Dog City (series)



Jim Henson's Dog City was a spin-off of the Jim Henson Hour special Dog City. The show included a combination of puppetry and cel animation, and was produced in collaboration between Jim Henson Productions and Canadian animation studio Nelvana, who handled all of the animated segments.

Series Overview and Season Changes
Dog City centered on Eliot Shag, a Muppet dog and animator living in Dog City, and his cartoon creation Ace Hart, an animated canine private eye. In each episode, Eliot translates his own dilemmas into Ace's more adventurous exploits. The frame sequences featured, in addition to Eliot, his admiring young neighbor Artie Springer, building superintendant Bruno, his assistant Bowser, and girlfriend Colleen Barker. Eliot, Bruno, and Bowser were all refurbished puppets, with new taxidermy eyes, from the original Dog City special, and Colleen recycled the same puppet, name, and voice. The animated segments, meanwhile, maintained the film noir-spoof atmosphere of the original special, with hero Ace Yu now Ace Hart, private eye dog, battling gangster Bugsy Vile (Bugsy Them in the special) and his gang, with the assistance of Eddie the newspup and the help or hindrance of by-the-book Chief Rosie O'Gravy, all of whom had counterparts in the puppet segments. Each episode thus had roughly parallel plots running between the Muppets and the cartoon characters, with creator Eliot and creation Ace engaging in good-natured arguments about the storylines. The animated segments were often overt spoofs of famous gangster or detective films, with titles such as "The Big Squeak" and "The Great Dane Curse."

During the series' second season, a few changes were made. Eliot's costume was updated from an argyle sweater over a striped, long-sleeved shirt to a "hipper" open Hawaiian shirt over a blue t-shirt. Colleen was dropped, replaced by Artie's mother, Terri Springer, and the occasionally seen Bowser was used more regularly, as was previously one-shot character Ms. Fluffe, the feline landlady.

For the third and final season, Dog City underwent a major format change. The noir and detective spoofs and references were fewer and far between, with more science fiction or situation comedy elements as the main animated plotlines. Those plots were themselves now dissected, as several new short, more overtly slapstick segments were added as rotating elements. These included "Yves and Steven" (in which a security guard dog battles a famed cat burglar), "His Master's Choice Theater" (a Masterpiece Theater spoof hosted by Bugsy from his prison cell), "Quality Time with Rosie and Dot" (in which Rosie O'Gravy was joined by her niece, Dot), "The Adventures of Mister Moogie" (animated segments starring Mr. Moogie, Artie's squeaky toy previously seen as a prop), and "The Woof Pack," a superhero spoof starring The Watch Dog, a guest character from season 2 created as a take-off of Alan Moore's Watchmen. The third season was shorter than the previous two, and the series was canceled by Fox in January, but continued to air on YTV in Canada for several years

Production Info and Awards
During the first season, veteran Muppet performer Kathryn Mullen served as a voice coach for the Canadian voice cast who played the cartoon characters, while the Muppet performers included hold-overs from the original special such as Kevin Clash and Fran Brill. Over the course of its three year run, Dog City was recognized by the Gemini Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Emmy Awards), receiving Best Children's Television programming for 1993-1994, nominations in that category for 1994-1995 and 1995-1996, and a nomination for best writing in the 1994-1995 awards.

Official Show Description

 * "Get ready to jump through a few hoops - this is the hot-diggety-dog show to watch. Combining the puppet mastery of Jim Henson Productions with the high-energy cartoon craziness of Nelvana's animation, this series revolves around the tail-wagging adventures of Ace Hart, Private-Eye canine in the dog-eat-dog world of his live-action puppet creator, Eliot Shag. While Ace Hart solves crimes perpetrated by a dog pound of felons including The Baron Von Rottweiler, Kitty Litter and the Dogfather of crime, Bugsy Vile, Eliot Shag works on a paw-full of cartoon shorts like "Yves and Steven," "The Adventures of Mister Moogie" and "Quality Time with Rosie and Dot." The result is a mixed breed of animated antics and cartooning styles, and an inventive, behind-the-scenes look at how cartoons are conceived and produced."
 * - Nelvana.com

