Rude Dog and the Dweebs is a 1980s Saturday-Morning Cartoon on CBS about a group of misfit mutts and their misadventures, along with their self-proclaimed leader of the pack, a punky pooch by the name of Rude Dog.
Rude Dog initially was the mascot of a surf-themed line of merchandise developed by Sun Sportswear. The cartoon soon followed, featuring Rude Dog as the owner of a delivery company housed in an automotive garage. After rescuing a gang of gawky canines from the back of the dog catcher's van, he endearingly takes it upon himself to take them under his wing and teach them to be hip. This group, to whom Rude Dog referred as the Dweebs, consists of Barney, Kibble, Winston, Reggie, Tweek, Caboose and Satch. The show produced only 26 episodes.
It premiered on CBS on September 14, 1989 and had a run to December 7, 1989, replaced by the Dungeons & Dragons (1983) cartoon. Six months later, Rude Dog returned to CBS to run its course to September 6, 1990. It was faring well ratings-wise but was dropped because it was assumed that kids were mistaking Rude Dog for Budweiser beer's "party animal," Spuds McKenzie.
This series contains examples of:
- The Ace: Rude Dog is better at everything than anybody, and the general plot of the series is him trying to teach the Dweebs to be less lame.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Well, Rude Dog himself has one pink eye, a black eye with a pink iris, a pink spot on his side, one pink ear, one green ear, and green teeth. As for the Dweebs, Kibble is pink, Satch is green, Reggie is kind of a dull turquoise, and Winston is lavender. Seymour is purple with one mauve eye.
- Angry Guard Dog: Rot. Yet he qualifies more as dimwitted than angry.
- Aside Comment: Rude Dog regularly turns to the camera to make comments to the audience - sometimes narration, but usually just snark.
- Badbutt: Rude Dog was sarcastic, streetwise, had a tough guy accent, and advocated being rude, which was enough to make him pretty darn edgy by 80's standards.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: As he is narrating the series, Rude Dog will sometimes speak directly to the viewer, usually when commenting upon something weird or stupid The Dweebs do.
- Butt-Monkey: The Dweebs are subjected to this, even by Rude Dog himself.
- Catchphrase: "Yo Dudes! Get Rude."
- Cats Are Mean: Seymour really has nothing better to do than terrorize The Dweebs (especially Tweek).
- Cool Car: Rude Dog's pink Cadillac.
- Cool Garage: Serves as the hub of the series.
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: More prevalent in the merchandising line. Shirts would depict Rude Dog's slogans promoting his trademark "Rude" behavior against school and the like.
- Cool Shades: Rude Dog owned a pair.
- Diabolical Dogcatcher: Serves as a major antagonist in the series when Seymour's not around and has a Nonstandard Character Design compared to the other human characters seen in the series.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Rude Dog had "dog" in his name. Also, Herman the dog catcher's rottweiler was named Rot.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Rude Dog was far more irritable and prone to frustration in the pilot, compared to his more laid-back and patient bemusement (or amusement) with the Dweebs later on.
- Easy Amnesia: Happens once to Seymour, leading him to believe he's a dog.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Rude Dog's black and pink eyes with upright chevron-shaped pupils.
- Eyes Always Shut: Winston has these, fitting with his prim and proper nature.
- Face Your Fears: In one episode, Caboose overcomes his fear of trains when he rushes to save Tweek from being captured aboard a runaway caboose.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Rude Dog's eyes and ears.
- Farm Boy: Barney grew up on a farm and still plays with farm animal toys.
- Funny Animal: The animals in this show mostly walked around on all fours, but they could also rear up on their hind legs and use their paws as hands if they had a reason to.
- Heel–Face Turn: Thanks to Satch messing with his family tree outline, Winston is led to believe he and Rot are related. The prospect of being appreciated as a family member convinces Rot to abandon Herman to become a Dweeb. However, once the error is revealed, Rot is sent back to Herman, albeit as an "honorary Dweeb".
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Inspired by a game show The Dweebs are watching, Seymour tries to hit them with cans of foul-smelling gunk. His efforts, thanks to his eager sadism and poor planning, result in getting hit by his own artillery.
- Informed Attribute: Rude Dog isn't actually very rude. He might just barely qualify as a Deadpan Snarker.
- Insistent Terminology: The Dweebs. Everyone calls them that. One could be forgiven for thinking it's a slang term for their species.
- Interspecies Romance: Barney apparently courted a pig back on the farm.
- Joisey: Rude Dog rocks the accent and attitude of a stereotypical Jersey tough guy. Ditzy Kibble also has a honking Jersey accent.
- Limited Animation: Well, it is an '80s cartoon.
- Loser Archetype: The Dweebs
- Mascot with Attitude: Rude Dog treats the Dweebs well enough but he just drips with disdain for them (and everyone and everything else).
- Minion with an F in Evil: Rot really doesn't make Herman's attempts to capture The Dweebs any easier.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Reggie sounds like Jack Nicholson. Or at least the way people talk when they imitate Jack Nicholson.
- Only Sane Man: Rude Dog was often in this role despite his Totally Radical way of speaking.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: Winston. He really is terribly well-mannered and even addresses Rude Dog as "Sir". He also wears a monocle.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Employed as well as any cartoon. Even Rude Dog gets in on it, in uniforms and other getup that don't hide his distinctive facial features.
- Real Rude Dogs Drive Pink Cadillacs
- Rebel Leader: Rude Dog, being a cool rude dude leading and teaching a bunch of dweebs who are neither cool nor rude.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Winston sometimes delves into this, being a proper British dog after all. Naturally, this just confuses the other Dweebs.
- Surfer Dude: Rude Dog was a surfer dude. It's to be expected since the clothing brand that invented him specifically made surf shirts and beach wear.
- The Smurfette Principle: Kibble was the only girl among the Dweebs.
- Stylistic Suck: Rude Dog is drawn with sleek, dark, thick lines, but most everything else is drawn in paler, wobbly lines, so as to make Rude Dog look cooler than the world around him.
- Totally Radical: Rude Dog's name, catchphrase, and usual way of speaking.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "War of the Dweebs" does a spin on the The War of the Worlds hoax when Winston and the other Dweebs are led to believe that the world is being attacked by slimy aliens. That Rude Dog and Tweek try to surprise them by dressing as aliens doesn't help.
