Is it that time already?
DOUG,
Rugrats,
&
The Ren and Stimpy Show,
All three made their monumental debut on that fateful Sunday August 11 1991.
Where would we be without those 3?
Let’s not think about that and focus on the three Original Nicktoons of 1991 and see what makes them so monumental.
01 DOUG:
The very first ever Nicktoon broadcast on the slime factory.... before the sale to the Mouse House,
Doug made his start as an early drawing done by Jim Jinkins in 1966.
And the drawing made him look like Bart Simpson even though Bart wouldn't appear until
21 Years Later in THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW in 1987.
Jim promptly forgot about the character in the later years until 1984 when things took a turn for the worse about a year after he entered his 30s.
Who would have thought a string of events that include an infamous bike accident,
a rough breakup with his former sweetheart,
a rough breakup with his former sweetheart,
and a drunken margarita stupor with his friend DAVID CAMPBELL at a Mexican Style Restaurant in New York City, 
would eventually lead to the creation of the ABSOLUTE ORIGINAL NICKTOON.
would eventually lead to the creation of the ABSOLUTE ORIGINAL NICKTOON.
In 1984, Jim and his friend Joe Aaron created a story book called
Doug's got a new pair of sneakers 
The story would have served as a proper first introduction of DOUG FUNNIE to children during the 1980s with a very interesting premise which is DOUG getting some new shoes to replace his old ones.
Unfortunately for both Jim and Joe, all the major publishers in New York, Including
Rejected the pitch.
and the book went unpublished until 1997 during the Disney Era under the new title
DOUG'S BIG SHOE DISASTER.... barring a few tweaks to reflect the era.
But back to the late 1980s.
Not wanting to discard his character, Jim went into advertising using his Doug character.
I know most of Doug's early advertisements focused on Florida Grapefruit juice commercials but for some reason, I only have this to prove it.
I also heard that Doug and his dog Porkchop also appeared in several USA Network idents in 1989.
When Nickelodeon announced their intentions to create original content based on Original Characters thought up by CREATORS, Jim set up a meeting with Vanessa Coffey to show her the original book manuscripts.
What he got was Vanessa rushing to the executives at Nickelodeon to convince him to rework the DOUG book into a TV Series.
Jim was not alone. He was accompanied by Klasky Csupo & Spumco in creating pilots for the network.
This eventually let all three start media franchises within the Slime Factory.
But DOUG takes the cake as the very first Nicktoon because it was cherrypicked by Nickelodeon to air first and the show was high on the Network's radar so that's why Doug was prioritized to air first on that fateful August 11 1991.
until January 2 1994.
During those 3 years, viewers followed Doug as he navigated his independent pre-adolescent life as an anxious but determined, and imaginative, 11 year old.
Whether it's getting his haircut at a new hair salon,
Impressing his Girlfriend Patti Mayonnaise,
Telling his friends that his wardrobe is original and not ripping off some celebrity,
(Jeff Goldblum's Seth Brundle Eat your Heart Out.)
Outsmarting mean jokes from his bully-turned-friend Roger
The list goes on, and on, and on.
Yes, Nickelodeon acknowledges that there is another version to the point that they have to market their own version with the title above since it's the only one that Paramount owns the copyright to.
Way to go both Paramount and Jeff Bezos.
The reason I'm using my own DVD Screenshots is because I can't stand abide with watermarks or magnetic tape degradation on screenshots I find in the Wikis.
The DOUG AMAZON DVD of the complete Nickelodeon Series however is no longer available on AMAZON but I think some copies might be available on eBay.
But your safest bet is either iTunes, Google TV, and Amazon Prime.
(Paramount+ formerly before SKYDANCE forced it's removal off the service.)
I think the digital distribution is superior to the AMAZON DVD since you won't find any compressed artifacts associate with the DVD-Rs that Amazon's former CREATSPACE service often had.
INTERNET ARCHIVE is another bet, but beware for any copies that are obviously taped or DVRed since those recordings have the Network bug.
I like my prints of Nickelodeon's DOUG without a transparent watermark.
02 RUGRATS
Created by the husband and wife team ARLENE KLASKY & GABOR CSUPO, alongside additional help from Paul Germain, this is another series for Nickelodeon that made it's debut on August 1991.
The three decided to create an original programme after Nickelodeon announced in 1989 that the network is asking for creative personnel to come up with Original Programming for a new concept called NICKTOONs, creator-driven cartoons with little to no interference from executives and not tied to an existing I.P..... unlike what happened throughout 80s animation.
