The Most CONTROVERSIAL Episode of Doug...

Can we all agree that Doug ended with the graduation episode on Nickelodeon and Disney Doug was just a collective bad dream?

The fact we shy away subjects that make us uncomfortable is exactly why mental health is such an issue. Some children do struggle with mental health and body image issues and burying our heads in the sand just makes things worse

Roger is rich because when the city built the new middle school, they bought the trailer park where he and his mom lived, but they didn't rent a lot, they owned their lot. Since they'd already bought the rest of the trailer park, Roger's mom was able to charge the Bluffs far more than the lot was actually worth.

You can tell it's Disney because Skeeter sounds like an off-brand Mickey Mouse that Disney picked up anyways.

"I'm strangely repulsed! And yet attracted..." That needs to become a new reaction gif.

"I disdain what Disney did to Doug" Well you just earned yourself a subscription.

This episode is just a female version of the Nickelodeon episode where Doug spent a weekend at his grandmas and came back slightly overweight from being over fed by his grandma (because that’s what grandma’s do. Feed their grand babies). And at the same time he was invited by Bebe for a swim party and Doug felt self conscious about his weight and had day dreams of being overweight all the time until he stumbled upon an ad to workout. He does his best to workout but he still feels self conscious about his body because he worked off the weight he gained from when he was at his grandmas. Also a lot of the other kids were self conscious about their own appearances as well on the day of the swim party.

It always bothered me that Connie being a heavyset girl in the Nickelodeon series was never acknowledged here. You would think she would be sympathetic to Patty’s worries given she literally went through a similar thing, but they ignore it as if the Nickelodeon series is not canon to the Disney series. I will say tho, Mr. Dink’s “I’m strangely repulsed” line is the episode’s highlight, I’m glad you included it

they didn't even bother to solve Patti's underlying issue, they just glossed over it like it was nothing 😭

Its funny that the gym teacher is overweight yet tells literally children to work harder

The info at the end may have been removed if it became out of date. Those phone numbers are from the late 90s and may no longer work.

I think this scene may have been removed because the number is outdated now, and if someone called it, on the other side it could be picked up by some random person who didn't even know that their number is in some old TV show.

Weirdly enough American Dad actually handled eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and anorexia better

This is why the Nickelodeon’s Doug will always be better I bet in the end they would have solved the issue and not just gloss over it

They likely removed the eating disorder hotline and mental health links to future-proof the episode for when those links no longer worked.

Does anyone remember that this wasn't the first time Doug covered body-shaming? Like, in the old Nick show there was an episode where Doug gained weight at his grandma's and people ragged on him relentlessly, and he began over-dieting and exercising to get the weight off in a super short amount of time so he can go to a pool party. Then, lets not ignore the stark slimdown Connie got during the Nick-to-Disney transfer. I feel like Disney was trying to subconsciously sell us something toxic about body types here...and when they failed they made this episode.

What makes this worse is that when Patty asks Doug if she’s needs to lose weight, it’s made very clear that Doug was answering sarcastically

The irony of the fact that Connie is in this episode when she was a bit of a chubby character in the nick show.

I will say, as someone who has endured an eating disorder, what Patty goes through is exactly how it can downspiral fast. They even got the dizziness and slurring of her words down pretty right; I had gotten bad enough to a point where I couldn't form words correctly when I tried to speak. It was kind of scary. That said, there's no way to tackle this kind of topic without making it a proper special because the recovery process is such a bitch to get through. It's not easy, it's not a switch you turn on or off. The psychological component behind it basically takes over your mind and you have to learn how to regain control of yourself. There's also long-term damage you have to live with sometimes too, depending how bad it gets and if you relapse too, which is always a real possibility. It took a couple years for me to get to a point where I'm basically indifferent to past triggers. I can no longer run, unless I take a puff of an inhaler because I damaged my pulmonary system. I have some minor brain damage, primarily just memory is a mess and my math skills are no longer where they used to be. i luckily do not have any noticeable heart damage, but I would not be surprised if there was some. But I do believe in bringing awareness to the disorder because it is by far one of the deadliest mental illnesses out there. I think the best way to wrap up a topic like this for a kids show is to basically have the character going to see a psych team (psychiatrist, therapist, dietitian, etc.) to get help, and show that the character admits they still need to keep working on their problem cause it isn't easy, but that they're on the right healthy path again. It's okay to show that a problem isn't completely resolved at the end, but that there is still hope because the character is getting help to overcome it eventually.

My far too forgiving brain just assumed they removed those resources at the the end because they became outdated. No point showing a number that doesn't have anyone attached anymore.