April 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 golden-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 in October of that year. Similarly, the Season 2 episode "Fetch" was shown in theaters in 1998 before airing on television.[3]
The series revolves around Cat and Dog, a golden-furred conjoined twin of a cat and a dog with two heads and shared body, with no tail or hind legs. Although they are best friends they have very different personalities, similar to "The Odd Couple" and the Looney Tunes shorts, mixed with elements of Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and fellow Nicktoon characters Ren and Stimpy.[4] Cat is strait-laced, while Dog is impulsive. Dog enjoys chasing garbage trucks, cars, and exploring – many things that Cat does not want to be involved with. Dog enjoys eating at fast-food restaurants such as Taco Depot, whereas Cat does not. The series takes place in Nearburg, a town dominated by anthropomorphic animals and the occasional humanoid.
Mervis (a pig) and Dunglap (a weasel) (voiced by John Kassir)
Mr. Sunshine (voiced by Billy West)
Production
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".
Release
Broadcast
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 (2002–2011) and NickSplat (2013-2018) and streams on Paramount+ (2020–present). 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+.
Home media and digital download releases
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
Name
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.[5][6]
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")
1 ("Dog Gone" / "Fan Mail" / "All You Can't Eat") – 68 (Vexed of Kin / Meat Dog's Friends)
♦ – Shout! Factory select title sold exclusively through Shout's online store.
The complete series is also available for download in the iTunes Store, and streaming on Paramount+.
Reception
Critical
The series was reviewed by Common Sense Media with a score 2/5 stars, advised for children 7 and up.[11]
Awards and nominations
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.[12]
