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CatDog

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CatDog
Genre
Created byPeter Hannan
Creative directorRobert Porter
Voices of
Theme music composerPeter Hannan
Opening theme"CatDog Theme Song"
Ending theme"CatDog Ending Theme Song"
ComposerDenis M. Hannigan
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes68[a] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerPeter Hannan
Producers
  • Mario Piluso
  • Ken Kessel
Running time23 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseApril 4, 1998 (1998-04-04) –
June 15, 2005 (2005-06-15)

CatDog is an American animated television series created by Peter Hannan for Nickelodeon.[1] The series follows the zany hijinks of orange-furred conjoined brothers of different species, with one half of the resultant animal being a cat and the other a dog. Nickelodeon produced the series from Burbank, California.[2] The first episode aired on April 4, 1998, following the 1998 Kids' Choice Awards, before the show officially premiered on October 5, 1998. Similarly, the Season 2 episode "Fetch" was shown in theaters in 1998 before airing on television.[3]

The series ended on June 15, 2005, after a total of four seasons and 66 aired episodes over seven years, plus two produced episodes that never aired. It was produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and Peter Hannan Productions and was released on DVD in Region 1 by Shout! Factory.

Two animation studios, Saerom Animation and Rough Draft Studios through Rough Draft Korea, worked on the animation for the show.

Premise

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CatDog follows the adventures of a cat and a dog who share a body, despite having opposite personalities. Cat is a strait-laced, intellectual cat whereas Dog is an impulsive, happy-go-lucky dog. While the brothers can independently control their upper bodies with two heads, they are conjoined at the midsection, meaning they have no tail or hind legs. Cat and Dog's personality differences share similarities with The Odd Couple, the Looney Tunes shorts and elements of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and fellow Nicktoon characters Ren and Stimpy.[4] Because Cat and Dog cannot be separated, Dog will often (literally) drag his brother into activities Dog enjoys, such as chasing garbage trucks, eating fast food, and exploring, even though Cat is reluctant to do so.

Episodes

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Main article: List of CatDog episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
120April 4, 1998 (1998-04-04)October 29, 1998 (1998-10-29)
220February 15, 1999 (1999-02-15)March 16, 2000 (2000-03-16)
320October 9, 1999 (1999-10-09)May 18, 2001 (2001-05-18)
48November 25, 2000 (2000-11-25)June 15, 2005 (2005-06-15)

Characters

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  • CatDog (voiced by Jim Cummings and Tom Kenny, respectively), a cat and a dog conjoined hybrid twin brothers whose heads are two and the upper body is so long and stretchy and having no tail or hind legs.
  • Winslow Oddfellow, (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), a tailless blue mouse who lives next door.
  • Cliff Feltbottom (voiced by Tom Kenny), a male bulldog and the leader of the Greaser Dogs.
  • Shriek Dubois (voiced by Maria Bamford), a female poodle.
  • Lube (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), a male hound who falls in love.
  • Rancid Rabbit (voiced by Billy West), a green rabbit.
  • Eddie the Squirrel (voiced by Dwight Schultz), a gray squirrel.
  • Randolph Grant (voiced by Billy West)
  • Tallulah Headbank (voiced by Maria Bamford)
  • Mean Bob (voiced by Billy West)
  • Lola Caricola (voiced by Nika Futterman)
  • The Ingrid Twins (both voiced by Laraine Newman)
  • Mervis and Dunglap (voiced by John Kassir), a pig and a weasel, respectively.
  • Mr. Sunshine (voiced by Billy West)

Production

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The series, created by Peter Hannan, was developed as the next Nicktoons production and produced from Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, California. Hannan served as executive producer. This was part of Nickelodeon's $350 million investment in original animation over the next five years after the series' inception.[2]

Albie Hecht, Nickelodeon's senior vice president of worldwide productions, said that the creators planned for the series to "really play off of kids' sympathies" by portraying the characters as experiencing "the worst of both worlds".[2] Hannan said CatDog was inspired by watching neighborhood cats and dogs occasionally fight each other, and thought that it would be great to make conjoined twins Cat and Dog to see how both of the animals would fare against other things.[2] The idea of them being conjoined twins came from Hannan watching several news stories on TV about conjoined twins living a normal life conjoined together.[2] Both aspects, he claimed, initially developed the idea of CatDog.[2]

The title characters were originally envisioned as a two-headed superhero called "CatDog Man".

