Doug is an American animated television series created by Jim Jinkins and produced by Jumbo Pictures. 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.
Jinkins developed Doug from drawings in his sketchbook that he created over the course of the 1980s. Doug, a mostly autobiographical creation, was largely inspired by Jinkins's childhood growing up in Virginia, with most characters in the series being based on real individuals. He first pitched Doug as a children's book to uninterested publishers before Nickelodeon purchased the show. Following this, the series underwent further development, in which Jinkins meticulously detailed every aspect of the show's setting. Jinkins was insistent that the series would have a purpose and instructed writers to annotate each script with a moral. The show's unusual soundtrack consists largely of scat singing and mouth noises.
The series premiered on August 11, 1991 on the cable network Nickelodeon, as the channel's first original animated content alongside Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy 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,[2] so in 1996, Disney green-lit the fifth season after acquiring Jumbo Pictures. Jinkins made several creative changes during this time. The show moved to ABC's Saturday morning lineup for three years. 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.
