One thing I’ve kinda noticed across a lot of the shows I watched as a kid: there’s always a “nouveau riche princess” character. (I may be using this phrase incorrrectly... if I am, I'm sorry, but I just liked the sound of it :P )
These characters are spoiled rich girl who’s enrolled in public school regardless of their family’s financial status, but still act like they’re above everyone else.
Arthur had Muffy Crosswire.
Hey Arnold! had Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.
And Doug had Beebe Bluff, whose family founded the town. She also had the junior high school named after her in the ABC part of the series.
Both of Beebe’s parents are entitled snobs in charge of different places in town and she typically gets her way because she runs to her dad for help.
Doug Wears Tights is one exception to this because Beebe's objective differs from her mom's.
Arthur had Muffy Crosswire.
Hey Arnold! had Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.
And Doug had Beebe Bluff, whose family founded the town. She also had the junior high school named after her in the ABC part of the series.
Both of Beebe’s parents are entitled snobs in charge of different places in town and she typically gets her way because she runs to her dad for help.
Doug Wears Tights is one exception to this because Beebe's objective differs from her mom's.
Doug’s in line with Skeeter to sign up for stage crew while the three main female characters (Patti, Beebe and Connie) sign up for the ballet. Patti makes a random comment about the guys looking cute in tights so Doug inadvertently signs up to be a dancer.
I know it's a youth rendition of The Nutcracker, but it’s kinda hard to believe that Doug gets cast just because he’s the only guy who signs up. In real life, all ballets require years of training to get a main role.
The first few moments of training are as awkward as you can imagine. Doug not only misinterprets the word plié (“no thanks, I just went before I put on these tights”) but once he finally bends his knees correctly, he twists his feet into a pretzel.
He has a rough time partnering with the other two, but Patti is easily the best.
Doug later overhears a conversation between Beebe and her mom.
This was first time I saw her in the series. (The second and only other time I recall is “Doug on First” when she has a note from Beebe’s therapist saying she’ll suffer emotional damage if she isn’t allowed to pitch... yeah, rich people are nuts)
But Mrs. Bluff tells Beebe she will obviously be cast as the Sugar Beet Fairy and adds “remember, I own the Bluffington ballet.”
... just let that sink in for a moment
Fast forward to the final casting auditions- Beebe goes insane and Doug, unaware of what she’s doing, tries all he can to avert the impending disaster.
Mrs. Bluff immediately blames Doug for everything going array and Beebe comes to his defense. She also is completely honest about what she really wants.
“It's not Doug's fault, mom. I missed up on purpose”
But Mrs. Bluff tells Beebe she will obviously be cast as the Sugar Beet Fairy and adds “remember, I own the Bluffington ballet.”
... just let that sink in for a moment
Fast forward to the final casting auditions- Beebe goes insane and Doug, unaware of what she’s doing, tries all he can to avert the impending disaster.
Mrs. Bluff immediately blames Doug for everything going array and Beebe comes to his defense. She also is completely honest about what she really wants.
“It's not Doug's fault, mom. I missed up on purpose”
"But why, Beebe? You wanted that part."
"No, I didn't. You wanted it for me. I wanted to do costumes, remember? Besides, Patti is a million times better than me and all the kids would've hated me if I got the part."
Mrs. Bluff then apologizes to Doug. "I'm sorry I called you a clown. You're not a clown. You're a... little boy in tights."
"No, I didn't. You wanted it for me. I wanted to do costumes, remember? Besides, Patti is a million times better than me and all the kids would've hated me if I got the part."
Mrs. Bluff then apologizes to Doug. "I'm sorry I called you a clown. You're not a clown. You're a... little boy in tights."
In the end, it's Doug and Patti on stage on opening night and all goes well. But Doug has no plans to make ballet a regular hobby.
Doug's Treaure Hunt
For a founders day weekend science project, Doug and Skeeter investigate around the area Bluffington was founded. Before getting shooed off the property, they find a bone and are convinced it belongs to a dinosaur.
Their next move is persuading Beebe to help them get back there and keep the authorities off their backs. The bribe that makes her do it: they’ll name the dinosaur after her.
For a founders day weekend science project, Doug and Skeeter investigate around the area Bluffington was founded. Before getting shooed off the property, they find a bone and are convinced it belongs to a dinosaur.
Their next move is persuading Beebe to help them get back there and keep the authorities off their backs. The bribe that makes her do it: they’ll name the dinosaur after her.
This turns into a wild goose chase within minutes. Her dad shows up and in her frustration, she rats them out.
"They said they found a dinosaur! They were only supposed to dig one hole."
Then he shows them a sign that says "no digging, not even one hole."
In placing the sign into the ground, they hit pay dirt: a fully preserved skeleton of a caveman the Bluffs (predictably) take credit for and name Bluffus Erectus.
But at least Doug and Skeeter still got an A.
