| Genre: | sitcom |
| Creator: | Gary Baseman Bill Steinkellner Cheri Steinkellner |
| Theme Music Composer: | Brian Woodbury Peter Lurye |
| Opentheme: | "I Wanna Be a Boy" |
| Composer: | Stephen James Taylor Brian Woodbury Peter Lurye |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 39 (47 segments) |
| Producer: | Michele Furuichi-Yost (season 1) Nancylee Myatt (season 2) |
| Editor: | John Royer (season 1) Susan Edmundson (season 2) |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Company: | Walt Disney Television Animation |
| Network: | ABC |
| Network2: | Toon Disney |
Teacher's Pet (also known as Disney's Teacher's Pet) is an American animated sitcom produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and directed by Timothy Björklund.[1]
The series follows a 9-year-old boy and his dog who dresses up as a boy.[2] Created by Gary Baseman—the artistic designer for the Cranium board game—Bill Steinkellner, and Cheri Steinkellner, it was broadcast on ABC from 2000-2002, and finishing its run on Toon Disney in 2002.
A feature-length film adaptation was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on January 16, 2004, which serves as a finale to the television series.
The series follows Leonard Helperman, a 9-year-old boy in the 4th grade, who lives in fear because his mother, Mary Helperman, is his teacher. Because of this, he is often mocked and called a "teacher's pet", but he wants to be considered normal. Meanwhile, his dog Spot misses Leonard while he is at school, and yearns to be a human boy. So on the first day of the school year, he decides to come to class disguised as a new student named Scott Leadready II, who quickly becomes the most popular, influential kid in school. However, Leonard eventually finds out his secret. Although he disapproves of this at first, he allows Spot to continue attending school.
Note: The first season aired on ABC's One Saturday Morning. All episodes in this season were directed by Timothy Björklund.
The show aired on ABC's One Saturday Morning block beginning on September 9, 2000. The block would continue airing new episodes of the show until February 9, 2002 and reruns would last there until September 7, 2002, when the block was rebranded to ABC Kids the following week.
The show began airing on Toon Disney on January 7, 2002 with new episodes premiering on the channel starting January 11, 2002.[3] Toon Disney would continue airing new episodes of it each Friday until reaching its finale on May 10, 2002. By the summer of 2006, it was removed from Toon Disney altogether and has not aired on American television since then.
The entire series was made available on Disney+ on launch day, November 12, 2019, in its original format.[4]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program | Nathan Lane | |
| British Academy Children's Awards | International[5] | Teacher's Pet | ||
| Annie Award | Outstanding Achievement in a Daytime Animated Television Production[6] | Teacher's Pet | ||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television Production | Gary Baseman | |||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production | David Ogden Stiers | |||
| 2002 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Special Class Animated Program | Teacher's Pet | |
| Outstanding Individual in Animation | Chuck Klein | |||
| 2003 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Special Class Animated Program | Teacher's Pet | |
| Outstanding Individual in Animation | Gary Baseman |
A full-length animated feature based on the series, also titled Teacher's Pet, was released by Walt Disney Pictures on January 16, 2004. The film features the main cast from the series reprising their roles alongside new characters played by Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, and Paul Reubens.
Serving as a finale to the series, the film follows the characters during summer vacation. Leonard hopes Spot will finally act like a normal dog, but Spot hopes to become a real boy with the help of a mad scientist who claims he can turn animals human. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics but was a failure at the box office, making little more than half of its budget back.[7]