The catch is that if the idea is original, there would be toys, merchandise, etc....
So the trio of Creators of RUGRATS got to work on a pilot.
The first test was TOMMY PICKLE AND THE GREAT WHITE THING.
After that tested positively with children, Nickelodeon picked up the series.
And the rest is history since the airing of TOMMY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.
And this is Important: RUGRATS is the only Nicktoon currently to receive a star on the HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.
03 THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW
This was a (metaphorically speaking) pet project of John Kricfalusi which also had an 11 year history of issues getting the series successfully pitched to the various networks.
John wanted to create what he calls a series that's not only a homage to the Cartoons of the 1940s but also wanted to ensure he has total control of the subject matter with little to no censorship.
As well as create a show that is not tied to an existing I.P which could be either Scooby-Doo, Marvel Comics, French Comics, Toys, etc.
This however was easier said than done because John K. had to work on the various cartoons of the 1980s such as THE SMURFS, many which he dreaded due to the networks always watering things down to appeal to mothers and moral guardians.
After his work on Jetsons, Mighty Mouse, and Beany & Cecil, John K. was called by Nickelodeon to pitch a series of original CREATOR-DRIVEN cartoons for the SLIME FACTORY.
Using a series of Characters he created in 1978 when he studied Animation in Sheridan College, John K. pitched an anthology series called YOUR GANG.
Only the Ren and Stimpy Characters impressed the executives, including one VANESSA COFFEY.
And thus was born, THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW.
He still had to create a test pilot before the show was ready for prime-time.
After that, the show eventually went to full production and aired on that fateful August 11 1991.
However, the superior SPUMCO Episodes were fraught with production problems.
John K. was a notorious perfectionist who won't stand abide with his disliked 80's system of cartoon production, so he purposely delayed episodes until they are 101% to his liking in terms of production Quality.
The famous STIMPY'S INVENTION was one such episode affected by said delays.
"I won't let annual delays hurt production for my best friend STIMPY!!!"
While the mantra of Quality over Quantity led to some rather famous episodes, the delays and production problems not only pissed of Nickelodeon's Executives but it also pissed off the advertisers.
Due to these issues, John was fired in late September 1992, which essentially yanked the series off his hands and went straight to the hands of Bob Camp.
And we all know how this episode between 1993 until 1996 turned out.
After all this, Nickelodeon would create a media franchise and allowed other creators to pitch show ideas.
That led to classics such as
ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE in 1993
Which I do have a DVD set of by the way...
HEY ARNOLD in 1996
CATDOG in 1998
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS IN 1999,
JIMMY NEUTRON
First as a Movie in early 2001 and later greenlit as a tv Series continuation in 2002.
INVADER ZIM in 2001
THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS in 2001,
DANNY PHANTOM in 2004,
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER in 2005,
THE LOUD HOUSE in 2016,
and many more just to name a few.
So what's the status of these Three Original Nicktoons?
First lets start with DOUG:
Due to a 1994 budget Freeze as well as the 1994 acquisition of Paramount by Viacom, Nickelodeon opted not to renew DOUG for a fifth Season in favor of allocating the rest of the budget to STIMPY, ROCKO as well as the soon to be released
AHH REAL MONSTERS!!!
Rugrats would be put on a 3 year hiatus due to said Budget Freeze.
Viacom's acquisition also affected, and partially put to death plans to create a feature film based on each of the three original Nicktons through 20th Century Fox.
The Doug theatrical film wouldn't become a reality until March 26 1999 under it's title
DOUG's 1ST Movie.
But back to 1994.
When Jim received word that the Slime Factory opted not to renew the show for a fifth season, he felt that his relationship with the Slime Factory had deteriorated beyond his control though not as bad as Spumco's relationship with the Slime Factory.
Determined to produce the remaining 13 episodes, and make some more as well, Jim referred to his original 1990 Contract...
That referred to the tense negotiations Jim had with Nickelodeon to pick up the series originally in 1990 but Jim also discovered that Nickelodeon put forth that in the event a cancelled show does not exceed 65 episodes, then the rights revert back to the original creator.
Taking advantage of this contractual loophole, Jim put a call to other studios in the USA for a chance for them to buy the rights for continuing the series in the event Nickelodeon doesn't reverse their decision to not renew the show for a fifth Season.
ABC was one of those companies interested in buying DOUG and they paid close attention to Jim Jinkins' contractual obligations and repeatedly contacted Nickelodeon on speeding up the order of the fifth season.
