How Disney Ruined ‘Doug’

The opening theme music to Doug makes every childhood fan’s heart smile. The animated television series centered on the early adolescent life of Douglas “Doug” Funnie and his social life in the fictional town of Bluffington. Doug narrates each story in his journal every episode. The series was applauded for addressing relatable topics young children and teens deal with. Themes throughout the show included having self-esteem trouble, bullying, and peer pressure. Like most cartoons with young kids, Doug had a childhood crush, Patti Mayonnaise. The show premiered in 1991 on Nickelodeon. But after four seasons on the network, the show made the switch to Disney, and there were some noticeable changes that took the show in a completely different direction, which many fans say was for the worse.

Initially, the order for the show was 65 episodes, with 13 episodes to air each season. Nickelodeon chose not to renew the contract as a result of the show’s expensive budget during a budget freeze for the network. The network had a two-year window to change its mind and reverse the decision with additional episodes to air. 

In 1996, The Walt Disney Company purchased the show in a multimillion-dollar deal. The deal also allowed the company to trademark Doug, along with its rights to all future merchandising. But with such a large gap between Seasons 4 and 5, there were stark differences.

For starters, production relocated from New York City to Los Angeles. Additionally, voice actors were replaced. Billy West was replaced by Tom McHugh as the voice of Doug because he became too expensive to pay for due to his fame growing from his voiceover work for Ren & Stimpy.  

Jim Jinkins, who created the series, felt the show fared better when it ran on Nickelodeon. “I mostly agree with Doug fans who think the original 104 eleven-minute Doug stories made for Nick were the best,” he said of the changes. He was also less involved in the production than he was previously. “The switch made up some of the most painful evolutions I’ve ever had to go through,” he told HuffPost.

The popular theme song also changed. The Nickelodeon version had a trendy tune famous for its “doo, do-do, do-do-do, doo, do-do, do-doo!” but the updated version was a whistled tune. In total, the series ran for seven seasons. As of late, there have been no plans for additional episodes.