Ah, Ed the Dog and Buddy the Squirrel
Live in a swell house in a swell world
Ed wakes up every single day
And vows to be the best in every way!
Live in a swell house in a swell world
Ed wakes up every single day
And vows to be the best in every way!
— Excerpt from the Expository Theme Tune
Best Ed is a Canadian animated series created by Rick Marshall and produced by 9 Story Media Group. It aired on Teletoon from October 3, 2008 to October 22, 2009 for a total of 26 episodes.
The show stars the titular Ed (Seán Cullen), a cheerful but none-too-bright dog loved by everyone. Ed's best friend is his polar opposite Doug (Patrick McKenna) an intelligent but unlucky squirrel who everyone calls "Buddy" but nobody likes. Despite their differences, Ed and Doug consider themselves best of friends and have many adventures — and misadventures — in their town of Swellville.
Best Ed contains examples of:
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The Kitten Twins Betsy and Buster are pink, Heiny is a blue Scottish Terrier, and Ed himself is a yellow dog.
- Amnesia Episode: In "Memor-Yee Loss", Ed gets amnesia out of shock after blowing up a balloon so large that it explodes in front of his face.
- Amusing Injuries: Buddy (due to being the unexpected victim, fall guy, and punching bag) always tends to get this almost each and every time and occurrence in various episodes, Played for Laughs and Depending on the Writer.
- Angry Guard Dog: Mr. Thursty is a rare, anthropomorphic example of one. While he doesn't attack any trespassers himself, he has a state-of-the-art security system to keep any unwanted guests off of his lawn.
- Animation Bump: The opening sequence has more fluid animation in comparison to the actual episodes, which are animated in a lower framerate by comparison.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Every animal in Swellville lacks any footwear of any kind.
- Butt-Monkey: Doug is vehemently despised by everyone in Swellville and extremely unlucky.
- Casting Gag: In "Memor-Yee Loss", Jamie Watson voices Dr. Quacken, a duck who shares the exact same voice and Verbal Tic as Quack from Peep and the Big Wide World, who Watson also voiced.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Ed is obsessed with helping (he even has "I'm here to help!" as one of his catchphrases), but ends up being more of a burden than anything.
- Creepy Twins: Despite seeming cute and innocent on the surface, Betsy and Buster are quite psychotic. They mainly show their true nature around Buddy, whom they greatly despise and enjoy suffering. They also tend to speak in unison.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Ed isn't very smart in contrast to his best friend.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: Inverted; everyone except Ed the dog (along with only a very little few premier minor characters) hates Buddy the squirrel.
- Every Episode Ending: Buddy, no matter what misfortune has befallen him and no matter how hard he has tried to succeed, almost always receives and obtains a Bittersweet Ending at best, and a Downer Ending at worst, Depending on the Writer; including several (if not multiple) Here We Go Again! and/or "Shaggy Dog" Story scenes and moments.
- Expy: Ed appears to be one for SpongeBob.
- Both Ed and Buddy happen to be one for Bert and Ernie, except the yellow one is silly and stupid, while the orange one is more smart and serious, so it's vice versa.
- Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: The upbeat and sociable Ed is the Gleeful one to the easily irritable but often realistic Buddy's Grumpy.
- Hated by All: Played straight with Buddy, even though he never really says or does anything overtly too unlikable, everyone else in the neighborhood dislikes him for no discernible reason, and would rather take the side of Ed, since they think he's cute, no matter what he does or says.
- In-Series Nickname: Doug is called "Buddy" by everyone in Swellville... although Ed is the only one who considers him a friend.
- Interspecies Romance: Miss Fluffé, a hamster, has a crush on Ed, a dog.
- Keet: Ed is very cheerful and hyperactive, to the point where he tends to mess things up (especially for Buddy).
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Ed, which is part of the reason the people of Swellville all love him.
- Leitmotif: Ed's antics are typically accompanied by bagpipe music.
- Odd Friendship: Ed and Doug are polar opposites in both personality and lot in life, but consider each other best friends.
- Ominous Hair Loss: One episode has Buddy dealing with fur loss. At first, both he and the doctor think it's from stress and it'll stop falling only if he starts being more positive. At first, this appears to be the case, since Ed constantly does something stupid that annoys him, and patches of fur fall any time this happens. His fur grows back in the morning after he realizes a life without Ed is worse than a life without fur. However, it turns out the reason his fur was falling was that Ed was using his personal comb to clean the toilet.
- Only Sane Man: Buddy is more level-headed and intelligent than Ed and often suffers incredibly from his antics.
- Perpetual Frowner: Mr. Thursty is almost always seen and shown with a grouchy frown on his face, which doubles with his Establishing Character Moment.
- Preppy Name: Mr. Thursty's full name is Thurston Plumtickler III.
- Pretty Fly for a Yellow Dog: In "Memor-Yee Loss", when Ed thinks that he's a guard dog, he finds Mr. Thursty and starts imitating him, accent and all.
- Running Gag: Buddy's clumsiness and unluckiness compared to Ed's carefree personality and luckiness.
- The Scapegoat: Buddy often gets blamed for things done by Ed.
- Scary Black Man: Mr. Thursty has the mannerisms of one. He's inexplicably mean to most characters, has a short temper, and speaks with a very distinct African accent.
- Show Within a Show: Ed is a fan of "The Mighty Measel Moles", which is a parody of Star Trek.
- Slasher Smile: The twin kittens in give these all the time, the only time they DROP their smile is at Buddy the Squirrel, who gives an Oh, Crap! moment whenever they do.
- Speech Impediment: Ed himself speaks with a very pronounced lisp.
- Violent Glaswegian: Heiny the Scottish Terrier can be very loud and quick to anger, particularly at Doug.
- World of Funny Animals: The inhabitants of Swellville are anthropomorphic animals.
