In its new time slot, the show’ s warmth and good nature shined. At Jinkins’ s insistence, Doug episodes always centered around an ethical dilemma: Doug finds a wallet and, despite being tempted to keep it, returns it to the owner, who doesn’ t bother to show much appreciation( moral: do what’ s right because it’ s right); Doug struggles with a stylish pair of shoes that don’ t fit( moral: function over fashion); Doug draws a rude doodle of his teacher and accidentally turns it over to her( moral: own your actions). The show was generous to its characters: even the“ villain,” the Macklemore- Ramone-looking Roger, had his own moments of kindness, like when he helped throw Doug a surprise party— though that parity shouldn’ t have been too surprising given that West voiced both characters.
“ To me it was a breath of fresh air looking at Doug— it really had humanity, good spirit, and ethos,” lifelong animator and Doug director Ken Kimmelman says.“ With so many other cartoons, you can get laughs from contempt, but this had a lot of respect in it. It was kind of uphill, not downhill.”
“ I of course wanted [ the show ] to be funny and well structured, but more than anything I wanted it to matter,” Jinkins says.“ I wanted it to make a statement about how, at least from my perspective, we ought to treat each other and ought to live.”
By 1996, Doug had become a“ known quantity,” says Jinkins. And while it had established a modicum of popularity, Nickelodeon declined to renew the show’ s fifth season.“ It was too sweet, too nice, too tender,” Kaplan says.“ Ren & Stimpy was the big hit. They wanted to do things that were edgier.”
Jinkins began negotiations to bring the show to Disney, where it would serve as the cornerstone for ABC’ s newly launched“ One Saturday Morning” block. The transition wasn’ t without casualties: many of Doug’ s original writers and directors departed, as did West, who left over financial disputes and was replaced by Tom McHugh.
On ABC, the show lasted three more seasons. After the conclusion of the seventh and final season, Doug and the crew made the jump to the big screen with 1999’ s Doug’ s 1st Movie. Despite the bigger spotlight, Jinkins acknowledges that fans tend to find the Disney iteration of Doug lesser, and while he doesn’ t entirely disagree with the sentiment, he says the changes to Doug came from him, not from higher-ups at Disney.
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