Doug: "Doug Door to Door/Doug Tips the Scales" - Nick Knacks Sample Platter

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You know, sometimes it's nice to just talk about Doug for ten minutes. We take a look at two cartoons, one about honesty in salesmanship, one about negative body images.
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[@catholiccontriversy]

I always wondered how all of Bluffington knew what cement tastes like.

[@Biochemitra]

Because this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

I can't wait until we get to the full Doug episode of Nick Knacks

[@jaggerguth4391]

Until Greg has a actual apartment.

[@meyerj75]

He hasn't gotten to Pete & Pete yet. I wonder if he's still researching.

[@janedoe0987]

if he made a GoFundMe or something to help with his housing situation I'd totally donate to it, I love this series and can't wait for it to fully cannonball into 90s Nickelodeon

[@johnnykidblue]

When I get out of debt, I will be making a substantial contribution to your Patreon. What you are doing here is truly a gift to an entire generation. Thank you.

[@futureghostsmusic]

Hahaha absolutely love your outro to this, great writing. "Not selling enough booster bars"

[@LARKXHIN]

" a world without regulations" this came out the day after the Chevron mandate was revoked ....

[@lainiwakura1776]

If you want a law passed, do it the proper way, through Congress.

[@Montork]

SOMEONE FINNALY DRAGGED MR. SWIRLY!

[@gokaiorange9576]

I'm glad you brought up Hoop Dogz! Most people don't realize that Jim Jinkins is a devout Christian (not the bad kind, to my knowledge) and he dropped subtle hints and observations that the Funnies were churchgoers. If an episode explicitly took place on a Sunday, expect to see them dressed in their Sunday best.

[@matthewweatherford6566]

That explains why it's more uplifting than Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy. There weren't many Nickelodeon shows back then (not counting Nick Jr.) that my mom felt safe with us watching. She was always against Rugrats because it's filled with potty humor and fighting. I still remember when I was around 5 watching a Blue's Clues tape and the Rugrats preview would come on and my mom would press the fast forward button and tell me Rugrats is yucky. I also remember when I was around 5 or 6 watching part of SpongeBob when it was on. Mom turned off the TV because just like Rugrats, SpongeBob is yucky. The only times she didn't stop me from watching SpongeBob were at our great uncle and aunt's house (some kids were watching the first feature film upstairs), elementary school on Halloween, at a Chinese buffet and that time she decided to allow me to watch the second feature film, then I kept watching it on KZbin with the sound off, then it was on TV one time and my mom decided not to let me watch it again because one of the characters called someone a freak. She also allowed me to watch Rugrats in Paris because she wasn't as concerned about that as some of the others. It's a long story. Doug is one of the few Nickelodeon shows my mom feels safe with us watching. She apparently hadn't heard of Ren and Stimpy until around the 2010s but learning about it myself, I can tell it's not something she would've approved of.

[@DigiRangerScott]

Doug Tips the Scales has nothing to do with giving gratuity to the Scale family

[@itsokifwedisagree8909]

Thank you! You have no idea (OK maybe some idea) of how much I breathed a much-needed sigh of relief when you said there was no behind the scenes drama for this show.

[@stvojay]

Yeah, why did it take so long for Mr Swirly to find out a cement mixer was going into his chocolates? I get this was pre-social media but how did he not get notified by people complaining about his chocolates tasting and being as hard as cement to him direct or employees? Just one kid notifying him and showing a bar is what it took.

[@Montork]

i mean? they have to dive a new truck in when that one empties.... and they had to have been doing that for YEARS if eveyone knows "booster bars suck" hell they KNOW they weigh more then they should... they write it on the package.

[@jonathanstern5537]

@@Montork Yeah, I can't believe someone at the company didn't say, "Hey, these should be like 2 ounces?"

[@TheFilmSpace1]

The big shoe episode is one of my favorites from Doug. My childhood

[@bluebaron6858]

The dreaded weight loss episodes of shows

[@NorbertSD]

Wait till you see the Disney’s Doug episode “Doug’s Chubby Buddy”.

[@LowellMorgan]

Doug seemed excited about swimming. So excited.

[@KaiserBeamz]

"Doug Tips the Scales" is an episode I only really appreciated as I got older. Especially once I started gaining weight that never went away no matter how much jogging I did.

