Watch My Chops

Watch My Chops Corneil et Bernie
Format	Animation Children Comedy
Created by	Stephan Franck Emmanuel Franck
Voices of	Keith Wickham Ben Small Dian Perry Dan Russell Laurence Bouvard
Country of origin	France  United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Madstone Theater
Running time	20–23 mins
Broadcast
Original channel	France 3 CBBC
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	February 21, 2004 – August 19, 2006

Watch My Chops is an animated series about a intelligient talking dog, Corneil, and his "dog-sitter", Bernie Barges. The series was produced, written, and animated in France, and the English dubbing took place in London. The series was distributed by Millimages and aired in the United States on Nicktoons, and in the UK on CBBC from 2004-2007. It starred Keith Wickham, Ben Small, Dian Perry, Dan Russell and Laurence Bouvard and more recently Mark Laidman. In the UK, the show is called Watch My Chops, named after Corneil's catchphrase; in France, it is known as Corneil et Bernie. A DVD of the first season has been released.

Basic Premise

Corneil is a intelligient dog: not only can he read and write perfect English, but he is much smarter than most people. Since he's so smart, he knows that life doesn't get any better than being a pampered pet, and so he does anything he can to keep his owners from realizing his phenomenal skills. This plan begins to go awry when his owners 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 speech. The only person who does know is dogsitter Bernie, whose uncle minds the apartment of Corneil's wealthy owners. Bernie found out about Corneil's speaking abilities by accident, and unfortunately he is somewhat lacking of 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.

Characters

Corneil: Corneil is a dog that can talk due to his high I.Q. of 250,^[1] and with his sense of extreme intelligence, he comes up with most of the plans that make the show a success. Corneil is an unknown dog breed, perhaps a crossbreed and he used to be terrified of water. He is constantly blackmailed by his dogsitter Bernie Barges. Corneil's catch phrase is, "Watch my chops." Played by Keith Wickham.

Bernie Barges: Bernie is a high school student and Corneil's dogsitter and will always go along with what Corneil says due to his strong record of making mistakes that Corneil fixes before anyone has an actual chance to notice. Bernie often tries to blackmail Corneil to help him with a task that he does not enjoy, such as homework or chores, but these attempts always seem to fail. Bernie is arrogant and he only thinks about himself, although there are times when he genuinely cares about Corneil. Bernie doesn't try hard in school. It's unknown what happened to Bernie's parents. Played by Ben Small.

John and Beth: John and Beth are Corneil's rich owners. They leave Bernie as a "dogsitter" to watch over Corneil. They really love Corneil. They are also very nice which once got on Corneil's nerves. They work as salespeople and they sometimes welcome celebrities into their home.

Uncle Rico: Uncle Rico is Bernie's Uncle and lives with him in the same apartment building as Corneil and his owners. He works as a janitor for the building. Uncle Rico never got his high school diploma, but the Principal at Bernie's school tutors Uncle Rico so he'll finally get a diploma.

Romeo: A jock and a classmate of Bernie's. Romeo plays the role of the cool, tough guy and sometimes Bernie's rival.

Martha: Martha, another classmate of Bernie's, is intellectual and often skeptical of Bernie's claims.

Principal Martin: Principal Martin is Bernie's school principal. She wants her school to be great and have a glorious future but those chances are usually ruined because of Bernie and she thinks he is quite the trouble maker and often gives Bernie detention.

Minor Characters

Mrs. Solo: Mrs. Solo is one of Bernie's neighbors in the apartment. She dislikes him and Corneil because "they are always getting in her way" and she once hit Corneil with her umbrella and Corneil made Bernie send her to court.

Cara: is one of one of Bernie's classmates. She is pretty and smart and she is often seen reading a book.

Frank: another of Bernie's classmates and a friend of Romeo.

Julie: another of Bernie's classmates.

Episodes

Main article: List of Corneil and Bernie episodes

Corneil and Bernie's last episode was put on hiatus, so the show could possibly come back. As of early 2009 the show has been cancelled.

Production

This show was animated by a Ukrainian animation studio.

References

1. ^ Episode: "Superficial Intelligence"

External links

• CBBC Watch My Chops page
• Corneil et Bernie at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Corneil and Bernie at the Internet Movie Database
• Corneil and Bernie at TV.com