. Doug then asks Porkchop how the pizza that is getting cooked is coming and it starts to overflow from the oven. The episode ends with Doug and Porkchop running from the overflowing dough that floods the house. In Doug loses Dale, Doug promises Skeeter that he would babysit Dale… that menace. I would have never. Doug is hanging out with Skeeter at the playground. Skeeter explains that he’s going to a tugboat captain picnic with his parents and he needs a babysitter to look after his baby brother Dale since he’s too young to go and the family just found out that their regular babysitter is sick. So he asks Doug, who is a novice at babysitting, to look after Dale. Later, Doug goes to Judy for babysitting advice. Judy tells him to understand a child, he has to become a child. She then offers Doug a clown mask, which he thinks is perfect. Also, at the Honker Burger, he also asks for some babysitting advice from his friends, who give him different tips. Beebe tells him to give the children what they want, Connie, who babysat a lot, says that a kid should be offered coloring books and crayons, and Chalky tells him that sweets would work. Roger, however, tells Doug that he would need a good lawyer after he messes up. During the day of the picnic, the Valentine family give Doug a list of things to do while babysitting Dale and drive off. Doug and Porkchop are left home alone with Dale, who is still frustrated over his family’s absence. After listening to Judy’s thoughts in his head, Doug uses the clown mask Judy offered him, which frightens the toddler as he hides behind the television. (Judy tried.) Doug then hears Chalky’s thoughts in his head and gives Dale some of Mr. Swirly’s Butter Brickle Ice Cream. As Doug tries to feed Dale the ice cream, Dale ends up making a mess and Doug changes him, only to find out that Dale likes none of the outfits he’s offered to. So after hearing Beebe’s thoughts in his head, Doug lets Dale pick his own clothing and leaves the room. As Doug returns into the room moments later, he finds that the toddler has made a mess. Doug changes him into casual clothing and colors with him in his coloring book after hearing Connie’s thoughts in his head. He later watches “Uncle Grunty,” a children’s television program, along with Dale. The telephone rings and Doug answers it to find out that it is Ms. Valentine. Doug tells her that he is coloring with Dale right before the mother reminds him that Dale shouldn’t color on his own due to him writing on the walls, which he predictably does. Doug quickly stops Dale and snatches the crayon from his hand, prompting him to wail. After Doug and Porkchop cleaned up the walls, he feels that he was probably a little hard on Dale. But when he searches for him, he discovers that Dale is missing and goes on an exhaustive search for him around the house. When he can’t find him, Doug then gets Roger’s thoughts in his head. Doug then realizes that his mistake was listening to every futile advice he was given. He decides to do it his way (which seems a little late since he has lost the child), only to discover that the Valentine family are on their way home. Doug thinks as a toddler and reminisces on his younger years when he hid in the basement inside the laundry hamper from Judy, giving Doug an idea. As Doug searches in the dirty clothes basket, he successfully finds Dale in the basket just in time for the Valentine family to come back. Mr. Valentine pays him and makes him their “number one babysitter,” which a skeptical Doug thinks about. Doug is later seen in his room writing in his journal and states that he learned that even though he can depend on his friends to give him advice, he has to do things his way sometimes. Check it out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIMaASaBmLk)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Hot Ticket/Doug’s Dental Disaster – The Beets concert in Bloatsburg is sold out, and luckily Judy has two tickets which she doesn’t want. Judy gives Doug her tickets and he and Skeeter set out on an incredible adventure on the road and end up as Beets roadies when they meet other fans. in the beginning, Doug, Porkchop, and Skeeter are walking down the street singing the Beets. They approach a ticket booth to get tickets to a Beets concert at Bloatsberg, only to discover that the line is very long. Skeeter fears that the long line will squelch the friends’ attempt to make the best Beets concert in the world. Later, Doug is in his room in disappointment, upset that the concert is now sold out. But he is saved when Judy comes into his room and offers him two tickets to the concert, which her date offered her, telling Doug to paint her entire room black in return. Doug calls Skeeter and tells him about the two tickets Judy has offered him. Doug then asks Skeeter how the two would get all the way to Bloatsberg, and Judy reminds him that his parents wouldn’t allow him to take such a trip so far away. (So she gave him tickets to a show she knew he couldn’t go to.) Skeeter suggests that they should take the K-Bluff Beets Bus there. (Does this happen? Seems like a great idea to me.) When the bus arrives, Doug and Skeeter turn over their parents permission slips and where they encounter a number of Beets fans inside. While Charlene tells Doug and Skeeter her stories of truck driving, Frizzy goes to the bus to check on the other Beets fans, reminding the two friends not to be late. Doug and Skeeter become impressed when Charlene has told her story of how she actually wrestled an alligator out of the front seat of her vehicle and got the blood supply to the hospital on time. Charlene later leaves the diner to get in her truck to ride the open road. He and Skeeter then discover that they had let more than ten minutes elapse and find that they had missed the bus. (Now… I have been on several trips… We have never left someone behind… and they are kids too.) Doug and Skeeter are now stuck in the middle of nowhere, and Skeeter suggests that the two should call their parents. But Doug, knowing what Judy told him during his phone call with Skeeter earlier, refuses, for his parents might never trust him to go on his own again. Doug then suggests that the two could try walking to Bloatsberg. A sheriff named Melvin Hayes overhears this and wonders what Doug and Skeeter are doing inside the diner at 7:40 PM, meaning that the Beets concert starts in twenty minutes. When the sheriff realizes that the two are on their way to the Beets concert, he decides to give them a ride to the concert. While driving, Sheriff Hayes tells Doug and Skeeter that he was a Beets fan himself when the band was making basement tapes in his basement. He also adds that they were singing about his sock with the single “Where’s My Sock?” Doug and Skeeter finally make it to the concert. Unfortunately, they discover that they had left their tickets at the diner, and