[@bluebaron6858]

Im at this stage currently 😢

[@NorbertSD]

Have you seen the Disney’s Doug episode “Doug’s Chubby Buddy”? In that episode, Patti watches a weight loss commercial and then believes she’s overweight. She constantly exercises and skips eating, leading to her becoming weak. I can definitely imagine that episode making some people (namely anorexic people) feel very uncomfortable.

[@newstarcadefan]

I remember...and Coach Spitz made things a lot worse by egging it on.

[@LARKXHIN]

I think they talked about that too.

[@stvojay]

I’m not into Disney Doug but that was a good episode for that series.

[@ZemeckisTEN]

Porkchop is the best Doug character. Don’t @ me!

[@psychbabble8960]

The message of "Tips the Scales" did not quite stick with me as much as I would have liked, but it's definitely one of the episodes of the show I remember most and also found very affecting due to similar body image issues. What I found enchanting about the original Doug was how naturalistic it felt about all the concerns of a young child. Doug is just learning to adapt to "life". Wish that had stuck with me as well. Thank you for the message at the end, it's good to hear that sometimes.

[@Lynn17]

I've fallen headfirst back into Doug as an adult, and it still holds up. "Tips the Scales" is such a relevant episode even today. Also, people call Doug a crazy psycho for his many imagine spots and it makes me want to go "tell me you've never been eleven without telling me you've never been eleven". Especially when it comes to body issues.

[@jaggerguth4391]

8:56 Mr. Dink: There's 6 levels of fatness, douglas. Big, Healthy, Husky, Fluffy, DAMN, and AW HELL NO!

[@DigeeTheGenie]

Very expensive (laughs)

[@MatthewMaranan]

The 180 degree turn on the Mr. Swirly fucking got me :D

[@AJ-xc4qe]

We’re so close to the Nicktoons!

[@VahanNisanian]

I still can't wrap my head around HOW or WHY did Mr. Swirly get the cement inside a chocolate factory.

[@sebastianmoreno5814]

That's what I said on Twitter myself. How did that even happen in the first place?

[@abraveastronaut]

As a kid I assumed there was probably ongoing construction elsewhere in the factory that required the cement.

[@IWasLikeEmilio]

As a cubby Boy’s Scout and having friends with pools as a kid, this episode always got me in the feels😮

[@DigeeTheGenie]

Doug’s biggest controversy was its move to Disney.

[@JasontheCartoonFan]

You know, your general viewpoint on Doug is remarkably similar to why I personally consider one of the very best original shows from Cartoon Network to be Summer Camp Island. A lot of people tend to put that series down for being different from the channel's typical fare in the sense of it being a lot more laidback and upbeat in tone, but this set of attributes is precisely why I love it so much. The fact that I can see your perspective even if I personally don't agree with it is why I consider you the king of critical analysis.

[@bakomusha]

I was a tiny, TINY kid till about the 2nd grade, then I slowly gained weight till I was significantly overweight by middle school. The culprit? Extreme stress! My parents started having real bad fights that eventually led to a separation, and as the oldest of three I 'manned up' to protect my siblings as best I could from that. Eat more? No, eat worse? Yes! and the only thing I took away from this episode is calling myself husky instead of fat.

[@SpongeyTheEditor]

Tip the Scales is the closest Nick Doug got an "issues" episode and i was surprised with how well it mostly fared. Doug is a more mild good but i enjoyed revisiting it a few years back.

[@Trekapedia]

The best version of Doug and kids today who grew up with Disney’s Doug don’t know what they missed out on! Nickelodeon should have kept Doug and let it keep going.

[@redwaytoo]

I love your observation that Jim Jenkins is literally just Some Guy)

[@lainiwakura1776]

Knowing how chocolate is made, how the hell do you not notice a whole ass cement mixer truck in your factory?

[@Lexi_Zone]

That part in Doug's imagination where he takes his shirt off on the diving board just made me say "Mood."

[@sebastianmoreno5814]

How the hell did a cement truck get in a chocolate factory anyway?

[@gatorboymike]

Compare this to the Disney episode where they made Patty anorexic. I also thought it was pretty gross how Roger was rich in the Disney version when he was poor in the Nickelodeon version, as if Disney was rewarding him for being a scumbag.

[@jaggerguth4391]

You must shake up the status quo when rebooting a series!

