By 1993, Hanna-Barbera was now a unit of Turner Entertainment. At the same time, their Sunday anthology series, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, had drawn to a close. Oh, there was still a block to fill, but the Funtastic World title had, for all intents & purposes, been retired.
For the 1993-94 season, H-B's 90 minute Sunday block consisted of The New Adventures of Captain Planet, with the eco-superhero moving over from DIC, SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, & 2 Stupid Dogs.
2 Stupid Dogs wasn't exactly a canine equivalent or knockoff of MTV's immensely popular at the time Beavis & Butt-Head, who had gotten their own series a few months earlier. The only thing the characters had in common between the two series was a lack of intellect. At least Beavis & Butt-Head held down part-time jobs. The dogs, a dacschund & a sheepdog, simply meandered through one misadventure after another with little understanding of their surroundings. Take, for example, this episode, "At the Drive-In":
The little dog's reaction to the talking condiments might be similar to that of a small child, say around 2-4 years of age, unaccustomed to the world around him. I'm not entirely sure if that was what series creator Donovan Cook was angling for, but it must've worked, since the dogs stuck around for 2 seasons.
The linework was more of a throwback to Hanna-Barbera's earliest works in the late 50's, when they first transitioned to television. Some of the humor, however, may have been aimed at teens & young adults, and not younger children.
Rating: B-.
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