In Doug Takes the Case, Beebe abuses her dad's position and winds up regretting it.
In placing the sign into the ground, they hit pay dirt: a fully preserved skeleton of a caveman the Bluffs (predictably) take credit for and name Bluffus Erectus.
But at least Doug and Skeeter still got an A.
In Doug Takes the Case, Beebe abuses her dad's position and winds up regretting it.
The expensive radio she brought to school ends up stolen. When her dad comes in demanding for it back, Mr. Bone’s solution causes trouble for everyone: he threatens them with detention until it’s returned.
Doug, complete with a good Sam Spade impression, assumes the role of “The Chameleon” to track it down. His main motivation, predictably, is helping Patti: she’s concerned about missing Beet Ball practice. During his investigation, he not only finds a broken piece next to Skeeter's locker but finds Skeeter in the wood shop room with the radio. Naturally, this puts him in an awkward position.
Fast foward to detention: Ms. Wingo has a brilliant idea. She'll turn off the lights so when the radio is returned, nobody will know the guilty party. Roger, being Roger, ruins this immediately and turns on the lights a few seconds later.
Before things escalate further, Beebe confesses that she lied. It fell out of her locker and broke and Skeeter offered to fix it; she was worried about her dad being madder about that so she said it was stolen instead.
So everyone is able to leave except Roger, whose antics landed him in deep trouble.
Doug’s Secret Admirer
The entire episode, he finds love notes in his locker. He and Skeeter catch Beebe slipping them in and they immediately look for a way to defuse the situation because the feeling isn’t mutual.
On the day of the Beet parade where everyone’s in costume, Doug confronts her, only to find out she’d had the wrong locker the whole time. Both are overjoyed about the mixup, especially Beebe who gives Doug his first kiss in the heat of the moment.
So everyone is able to leave except Roger, whose antics landed him in deep trouble.
Doug’s Secret Admirer
The entire episode, he finds love notes in his locker. He and Skeeter catch Beebe slipping them in and they immediately look for a way to defuse the situation because the feeling isn’t mutual.
On the day of the Beet parade where everyone’s in costume, Doug confronts her, only to find out she’d had the wrong locker the whole time. Both are overjoyed about the mixup, especially Beebe who gives Doug his first kiss in the heat of the moment.
One little thing that needs clarification, though.
Beebe says Doug is ok, but he's a little too "plebeian"... he responds by saying "I think you're... that... too." And she waves it off like it's nothing.
Plebeian means commoner, so she's saying he's not at the same class as her. Yet when he says it back, she doesn't take it as an insult. Clearly she knows what she means.
I mean, this is a show for kids and maybe I'm thinking too much about this. But it's one of those things I missed as a kid.
Ultimately, the notes were meant for Skeeter, but this crush is never revisited after this episode- as far as I’m aware. Beebe spends more time around Chalky and regularly making random comments about Skunky Beaumont so she might have a thing for him too.
Skunky was one of those urban legend type of characters in kids shows where their exploits are gossiped about among the students but they’re never seen. That changed in the ABC series where he was a main character along with Doug’s other friends.
But while Beebe often spoke in admiration of him (in "Doug's Career Anxiety," she said Skunky sold so many bumper stickers from his project he bought a boat), he also didn’t have the best fashion sense (in "Doug's Cool Shoes," she says someone should clue him in and that he should get cool shoes).
Also, it's worth noting: Alice Playten, her voice actress, passed away 10 years ago (a one-two punch of juvenile diabetes and pancreatic cancer) and Beebe was her final animated role.
***
As much as I wanted to give Skeeter his own post because of how important his friendship is to Doug, he’s been so integral to other storylines (The Beets and Bluff scout arcs among others), I only had 2 segments left to work with where he’s more central to the plot.
Well, three including Doug Says Goodbye we all thought he was moving away and it turns out his room was just being relocated to the basement.
I didn’t revisit this one in particular because- like with the Christmas episode- it’s a happy ending but for a moment, it was super sad.
In these other two specific instances going forward, Doug and Skeeter’s friendship is really tested.
Doug’s Brainy Buddy
As much as I wanted to give Skeeter his own post because of how important his friendship is to Doug, he’s been so integral to other storylines (The Beets and Bluff scout arcs among others), I only had 2 segments left to work with where he’s more central to the plot.
Well, three including Doug Says Goodbye we all thought he was moving away and it turns out his room was just being relocated to the basement.
I didn’t revisit this one in particular because- like with the Christmas episode- it’s a happy ending but for a moment, it was super sad.
In these other two specific instances going forward, Doug and Skeeter’s friendship is really tested.
Doug’s Brainy Buddy
The whole class took an intelligence test. To the shock of everyone, Skeeter got a perfect score and may have secretly been a genius this whole time.
Considering how big of a goofball he is and there are two instances I came across in the series where he confessed about being bad at math... yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. He's smart in other ways for sure, but not necessarily book smart.
