Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
This is the story of a boy, nerdy Leonard (Shaun Fleming), and his dog,
Spot (Nathan Lane). However, Spot was a unique dog in that he was tired of
being just a dog. So, when Leonard started 4th grade, Spot
decided to dress up as a human and became Scott Leadready II. He joined
Leonard’s class at Fala
D. Roosevelt Elementary School (named for President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s dog) and became extremely popular as the smartest, most
athletic, and coolest kid. Leonard discovered Spot’s ruse but is convinced to
go along with it—often landing him in trouble in the process.
Leonard and "Scott" with Mr. Jolly and Pretty Boy.
Spot wasn’t the only pet in the Helperman household. There was also Pretty
Boy (Jerry Stiller), a bossy big-mouthed canary with a Napoleon complex,
and Mr. Jolly (David Ogden Stiers), an overweight and cowardly cat. The
matriarch of the family was Mary Helperman (Debra Jo Rupp), who also happened
to be Leonard and “Scott’s” teacher; which sometimes helped to enhance
Leonard’s daily embarrassment. Other characters included Ian Wazselewski (Rob
Paulson), the class weirdo who enjoyed doing gross things; Leslie Dunkling (Mae
Whitman), the Helperman’s next door neighbor and Leonard’s class crush who was
often nice to him despite her well-to-do upbringing and popularity (although
she favored Scott more); Tyler, Trevor and Taylor (all Pamela
Adlon), three of the coolest kids in the school who were friendly with Scott
but barely tolerated Leonard; fraternal twins Chelsey and Kelsey (both Cree
Summer), who were popular and competitive with each other and were secret
admirers of Scott’s; Younghee Mandlebom (Lauren Tom), Leslie’s best
friend who was often mean to Leonard despite having a crush on him; and Crosby
Strickler (Wallace Shawn), the school principal who hated dogs after one bit
off part of his finger as a kid. Strickler also had a pet; a cat named Tallulah
(Tress
MacNeille), who acted sweet in his presence but was a terror to others.
"Scott" being a hit with the class while Leonard can only look on.
Teacher’s Pet debuted on ABC as part of the One
Saturday Morningprogramming block on September 9, 2000. It was
created by artist Gary Baseman, who had the idea
that his dog, Hubcaps, would put on clothes and lead a whole other life while
he was out at work. Baseman developed the show with Bill and Cheri
Steinkellner, pitching it to Disney who picked it up.
Episodes were typically broken up into two plots: the main plot following
Leonard and Spot’s adventures at school with Spot constantly trying to keep his
identity a secret, and Mr. Jolly and Pretty Boy getting into mischief back
home. The majority of the episodes featured a single story, but several were
broken up into two segments.
They should've known something was weird about "Scott" with how eager he was to go to school.
In
January of 2002, new episodes began airing concurrently on Toon Disney
as part of the @Toon
and Magical
World of Toons programming blocks. That February, new episodes moved
exclusively to Toon Disney while reruns continued to air on ABC until One
Saturday Morning became ABC
Kids
in September. Lane, who had just landed a role in the Mel Brooks
musical The
Producers, had to leave the show
while the season was in production resulting in his understudy, Kevin Schon,
taking over as Spot for 6 episodes. However, as the episodes were aired out of
production order, Lane’s performance still appeared between Schon’s. Teacher’s Pet was a critical darling,
garnering good reviews and winning several Daytime Emmy Awards
and a BAFTA,
along with three Annie
Awards nominations. However, critical praise doesn’t often
equate to ratings and the show struggled to find a sizable audience. The series
was ultimately cancelled after two seasons.
After
the pilot episode was completed, it was decided that a film extension should be
ready to hit theaters when the series hit its peak popularity. By the time it
was realized that the show would never have a peak, the film was already
written. Disney, however, liked the show and allowed production on the film to
continue. Teacher’s Pet: The Movie had a much wider scope than the
series proper; taking the characters on a road trip and out of the classroom.