they get the premonition that they will miss the concert for sure. But to their relief, they find out that the Beets are just picking up their equipment and that they didn’t miss the concert yet. The Beets offer Doug and Skeeter two backstage passes and have them help them carry their equipment out of the truck and to the stage. Doug and Skeeter are amazed of carrying the band’s instruments. It is revealed that the Beets were on delay for a while, and the band performs their latest single “Shout Your Lungs Out.” Doug and Skeeter watch in delight and say that it is the best concert they have ever been to. In Doug’s Dental Disaster, Doug’s tooth hurts when he gets a cavity after biting into a candy bar at the movies, and afterwards has to go to his dentist. Although he doesn’t want to go to the appointment, he daydreams how Secret Agent Smash Adams would handle a dental situation. The episode starts off with Smash Adams tiptoeing through the house and encountering a fireplace. He uses a secret switch, which activates the wall, causing it to rotate by virtue of a secret switch. Smash enters a mysterious cave and presses a green button under a television screen, revealing villain Dr. Decay. The villain activates a trap door, which Smash Adams is standing under. The secret agent falls through the trap door and lands on the dental chair, which he is strapped in. It is revealed that it is a movie Doug and Skeeter are watching at the movie theater. Doug bites into his chocolate bar and painfully gets a toothache. When he runs into the bathroom to take a look at it through the mirror, he discovers that he has a sore tooth. (Now people would think that kids would reveal to the adult in their lives they are in pain. But no.) At the Honker Burger, Skeeter takes a look of Doug’s teeth and tells Doug that he has a cavity. When his friends tell him that he would have to go to a dentist to get it filled, Doug explains that the dentist “give him the willies.” Patti tries to convince him that it won’t be bad. But when Doug asks her how many cavities she had, she says that she hasn’t had one yet and would be scared of the drilling and the needles, demoralizing Doug. (Patti is usually better than this… but *Shrug*) Roger enters and makes things worse… While Doug sits on his front porch, he decides to make the pain dissipate on its own. But when he asks Mr. Dink if he had a cavity before, Mr. Dink informs him that he had so many cavities that he lost all of his teeth and had them replaced with titanium steel dentures. Cognizant of how ignoring his cavity would cause impending risks, Doug becomes encouraged to circumvent the same fate by going to the dentist to fill up his sore tooth. At the dentist, Doug waits in the waiting room and notices Dr. Kay’s framed diploma from dental school on the wall and realizes that maybe the dentist won’t be bad after all. He is then guided to the hallway by a dental assistant and becomes a bit apprehensive when he hears a patience screaming. Doug states in his head that he never expected it to be as bad as it would turn out and that even Smash Adams would think twice about it. When Doug is guided inside Dr. Kay’s dental room, he relaxes in a dental chair to wait for the dentist. Doug feels nervous as he takes a look around the room and Dr. Kay, revealed to be a female dentist, arrives. The dentist prepares to fill up his bad tooth as Doug waits for the procedure. After Dr. Kay finishes, Doug feels great, admitting that it wasn’t that bad. Dr. Kay tells Doug that he is her best patient due to how calm he was in comparison to the other patients who go to the dentist. Just then, Roger cowardly emerges inside the room in fear, hiding from Dr. Kay, despite the fact that she is only going to clean his teeth. He panickily dashes out of the room and cowardly runs away screaming. Doug states that Roger has a “super-low threshold of pain” and he and Dr. Kay start laughing. Check it out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJVx1qLz6XU)
• Doug’s Lost Weekend/Doug’s Lucky Hat – Doug’s Journal Entry: Dear Journal, it was the most typical day ever. Little did I know, I was about to have a rendezvous with destiny. I was about to become…a ten-thousandth customer. I don’t think things like that actually happen… oug and Skeeter are at the shop Computer Junkie at the mall. Doug becomes the ten-thousandth customer after picking up a video game system and wins a video game system called Super Pretendo, which includes the game Space Munks. Doug and Skeeter set it up at his house and Doug begins playing. This quickly get out of hand though. Doug eventually dies on his first try, as indicated by the coffin-shaped spaceship taking off on the screen. So Skeeter gets a turn on the game and soon, he and Skeeter spend the rest of the day trying to beat the game. The next scene shows Doug in classroom losing concentration in class thanks to his new video game getting into his head. Ms. Wingo asks Doug to answer a question he didn’t pay attention to, prompting him to look into his book and respond “the governor.” Ms. Wingo reminds him that the question was what clogs up the Noodle River and Roger laughs at his incorrect answer. Doug imagines himself destroying Roger video game style and Ms. Wingo explains that the imminent class report on silt is due Monday. (Addiction at work.) When class ends, Doug runs home to beat the game. Doug finds that Judy has changed the channel to watch Shakespeare on Ice (as usual). Skeeter heads home to do his report, and Doug decides to get started on his report right away. He tells Skeeter has a few pages, then, in narration, says, “The thing I didn’t tell Skeeter was that my few pages were all blank”. He has trouble concentrating on his work and starts getting imaginations of himself in the game. At three o’clock in the morning, he struggles to fall asleep. So he goes to the living room and plays the game until six in the morning. He can barely stay awake in school and is looking forward to the weekend for uninterrupted hours to play his game. Patti then comes around and offers Doug to study and work in reports at the library with her this weekend, but Doug is too drowsy to listen to her words coherently (he visualizes several spaceships encircling her head) and agrees right before going home to play his game. Doug loses track of time as he continues to play the game all weekend. The lost weekend is underway. At one point, Skeeter even comes over and Doug continues to beat the game himself. (Since he doesn’t share the game at all withe either Skeeter or porkchop.) To add insult to injury, Doug struggles to get his report done every time he looks at it. As he plays the game through the weekend, he finally destroys the chipmunk mother ship, much to his delight. Since Doug has nothing else to do, he tries to get started on his report, only to fall asleep when doing so. When he