Corneil And Bernie
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''Watch My Chops'' (also known as ''Corneil & Bernie'') is a French
animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...
about an intelligent talking dog, Corneil, and his " dog sitter", Bernie Barges. It starred
Keith Wickham Keith Wickham is a British voice actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for providing the voices of various characters in the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends'', and Polluto in ''Tommy Zoom''. Career Wickham voiced Change ...
,
Ben Small Benjamin Small is a British voice actor who has acted on animated films and television shows, including Thomas the Tank Engine and Toby the Tram Engine in the UK dub of the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends''. Career Small voice ...
, Dian Perry, Dan Russell, Becca Stewart, Laurence Bouvard and more recently Mark Laidman. The series originally aired from 2003 to 2004 for 52 episodes and was revived from 2014 to 2016 for an additional 52 episodes, bringing the total to 104. The original French title is ''Corneil et Bernie''. In the UK, the show is called ''Watch My Chops'', named after Corneil's
catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
. In the United States and Australia, the show was titled ''Corneil & Bernie''.


Plot summary

Corneil is an intelligent dog: not only can he read and write perfect English, but he is much smarter than most people. Since he is so smart, he knows that life does not get any better than being a pampered pet, and so he does anything he can to keep his owners John and Beth from realizing his phenomenal skills. This plan begins to go awry when they hire the pinheaded Bernie Barges to "dog-sit", and Bernie learns about Corneil's secret. Though the two frequently bicker, they form an uneasy friendship, and Corneil finds himself using his brainy powers to bail Bernie out of various scrapes. Most episodes are driven by Corneil's reluctance to let anyone know that he is intelligent and capable of human speech. The only person who does know is dogsitter Bernie, whose Uncle Rico minds John and Beth's apartment. Bernie discovered Corneil's speaking abilities by accident, and unfortunately he is somewhat lacking in intelligence and mostly devoid of morals. All this puts Corneil in an uncomfortable position, as Bernie often takes it upon himself to be 'the voice' of Corneil, capitalising on Corneil's reluctance to communicate and ignoring Corneil's requests. In the 2014 retool of the series, Corneil and Bernie start to get into more bizarre adventures such as hunting for a legendary monster, battling a computer virus, or trying to face the apocalypse. Most of the supporting characters are reduced to background roles and a few minor ones get more focus. This adaptation also features more humans who find out about Corneil’s secret, and he begins to worry less about being exposed.


Characters


Main

* Corneil (voiced by
Keith Wickham Keith Wickham is a British voice actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for providing the voices of various characters in the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends'', and Polluto in ''Tommy Zoom''. Career Wickham voiced Change ...
) – An intelligent, cultivated dog who speaks with a northern English accent. He loves the comfort of his apartment and is able to talk, read, and write, which he attempts to keep a secret, not wanting to be treated strangely by humans. In the presence of his masters, he plays the faithful dog. It is only when he is alone or in the company of Bernie that he behaves like a human, answering the phone, cooking, solving problems of mathematics or attempting to questions of philosophy. He usually either helps Bernie with his problems or bails him out while other times pursuing his own goal with Bernie in tow. His mannerisms are reminiscent of
Mister Peabody Hector J. Peabody, simply referred to as Mr. Peabody, is an anthropomorphic cartoon dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'', produced by Jay Ward. Pe ...
from ''
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'' segment " Peabody's Improbable History". * Bernie Barges (voiced by
Ben Small Benjamin Small is a British voice actor who has acted on animated films and television shows, including Thomas the Tank Engine and Toby the Tram Engine in the UK dub of the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends''. Career Small voice ...
) – Corneil's best friend and dog sitter. Bernie is imaginative and full of initiatives, but not particularly bright. While sometimes stubborn and selfish, he is also well-meaning and provides a good foil for Corneil. He was initially confined to the boring role of dog-sitter, but he soon found a true companion to achieve his twisted kicks with. When Corneil proves reluctant, he can always threaten to reveal Corneil's secret. He usually tries to pursue his goals, with Corneil either bailing him out or helping him. Bernie sometimes acts as the "frontman" for Corneil's goals. * John and Beth (voiced by Dan Russell and Laurence Bouvard) – Corneil's snobby, rich owners. John is an auctioneer and Beth is chief editor of a newspaper. They are a couple; modern, dynamic and a little eccentric. They love Corneil as if he were their own son and care deeply for him. They also place a good amount of trust in Bernie, being their preferred dog-sitter for Corneil. * Uncle Rico (voiced by Dan Russell) – A high school dropout and former boxer. He was forced to retire following a knockout that claimed eight of his teeth. Today, he is a caretaker and deals regularly with his nephew Bernie.


