Dog City (1993– )

The adventures of a canine private eye while he confers with his animator who has his own problems to deal with.

Stars:

Ron White, Elizabeth Hanna, Kevin Clash

5 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Ron White	...	Ace Hart (6 episodes)
Elizabeth Hanna	...	Chief Rosie O'Gravy (6 episodes)
Kevin Clash	...	Eliot Shag (6 episodes)
John Stocker	...	Bugsy Vile (5 episodes)
James Rankin	...	Frisky (5 episodes)
Howard Jerome	...	Bruiser (5 episodes)
Stephen Ouimette	...	Mad Dog (5 episodes)
Stuart Stone	...	Eddie (4 episodes)
Tabitha St. Germain	...	Kitty (3 episodes)
Fran Brill	...	Colleen Barker (2 episodes)
Joey Mazzarino	...	Artie Springer (2 episodes)
Brian Muehl	...	Bruno (2 episodes)

Storyline

Ace Hart is a private eye in Dog City, where all the characters are dogs, everyone is a wisecracker, and every canine pun ever thought of is used liberally. Most of his cases lead him to Bugsy, the Dogfather, and his hapless minions. Meanwhile, he discusses his cases and all manner of cartoon cliches with Elliott, his Muppet creator in the real world. As Elliott rushes to complete his stories through numerous distractions and within deadline, Ace regularly finds himself yanked between divergent storylines and impossibly-convenient plot threads.

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Plot Keywords:

dog | animator | the muppets | animal as human | real life parallel | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Official Sites:

Nelvana

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 1993 (UK)

Also Known As:

Jim Henson's Dog City

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jim Henson Company, The, Jim Henson Productions, Nelvana

Technical Specs

Runtime:

23 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows The Jim Henson Hour: Dog City (1989)

User Reviews

A great show

A great show that has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. It was an effective mix of Jim Henson's Muppets, for the "real" segments, and traditional cell animation for the "cartoon".

It focused alternately on the life of animator Elliot Shag and the adventures of his creation, the Marlowe-esc Ace Hart "Private Eye... Dog". Elements of Elliot's real life often seeped into the plots of his cartoons. For example most characters were based on people he knows, though the Muppet characters seemed unaware of this. Likewise, the "Ace" characters were unaware of anything outside their world, with the exception of Ace himself who served as Elliot's more confident alter ego and was fully aware of the situation. Though there were frequent problems, most situations were eventually resolved in both spheres.

Sometimes it's debatable exactly who was creating the cartoon as Ace, his friends, and his enemies were very distinct characters going confidently, if unaware, through the situations set for them. The frequent "fourth wall" interactions between Ace and Elliot, often literally stopping the show, were some of the best parts of Dog City. Sometimes neither of them knew how it was going to end and the usual debates over plot points gave both their own views.

The cartoon plots were light hearted parodies of the noir genre, usually focusing on Ace's efforts against "senseless" crime boss Bugsy (based on Elliot's grouchy landlord Bruno) with the help of his strong willed love interest Police Chief Rosie O'Gravy (inspired by the animator's feelings for his neighbor Colleen) and plucky newsboy Eddie (who resembled the young delivery boy Arnie).

Though the writing was sometimes patchy it was usually funny and kept interesting by the characters. The show jumped the shark later in the run and started including more filler material but still retained some of its sparkle. Voice acting was a cut above the norm and the memorable saxophone based theme song rounded out a solid and sometimes great show. Like most reviewers I wish it would be released as a set.