Broadcast

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The series originally aired on Nickelodeon in the US from 1998 to 2004, and aired reruns from 2005 to 2007. It was subsequently aired on Nicktoons from May 1, 2002, to August 23, 2011. Catdog began airing on Nickrewind in 2013 and continued to air until 2021. The show started streaming on Paramount+ in 2020. In the UK and Ireland, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon (1998–2005), Channel 4 (1999-2007) and Nicktoons (2002–13). In Canada, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon (2009–2019) and on YTV (1998–2006). In Australia and New Zealand, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon (1998–2015). In Japan, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon (1999–2009) and on TV Asahi (1999–2006). In Middle East, the series was broadcast on Nickelodeon Arabia (2008–2011) and on MBC 3 (2014–2015). In March 2021, the series was added along with other various Nicktoons and Nickelodeon shows onto Paramount+.

Reception

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Critical

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The series was reviewed by Common Sense Media with a score 2/5 stars, advised for children 7 and up.[5]

Awards and nominations

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In 1998, the series was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production, for "Dog Gone". The recipients would have been Derek Drymon, Robert Porter and Peter Hannan.[6]

At the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards, the show was nominated for Favorite Cartoon. However, it lost to Rugrats. It did so again in the 2000 Kids' Choice Awards.

Merchandise

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Home media and digital download releases

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Two VHS tapes of the series were released by Paramount Home Video on March 30, 1999. Together Forever contains a bonus short "Cat-Diggety Dog" plus the episodes "Dog Gone", "Flea or Die", "Diamond Fever", "CatDog's End" and "Work Force", and CatDog vs. The Greasers contains the episodes "Siege on Fort CatDog", "Squirrel Dog", "Full Moon Fever", "Shriek Loves Dog" and "All You Need Is Lube".

VHS releases
Title No. of
episodes 		Release date Episodes include
Together Forever 6 March 30, 1999 2x04c "Cat-Diggety Dog"
1x01a "Dog Gone"
1x02a "Flea or Die"
1x05a "Diamond Fever"
1x12a "CatDog's End"
1x04b "Work Force"
CatDog vs. The Greasers 5 1x12b "Siege on Fort CatDog"
1x09a "Squirrel Dog"
1x11a "Full Moon Fever"
1x04a "Shriek Loves Dog"
1x03b "All You Need Is Lube"

In 2010, Nickelodeon contracted Amazon.com's CreateSpace service arm to produce DVD sets of CatDog and other Nickelodeon shows exclusively for sale on Amazon. The DVDs were "manufactured-on-demand" DVD-Rs to match orders. The series is also available for download on Amazon's InstantVideo service. From 2011 to 2013, Shout! Factory released the series on DVD via several season sets, and a proper complete series set was released on December 9, 2014.[7][8]

CreateSpace Releases
Title Release date Discs Episodes
Season 1 April 7, 2010 4 20
Season 2, Volume 1 December 1, 2010 3 17
Season 2, Volume 2 December 1, 2010 4 17
Season 3 December 1, 2010 3 13
Region 1
Title Season(s) Episodes Release date Episodes
Volume 1: Season 1, Part 1 1 10 October 18, 2011 1 ("Dog Gone" / "Fan Mail" / "All You Can't Eat") – 6 ("Party Animal" / "Mush, Dog, Mush!"), 8 ("Pumped" / "Dummy Dummy"), 9 ("Squirrel Dog" / "Brother's Day"), 11 ("Full Moon Fever" / "War of the CatDog") and 14 ("Nightmare" / "CatDogPig")
Volume 2: Season 1, Part 2 March 27, 2012 7 ("Armed and Dangerous" / "Fistful of Mail!"), 10 ("Escape From the Deep End" / "The Collector"), 12 ("CatDog's End" / "Siege on Fort CatDog"), 13 ("Safety Dog" / "Dog Come Home!"), 15 ("New Neighbors" / "Dead Weight") – 20 ("All About Cat" / "Trespassing")
Volume 3: Season 2, Part 1 2 June 5, 2012[9] 21 ("Send in the CatDog" / "Fishing for Trouble" / "Fetch") – 30 ("Climb Every CatDog" / "Canine Mutiny")
Volume 4: Season 2, Part 2 September 25, 2012[10] 31 ("It's a Wonderful Half Life" / "Shepherd Dog") – 40 ("Cliff's Little Secret" / "Freak Show")
Volume 5: The Complete Third Season[b] 3 20 March 12, 2013[11] 41 ("Sumo Enchanted Evening" / "Hotel CatDog") – 60 ("New Cat in Town" / "CatDog's Booty")
Volume 6: The Complete Final Season 4 8 August 20, 2013[12] 61–63 ("CatDog and the Great Parent Mystery") – 68 ("Vexed of Kin" / "Meat Dog's Friends")
The Complete Series 1-4 68 December 9, 2014[8] 1 ("Dog Gone" / "Fan Mail" / "All You Can't Eat") – 68 ("Vexed of Kin" / "Meat Dog's Friends")

