Questions and observations about Nickelodeon's Doug

Cafe Society
1

I have recently been watching some DVDs of the first and second season of Nickelodeon’s Doug, and have noticed some things that I definitely didn’t catch the first time around when I was a kid.

First of all, how could they get away with having a principal named “Buttsavich” (blatantly pronoucned Buttsavage)? How could they get away with showing Judy’s panties during one scene where she falls down and we see up her skirt? How could they get away with Doug saying “I’ve got a lot of research to do!” (in reference to his upcoming date with Patti) after learning about animal mating rituals in class in Doug’s Big Date? It seems like Nickelodeon would have objected to these things.

Second of all, the character of Chalky Studebaker (the green-skinned, blue-haired, popular jock) looks uncannily like a young, male version of the kids’ teacher Mrs. Wingo. Same skin tone, same hair color, same pointed nose, and, most strangely, same purple athletic-style jacket with pink trim. I don’t recall ever seeing Chalky’s mother on the show. Is this some kind of weird, unspoken implication that Mrs. Wingo is Chalky’s biological mother? Or related to him in some way?

Third, is Skeeter supposed to be “the black kid?” I had never even considered this, but every time I get into a discussion about Doug, or watch the DVDs with someone, I always hear people saying that Skeeter Valentine was supposed to be “the token black kid.” Why would someone say this? He does talk in a jive-y sort of way, but not in any way that’s explicitly or even implicitly “black.” And neither he nor his parents have African facial features. So what’s the deal here?

Did Family Guy rip off of Patti Mayonnaise’s father for the character of Joe Swanson - both buff, handsome guys in wheelchairs? Sure, there are guys like this in real life, but in two cartoons?

Speaking of Family Guy, Tippy Dink, Mr. Dink’s wife, has lidded eyes and therefore looks like a Family Guy character. She is the only person on the show with this style of appearance. Weird.

I have to go right now but I’m sure I’ll think of more. In the meantime, can anyone address these, or share more comments?

2

As for Nickelodeon’s possible objections, I think ABC was producing new episodes for a while after its run on Nick… maybe they had looser standards?

3

Those episodes were before the ABC run.

4

Nick used to be alot looser with content. You Can’t Do That on Television got away with alot of stuff that probally wouldn’t air today.

5

Ren and Stimpy had some serious innuendo that I didn’t grasp when I was a kid. They probably thought we were too dumb to figure it out, and they were right.

6

Nitpick: although Nickelodeon adopted green slime and a few other things from it, YCDTOT was a Canadian production (hence the mostly Canadian child cast, including a young unknown Canuck named Alanis Morrisette).