Private eye. Dog.

So I recently rediscovered an old, forgotten favorite, Jim Henson’s “Dog City”.

For those of you who don’t remember this howling good masterpiece, it follows the life of Eliot Shag, the Muppet who kind of looks like a German Shepherd, and is the animator for The Adventures of Ace Hart. Or whatever it was called. The neat part about this show was that it introduced kids to breaking the fourth wall very early. Ace Hart, the cartoon protagonist, would often stop the cartoon, and make demands to Eliot, the Muppet protagonist. Also, perhaps not as fourth wall shattering, Eliot based the designs of his cartoon Characters on the residents in his what seemed very cramped, and very unlocked apartment building. The chief of police was based on his love interest, the paper boy based on the young pup that was always in his apartment. And so on…

The Cartoon was definitely Canadian based and featured many Canadian voice talents. Ron White, Stuart Stone (who you may recognize as Ralphie from the Magic School Bus), John Stocker and a slew of others (Including Twilight Sparkle and Rarity.) As for the Muppet performers (I want to say Muppeteers, but I’m not sure if that’s correct,) Kevin Clash plays the protagonist Eliot. You might recognize him from his other work.

The show’s original 3-season, 31-episode run started in 1992 and ran until 1994 on FOX in the US and Global in Canada. It also ran on Canada’s Teletoon until 2000. It won a Gemini Best Children’s Television programming for 1993-1994, with nominations in that category for 1994-1995 and 1995-1996, and a nomination for best writing in the 1994-1995 awards.

All in all, a pretty good show, I think. I enjoyed watching it, and having recently seen the pilot episode again, I feel it stands the test of time. I recommend you check out this show if you can.