discovers that it is ten o’clock and he has overslept the next day, he wakes up and hurries off to school, only to discover that no one is outside and he is convinced that everyone was already in class. To make matters worse, his report is not finished (all he has written is “Silt: A Report By Doug Funnie. Silt is…”) Just then, Mr. Bone walks by while carrying books. Skeeter is also there. Seeing Mr. Bone, Doug hides inside a dumpster full of papers and tells Skeeter to join him inside. He complies. Doug explains his messed-up situation to Skeeter, and that Skeeter should go to class without him. But as the two climb out of the dumpster, Skeeter tells him that today is Sunday and that Doug had lost track of time of the days due to having his mind focused on the game. Relieved, Doug finishes his report at the library with Patti. In Doug’s Lucky Hat, A mysterious blue hat is seen flying through the windy sky. The hat lands on the pavement next to Doug’s feet and Doug picks it up. He wonders who it belongs to, and Connie tells him “finders keepers.” Skeeter tells him to try it on and Doug complies. When he trips, he finds a Sky Davis trading card missing from his collection, much to his delight. In Doug’s room, Skeeter convinces Doug that the hat he has found is lucky. But Doug denies that the hat has such luck, saying that he doesn’t believe in luck and that finding the Sky Davis trading card was only a coincidence. Then, through the radio, the announcer announces that the lucky caller number 23 will receive the latest autograph Beets CD. So Doug calls, wearing his new hat, and becomes the caller to receive the album. His luck becomes better when his mother finds his Smash Adams triple 3D X-ray glasses while sorting the laundry. It isn’t long before Doug finally admits that the hat is really lucky. (Do you believe in luck? It does seem like Doug is having a heck of a time.) The next day in school, Doug wonders what good his new, lucky hat would do him.  Doug discovers that Patti has lost her pet guinea pig Hamlet in the school when she brought him over for her report on how guinea pigs protect the ozone layer. Doug, Skeeter, and Patti go through a search around the school and when they go outside, his lucky hat blows away. He chases after it and the hat lands in a serving of salad in the cafeteria, where Hamlet is found as well. When Doug returns Hamlet to Patti, she thanks Doug for his help and she walks to Mr. Ogie’s class. As Doug and Skeeter talk about the lucky hat, Roger overhears this and decides to get his hands on the hat. Because Roger is a jerk. Doug is impressed of all the luck the hat has giving him and decides to never take it off, even in the shower. The lucky streak continues with Doug getting lots of gumballs from the machine with one coin, winning a large prize at the carnival, and catching a flyball during a baseball game. Later, at the Honker Burger, Doug and Skeeter are sitting at the table together, and Patti comes around to ask Doug why he is always wearing his hat on his head. Doug tries to hide the fact that it is lucky since he feels that she wouldn’t believe that such a hat would cause on person such luck. Skeeter tells Patti that the hat is lucky and Doug says that he doesn’t believe in luck. Just then, Roger comes around and snatches Doug’s hat off his head. He also compels Doug to prove that the hat isn’t lucky. So Doug lets Roger borrow the hat, which Roger tells him that he can have back after his biology test. You ever det the feeling during the show that Doug is too nice. I get that this is a kids show but goodness does Roger deserves a punch in the face. The next day, in class, Doug feels that his brain isn’t functioning properly and Roger grins back at him smugly while taking the biology test. After class, Doug walks outside of the school building, sitting on the steps while moping. Patti, worried about him, comes to his side and Doug admits that he really did believe his hat was lucky and that it made him feel like a winner when we was wearing it. Patti assures him that he doesn’t need a hat to make him feel lucky, and that he’s still a great guy with or without it. Suddenly, Roger shows up and flaunts his biology test, which he got a D- on. He then tells Doug that his hat is his new thinking cap and that he will wear it for a long time, despite the fact that the lucky hat didn’t have much effect on him. His smug mood, however, dissipates when a gust of wind blows away the hat off his head. Doug is about to follow Roger to chase after it, but then decides to let it fly away instead, saying that he will give someone else a turn. The episode concludes with Doug stating that will never know if the hat was lucky or not, but he will also remember how it made him feel, and if the hat does return, he will be ready to grab it again. Check it out here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90hf_P5fTDM)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug is Slave for a Day/Doug Rocks the House – Judy catches Doug breaking a vase that belonged to their mom. To keep her quiet, Doug must agree to be her slave for a week. Doug is watching a game with Porkchop. Doug and Porkchop play the game in the house. While playing catch, Doug causes the ball to bounce off his fingers and hit his mother’s vase. As the vase falls off the shelf, Doug attempts to catch it, and the vase shatters to pieces as it lands on the floor. Judy catches this and Doug begs her not to tell their mother. Judy has Doug sign a contract to become her slave for a week starting Saturday at four o’clock. He washes the dishes for her, pours her a glass of fruit juice, and cleans her room. By the next day, Doug becomes exhausted and Judy takes advantage of him by having him do the most assiduous and absurd work. When Doug tells Judy that she is going too far, Judy once again attempts to blackmail Doug by telling their mother, only for Doug to finally give in and do her chores out of deference. Skeeter comes to visit and finds Doug in Judy’s room wearing her dress while rolling on the floor, “Bohemianizing” it. Doug tells him about working for Judy and that he is relieved because it’s only for one more day. When Judy comes around, however, she informs him that he can’t whistle while working in proximity to her (which she said he did while re-skinning her bongos, but Doug claims that his nose was actually wheezing), and to make up for the broken rule, he must serve another week of slavery. So Doug, Porkchop, and Skeeter then work together to do Judy’s dirty work. (This is a bit overboard.) The next day, Theda tells Judy that she has to clear her costumes out of the basement before she attends her party, to which Judy responds that it needs a scrub down as well. Doug overhears this and is distraught because he knows that he’ll the one doing it. Angered that the contract may have Doug be Judy’s slave forever, he