10 Things You Didn't Know About Disney's 'Doug'

First released on Nickelodeon in 1991 before being bought by Disney, Doug was one of the cartoons we all loved growing up in the 90s. The misadventures of Doug Funnie, his best friend Skeeter, and his perpetual crush, Patti Mayonnaise, were some of the best parts of turning on the TV after school. We all loved the show, but did you know there are some pretty interesting facts about it? Facts like...

1) It's largely based on real life

Show creator Jim Jinkins based Patti, Skeeter and Roger on people he knew when he was a pre-teen. He apparently even sent the real-life Patti a card telling her to pay extra attention to the character.

2) Doug and Fry from Futurama are the same person

That's right, Doug was voiced by Billy West! You might also know him as the red M&M from tons of M&Ms commercials.

3) Doug was supposed to teach kids about morals

This is why he always ends up in situations where his character and integrity are testing; he was there to show kids that you should always do the right thing.

4) It was full of obscure historical references

Judy Funnie is named after the play "Shakespeare's Sister" by Virginia Woolf, who writes that if Shakespeare had a sister, she would be named Judith. This is why she's obsessed with Shakespeare plays.

Not only that, but Skeeter's address is 1492 Ocean Blue. This is a play on the old "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" rhyme.

Maybe you knew some of those already, but I'll bet you don't know the next 6 things...

5) Disney forced the staff to make changes when they acquired the rights to the show

A few characters got new voices, the kids were aged up to 12.5 years old instead of 11.5, Skunky Beaumont went from a running joke name to an actual character, and Roger became an even meaner bully than he was before.

6) The Dinks have a secret meaning to their name

It's a short-form of "Double-Income, No Kids" which explains they always have tons of money to burn and time on their hands.

8) The number 47 shows up a lot

For example, it's Doug's locker number. Also, in the famous episode where he orders liver and onions to prepare for a dinner at Patti's house, the order is #47 on the menu.

9) The show's characters were meant to be racially ambiguous

When Jinkins was told he could make the characters literally an color he wished, he used all sorts of crazy colors so that kids could decide what ethnicity they were for themselves. This decision was apparently helped by having a few margaritas.

10) There's an explanation for why Doug loves banana pizza

It seems like an incredibly weird thing, but the show did explain it; Doug and Patti made a pizza in cooking class, only for Roger to accidentally spill a banana pudding he'd ruined onto it. The rest was history.

Share with anybody who loved Doug!