It was released on January 16, 2004, written by the Steinkellners, directed by
regular series director Timothy
BjÓ§rklund, and featured a tribute to Hubcaps who had died during
production. It also had Lane returning to the role of Spot. The film served as
the series finale, resolving many of the show’s ongoing storylines, including
Spot’s desire to be human. Originally, it was planned to be left open for
future installments, but given the reception of the series that idea was
changed. That proved to be a smart idea as the film performed about as well as
the show, earning only $6.5 million against its $10 million budget. It was the
last film to be based off of a One Saturday Morning program, and the
last not made-for-TV film based on one of their shows until the 2022 Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers film.
Determined to stop living a dog's life.
Teacher’s Pet was broadcast around the world in various languages; primarily on
offshoots of the Disney Channel. To date, only the film has seen release on
home media on both VHS and DVD by Disney Home Entertainment. It was also
made available to stream on Amazon
Prime Video. In 2019, the film became one of the launch titles of the streaming
service Disney+, with the rest of the
series following soon after. Comics strips based on the series were published
in Disney Adventures
magazine and its British counterpart, Disney’s
Comic. Some of these were collected in 2023 in
Disney
One Saturday Morning Adventures from Fantagraphics.
EPISODE
GUIDE: Season
1: “Metamorphosis”
(9/9/00) – As Leonard beings 4th grade with the humiliating fact
that his mother is his teacher, his dog Spot decides to disguise himself up as
a boy and go to school as well. “Pet
Project” (9/16/00) – When the kids are assigned to write about their pets, Spot
tries to pass Mr. Jolly off as his pet cat while Leonard writes about Pretty
Boy. “Movin’
on Pup / Escaping Dog Trick” (9/23/00) – Spot gets promoted to the 5th
grade but discovers it’s a bigger challenge than he thought. / Mary thinks Spot
ran away when he goes for ice cream with Leonard and sets up an electronic
fence to keep him in. “A
Lick is Still a Kiss” (9/30/00) – When Leonard repeats Spot’s description of
how Leslie’s lip gloss tastes, rumors begin to spread that he had kissed her. “Being
Mrs. Leadready” (10/7/00) – Spot has to pretend to be his mother for
parent-teacher night and ends up being invited over to dinner by Mary. “Let
Sleeping-Over Dogs Lie / Costume Pity Party” (10/28/00) – Leonard is nervous
about his first slumber party, especially since it’s at Ian’s house. / Leonard
no longer wears Halloween costumes after being bullied, and Spot ends up losing
his on the way to school only to be mistaken as wearing a dog costume. “Scott’s
Honor” (11/4/00) – Leonard doesn’t think Spot can cut it as a Junior Boy Ranger
since he’s colorblind. “Fifi”
(11/11/00) – A class trip to the circus leads Spot to fall in love with a
poodle there and consider leaving Leonard for her. “Bad
to the Bone / Always Knock the Postman Twice” (11/18/00) – When Spot thinks
he’s put on a “naughty list” for sticking his head out of the bus window, he
decides to lean into his bad boy image. / Leonard tries to cure Spot of his
mailman prejudice before it gets Scott in trouble. “You
Can’t Bite City Hall” (12/2/00) – Spot is okay with the city turning the dog
park into a skate park until his dog friends give him their side of the story. “A
Dog for All Seasons” (12/16/00) – While Mary struggles to write a play
incorporating all of her class’ holiday traditions, Spot tries to find out if
dogs have any. “Tallulahpalooza”
(1/6/01) – Strickler asks Mary to watch his cat Tallulah for him, putting a
damper on Spot’s charade and causing Mr. Jolly to fall in love with her. “Saving
Mr. Jolly / Rule of Paw” (1/13/01) – Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly think each other
are missing and go to Leonard at school for help. / Spot takes his new position
as playground monitor far too seriously. Season
2: “Never
Take Candy from a Kindergartner” (9/22/01) – Leonard feels guilty using a
kindergartner’s crush on him to get free candy. “A
Few Good Boys” (9/29/01) – Spot and Leonard absolutely hate their Junior Boy
Ranger community service assignments. “Bad
Fur Day” (10/6/01) – Spot makes fun of Leonard’s bad haircut until a grooming
mishap threatens to blow his cover. “The
Tale of the Telltale Taffy” (10/27/01) – Spot convinces Leonard to break his
promise and cross the street for Halloween candy since their side is only
giving out vegetables. “Don’t
Count Your Chickies Before They Hatch” (11/3/01) – Spot has to choose between
his desire to go to the air show or watch over chicken eggs for his assignment. “Strickler’s
Pet / Fresh n’ Frozey Chocolaccino” (1/11/02) – Strickler enlists Spot to help
ensure the kids fall short of their reading goals so he won’t lose a bet to
them. / Spot and Leonard decide to sell a special drink to raise money for a
scooter but soon run out of ingredients to make it. “The
Grass Seed is Always Greener…” (1/18/02) – Pretty Boy’s migrating instincts
take over and he leaves to go South for the winter, causing the others to
search for him. “No
Substitutions, Please” (1/19/02) – Everyone loves their substitute teacher
except for Spot, while Mr. Jolly tries to take care of Mary’s cold in Spot’s
place. “Don’t
It Make My Brown Eyes Green” (1/25/02) – Spot gets jealous when Leonard uses
their game of fetch to come up with a new game for the other kids. “Party
Animal / Mr. Jolly: Man…or Mouser?” (1/26/02) – Leonard doesn’t seem interested
in the surprise birthday party Spot set up for him. / Leonard bets that Mr.