reads the contract again. As Doug reads the contract, he finally discovers how to free himself from it. When Judy comes inside Doug’s room to order him to clear the costumes in the basement, Doug tells her that he has already told his mother what happened (she didn’t really care about it), which resulted in him getting grounded for a week for not telling her sooner. Because of this, the contract is now void and he is no longer Judy’s slave. Judy begs Doug to clear her costumes out of the basement so she can go to her party, saying that she would do anything. The next day, it is implied that Doug has done Judy’s job yesterday and Judy is now Doug’s slave for the week that he’s grounded. Doug has her turn each page of his comic book he is reading while he is in bed and makes her do a list of his chores as well. (She really took it too far over a vase.) In Doug Rocks the House, hile Doug and Skeeter head to school, they run into Roger and his gang, who are throwing stones at an old, dilapidated house. When Roger throws a stone at it, the house doesn’t not a lot happens. So he offers Doug a stone to throw at the house. Doug hesitates and says that he would do it if he had permission. A construction worker comes around and allows it, saying that the house is history. So Doug tosses a stone at the house and the impact of the stone ricocheting through the walls causes the whole house to tumble down, destroying it completely. The gang congratulates Doug for this, but when Patti comes around and witnesses the damage done, she says that Doug is “terrible.” At school, Doug thinks about why Patti was upset at him. Kids start asking him to sign their rocks… and Doug is no closer to the truth. Doug then discovers Patti talking to Beebe and walks up to her to apologize. Patti cuts him off and apologizes to Doug for getting mad at him. Doug is relieved and says that all he did was knock down “some crudy, old house,” which causes Patti to revert back to her anger and walk away right after yelling at Doug. At lunch, when Patti is paying for her lunch, the lunch lady tells her that Doug has bought her lunch for her. But Patti looks at him with contempt and walks off, confusing Doug. Doug asks Beebe what Patti said, but Beebe refuses, telling him that she can’t tell because she’s not speaking to him. So Doug decides to search for Patti himself. He finds Patti at her locker and tries to ask her what is going on. Patti tells him that there isn’t anything left to discuss. Doug gets exasperated with Patti’s attitude and starts arguing back, agreeing not to talk to her anymore and the two end up getting into a verbal altercation right before Patti finally leaves. When Skeeter comes around, he and Doug find a photo of Patti and her friends hanging out by her old house. Doug notes that the doorway looks familiar, and Skeeter reveals that Patti’s old house is the same house he destroyed. (I get why Patti is upset… But Doug didn’t know anything about it. And it was set to be destroyed.) Skeeter tells Doug that Patti and her father moved out of the house after her mother’s death two years ago. When at home, Doug tries to reason with himself that Patti is still in the wrong to get angry, saying to himself that he could see someone getting mad at another person for destroying their house while they are inside. He then spots the framed height chart from the Funnie’s old house back in Bloatsberg and gets vivid memories of himself in his younger years being measured with the height chart. Doug then knows how Patti feels and decides he needs to apologize. He goes back to the spot where the wrecked house has been and tries to figure out something he can find to remember her old house by. Porkchop is the one to find something for Patti. The two go to Patti’s house. Her father answers the door and is friendly to Doug, but tells him she isn’t feeling well. So Doug leaves, only to get stopped by Patti, who runs after him. Doug apologizes to Patti, saying he had no intention of wrecking her old house, but she interrupts him and apologizes herself. Patti then notices a door knocker in Doug’s hand. He tells her he got it for her to remember her old house, only for it to turn out have the Pattersons inscribed on it. She tells him that they were her next-door neighbors and Doug feels like an idiot. When she wants to keep it, he asks if it is to remind her of how stupid he is, and she says, no, to remind her of how sweet Doug is, hugging him in the process. Check it out here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kfRL7yKFUo)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Cool Shoes –  Doug and his friends playing basketball against Roger and his gang. Doug is about to shoot a free throw and his team is down one point. Roger insults Doug’s plain shoes to distract him while shooting his free throw. Doug does miss the shot, as well as the ball hitting his head. Doug then realizes how shoes can give a person a headache. (Doug does like to overreact for a 11 year old.) When Doug then feels that he really does need a pair of new shows, he finds Mr. Dink rocking new shoes of his own, which turns out to be computerized too. (Does Dink know how to work any of the stuff he pays for? He was my first introduction to a hoarder.)  Doug continues to watch the commercial as the famous basketball player announces that he would be at Four Leaf Clover Mall to autograph his purchased sneakers for the customers. The next day, Doug brings Porkchop along to go to the shoe store and attempts to purchase a pair of Sky Davis Air Jets. The clerk first removes Doug’s old shoes off his feet and places them in a box. She measures Doug’s foot size and runs off to get the famous Air Jets. Doug already begins to miss his old shoes and feels as though he is betraying them. The shoe store clerk returns and offers Doug a final pair of Sky Davis Air Jets, which are too big to fit Doug’s feet. As he walks with the shoes on, Doug starts to feel skeptical at first, but feels like a new man in a new pair of Air Jets. Unfortunately, he only has half the price of the shoes and can’t purchase them. At the end, Roger ends up with the shoes instead, leaving Doug back to his old shoes. As Doug sits outside on the bench moping the next day, Sky Davis (who’s actual name is Chuck) then comes around and compliments Doug’s old sneakers. Doug notices that Chuck is wearing his regular shoes rather than his famous Air Jets, and the latter explains that his regular sneakers are his off-court buddies and that he will never get rid of them no matter what. He autographs Doug’s shoes and Doug reciprocates him by autographing his as well. Roger later challenges Doug one a one-on-one game (while rocking his new Sky Davis Air Jets) and he trips while attempting to hit a shot due to the size of the shoes. Doug grabs the ball and runs to the basket. He hits the shot as his friends cheer for him.
