Housepets is a 1998 Canadian-American animated TV series created by Joe Brian (providing creative input while working on The Flying Cats) and directed by Peter Thompson. The series aired from 1998 to 2005 (with a long hiatus beginning in 1999 and ending in 2000 and another in 2003) on ABC.
The series is a sitcom (although the show sometimes dealt with decidedly dramatic and serious issues) revolving around a group of domesticated animals living inside a rich family's mansion in a suburban neighborhood, and the numerous situations they get themselves in. Although the series seems to be copy from Garfield, Marmaduke and Heathcliff, the show is enjoyable mainly for its clever humor and aforementioned breaks from comedy. The show was rated TV-PG when broadcast in America, with some episodes rated TV-14.
The series was produced by Cinar (later Cookie Jar), Village Roadshow, Buena Vista Television, Brian Thompson Productions and ABC Productions (after 2001, it was produced by ABC Entertainment).
Summary[]
In a suburban neighborhood (implied to be somewhere in the United States), a rich family has a group of pets that, while the family is gone and unbeknownst to them, talk to each other (and other animals), get into disagreements and find themselves in comedic situations or face some issues with relative drama.
Characters[]
- Scruffy: A Labrador Retriever who is supposedly the leader of them, but on several occasions, others have shown just as much, if not more, leadership. He is kind and gentle, believes that female pets are not objects for males to play with, and often acts as a disciplinarian, often chiding Matt for his somewhat perverted beliefs, stupid ideas and rudeness.
- Matt: A tuxedo cat who is gluttonous, pompous, cowardly, arrogant, perverse and a hopeless romantic. Although he is intentionally made to be the black sheep of the group, there have been moments where the others actually care about him (oddly enough). A well-known characteristic is his perverse and hopeless romantic mindset, evidenced by his numerous failed attempts to find a mate (usually through a date that fails in some way or by other means) as well as his love-hate relationship with Sissy.
- Sissy: An Angorra cat who, despite her name, is actually brave, smart, easy to anger and averted to perverse males (especially Matt). In a bizarre twist, Sissy has a love-hate relationship with Matt.
- Liz: A Border Collie who serves as the mother figure of the group. She is kindly and smart, but can be forgetful at times. On some occasions, she has been known to argue with her mate Doug.
- Doug: A Shetland Sheepdog who is Liz's mate. He never sees anything with legitimate reason and is often known to be prejudiced and uninformed about issues, especially when arguing with Liz, who sees things more reasonably. However, neither of them really hate each other.
- Pauly: A parrot who is usually sensible, logical and viewing things with concern but also uses impressions of famous actors and satire to establish his points.
- Fink: A hyperactive ferret with obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD) whose paranoia also includes germophobia and end of the world predictions among other things.
Voice cast[]
- Matthew Broderick - Scruffy
- Jim Carrey - Matt
- Uma Thurman - Sissy
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Liz
- Jason Alexander - Doug
- Robin Williams - Pauly
- Howie Mandel - Fink
( MORE TBA! )