Jolly can catch a mouse within five minutes. “What’s
Sweat Got to Do With It?” (2/1/02) – Leonard finds he keeps getting sweaty
palms when he’s near Leslie and Pretty Boy tries to help Mr. Jolly kick his
dairy habit. “Dogfight”
(2/8/02) – The kids encourage Spot and Leonard to fight over a basketball loss
while Mr. Jolly tries to prove to Pretty Boy that he can be ferocious. “Taint
Valentine’s Day” (2/9/02) – Spot tries to help Leonard by sending him a bunch
of Valentines, but it ends up causing him problems with the girls see they’re
all by the same person. “Science
Not Fair” (2/15/02) – Mary mistakenly credits Spot’s science project to
Leonard. “To
Bee or Not to Bee” (2/22/02) – Leonard becomes intimidated by his opponent’s
preparations for the upcoming spelling bee. “One
Dog’s Junk” (3/1/02) – Spot becomes distraught when Leonard sells his favorite
toy to Ian and Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly unknowingly get into a bidding war with
each other to get him a new one. “Team
Scott / Take Me Out of the Ball Game” (3/8/02) – Spot single-handedly wins all
the confab events for his troop, but they all end up getting lost on the way to
the last one. / When Spot is deemed ineligible to play on the baseball team, he
tries to turn Leonard into a great player. “Inspector
Leadready II” (3/15/02) – Spot becomes a detective to clear Leonard of
accusations that he broke Leslie’s map of Brazil. “The
Turkey That Came to Dinner” (3/22/02) – The pets must protect the turkey Grandma Rose brought along from becoming Thanksgiving dinner. “Double
Dog Dare” (3/29/02) – To avoid admitting his feelings for Leslie in a game of
Truth or Dare, Leonard accepts a super hard dare. “Attack
of the Fifty Inch Girl” (4/5/02) – Scott and Leonard find themselves the target
of a relentless bully who has them both contemplating quitting school. “The
Flipper” (4/12/02) – Spot helps Leonard get so good at a card game that he becomes
a bad sport after winning everyone else’s cards. “The
Blight Before Christmas” (4/19/02) – Tired of getting dog toys for Christmas,
Spot sets out to find a lost dog so he can collect the reward and buy himself
human things. “All
About Eavesdropping” (4/26/02) – The boys want to know what girls want so
Leonard and Spot plot to put on a magic show at Leslie’s birthday party so that
they can eavesdrop on them. “The
Nose Knows / Don’t Bite the Hound That Feeds You” (5/3/02) – Spot has to convince
Strickler that they’re serving dog food in the cafeteria without blowing his
cover. / Spot gets some French fleas and comes to understand life from their
point of view. “A
Breed Apart” (5/10/02) – Spot drags Leonard to a dog show to find out what
breed he is while Mr. Jolly gets an unwelcomed visit from his father. Film: “The
Movie” (1/16/04) – Spot decides he wants to become human for real and discovers
a mad scientist that can make it happen.
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