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Dinner Date – Patti invites Doug over for dinner with the rest of the gang and Doug is thrilled. It’s a dream come true for Doug until Patti tells Doug she will be serving liver and onions (one of Doug’s most hated foods). Doug tries everything (including hypnosis) to overcome his fear. Patti invites Doug over for dinner Sunday night. Doug is delight, but soon discovers that it’s a group dinner. She also tells him that they are serving liver and onions, which Doug has a blatant aversion towards. So he asks Skeeter to help him practice eating it and invites him over to dinner with his family, adding that he’ll have his mother making him liver tonight. But during the dinner, Doug struggles to try it and just sits there poking at the liver. Doug then realizes that he’s not ready to try the liver and onions yet and excuses himself from the table. In Doug’s room, Skeeter tries to hypnotize him into liking liver and onions, telling him that when he sees liver and onions, he would just see Honker dogs and fries. Doug only manages to hallucinate and see Skeeter as a Honker dog instead. Doug then decides that he has had enough liver and onions for tonight. Doug gets advice from Judy instead. While in her room, Judy suggests that Doug should look through the perspective of the food to understand it. But Doug feels that this isn’t working, and Judy tells him that she has never known anyone getting hysterical over dinner. Later, the night before Patti’s dinner, the Funnie family have dinner at Cowboy Jacques’ House of Boeuf, an Old West-themed restaurant with French staff. (Odd? Yes as odd as it sounds.) After consulting the menu, Doug orders #47 (liver and onions), much to the shock of the customers and Rudy, the waiter. When Doug is presented with his order, he gives it a taste and likes it. He imagines himself as Patti’s prince and outside of his imagination, he gains cheers from everyone at the restaurant. The next day, Doug and Skeeter are walking to Patti’s house and Skeeter is impressed by Doug’s bravery. They arrive at Patti’s house and prepare to have dinner, but Doug, eager to try the liver and onions Patti said she was serving, finds out that Patti was just only joking and she says that she knew about his aversion towards them through his “Things I Hate Most” oral speech in class. He later discovers that they are having Honker dogs and fries instead. A confused Doug once again hallucinates, seeing everyone as Honker dogs right before fainting out of his chair. Poor Doug did all this work for no reason. Check it out here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOTmr0kf31E)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug on First – Patti’s Pulverizers are playing against their opponent in a baseball game. One of the players hit a ball and the Pulverizers get a double out on the other team. Patti, the pitcher of the team, strikes out another player on the opposing team, winning the game for the Pulverizers. Doug talks about his game to his parents, but they and the other parents are having a discussion about replacing Patti for someone else as pitcher. Doug walks away upset. (The kids have a system that works. Leave it to parents to ruin things. Doug states voice-over that the parents decided to manage the team themselves since they believe that the kids do not have any maturity to manage it on their own. In the Funnie house, the parents discuss on how to run the Pulverizers, while Doug and Skeeter eavesdrop. Theda suggests that the team should take turns pitching instead, which Doug and Skeeter believe will do no good since the Pulverizers are playing against the Honkers. The next day, Doug practices pitching with his father, which Phil calls the “Funnie Fireball”, a pitch that has been in his family for generations. When Doug practices his pitch the first time, he throws it too high and ends up accidentally hitting Mr. Dink in the head. Mr. Dink returns the ball to Doug and Phil.  Doug tries to convince his father to let him play first baseman instead, but Phil shows him his picture of his team, the Bloatsberg Killer Weevils baseball team, where he was their number-two pitcher. He tells Doug that he was born to pitch and that it’s in the Funnie blood, but Doug is not motivated one bit and wants to stay on first base instead. Doug, Skeeter, and Patti are then seen walking home after practice; Skeeter returns to his house. Doug tells Patti how unfair it was for the adults to interfere with their team’s decision, but Patti suggests that the others should learn how to pitch before their game against the Honkers. Doug fills with determination and feels that he probably can pitch. During the baseball game against the Honkers, Connie is revealed to be the pitcher of the team, and attempts to pitch a number of balls, but fails. So Skeeter takes her place as pitcher instead, but ends up pitching easy home runs. Doug is now on the pitcher mound and Roger mocks his pitching skills as he comes up to bat. Realizing that he is no pitcher and is instead a first baseman, Doug finally calls timeout and has Patti take his place as pitcher. She ends up striking Roger all out all three strikes, as well as the rest of the Honkers, and her team comes back to take the lead. In the final inning, one of the Honkers’ players hits the ball and the shortstop catches the fly ball, giving the Pulverizers the victory over the Honkers, their first over them!
  
  
  
  
  
  

Disney took over for Doug after Nickelodeon canceled it. For a minute, it was rebranded as Brand Spankin’ New Doug! As a kid, I am not sure I gave it the proper chance. I hated the new theme song and that it was on a new channel with a new lineup. It joined the One Saturday Morning block along with newcomers Recess and Pepper Ann. The show takes place a few months after the Nickelodeon show’s series finale, “Doug Graduates/Doug’s Bad Trip”, where Doug and his friends graduate from Bluffington Elementary School as sixth graders, and begin their first year at Beebe Bluff Middle School, as seventh graders. Like the original show, it deals with the everyday life of socially awkward yet warmhearted Doug Funnie.  The show ended in 1999 with sixty-five episodes, which is the episode limit for most of Disney’s TV shows.

