2 Stupid Dogs

2 Stupid Dogs is an American animated television series, created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera, that originally ran from September 5, 1993, to May 15, 1995, on both syndication and TBS.

The main segments of the show featured two dogs, called "The Big Dog" and "The Little Dog" in the credits. Both were voiced by Brad Garrett and Mark Schiff. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network and later its classic animation network Boomerang in 2005 through 2007, and returned on June 1, 2009 (though only showing it every summer), and also returned on July 5, 2011, to Cartoon Network for the first time in ten years, but it left on September 23, 2011, and it was removed from the lineup for a replacement for Courage the Cowardly Dog on September 26, 2011.

A backup segment, Super Secret Secret Squirrel (a remake of Secret Squirrel) was shown in between the main 2 Stupid Dogs cartoons in many of the 13 episodes, similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1960s.

Plot
2 Stupid Dogs is about Big Dog and Little Dog, neither of whom, as the title explains, is very intelligent, and their everyday misadventures. The animation style is unusual for the time: a very flat and simplistic style similar to early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the '50s and '60s, but with early '90s humor and sensibility. Big Dog tends to talk much less than Little Dog. When Big Dog talks, he usually talks about food.

Production
2 Stupid Dogs was the beginning of the successful revival of Hanna-Barbera's fortunes, since the studio had not launched a bona fide hit since The Smurfs a decade before. Turner Entertainment installed MTV and Nickelodeon branding veteran Fred Seibert as the head of production. Seibert's plan to reinvent the studio was to put his faith in the talent community, a first for television animation, and Hanna-Barbera in particular. His first pitch and first series put into production in 1992 was 2 Stupid Dogs, created and designed by recent California Institute of the Arts graduate Donovan Cook. Ren & Stimpy creator, John Kricfalusi, was credited to adding "tidbits of poor taste" to the three "Little Red Riding Hood" episodes, and a few other Spümcø artists also contributed to selected episodes during the course of the show.

Cook graduated out of Cal Arts at the time and he gained the idea for the show after seeing two stray dogs roaming around his apartment complex. He and the rest of his cartoonist friends later came up with the idea and they pitched it in all of Hollywood. Hanna-Barbera Productions later took a look at it and they bought it. Seibert ordered Cook to revive a classic from the H-B archives to go with the main show, he chose Secret Squirrel because it was one of his favorites and he enjoyed watching that series during the 1970s when he was a kid.

Several artists and directors from the show became the first creators in Seibert's What a Cartoon! program; 48 short, original character cartoons, made expressly for the Cartoon Network, and designed to find the talent and hits of the new generations. Larry Huber, who later served as executive producer on the What a Cartoon! program, teamed first with Seibert as producer on the 2 Stupid Dogs series and directed the middle cartoon, Super Secret Secret Squirrel. 2 Stupid Dogs eventually helped launch the careers of creators Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars and Sym-Bionic Titan), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Wander Over Yonder), Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show), Miles Thompson, Paul Rudish, Rob Renzetti (My Life as a Teenage Robot) and Zac Moncrief.

The voice cast used a combination of then-novice beginning voiceover actors, already professional voiceover actors, comedians and children actors. When Cook was developing his show, he saw one of comedian Mark Schiff's stand up routines on TV and called him in to audition as the voice of Little Dog. Hollywood, one of the central characters of the show, was based on a neighbor Donovan had when he was shooting a short film at a beach house in San Diego. Kenny's voice was when they had a casting call of child actors to audition in the HB studio and after final drawbacks and feedbacks, Jarrett Lennon was chosen to voice him. The voice actors for Animaniacs (Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress MacNeille) were already involved in the cartoon; coincidentally, that show aired a couple of days later than 2 Stupid Dogs in September 1993. Harnell was a main cast member of the series while Rob and Tress only did guest and side roles from time to time.

The Secret Squirrel shorts had to end unfortunately during the show's second season because many viewers get confused of the show's unusual style of sandwiching a Secret Squirrel cartoon with two 2 Stupid Dogs cartoons, often believing that it's a different show. Turner/HB made the decision to cease Secret Squirrel for the show. The show was put to an end since, because the fanbase was beginning to decrease, Cook wasn't making much money from them. As most of the crew workers were let go during the second season duration and Cook was still experimenting on animation cartooning, most of the rules that he specifically made to make the show flat and limited like the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons were let loose at times, as well as gaining new crew workers and animators since most of the workers are starting their own projects such as The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab, making it more like a Spümcø-produced cartoon, considering the fact that many Spümcø workers did the show, especially since Cook himself was a Spumco worker and even brought John Kricfalusi for the Red Riding Hood episodes.

Characters

 * The Little Dog (voiced by Mark Schiff), a small tawny-colored dachshund, is much more energetic and hyperactive than the Big Dog. The Little Dog is completely scared by cats, possibly due to a case of ailurophobia and when a cat (the very same cat) appears, it is the Big Dog who scares the cat away. He often refers to things he doesn't like as caca!. In Sheep Dog, it was revealed that he does not know his own name, and nor does the Big Dog.
 * The Big Dog (voiced by Brad Garrett) is a large grey Old English Sheepdog with a purple nose. He is much stronger than the Little Dog. The Big Dog is generally too lazy to bother with anything, and most of the time seemed more aloof and unconcerned about his surroundings than actually stupid. In some episodes, he surprisingly reveals deep philosophical intelligence. His name was confirmed to be Jonathan on two separate occasions (Love, Spit Soup).
 * The Cat is a small innocent cat which the Little Dog is terrified of, despite its being harmless. The Big Dog's bark causes the Cat to freeze in terror; however, the Cat is not afraid of the Big Dog unless it barks.
 * Mr. Hollywood (voiced by Brian Cummings) is a large man who likes to point out others' mistakes. Whenever the dogs bump into him, he has a completely new appearance. He has also had many occupations such as a teacher, farmer, casino manager, Noah and pet shop owner. When pointing out others' mistakes he will say, "Aww, isn't that cute? BUT IT'S WRONG!!!" or, in the event that others (usually the dogs) repeat their mistakes, "Aww, isn't that cute? BUT IT'S STILL WRONG!!!"
 * Kenny Fowler (voiced by Jarrett Lennon) is a small skinny kid with nerdy glasses, who is often pushed around by school bully Buzz and often asks the dogs for help. He often falls down on the floor.
 * Cubby (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is a fat, spotty teenager with big glasses, blonde hair and blue lips. In the episodes he appears in he assumes the role of a different job, like Mr. Hollywood. He has a squeaky voice and often lets off gas when excited. He helps the stupid dogs with questions and problems they have, which mainly involve food.
 * Buffy Ziegenhagen (voiced by Tawni Tamietti) is a girl in Kenny's class that he has a crush on and who has a secret crush on him.
 * Red (voiced by Candi Milo), a spoof of Little Red Riding Hood, is a small, meek little girl that the dogs often encounter. When she speaks, she shouts one word in the sentence very loudly compared to the quiet tone of voice she usually has. The dogs usually just join her for food. She needs glasses and even with them, her sight is far from 20/20. On one occasion the Dogs have shown fear and anger towards her and the Little Dog even called her an evil little girl, one of the few times the Little Dog shows genuine intelligence.

Reception
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described 2 Stupid Dogs as one of two "clones" of The Ren & Stimpy Show, the other one being The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show. The series was generally well received critically and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award (but lost to Rugrats).

Home Media releases
Yet there is no complete series DVD of the show from Warner Archive.