History WesternAnimation / ClueClub

''Clue Club'' aired on Creator/{{CBS}} starting on August 14, 1976 (replacing ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'', which moved to Creator/{{ABC}} a month later). After a season, the episodes were chopped down to ten minutes and used as a feature on ''The Skatebirds'', rebilled as ''Woofer & Wimper: Dog Detectives''. At mid-season, ''WesternAnimation/TheRobonicStooges'' (another ''Skatebirds'' feature) was given its own time period (retitled ''The Three Robonic Stooges'') and took ''Woofer & Wimper'' with them. In 1978, ''Clue Club'' returned to CBS, airing on Sunday mornings. In the mid-[[TheEighties Eighties]], reruns of the series would become a staple of the early [[Creator/USANetwork USA Cartoon Express.]]

** In "The Real Gone Gondola", Woofer and Wimper are warming themselves by a heater in the clubhouse after having been buried in snow. Woofer is in front of the heater, and Wimper's back feet are still blue with cold. Wimper shoves them under Woofer to warm them more quickly, causing Woofer to leap several feet into the air.

* ProppingUpTheirPatsy: Double-Subverted. In one episode, Pepper and Dottie's Uncle "Salty" Boggs is accused of stealing a diamond from a display in a museum from which he was recently fired. Also suspected is the woman who owns the museum, as she is fully knowledgeable about the security systems that were protecting the diamond. The actual culprit was the man who owned a local lighthouse, and who had been forced to fire Uncle "Salty" from working the lighthouse due to budget cuts. He had expected his plan was foolproof, and would have been a baffling mystery, never intending either Boggs or the museum owner to come under suspicion, and sincerely and earnestly pleads their innocence without revealing that he was the guilty party.

** In "The Real Gone Gondola", Woofer and Whimper are warming themselves by a heater in the clubhouse after having been buried in snow. Woofer is in front of the heater, and Whimper's back feet are still blue with cold. Whimper shoves them under Woofer to warm them more quickly, causing Woofer to leap several feet into the air.

* EasilyForgiven: The running bit of this show is that Dotty cannot join the others on their missions because she's only 13 years old. Yet each week she shows up at the denoument with an alibi why she's there, and Larry buys it.
** It isn't so much that Larry buys Dotty's excuses, which are often blatantly transparent, inasmuch as he can't find it in himself to stay mad at her.

** In "The Missing Pig Caper," Dottie's background check reveals that Mr. Cleek, the valet of wealthy gourmand [[PunnyName Mr. Glut]], is a career thief and ConArtist. It's implied that Mr. Glut is Cleek's latest mark, but he's completely innocent of stealing the prized pig Mr. Glut hopes to eat (and is willing to pay a great deal of money for). Upon hearing that he is a suspect, Cleek replies that [[VillainCred stealing a pig is beneath him.]]

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Larry. Much like Fred on early ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'', but perhaps with a touch more savvy in solving the mystery.
** TheLancer: D.D. spends most of the episodes getting chased with Pepper by the antagonist.
** TheSmartGuy: Dotty. She's so smart she can program her computer to play gin rummy.
** TheChick: Pepper. One H-B's best-looking girls, and Dotty's big sister. Her banter with D.D. provides a good bit of the comedy.
** TheBigGuy: Woofer. The senior member of the two dogs with a bravado complex. Wimper knows better.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In "The Missing Pig Caper," Dottie's background check reveals that Mr. Cleek, the valet of wealthy gourmand [[PunnyName Mr. Glut]], is a career thief and ConArtist. It's implied that Mr. Glut is Cleek's latest mark, but he's completely innocent of stealing the prized pig Mr. Glut hopes to eat (and is willing to pay a great deal of money for). Upon hearing that he is a suspect, Cleek replies that [[VillainCred stealing a pig is beneath him.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_clueclubtitle.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:L - R: Wimper, Woofer, Pepper, Larry, D.D., and Dotty.]]

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ClueClub_9473.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:225:From left to right: Wimper, Woofer, Pepper, Larry, D.D., and Dotty.]]

* CutToTheFunny: OnceAnEpisode, near the end, the heroes would be explaining what happened in the mystery, the camera would cut away to a scene of Woofer and Wimper doing something funny.

* WeirdnessMagnet: It's the thing to be as a Hanna Barbera meddling kid.

** TheHero: Larry. Much like Fred on early ''[[Franchise/ScoobyDoo]]'', but perhaps with a touch more savvy in solving the mystery.

%%* FiveManBand:
%%** TheHero: Larry
%%** TheLancer: D.D.
%%** TheSmartGuy: Dotty
%%** TheChick: Pepper
%%** TheBigGuy: Woofer

* GracefulLoser: A few culprits, like [[spoiler:Foster]] from "The Solar Energy Caper" who comments that he made a good try while seeming impressed by the kids, and [[spoiler:Carloff]] in "One of Our Elephants is Missing" who simply says that th jig is up with a tired sigh rather than deny it.

%%* BigEater: Mr. Glut from "The Missing Pig Caper".

* TagAlongKid: What Dotty wants to be, but Larry always tells her to stay in the lab, for her saftey, since she is just a kid.

The group consists of Larry, the team leader; Pepper, one of two female members; D.D., Pepper's partner in clue searching, and Dotty, the youngest member of the group and the team's troubleshooter. There are two dogs as well--Woofer (a bloodhound with a bravado complex) and Wimper (a basset who knows better). These two dogs can talk plain English to each other and other animals, just not to humans. Sheriff Bagley is the baffled flatfoot who sees the Clue Club as more nosy than helpful but he takes his cap off to them when the crime is solved.

* AdultsAreUseless: Zig-zagged. Sheriff Bagley will oblige the Clue Club by gathering suspects together, and [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure tip his hat to the team when they solve a mystery]]. However, he almost never seems to have the correct suspect on his own, and while he is seen looking for evidence or taking in people for questioning himself, he does far less legwork and searching than the kids themselves do.