But once his results come back, all kinds of tests are run on him by local scientists (including a Rorschach test). He spends a day at college because professors want to recruit him. Everyone else is complete awe and admiration, but as time goes on, Doug gets more bent out of shape. It goes a bit beyond the factor he scored a 565 and Skeeter got 1000 on the test; I assume on that scale, 565 is slightly above average. This clearly wasn't the typical IQ test where genius is over 140.
Considering how big of a goofball he is and there are two instances I came across in the series where he confessed about being bad at math... yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. He's smart in other ways for sure, but not necessarily book smart.
But once his results come back, all kinds of tests are run on him by local scientists (including a Rorschach test). He spends a day at college because professors want to recruit him. Everyone else is complete awe and admiration, but as time goes on, Doug gets more bent out of shape. It goes a bit beyond the factor he scored a 565 and Skeeter got 1000 on the test; I assume on that scale, 565 is slightly above average. This clearly wasn't the typical IQ test where genius is over 140.
One scene that always stood out to me was them going to Skeeter’s basement and Doug picks up A Critique of Pure Reason off the book shelf. I thought it would make more sense rewatching it as an adult, but nope... it is a real book and even skimming the Wikipedia page, I couldn’t make sense of it. And I took Intro to Philosophy in college and aced it.
Finally, Doug blows up at him, saying he should just go to college because he’s acting like nobody at school is good enough for him. He goes to throw away everything that reminds him of their friendship and discovers that everything in his room had some sort of connection to him. Yikes...
In the end, they do make up. Doug realized he was jealous that Skeeter was possibly moving on without him and Skeeter ultimately decides not to do college.
“Nobody there likes air guitar or anything and they all smoke.”
Sadly that’s still true. Except for the handful of people I hung out with, so many people at my college smoked. And I seriously don’t get why.
Doug’s Comic Collaboration
Finally, Doug blows up at him, saying he should just go to college because he’s acting like nobody at school is good enough for him. He goes to throw away everything that reminds him of their friendship and discovers that everything in his room had some sort of connection to him. Yikes...
In the end, they do make up. Doug realized he was jealous that Skeeter was possibly moving on without him and Skeeter ultimately decides not to do college.
“Nobody there likes air guitar or anything and they all smoke.”
Sadly that’s still true. Except for the handful of people I hung out with, so many people at my college smoked. And I seriously don’t get why.
Doug’s Comic Collaboration
This one was a bit more fun.
On a rainy day, Doug and Skeeter write a comic book together starring Quailman and Silver Skeeter and Wacky Weatherman is their nemesis.
(Yeah, years later I found out Skeeter’s character was based on the Silver Surfer. Other than Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, my superhero comic knowledge was minimal until 10 years ago when I fell into the MCU and all those movies)
One interesting thing I kinda picked up from rewatching this episode: I always thought Doug created Quailman as an alter ego to resolve major conflict he didn’t know how to tackle in reality. Here, we get a bit more context. He gives Skeeter a hard time for giving Silver Skeeter too many super powers- that’s because that’s the one thing he hates about typical superheroes. They rely too heavily on their powers and don’t have intelligence to back up their actions. Again, that’s an interesting thing to consider.
It’s also funny how Skeeter comes up with ideas and Doug throws them back at him. Like Silver Skeeter stretching out his body to create a screen to stop hurricane force winds and Doug says that metal reflects and it would instead drench the town in excruciating sunlight.
Meanwhile Skeeter finds Quailman boring because Doug writes a long scene of them talking at the public library.
By the next day, they’re not talking and Patti swoops in to see what the problem is.
“Doug, are you and Skeeter having a fight?”
"Skeeter? Skeeter who?"
"Doug!"
After he explains the situation, she asks to see their comic. Roger proceeds to make fun of their characters. In spite of their current situation, both of them race to defend each other’s characters. Doug also comes up with the perfect zinger to shut Roger up.
“If you were really funny, you wouldn’t have to laugh at your own jokes.”
And this actually helps them beat Wacky Weatherman in the comic. He spends the whole time creating insane weather conditions with his blimp and laughing at everyone else’s misery. So Quailman decides they have to convince him he’s not funny.
He tries to desperately to convince them otherwise until he accidentally destroys his own blimp and blows away like a busted balloon.
Fun fact- while typing up some of these notes on my phone, a mosquito emoji appears whenever I type in Skeeter’s name. His full name technically is Mosquito Valentine, but I never really thought of mosquitos as skeeters... must be more prevalent in other parts of the country.
Skeeter is a fan favorite for many reasons. He’s funny and has excellent taste in music.
But he also knows about Doug’s crush on Patti and keeps it secret. That kind of loyalty is awesome.
So if you have a Skeeter in your life, you’re a lucky person. We all need at least one friend like that... or a few who cover that spread of personality traits.
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