Anvilicious: The episode "Smoke Detectors" is so extreme in getting across its message that Smoking Is Not Cool that it involves the only smoker in the show burning a house down with a cigarette.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The sudden and one-time uses of a studio audience laugh track in "You Slipped a Disk" and "Chow About That?"
Common Knowledge: Although the show did air on ABC Saturday mornings with the One Saturday Morning lineup, it isn't technically a One Saturday Morning show as no OSM bumpers or interstitals aired during the show. The intro to OSM started playing AFTER the show was over. This, however, didn't stop Disney from advertising it as part of the lineup.
Cult Classic: While one of the most obscure versions of the franchise, 101 Dalmatians: The Series does have a small but very dedicated fanbase, with even a few fans admitting to the series being their favorite incarnation of the franchise.
Also Ivy De Vil in the series, mainly because she was much more competent than her Aunt Cruella and was a Little Miss Snarker and Servile Snarker rolled into one.
Friendly Fandoms: Due to a somewhat similar style of humor and animation and several shared voice actors, a number of Tiny Toon Adventures fans are also fans of the series.
Harsher in Hindsight: in "Mall Pups", Lt. Pug gets caught underfoot by one of a pair of security dogs before going into one of his characteristic random blackouts. The security dogs realize that he's not moving and the other one asks the first, "You didn't use a choke hold, did you?" This becomes much, much harder to watch in light of recent cases of police brutality ending in death from choke holds.
"Good Neighbor Cruella" has Cruella separating her "good side" with her "bad side". "Good Cruella" looks and acts similar to "Ella", Cruella's reformed state in 102 Dalmatians.
Spot is a bird who acts like a dog. 102 Dalmatians had a similar character in Waddlesworth.
Rebecca's pink collar, blue eyes, and white ears make her resemble a spotted Oddball from 102 Dalmatians.
"A Christmas Cruella" has Spot, as the Ghost of Christmas Future, showing Cruella a headstone for Fluffy. Fluffy would indeed be part of Cruella's future, by being her dog in 102 Dalmatians.
Two episodes of the series would have their plots recycled in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure. "Home Is Where The Bark Is" has the Dalmatians moving to the farm with one or more of them not wanting to move away (Lucky, Cadpig, and Rolly in the TV series due to not wanting to leave their old house, and Patch in the animated sequel due to Thunderbolt coming to London the next day), and "Watch For Falling Idols" has one of the pups (Lucky in the TV series, Patch in the animated sequel) realizing that Thunderbolt is an actor and not a "wonder dog" like on TV.
This won't be the last time we meet Cruella's family members.
In the series, the episode "Coup De Vil" actually turns Cruella into one.
Several episodes of the series portray Cruella as a Jerkass Woobie / Jerk With A Heart Of Gold combination.
Lucky. has a massive ego and a tremendous stubborn streak and can be quite the brat as evidenced in "Splishing And Splashing" where he outright refuses to apologize to Lucy for splashing her but then there are episodes like "Lucky To Be Alone" "Watch For Falling Idols" and "Cone Head" where he gets hit with a pretty heavy dose of Break the Haughty.
Mooch. He pretty much has the reputation of a thuggish gang leader and bully on the farm but in "Twelve Angry Pups", he's blamed for a crime he didn't commit and in "My Fair Moochie", Cadpig crushed his heart pretty hard after he tried to make a genuine attempt to change. It's perfectly understandable why he bursts into tears and sobs on Lucky's shoulder after Cadpig dumps him.
Dipstick. is part of Mooch's gang but just watching him cry in "Twelve Angry Pups" kind of makes you want to cuddle and pet the poor thing. He also had his collar stolen by Swamp Rat in another episode.
Lt.Pug is one of the most hated characters on the show. But after the torture Persian Pete put him through as a pup, it's easy to see why he's such a shell-shocked, bossy, mentally unstable loudmouth of a jerk.
Lucy The Goose. She has a very irritable and grumpy attitude but she only wanted to swim in peace without being splashed by the pups.
Fetch and Kelly from the episode "Trick Track Toe". While they laugh at Gogo for his bunny phobia, they themselves also clearly have issues.
"Yard sale? I love yard sales! Actually, I hate yard sales. Of course, the pros of a yard sale are the bargains, but the cons of a yard sale are that the items are used. Ick!"
Cadpig's comment about "day old pizza".
Moral Event Horizon: Pretty much everything Dimsdale De Vil does in "De Vil-Age Elder", including trying to use his descendant Cruella as a replacement to be trapped in Devilville for all eternity.
One-Scene Wonder: Rebecca, the adorable Scottish-accented carriage pup of "De Vil-Age Elder".
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The episode "Hog Tied" did portray Dumpling in a somewhat positive and sympathetic light and she did save Cadpig's life. So maybe she could be excused from this.
Lt. Pug for being a loud, insufferable Drill Sergeant Nasty and major Jerkass with an unappealing design and little to no redeeming qualities.
And Dumpling for being a surly and obnoxious Spoiled Brat.
And Swamp Rat to a lesser extent for his Jerkass tendencies and frequent Karma Houdini status.
Squick: Episode 6, Roger kisses Cruella while disguised as Anita. Not on the cheek either, on the lips. Naturally, Roger can taste the difference.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: How many fans reacted to the "remastered" version of the intro for digital releases; as the entire intro sequence was remade with a number of moments where the animation from the original version doesn't match up. They also got rid of each episode having one of six different clip sequences in the intro for just one (the "blue background" one).
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: All of the other puppies. Granted, it would've been impossible for them to characterize every single one of the pups but, aside from the main trio, only a handful of pups (Two-Tone, Tripod, Dipstick, Whizzer, and Patch) had names and personalities.
Values Dissonance: One episode revolves around the puppies trying to stop Nanny from buying a cheaper dog food, only to discover they like it more anyway. Recent concerns about the poor quality of dog food in general, but cut-rate brands especially, make this episode rather dated.
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