100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd is a show on Nickelodeon in the late '90s and early '00s. The title character was a bully, turned into a dog after messing with the wrong hobo, with the condition that he would only change back if he did 100 good deeds. Aside from the man who put the curse on Eddie, the only person that can hear the dog Eddie talk is Justin Taylor, the last kid that Eddie bullied as a human. Hilarity Ensues.
It was canceled in the U.S. after just 40 episodes, long before Eddie could change back into a human and still having 60 good deeds remaining, due to low ratings.
This show provides examples of:
- An Aesop: If Eddie ever completes his task, neither he nor Justin will remember that he was turned into a dog, but Eddie will still be a better person for it.
- Aesop Enforcer: The drifter blatantly enforces the Aesop on Eddie.
- Asian and Nerdy: Justin's best friend, Sariffa Chung.
- Bait-and-Switch Comparison:I can't believe you let that filthy beast into the house!Yeah, and now he has a dog.
- Crappy Holidays: Eddie in human life (and dog life) did his best to ruin Christmas for everyone else.
- Curse Escape Clause: The main crux of the show is that Eddie must do 100 good deeds to regain his humanity.
- Despair Event Horizon: In one episode, Eddie nearly kills himself to save Justin, and gets one deed. He enters a despair event horizon because of this and decides to give up on good deeds and stay a dog. It's so bad that the normally snarky Drifter actually pleads with Eddie to not give up. It takes him nearly killing himself again to save Justin again, and getting another good deed, to realize he still has a chance.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Eddie humiliates Justin by spilling paint on him and hanging him on a flagpole all because he accidentally spilled milk on him.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The man who cursed Eddie is known only as "The Drifter" - a possible shoutout to Robert A. Heinlein's "—All You Zombies—", perhaps?
- The Faceless: Eddie is this before becoming a dog, but the Christmas special briefly shows three other selves with faces.
- Fantastic Comedy: The fantasy premise
- Granola Girl: Sariffa Chung.
- How We Got Here: The first half of the pilot episode shows how Eddie became the way he is.
- Jerkass: The titular character himself.
- Also, the Drifter, but to a lesser extent.
- Instant Sedation: Averted in "Dog Day Out." Eddie gets an oral sedative at the vet that takes an hour to kick in — plenty of time for drugged-up shenanigans to ensue.
- Interspecies Romance: Eddie's a teenager in the body of a dog, but has zero qualms with dating actual dogs.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Eddie puts Justin on a flag pole as revenge for spilling milk on him.
- Literal Transformative Experience: This is the main premise behind the show, Eddie's actions while transformed proving whether or not he's become a better person in the process. Unfortunately, the series was canceled before Eddie made serious progress in that direction.
- Long Bus Trip: Morgan Kibby, who becomes a foreign exchange student in London.
- Magical Homeless Person: The mysterious drifter who cursed the title character into turning into a dog.
- Mood Whiplash: The theme song was originally a rock ballad about Eddie's plight. Come the second season, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by the Baha Men became the theme. It's a grating change to say the least.
- Parental Favoritism / Sadist Teacher: Averted. Justin's father is the Shop Class teacher and is extra hard on Justin despite him being actually quite competent.
- Poor Communication Kills: In a two-part episode, the Taylors call the host family where Gwen is in the UK. Tori answers the phone and mistakes "Taylor" for "Tailor", who she was mad at for botching up an order so she threatens to send the other dress back in pieces - the Taylors assume they're talking about Gwen. Well, long story short, it drives one of the plots for the episode.
- Recycled Premise: Of the short-lived 1980s show The 100 Lives Of Black Jack Savage.
- Sassy Black Woman: Zig-zagged with Tori.
- Secret-Keeper: Justin. The last episode has Tori.
- Shop Class: It was Eddie's only good class when he was a human - revealed in the episode wherein Justin's father almost becomes the permanent shop teacher.
- Justin himself is also rather competent in Shop - his father is just extra hard on him.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Eddie wasn't always a bully. The Christmas episode showed he used to be a very likable kid.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Eddie and Justin, type 2.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Drifter is trying to teach Eddie to stop being a Jerkass (Eddie nearly crossed the
Moral Event Horizon when they crossed paths), but does he really have to be a dick about it? It probably wasn't a good idea to erase his entire family off the face of the Earth (seriously).- The Drifter also does this to other kids too; one episode has a dog who is undergoing a similar trial just like Eddie, and the only person who can hear her speak is the last person whose car she destroyed. (She "Pooled" them.) One can only imagine how many dogs are actually transformed teens.