Supporting and minor

* Romeo (voiced by Dan Russell) – The captain of the school football team. As his name suggests, Romeo is a great seducer who has a lot of success with girls. Bernie admires Romeo and dreams of being like him. The reciprocal is of course not true, and Romeo does not take Bernie seriously, though can be friendly at times. Romeo hates Corneil, whom he takes for a fool. * Martha (voiced by Laurence Bouvard) – Another classmate of Bernie's. She is intellectual and often skeptical of Bernie's claims. Martha takes care of the school newspaper, which has many causes to defend, and its network of informants allows it to be effective. * Mrs. Martin (voiced by Dian Perry (season 1), Laurence Bouvard (season 2)) – Bernie's mean school principal. She wants her school to be great and have a glorious future but these hopes are usually dashed because of Bernie. As a result, she thinks he is quite the troublemaker and often gives him detention. She is also known to punish students for things that they have not done. Principal Martin tutored Uncle Rico so that he could finally get his high school diploma. * Mrs. Solo (voiced by Dian Perry) – One of Bernie and Corneil's mean neighbors in the apartment building. She dislikes them because they are "always getting in her way" and she once hit Corneil with her umbrella and Corneil made Bernie take her to court. * Karen (voiced by Laurence Bouvard) – One of Bernie's classmates. She is pretty and smart and she is often seen reading a book. Despite Karen's hatred of Bernie in "Unlucky Break" and "Corneil in Love," a wallpaper from Millimages states that she will marry Bernie someday. * Laura Ryan – Another of Bernie's classmates. * Julie (voiced by Laurence Bouvard) – One of Bernie's classmates. * Frank – Romeo’s friend and one of Bernie's classmates. * Joseph Scally


Episodes


Broadcast & home media

''Watch My Chops'' premiered in France in December 2003, where it aired on
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services provi ...
for its first season, and on
Gulli Gulli (; stylised as gulli) is a French free-to-air television channel focused on kids programming for those aged 3 to 14. It was created as a result of a partnership between Lagardère Active and state-owned broadcaster France Télévisions. ...
for its second. The series has since aired in the United States on
Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...
from 2004 to 2008, in the UK on
CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...
from 2003 to 2009, and in Australia on
ABC Me ABC Me (stylised as ABC ME) is an Australian English language children's free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 4 December 2009 as ABC3. Hist ...
as of 2016. Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 on 18 March 2008. This release has since been discontinued and is now out of print.


Production

This show is animated, produced, written and directed in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
by
Millimages Millimages is a French independent animation studio based in Paris which develops, produces and worldwide distributes high quality family entertainment on all media. In 2016, Millimages has been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award ...
, and the English dialogue is recorded in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
at The Sound Company studios. The first season was animated with
digital ink and paint Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Pr ...
, whereas the 2014 revival was animated in
flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...
.


See also

*
Kaput and Zösky ''Kaput and Zösky: The Ultimate Obliterators'' is a 2002-2003 animated cartoon series based on the comic book series from the cartoonist Lewis Trondheim called ''Kaput et Zösky''. 26 episodes were produced. Some of the stories featured in the c ...


References


External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0446208, Corneil and Bernie BBC children's television shows 2003 French television series debuts 2016 French television series endings 2000s French animated television series French children's animated comedy television series Animated television series about dogs Television shows set in New York City