There were several changes made to the Disney Doug. Now that I am an adult… I am looking at the list of things and realizing it is not that big of a deal. For Example:

• The characters are now attending Beebe Bluff Middle School, having graduated from Bluffington School at the end of the Nickelodeon series.
• Skunky Beaumont, a character often mentioned but never appearing in the Nick series outside of one off-screen speaking role, becomes a major character in the show.
• Roger has gone from a bully living in a trailer park to a rich kid and rival to Beebe.
• Connie has lost significant weight.
• Most of the characters get new outfits.
• The Honker Burger has been sold and has turned into Chez Honque, a French restaurant, but Doug and the gang didn’t have to worry; in “Doug’s New School”, Mr. Swirly opened an ice cream parlor which becomes the new hangout for them.
• The Beets, Doug and his friends’ favorite band, have broken up.
• Tippi Dink becomes the new mayor, surpassing stereotypical politician Robert “Bob” White.
• The episodes consist of one 30 minute (plus commercials) story, while the Nickelodeon series had episodes consisting of two 12 minute stories (with the exception of the first episode and the Halloween and Christmas specials). (I think that structure is a bit better.)

So I picked a few of the episodes I enjoyed the most from under the Disney Banner. I was mildly surprised that it felt much the same as the original. But let’s jump into it.

• Doug’s Last Birthday – In the Disney series premiere, Doug’s fears about the changes that are happening in life make him think about canceling his birthday parties. The summer is coming to a close and Doug is delivering invitations for his 12th birthday party to all his friends. While he goes all around town, he discovers that Bluffington (as well as his friends) have been through changes. Change is hard. Especially when we are younger. The Honker Burger is changed into a French restaurant called Chez Honque, Roger is rich, The Beets are breaking up, a new Middle School is being built, Connie has lost weight, Patti is being home schooled in the mornings. But later, Judy makes him realize that changes make us different from rocks, and Doug reinstates his party just in time to hear that his mom is pregnant.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s New School – It’s the first day of seventh grade at the new middle school which still does not have a name, so a “Name Your School” student contest is created by the former Mayor White who is now the school’s principal. The contest causes fierce competition between Patti and Doug when they don’t like each other’s school name suggestions. (They are both equally bad.) Doug meets all his teachers including his homeroom and English teacher Ms. Krystal, and during breaks, the students realize the school isn’t quite finished yet. This becomes a running gag… I am not sure about these parents… because I would want to understand why I am being told my child is going to a school that is not done. Also, the gang is on the search for the perfect new hangout since the Honker Burger is now Chez Honque. They end up choosing Mr. Swirly’s. The school ends up being named after Beebe Bluff… and really they should have seen that coming. My favorite part of the episode is where Skunky Beaumont makes an appearance. All of the kids are racing to windows to get a glimpse of the kid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Hoop Nightmare – Doug gets a letter from Bolivia… and the family is curious as to who he knows in Bolivia. Doug’s explanation involves the previous summer, where Doug went to the Grinning Bear Sports Camp with Patti. Doug was really excited about his summer vacation. He wanted to be super organized for summer to get the most out of it. He’s planned out the first half of his day, which is almost over as he’s checking off items on the list. His day, and summer, falls apart completely at noon when he finds out Skeeter was accepted to Camp Einstein last night and had to rush off this morning. At home, Doug’s parents suggest he go to a summer camp because all his friends have gone to camp. He decides to follow Patti to sport’s camp and nothing could have a been a worst idea. Meantime, Doug’s asthmatic cabinmate Leonard, who has made a career of escaping summer camps, plans yet another escape. However, Doug, Chalky, and Patti have to worry about the upcoming basketball game they have to play against a tougher camp. Doug has no skills to speak of. When Patti tries to help him… and shrugs off her help in favor of looking cool and almost tanks the teams chances. They pull out a win in the second half… but who sent Doug the letter? Well it is from Leonard. It may be several months later, and school may have started weeks ago, but Leonard finally escaped that awful two week camp and Coach Spitz will never find him. Well not really. Coach Spitz is sitting behind him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s in Debt! – Doug has borrowed a costume from Judy to give his report. Doug has to start working on his history project. He hasn’t decided who the subject will be. Doug says it has to be an important historical figure. It can’t be about his dog. He figures to dig through Judy’s stuff to get an idea. He bases his decision on the costume he finds. Napoleon. Before he can do much of anything, Judy runs into the room, grabs the costume, throws it into the trunk, and slams it shut. She reminds him that he is forbidden to touch her costumes and kicks him out of her room. He starts begging because adding a costume to his project guarantees him an A. She refuses, saying the costume is expensive and irreplaceable. Doug says he’ll guard it with his life. They get into a repetitive argument that brings their mother to tears. Judy allows Doug to borrow the costume, but he has to sign a contract. Doug doesn’t even read the contract before signing it and taking the costume. The contract states if she doesn’t get her Hat back, Doug would do her shows forever.  