The complete series is also available for download in the iTunes Store and streaming on Paramount+.

In Australia, seasons 1-3 were released on DVD by Beyond Home Entertainment.

Promotions

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Nickelodeon initiated a $20 million promotional campaign for the series' first season in 1999 with partners Burger King, Duracell, Jell-O, and Nabisco.[13] Burger King, which had promoted Nickelodeon's The Rugrats Movie with toys the previous year, offered CatDog-themed toys in its kids meals for five weeks beginning February 22, 1999.[13] Nickelodeon promoted a trip to Universal Studios Florida as a prize in an on-air sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King and Mattel, which also released a line of CatDog toys that year.[13] Duracell held a back-to-school-themed backpack offer as well as a "Catch CatDog" sweepstakes on television and radio during the holiday season.[13] Jell-O packaged CatDog stickers in its Jell-O Yogurt kids packs.[13] Nabisco marketed limited edition CatDog Cheese Nips flavors, which featured instant-win contest prizes that included a trip to Los Angeles to meet and have their likeness drawn by creator of CatDog.[13]

Video games

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On May 13, 1999, Nickelodeon and Hasbro Interactive announced a three-year partnership to publish video games based on Nickelodeon television series, the first being CatDog: Quest for the Golden Hydrant for Microsoft Windows, which released in late 1999.[14] Ports of the game for PlayStation and Game Boy Color were mentioned but ultimately never released.[14] Another Hasbro title, CatDog: Saving Mean Bob, was announced for a 2000 release for PC and PlayStation[15] but never released.

Characters from the series appeared as cameos or playable characters in the Nickelodeon games Nicktoons Racing, Super Brawl Universe, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis, and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway. Characters make cameo appearances in Nickelodeon Party Blast, Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, and Nicktoons MLB.

Notes

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  1. ^ Includes 134 segments. Two episodes were unaired on television.
  2. ^ Shout! Factory select title sold exclusively through Shout's online store.

References

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  1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Nick Leashes 'CatDog' to 40 Episodes". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. August 14, 1997. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
  3. ^ "The Rugrats Movie". The Sacramento Bee. December 31, 1998. p. 63.
  4. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 191. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  5. ^ Wenk, Sarah (July 12, 2006). "CatDog". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  6. ^ "Legacy: 26th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (1998)". AnnieAwards.org. ASIFA-Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  7. ^ DeMott, Rick (October 18, 2011). "CatDog: Season 1 – Part 1 Pounces Its Way onto DVD". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Lambert, David (September 22, 2014). "CatDog - 'The Complete Series' Is Scheduled to Be in Stores in Time for Christmas". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014.
  9. ^ CatDog: Season Two, Part One, ASIN B007GMKX6G
  10. ^ Lambert, David (June 8, 2011). "CatDog - 'Season 2, Part 2' DVDs Are Scheduled for Wide Release". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  11. ^ Lambert, David (January 30, 2013). "CatDog - Shout! Select Release Scheduled for 'Season 3' of the Classic Nick Show". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2013.
  12. ^ Lambert, David (May 10, 2013). "CatDog - The 4th and 'Final Season' Is Scheduled by Shout! for DVD". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Stanley, T. L.; Thompson, Stephanie (January 18, 1999). "The $20m Truth About CatDog". Brandweek. Vol. 40, no. 3.
  14. ^ a b "Hasbro Interactive and Nickelodeon Forge 3 Year Software Partnership" (Press release). Los Angeles. Business Wire. May 13, 1999. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved July 26, 2021 – via The Free Library.
  15. ^ Traiman, Steve (February 19, 2000). "Kid-Size Multimedia". Billboard. p. 68 – via Google Books.
[edit]
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