Bruno:How'd a loser like you create a great character like Bugsy? Eliot:Well, sometimes it's just staring you in the face.
Dog City was an animated/Muppet series based on a half-hour segment in The Jim Henson Hour. The original "Dog City" was about an anthropomorphic German Shepherd named Ace Yu, facing bulldog gangster Bugsy Them (the Dogfather) in a film noir environment. The segment was just recently released on DVD from Lionsgate, excluding the Jim Henson Hour part.In the series, Ace became private eye Ace Hart, and Bugsy became Bugsy Vile. They also became cartoon characters, with the original puppet versions becoming Eliot Shag, the cartoonist, and Bruno, the super of his apartment building. Other characters from the special were transplanted similarly; the character appeared in the cartoon, and the puppet appeared as someone in Eliot's building, supposedly inspiring him to create the animated version. Ace and Eliot would also have conversations with each other about the progress of the stories and how Eliot uses what he draws in the cartoon to solve problems in his real life.
Dog City included examples of:
Special:
Binocular Shot (Parodied. From the POV of villain Bugsy Them, we see the two leads through two overlapping circles. Then the camera cuts to a wide shot to reveal that Bugsy isn't looking through binoculars — he's just holding up a piece of cardboard with two overlapping holes and looking through it.)
Dogs Are Dumb (mostly averted. the only exception is Bugsy's hired muscle, Mad Dog, whose two- I mean, fourteen years of obedience school have done nothing for his thinking ability)
Internal Reveal: In episode Old Dogs, New Tricks, the cartoonists Eliot Shag and Scratch McCollie fight on whether or not to use this trope. As it pertains to a Show Within a Show, it's a bit late to cover up that plot point from the audience.
Sexophone: Given that the animated segments are parodies of classic detective stories and Film Noir, one would occasionally play for Rosie O'Gravy (specifically whenever Ace would think of her in his narrations).
Species Surname (most characters apart from Ace and Bugsy had vaguely dog [or cat] related names)
Suspiciously Similar Substitute (Terri Springer replaced Colleen as Eliot's love interest. Suprisingly, she was voiced by the same actress, the writers just thought she'd be a more interesting character)
Those Wacky Nazis: Baron von Rottweiller gives off this vibe in "Old Dogs, New Tricks" as he plots to detonate a hydrogen bomb over Dog City and emerge the leader of a "superior doggy race".
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