He’s excited about getting an A. But the contract states At school, Doug finishes up his oral report on the Battle of Waterloo before introducing Napoleon Bonapart. After school, Doug is walking home when Skeeter spots him and tells him they need a goalie. Without asking which sport they were playing, Doug says, “cool,” and throws his stuff on the ground before running off to the basketball court. The wind blows the hat away immediately. Later, Skeeter compliments Doug on the game. He says he’s never seen someone stop so many goals with his face. Upon returning to his abandoned stuff, Doug complains that someone has kicked dirt onto the coat, and oh no, the hat is gone! (Why didn’t he take better care of stuff? Judy not wanting him to use her things was warranted.) Roger finds it and won’t give it back to Doug. In order to get the hat back from Roger, he asks Doug to do many favors including stealing a plastic cow. After all the favors are done, Roger still refuses to give the hat back. Since Doug can’t return the hat to Judy, he must suffer the consequences. After Doug tells Judy that Roger won’t give the hat back to her, Judy takes the hat from Roger. With Judy getting her hat back by herself, Doug believed he would do her shows forever, until her friend revealed a loophole in the contract stating that as long as Judy got the hat (With or Without Doug getting it himself) he’s off the hook, legally. While Doug was happy that he didn’t have to do her shows, He notice that with Doug in the play, her show would be ruin and he agreed to be in that one show.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Movie Madness – After Doug and Skeeter see a commercial for the new movie Targetman, they desperately want to see it. Soon, all of Doug’s friends and even his teachers are talking about Targetman. When Doug tells his parents he wants to see it, they don’t allow him because it is way too violent and they feel Doug is not mature enough to see it. Been there done that. Who wants to be the only kid who hasn’t seen what everyone is talking about at school? Although, adult me knows exactly why Doug and friends should not see Target man.  Doug tries to be more mature in front of his parents in order for them to let him see the movie, but they still say no. Roger who has spent most of the episode talking about how Doug need permission from his parents and would never get it… didn’t get permission from his dad to see it. Doug goes with Skeeter to see the movie anyway, only to regret it later on. His parents are right… it is too violent. And it gives doug nightmares. Doug ends up grounded after he admits seeing the movie without their permission.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug: The Big Switch – Doug is watching Dr. Cop, but is called by mom Theda and runs into dad Phil. By the time Doug returns, his sister Judy munches on popcorn and watches the Shakespeare on Ice show. Doug and Judy wrestle for the remote on the floor, but Phil wins. Doug spends the next day complaining that his life is hard. He tells Patti that she must have it easy since she gets homeschooled. Annoyed… Patti points out that her life is pretty difficult. This sparks several other comparisons… Like Roger and Chalky as well as Skeeter and Beebe.  In the switch for a day, Doug switches places with Patti, Skeeter switches places with Beebe, and Chalky switches places with Roger. At Skeeter’s house, Beebe tries to babysit Dale, and Skeeter orders a banana sandwich at Beebe’s house, but picks up two forks. At Doug’s house, Patti watches Theda clean the house, and at Patti’s house, Doug is homeschooled by Patti’s dad. Finally, Doug sneaks past Mr. Mayonnaise and bolts for home, but runs into Patti. Chalky gets lost in Roger’s house while Roger is overworked by Chalky’s dad. They all go running for the hills. They all come running back to their houses with a new appreciation of others.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug Gets His Wish – Poor Doug…. He has graduated from elementary school and no shade to Mrs. Wingo… but the middle school homework is a beast. Ms. Kristal gives so much of it.  Willie tells his dad that he and his classmates haven’t learned anything from Ms. Kristal, and besides, she didn’t vote for him when he was mayor. Ms. Kristal is fired and Principal White takes over. As a result, Doug gets his wish, because Principal White’s idea of teaching (and homework) is reading comic books. Everyone loves it except Skeeter. He circulates a petition to get Ms. Kristal back, but his classmates are enjoying the break from homework and refuse to sign the petition. Skeeter manages to get only two signatures on the petition – his own and Doug’s (who only signs out of loyalty to Skeeter) – and throws it away. Soon Principal White puts Willie in charge of the class, and he turns into a tyrant, suspending Skeeter and forcing the students to wait on him hand and foot. With that, the rest of the kids in Ms. Kristal’s class finally decide they want Ms. Kristal back. Doug takes up the case with Mayor Tippi Dink at a school board meeting and tricks Willie into admitting that Ms. Kristal was really a good teacher. As a result, Ms. Kristal is reinstated, and Mayor Dink asks Ms. Kristal to add a new student to her class—Principal White…
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Friend’s Friend – Everyone is excited about the new ride at Funky Town. Skeeter sees Patti and Beebe walking away from the new ride and tells Beebe they’re going the wrong way. Beebe says she’s not going on the Natural Disaster Blaster because it’s scary what a velocity 7 twister could do to her hair. Doug decides to invite them on the ride to make things less scary. (He doesn’t care about how Skeeter feels about it… as long as he can ride with Patti.) Doug and Patti get in a cart together while Beebe berates Skeeter. Skeeter just tries to tune out Beebe. Doug tries to make up for his rudeness during the rest of the week by suggesting fun activities to Skeeter. First, he has this telescope and wants to use it to find the Lucky Duck Monster. Skeeter makes an excuse. Doug suggests they watch a Smash Adams movie. Skeeter makes another excuse. Doug starts to realize that Skeeter has stopped hanging out with him. The excuses get more and more bizarre and Doug is determined to figure out who his friend is hanging out with. The kicker is when Doug asks Skeeter to watch Tidal Wave Madness. Skeeter says he’s busy, and also Tidal Wave Madness is plebeian. Doug takes great offense at this. Doug doesn’t know what plebeian means. In the library, he looks up the word. “Unrefined or vulgar. See: Tidal Wave Madness.” Doug accepts that Skeeter was right, then overhears Skeeter whispering about the movie. Doug finds Skeeter raving about Tidal Wave Madness to Skunky. Doug confronts him about this and Skeeter stammers and runs away. When he finally sees that Skeeter is hanging out with Beebe… Doug becomes a bit hostile. (I did not see that coming. Like even if you don’t get it… why are you being so mean to your friend?)  