[@mightyfilm]

Surprised there's no comparison between Doug tips the Scales and the Disney's Doug episode about Patty's bad body image. There's the same basic message, but handled world's apart. Doug's character arc here is "HA HA! Look at what the big fat doofus did to himself! You look bad and you should feel bad!" Meanwhile, Patty's is done like a freaking afterschool special. Her story is "It's the media and megacorporations' fault that you think you're fat. You poor, poor thing." Doug's episode is slice of life, albeit incredibly cartoons and unrealistic in the scale of his weight gain and loss, while Patty's episode was clearly meant for a message about the 90's anorexia moral panic. And while the intentions are good with that episode, it's hamfisted. I've seen this subject matter worse (Maxie's World) and far better (American Dad, surpringly). Plus, the nightmare where Doug looks normal and then becomes really fat when he takes off his shirt is hilarious. It always cracked me up. That said, I'm guessing these were awakening episodes for ....ehhh... kids finding out that like that sort of thing.

[@homogenized]

Omg that music that plays when Doug is at the mall... sometimes I still hear that in my head when I'm out shopping lol. I definitely remember this episode - I was a Girl Scout, so I related to the plot about selling things door to door! Though the cookies are tasty, people like them and they don't have cement in them lol. I think Doug was my favorite OG Nicktoon too.

[@QueenBeeTheOG]

Another great episode man 👏🏽

[@justinharrop4771]

I don’t think I thought about weight much as a kid until it kept being brought up in children’s shows.

[@DaemonCorps]

Describing Doug as B+ filler is honestly the best way to put it. While it may not have been envelope-pushing, it was perfect in how consistently just-okay it was. So many quotable quotes, and memorable sounds/designs from the original show (was surprised you didn't clip Judy's "Now you're a feather... wafting in the breeze!" scene). Totally agree that in modern times, people tend to want the extremes from their media-- you either need to be amazing, or terribly bad. But at the same time, with stuff like lo-fi "background energy" music being a thing, you'd think we'd go back to more shows like Doug. Maybe some day.

[@jonathanstern5537]

Interestingly enough, Disney's Doug did a similarly themed episode to Doug Tips the Scales, except it was Patty, Connie, and Beebe buying into a commercial.

[@EmperorSeth]

God, when you were talking about how Doug was a nice, normal show by a nice, normal creator, I was clenched, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Glad things didn't end up that way. At least as far as we know.

[@MSP10julia]

This episode “Doug tips the scale” reminds me of Full House’s Shape Up” where DJ has to lose weight for Kimmy’s birthday party

[@vgtrp]

As someone who’s overweight, I can relate to Doug tips the scales, especially wearing a swimsuit.

[@2dskillz]

Masterful as always!

[@justinw7323]

See the problem with Doug was he wanted friends. If you stay alone friend wise theres less worries.

[@SeiferA2001]

9:38 luckily anime still make shows like the one you’re describing. They’re called “slice of life series”

[@kevinodonnell4094]

I'd like to believe that Mr. Swirly hired his incompetent son to run the chocolate factory, and that's why he had no idea what was going on there. He owns so many small businesses that he obviously needs to delegate, and sadly business sense isn't hereditary, so what happened in Doug is sadly something that happens quite a bit in real life - nepo babies being given a job by their hard working, entrepreneurial parents, having never truly understood the value of hard work.

[@jaggerguth4391]

Or alternatively, Mr. Swirly hired some sleazy scumbag of an employee who comes up with the idea of putting concrete into the booster bars without Mr. Swirly's knowledge because it's much cheaper.

[@MsDisneylandlover]

Doug was my favorite show however when Disney took not the same. #DisneyDiva ❤❤❤

[@dustinlyons7440]

I don't understand why Both Figure it Out and Double Dare 2000 ain't available on any streaming services because they both reran on Nick Gas now they're supposably lost which I highly doubt!

[@darktetsuya]

'door to door' yeah sounds about right why would a billion dollar chocolate conglomerate face consequences for putting literal cement in the chocolate bars?! great message in the second half, even if the weight loss stuff is unrealistic, for sure.

[@StevenDolce]

The only Nickelodeon show to be owned by Disney.

[@JuanGomez-ke5py]

Not bad for a guy who started doing selling prune juice

[@jamesmoss3424]

Losing weight is lots of work but get the job done.

[@yszman6478]

There is an episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee "Don't Gooder" that is very similar to "Doug Door To Door".

[@jonathanstern5537]

I break out my camera for animals... but that might just be me.

[@jaggerguth4391]

8:51 Connie's clearly predates Cartman in the "Big-Boned" category.

