2 Stupid Dogs is an American animated television series created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It originally ran from September 5, 1993, to February 13, 1995, on TBS as a part of their Sunday Morning in Front of the TV block and in syndication. The show's main segments feature two unnamed dogs, called the "Little Dog" and the "Big Dog" in the credits (voiced by Mark Schiff and Brad Garrett, respectively). The show entirely used digital ink and paint in every episode. The show has been described as "Hanna-Barbera's answer to Ren and Stimpy", a hit show that premiered two years earlier in 1991 on Nickelodeon. Like Ren & Stimpy, the Dogs characters are not very bright, the show is scored with jazz music, and the comedy style leans on gross-out body-secretion humor. Asked about the comparison, Hanna-Barbera CEO Fred Seibert was unconcerned, saying that it was "like Pearl Jam worrying about being compared to Nirvana." Ironically, following his dismissal from Nickelodeon, Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi was credited as contributing "bad taste" gags to a few episodes of Dogs. A backup segment, Super Secret Secret Squirrel (a sequel series to Secret Squirrel), is shown in between the main 2 Stupid Dogs cartoons in the first season's episodes, similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1960s.

Plot

The show is about two unnamed dogs—neither of whom, as the title states, is very intelligent—and their everyday misadventures. the Big Dog tends to talk much less than the Little Dog. When the Big Dog talks, he usually talks about food. The animation style in the first season is unusual for the time: a very flat and simplistic style similar to the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s, but with early 1990s humor and sensibility. The wilder, more absurd second season has more fluid and exaggerated character animation.

Characters

Episodes

Series overview

Each episode consists of three segments, with two 2 Stupid Dogs shorts bookending a Super Secret Secret Squirrel short. Cumulatively, each episode is approximately 22 minutes in length, which amounts to roughly 7 minutes per segment.

Season 1 (1993)

Note: All episodes in this season were directed by Donovan Cook.

Season 2 (1994–95)

Home media

On August 14, 2018, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (via the Warner Archive Collection) released the first season of the series as 2 Stupid Dogs/Secret Squirrel Show Volume One on DVD.

Reception

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described 2 Stupid Dogs as one of two "clones" of The Ren & Stimpy Show, the other one being The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show. The series was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award but lost to Rugrats.

Accolades