Doug is disgusted by Skeeter’s lovesick attitude and jealous of their friendship. Doug decides to fight back which ends up in the end of their friendship. Doug then decides that he is going to try and break them up. (So disappointing.) Elmo reminds Doug who got them together. Doug himself.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Chubby Buddy – This episode was more of a cautionary tale. It was probably the first time that I saw an animated show take on this topic… (I remember seeing something on Full House about it.) Doug and Porkchop are just playing cards while Skeeter laments the lack of monster news in the latest Weekly Weird World. Patti catches up with them and asks if she can hang out with them. She says Beebe won’t do anything while Teen Heart Street is on. “It’s like she thinks everything stops at four o’clock!” Once they hear that it is 4 pm, they all abandon Patti to also go watch the show. Patti returns to Connie and Beebe. Patti, Connie, and Beebe also watch the awful show. Beebe declares it to be the best episode yet. (There was so much crazy nonsense in the show… )  A voice on the tv says, “stay tuned for a commercial that looks like a documentary.” The commercial defines fat as cushion from injury, or insulation to keep you warm, but then says, “for most of us, it’s just ugly, old fat.” Fat blobs glide on screen. Patti, Connie and Beebe all gasp. Another blob of fat drops down and stands up to introduce himself as Lardy. He’s a fat cell that’s been inside you for years. Lardy says there are two periods of your life where you grow a lot of fat cells. The first is in infancy, and the second is at puberty. This freaks the girls out. The model actor from the show is in this commercial and says, “it’s a sad fact of life that none of you will ever have a 9 inch waist, but now you can try, using my waist away diet kit!” The voice-over man says, “remember: your friends will never tell you when you’re fat.” (Nothing like seeing a satire of commercials that have been targeting women for years.) Patti says they’re just trying to make you think you’re fat because they’re selling that dumb product. Beebe disagrees. She warns Patti that if she’s not careful, she’ll look in the mirror and see Fatty instead of Patti. At lunch the next day, Patti is picking out her lunch when Guy makes her feel bad about her choice. She grabs a salad and he calls it rabbit food. “Puttin’ on a few LBs, huh?” He immediately assumes she’s on a diet. Patti walks by and Doug says hello. She asks him if he thinks she needs to lose some weight. Sarcastically, he says, “oh yeah. You’re huge.” He chuckles and Skeeter chuckles and Patti misses the sarcasm entirely. Patti then tries out for the school’s track team. Coach Spitz says he wants a team that is lean and mean. She approaches Connie and Beebe and says she’s going on a diet. Connie wants to lose weight too, so she’s also going on a diet. Beebe too. Apparently, they’re getting together for lunch now to show off their fat free lunches. Patti bought the Waist Away diet kit. Beebe is surprised she bought the kit. Patti says the actor is lame, but she is in good shape. Using the scale, she says, “this sandwich is a tad weighty, and she tosses half of the ingredients. Patti is tracking her running with her watch. She’s happy to have run for 30 minutes because it means she burned 250 calories. Patti continues exercising more and eating less. At lunch, she’s carrying a tray with an egg and a carrot right past Guy. At the weigh-in, Connie goes first. According to the scale, she lost one pound. Beebe steps onto the scale and is shocked by her seven pound difference. Connie and Patti are impressed until Beebe says she didn’t lose seven pounds; she gained seven pounds. Patti finally steps on the scales and finds that she met her goal to lose three pounds. Satisfied she’s meeting her goal, she gets back to running. (Sometimes, I ask… where are these kids parents. It is ridiculous.) At lunch the next day, Doug asks to sit with Patti. She’s making notes about her exercise and takes a short spray from a can labeled “Spraywich.”It is apparently her whole lunch. At the track, Doug tries to relay his concerns for Patti’s diet to the coach. The lazy, overweight man cuts him off, saying all athletes diet. Doug just doesn’t understand because he’s not an athlete. Doug suggests that she is getting carried away. Coach says they’d win more trophies if more athletes got carried away. Back at the track, Coach Spitz says the team will be the top five students from each grade. Patti eventually collapses… She says she doesn’t feel so good. He tells her to get carried away. Coach Spitz should be fucking fired. Ms. Kristal puts an end to Patti running… Ms. Kristal asks Patti if she’s eaten anything at all today. Patti says she hasn’t because she thought she’d be able to run faster that way. Ms. Kristal explains that your body needs protein, so when you don’t eat, your body starts eating itself and you lose strength rather than gaining it. Doug says that’s scary.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doug’s Adventures On-Line – While surfing the internet on the Funnie family’s new computer to find music for the upcoming retro dance, Doug and Skeeter encounter Webster, a ‘kid’ they agree to meet to exchange some records. What the boys don’t know is that Webster is really ‘Friendly Frankie,’ a rather unscrupulous adult. Instead of meeting them, however, Webster/Frankie creates a distraction and steals their records. Horrified, Doug and Skeeter go back online and find similar records for sale at Friendly Frankie’s Used Records. At the store, when the boys try to talk to Frankie about their records, Doug and Skeeter find themselves in a bad situation. Mayor Dink and Mr. Dink rescue Doug and Skeeter and furiously confront Frankie, who is now a criminal. Meanwhile, Judy is online in the ‘Bluffington’s Pretentious Artists Chat Room’, where she meets a guy who uses the screen name ‘Leonardo D’Warhol’. Believing she has met the man of her dreams, Judy arranges a meeting in person only to discover that Leonardo is not quite the man she expected. It warns of the dangers of being online at a time when that was new for everyone.
  
  

So the rewatch of Doug was fun. It still holds up years later. Elementary and Middle school is pretty much the same no matter how much time passes. And I will say again that Disney’s version wasn’t bad… and not even all that different. The show holds up that honesty is the best policy which was definitely beneficial to me as a kid. The Disney portion is on Disney Plus… and I am sure the Nickelodeon version is on Paramount Plus, you can also get it on DVD. Let me know what you think about Doug.