[@jonathanstern5537]

Did Disney's Doug specifically state that Connie went to a "Fat Farm?" I didn't really watch that iteration of the show. Plus, I remember that when I went to Frost Valley, which was a generic sleepaway camp, I lost about 5lbs a week. It was for the following 4 reasons. 1. They didn't have soda. 2. The food kind of sucked, so I ate less of it (mostly cereal in the morning, turkey sandwich at lunch, and a plate of veggies for diner; and dessert if it was any good). 3. I was running around instead of watching TV. 4. It was a mountainous region, so everywhere I went I was walking up or down hill.

[@jaggerguth4391]

Yes, in the very first episode of the Disney reboot.

[@kylekrueger5368]

I lose 15 pounds in 1 week one time back in 2018. But I think I lose weight by accident. Plus I was focus on something else but I can't remember

[@jamesmoss3424]

Going door to door is great. 😀👍

[@bradleygiven5193]

Mr. Swirly is probably happy about the Chevron Doctrine being struck down yesterday. Deregulation jokes are back, I guess.

[@animefan25]

I think Mr. Bluff would be happier about that than Mr. Swirly.

[@bradleygiven5193]

@@animefan25 Man, the simple non-political days of the early to mid-90's sure did have a lot of media about the dangers of unrestrained capitalism. Hope someone did something about that.

[@JuanGomez-ke5py]

Maybe simplicity is good

[@lainiwakura1776]

That's what Congress and lobbying is for.

[@meyerj75]

Here's Jim Jenkins and Fred Newman from the Nickelodeon Silver Ball era reuniting for the first time on the cartoon Doug. Also features the late Alice Playton, which would be her final project before her own death a decade later. Please Note: Speaking of Beavis and Butthead, I am well aware of the Ohio trailer fire incident that happened around the same time period of the Doug episodes mentioned here. It is not something that adds enjoyment in the comment section and is not a part of this program. We're keeping this series fun.

[@tylerferguson3193]

Hope you're having a good day

[@jaggerguth4391]

5:06 Annoverse, My friend. Annoverse.

[@TheFilmSpace1]

😂😂

[@GoingRampant]

I've been rewatching Doug and, honestly, I think Roger is an antisemitic caricature, which fits into the creator's weird Christian sensibilities. Klotz is a Jewish name; he's as much a Jewish character as Doug is a Christian character even if we don't see crosses and stuff everywhere. While he's got some generic "bad guy" coding with the greaser aesthetic, other coding such as the sickly green skin, pointed nose, and comparisons to a reptile/Godzilla in an othering, demonizing way do fit in with antisemitic stereotyping. I understand he's based on a real guy and that the real Klotz complained about getting this one-dimensional portrayal, which does point at Jinkins being kind of immature and regarding the character as he saw the real person as a kid. So, Roger being a troublemaker specifically through swindling people and serving as the face of unethical business practices just makes me tilt my head and go, "Huh."

[@StevenDolce]

200th like.

[@Magmaster13]

Disney's Doug did this plot much better

[@catholiccontriversy]

Finally someone else that likes Disney's Doug, or at least recognizes that Disney didn't "ruin Doug."

[@janedoe3043]

Hard disagree.

[@TheEman590]

​@@catholiccontriversyI never thought the Disney version of Doug was that bad. It was still entertaining

[@catholiccontriversy]

@@TheEman590 it's gotten more appreciation over the years, I just remember a little over a decade ago (wow I'm old in internet years) that Disney's Doug was the worst thing ever, how Disney absolutely ruined Doug with "all their surface level changes" (like having the Beets break up, having everyone age, having the Honker Burger close and replacing the hangout with an ice cream shop run by Mr. Swirly, etc.), and how my one blog post was basically the only thing that said "Disney's Doug wasn't as bad as you make it out to be."

[@stvojay]

I don’t know if I’d say better or not (the Nick series as a whole far superior, but I won’t go beyond that) but I’ll compliment that episode for being a good episode of the Disney series. Haven’t watched the whole Disney series so I may miss a few, but that episode, “Judy’s Big Admission”, and the series finale were all episodes that I can say had quality from Disney. Most of the other episodes were a little too wacky or had many unnecessary changes. I was in middle school by the time Disney Doug started so that may cloud my judgement a little (I was “too old” for the show) but most seem to prefer Nick to Disney and I can see why