Cast

 * Voice Cast:
 * Ron White - Ace Hart
 * Stuart Stone - Eddie
 * Elizabeth Hanna - Rosie O'Gravy
 * John Stocker - Bugsy Vile / Spunky the Flunky
 * James Rankin - Frisky
 * Stephen Ouimette - Mad Dog/ Baron Von Rottweiler
 * Howard Jerome - Bruiser
 * Paulina Gillis - Kitty
 * Rino Romano - Yves
 * Len Carlson - Steven / Mayor Kickbark
 * Tara Strong - Dot


 * Muppet Performers:
 * Kevin Clash - Eliot Shag
 * Joey Mazzarino - Artie Springer
 * Fran Brill - Terri Springer / Colleen Barker
 * Brian Muehl - Bruno
 * David Rudman - Bowser
 * Lisa Buckley - Ms. Fluffe
 * With: Martin P. Robinson, Don Reardon (Assistant Puppeteer for Eliot Shag), Jim Martin, Noel MacNeal, Carmen Osbahr
 * With: Martin P. Robinson, Don Reardon (Assistant Puppeteer for Eliot Shag), Jim Martin, Noel MacNeal, Carmen Osbahr

Credits

 * Executive Producers: Michael K. Frith, Brian Henson, Patrick Loubert, Michael Hirsh, Clive A. Smith

Animation Credits

 * Director: John Van Bruggen
 * Assistant Directors: Dave Pemberton, Steve Whitehouse
 * Producers: Stephen Hodgins (season 1), Merle Anne Ridley (season 2 onward)
 * Story Editors: Peter Sauder (season 1 only), J. D. Smith,
 * Casting and Voice Director: Jessie Thomson
 * Voice Coach: Kathryn Mullen (season 1)
 * Production Supervisor: Steve Chadwick
 * Background Design: Clive Powsey
 * Design Supervisor: Doug Thomas
 * Coordinating Producer: Patricia R. Burns
 * Line Producer: Hasmi Giakoumis
 * Unit Director: Brad Goodchild
 * Unit Manager: Kokila Jeffrey
 * Coordinators: Jocelyn Hamilton (production), Shelly Theaker (storyboard), Tyler Baylis (design), Shelly Morrow (layout)
 * Production Manager: Ruta Cube
 * Associate Producer: Neil Court
 * Designers: Charles E. Bastien, Jens Pindal, Leif Norheim, Kevin Fraser, Scott Bennett
 * Key Animators: Niall Johnston, Gerry Fournier, John De Klein, Paul Riley, Mike Tweedle, Scott Glynn, Dave Boudreau, Bill Zeats, Alan Knappett, Brad Goodchild, Lynn Reist, Dennis Gonzalez
 * Storyboard Artists: Frank Linzten, John Flagg, Arna Selznick, Andrew Tan, Vincenzo Natali, Bob Smith, Robert Rivard
 * Layouts: Dermot Walsh, Kevin Klis, Glenn Chadwick, Daniel Poitras, Gord McBride, Steve Remen, John Lei, Paul Bouchard, Brad Graham, Mike Halley
 * Layout Supervisor: Lyndon Ruddy
 * Color Designer: Jo-Anne Merrill
 * Supervising Sound Editor: Steve Cole
 * Picture Editor: Algis Magiulis
 * Supervising Pre-Production Editor: Darrell MacDonald

Muppet Credits

 * For Jim Henson Productions: Jim Lewis, Ritamarie Peruggi (season 1), David Gumpel, Pat Nugent, Katherleen Davis (season 2-3)
 * Production Designer: Lyndon Mosse
 * Muppet Workshop: Rollin Krewson
 * Production Coordinator: Jennie Lupinacci
 * Puppet Coordinator: Kevin Clash
 * Theme Music: Phil Balsam