Jim also revised the contract that in the event that DOUG was transferred to a different studio, Nickelodeon would still retain the rights to the original series under the proviso that Paramount would be prohibited from selling merchandise without paying royalties to the new owners of said I.P....
With the exception of the Home Media as long as said home media is tied to the show which the original network retained.
2 years later in February 1996, Disney bought ABC as well as JUMBO Pictures due to Jim Jinkins working on his only Adult Cartoon HOYT N' ANDY'S SPORTSBENDER for ESPN.
Except, due to Disney's Acquisition of JUMBO, it interfered with the U.S broadcast of
HOYT N' ANDY so Americans could not watch it until the 2010s.
Several things happened during said production after said acquisition.
Billy West left due to issues involving Disney Television's Executives refusing to increase his pay, and considering West also witnessed Nickelodeon's budget freeze in 1994, that was the last straw for him, that as well as West refusing roles that prioritize looks instead of talent.
Without Billy West, several characters had to be recast.
Doug Funnie was recast with Tom McHugh,
while others like Roger Klotz, Boomer Bledsoe, etc. were recast with
Chris Philips(AKA the Nick Jr. Face.)
Others include switching overseas animation houses from HanHo Heung-Up to
Plus One Animation
(I like to hear from former staff referring to this as Mike Judge's Doug.)
And production was briefly moved from New York to Los Angeles which meant that several actors who refused to move to the West Coast had to record their dialogue remotely.
So you see, DOUG made remote voicework Popular 25 years before the Pandemic.
On September 7 1996, BRAND SPANKING NEW! DOUG, premiered on ABC....
to mixed reactions from older fans.
Doug, Skeeter, Beebe, and Connie being here used to represent the older fans.
With the exception of Connie,
Doug, Skeeter, and Beebe are all in their original outfits.
Despite not being as popular as it's superior predecessor from the Slime Factory, Disney's Doug still managed to be listed as a popular show on DISNEY's ONE SATURDAY MORNING block alongside PEPPER-ANN and RECESS.... to which those two shows pretty much trounced DOUG in both critics and audience Nielsen ratings.
For me, I like both series though I like pretend to imagine if the 1996-1999 series was still with Nickelodeon had the Budget Freeze never happened in 1994 and had Nickelodeon treated both JUMBO and SPUMCO with better respect than let the conflicts happen between the studios and the Slime Factory regardless of Viacom's acquisition of Paramount.
And yes, even Disney's Doug was popular enough to be nominated for several Emmy awards but just like in the Nickelodeon era, it too didn't win them. Often losing to his contemporaries like The Rugrats, Rocko, Arnold, Beavis, Duckman, Arthur, or THE SIMPSONS.
But that didn't stop the Jumbo artists from make this joke when asked if he's ever won an Emmy.
If you don't believe me on what awards DOUG won or got nominated for, here's a chart of all it's awards and nominations it received from 1991-2000.
When asked if he's ever won an Emmy, Instead of replying NO,
Doug instead looks pissed, as every time he receives an Emmy Nomination,
he always loses to Babies, Looney Tunes, & Aardvarks, .
RUGRATS would get revived in 1997 after 2 specials due to strong ratings during reruns and eventually would having 3 theatrical films before airing it's last episode in 2004 due to falling ratings, internal competition with SpongeBob, as well as the Sequel Spinoff series ALL GROWN UP.
RUGRATS would eventually get revived as a CGI series exclusive to Paramount+, to mixed reactions from older fans over the art direction. 
The show however got removed off Paramount+ due to a restructuring before the series got relocated to the new NICKTOONS block on TV.
As for Ren and Stimpy?.....
Well..... after 3 infamous years involving GAMES Animation from 1993-1996,
The even more Infamous Adult Party Cartoon in 2003,
and John K's personal problems later in his career,
It almost made it certain that Ren and Stimpy would be over for good....
That was until August 2020 when it was announced by COMEDY CENTRAL that the Cat and Dog duo would get the Revival Treatment, without John's Involvement..
After 4 years of production problems relating to I.P, change of overseas animation houses, and a 4chan leaking of episode names, the series finally premiere in July 2024..... in France, in the middle of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics......
And let's leave it at that, shall we.
I just realized that this post is made for a Sunday.
Which, Surprise Surprise, also happens to be the exact date the Original Nicktoons aired on August 11 1991 which also was a Sunday.
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