Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies

[therealjm12]

Finally, Cartoon Network is showing them. It's about time. The only thing is... it's got to embarrassing to see how better than & funnier they are than the new stuff they are showing. I can't figure out why they can't make a decent & funny Looney Tune, with all the creative talent out there. Plus there's got to be voice talent equal to Mel Blanc - even if they have to hire ten people to do what Mel did.

Family Guy is right, the Muppets don't sound like the Muppets anymore.

 

[DToTheJ]

Once they start running the "Animaniacs"/"Pinky And The Brain" library, it's all over. :

 

[landtuna]

I can't figure out why they can't make a decent & funny Looney Tune, with all the creative talent out there.

It isn't about the talent. It's about the money. It costs a relative fortune to produce a 7-minute cell-drawn cartoon in the style of the 1940's WB stuff nowadays and the market just isn't there. Plus, cartoons don't age (except for the very early ones) so they can be shown and create revenue without virtually any cost.

 

[KeithE4]

It isn't about the talent. It's about the money. It costs a relative fortune to produce a 7-minute cell-drawn cartoon in the style of the 1940's WB stuff nowadays and the market just isn't there. Plus, cartoons don't age (except for the very early ones) so they can be shown and create revenue without virtually any cost.

Actually, most of the classic WB cartoons are so outdated that they're irrelevant to today's audiences. World War II and old-time radio & movie references don't mean anything to someone younger than about 70. They were outdated when I first watched them as a little kid in the late '50s.

Of the 1000 or so cartoons released by WB between 1930 and 1969, only about 300 or so are viable today - basically the ones made between 1945 and 1960 or so. Budgets and quality started going downhill after 1960. And forget anything made after the original WB studio closed in 1964. Almost without exception, everything made by DePatie-Freleng and the last incarnation of the WB studio (1964-69) were horrible and should just be allowed to die. The Buddy cartoons of 1933-35 were better than those (but not by much). ;D

Also, many, if not most of the pre-1936 cartoons (mostly B&W but some two-strip color MMs) have lapsed into the public domain. Some are available on YouTube in decent quality.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Also the Government's intrusion into children's television and setting themselves up as arbiters of
what has "educational value" and is politically correct enough for broadcast.

60 Minutes ran a profile of Joseph Barbera in his later years. He was working on a new Hanna-Barbera
cartoon and was having to run a gauntlet of PC cops, who seemed to be finding something racist/sexist/
homophobic in every gag.

"Why does the little girl have to cry? Why can't the little boy be the one who cries? And why is she
eating an ice cream cone? Can't she be eating fresh fruit instead? And what do you mean exactly by
'we'll have a gay old time'"?

Honest to Pete I've never felt so sorry for an old guy in all my life.

 

[BRNout]

60 Minutes ran a profile of Joseph Barbera in his later years. He was working on a new Hanna-Barbera
cartoon and was having to run a gauntlet of PC cops, who seemed to be finding something racist/sexist/
homophobic in every gag.

"Why does the little girl have to cry? Why can't the little boy be the one who cries? And why is she
eating an ice cream cone? Can't she be eating fresh fruit instead? And what do you mean exactly by
'we'll have a gay old time'"?

I would have LOVED to have been there to pinch hit for ol' Joseph.

Answers:

1) Because, in the real (non-TV, non Hollywood) world, girls cry more than boys do;

2) Because young men are supposed to be tough - otherwise you end up with metrosexuals;

3) Because ice cream is delicious and kids love it as opposed to fruit (not bad, but dull), which was not the desired effect;

4) Because "gay" meant "lively and fun" before it meant....well, let's not go there.

Any other questions? I'll take on the entire PC police force with confidence and without fear. Why? Because I know how stupid they really are. There's nothing dumber than an idiot who thinks he's brilliant when, in reality, he hasn't a clue. This describes the PC police to a "T". So sad that they've ruined the entertainment industry.

 

[landtuna]

Actually, most of the classic WB cartoons are so outdated that they're irrelevant to today's audiences. World War II and old-time radio & movie references don't mean anything to someone younger than about 70. They were outdated when I first watched them as a little kid in the late '50s.

While the younger crowd of today won't necessarily remember Peter Lorre they do indeed remember the greater actors and political creatures of the 40's (primarily Hitler and Hirohito). But those cartoons were designed primarily for theater-going adults to begin with and not for children. A great many of them were wartime propaganda and it wasn't until after the war ended that kid-oriented cartoons made a big comeback.

 

[bpatrick]

And now it's even considered politically incorrect to show those
World War II-era Warner Brothers cartoons poking fun at the Germans
and Japanese.

I agree that much, if not most, of the WB output is outdated. Case in
point: one cartoon in which Yosemite Sam keeps pounding on a door,
yelling, "Open the door! Open the door!". He then turns to the camera
and says, "Notice I didn't say Richard?" Well, "Open The Door, Richard"
was a popular r&b song in 1947; my parents' generation would recognize
the song immediately, but if I had to bet on how many of today's kids have
ever heard it I'd be a millionaire many times over. And how much of today's
audience would recognize the shows being satirized in "Wideo Wabbit" and
"People Are Bunny"?

As for "we'll have a gay old time," Hoyt Curtin, who wrote
the "Flintstones" theme, went back (I don't if voluntarily or by necessity) and
changed the line to "we'll have a great old time," with the singers emphasizing
"great."

 

[Markxxx]

"Why does the little girl have to cry? Why can't the little boy be the one who cries? And why is she
eating an ice cream cone? Can't she be eating fresh fruit instead? And what do you mean exactly by
'we'll have a gay old time'"?

Honest to Pete I've never felt so sorry for an old guy in all my life.

As the creator of "Peanuts" said, when asked why Lucy was so mean.

"When a little girl hits a little boy, that's funny. When a little boy hits a little girl, that's cruel"

 

[Silkie]

Just to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow, I offer a medley for your remembrance and enjoyment, courtesy of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. Bugs Bunny doesn't look so good, but I assure you it is he.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JLi8rCQyE