The Looney Tunes Show

The Looney Tunes Show is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation that ran from May 3, 2011 through August 31, 2014 on Cartoon Network. The series consists of two seasons each containing 26 episodes, and features characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon shorts updated for the 21st century.[1]

The Looney Tunes Show
GenreAnimated sitcom
Created bySam Register
Based onLooney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
by Warner Bros.
Developed bySpike Brandt
Tony Cervone
Voices ofJeff Bergman
Kristen Wiig
Bob Bergen
Billy West
Maurice LaMarche
Jim Cummings
Fred Armisen
Rene Auberjonois
Theme music composerCliff Friend and Dave Franklin (adaptation by Andy Sturmer)
Opening theme"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"
Ending theme"What's Up, Doc?" by Carl W. Stalling (instrumental)
Composer(s)Andy Sturmer
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Sam Register
Producer(s)Spike Brandt (supervising)
Tony Cervone (supervising)
Matt Danner (season 1)
Hugh Davidson (season 2)
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)Warner Bros. Animation
DistributorWarner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original networkCartoon Network
Boomerang
Picture formatHDTV (1080i)
NTSC (480i)
Audio formatStereo
Original releaseMay 3, 2011 (2011-05-03) –
August 31, 2014 (2014-08-31)
Chronology
Preceded byLoonatics Unleashed (2005–07)
"Looney Tunes Laff Riot" (2009 Original Show Concept)
Followed byNew Looney Tunes (2015–20)

Premise

The series revolves around roommates Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck living in a suburb of Los Angeles with "colorful neighbors" and other characters including Lola Bunny, Tina Russo, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Gossamer, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Pete Puma and more. The series contained less slapstick, and fewer visual gags but instead was more adult-oriented and dialogue-driven with love triangles, employment and rooming.[2]

Wraparound segments

The show also features two other segments which wrap around the main plot. These consist of:

  • Merrie Melodies – Approximately two– to four-minute music videos showcasing classic characters singing brand new original songs. They appear midway through most of the episodes in Season 1 and at the end of most episodes in Season 2 in place of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote shorts.
  • Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner – A series of CGI-animated shorts depicting Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch the Road Runner. These segments were dropped after season one.

Episodes
Main article: List of The Looney Tunes Show episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
126May 3, 2011 (2011-05-03)February 7, 2012 (2012-02-07)
226October 2, 2012 (2012-10-02)August 31, 2014 (2014-08-31)

Characters

Main
  • Bugs Bunny (voiced by Jeff Bergman) – Bugs Bunny lives a life of upper-middle-class suburban leisure, based on income from a popular Carrot Peeler that he invented. He lives in a well-appointed house, drives a compact car, and provides room and board for his friend, Daffy Duck. He spends his time watching sports on TV, hanging out with his friends and neighbors (mostly drawn from the classic Looney Tunes roster), and dating Lola Bunny (the latter under some protest). He generally plays the straight man to Daffy and Lola's various bouts of insanity, although he is not without his own quirks. He has exhibited somewhat compulsive/addictive tendencies, like having a high caffeine intake with coffee, becoming addicted to an energy drink that had dangerous chemicals in it, nearly leveled his own house in an increasingly deranged attempt to put up a shelf and getting hooked on foods that contain butter. Despite being intelligent, he has shown some level of tomfoolery, such as when he found jail "a smart aleck's paradise" and mistook the Tasmanian Devil for a dog.
  • Daffy Duck (voiced by Jeff Bergman) – Daffy Duck is the roommate of Bugs Bunny. Unlike Bugs and their neighbors, Daffy has no way of earning money and relies on Bugs for food and shelter. He has tried on numerous occasions to get rich quick but ended up failing repeatedly. While Daffy's greed and jealousy of Bugs remains, it appears less antagonistic in the show. In the first episode, Bugs openly admits that Daffy is his best friend, despite his faults. Daffy has worked, and been fired from, numerous jobs due to negligence and/or incompetence. Despite this, however, Daffy has shown to be a very skilled hairdresser and successfully graduated beauty school. Daffy's three possessions that he is proud of are his (broken) blue recliner, his white collar which he always wears (revealed in some episodes to be either a fine pearl choker or just a scrap of fabric), and his Papier-mâché parade float, constructed on top of a pickup truck, which is his main means of transport.
  • Porky Pig (voiced by Bob Bergen) – Porky Pig is one of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck's friends. Despite being bright and bookish, Porky has an innocent, naïve quality that Daffy frequently uses to his advantage, tricking Porky into parting with large sums of money or accompanying him in bizarre schemes. Porky originally worked a boring office job, but got fired following Bugs' example. He started his own catering company afterwards. In "Dear John", Porky was shown to have served on the city council. He starts a relationship with Petunia in the end of "Here Comes The Pig". In "Best Friends Redux", Daffy meets Porky's young self and ensures that he becomes good friends with Bugs & Rodney in their cabin, finally showing Porky an act of kindness.
  • Speedy Gonzales (voiced by Fred Armisen) – Speedy Gonzales is an extremely fast mouse who lives with Bugs and Daffy as their "mouse in the wall" and runs a pizza parlor called Pizzarriba. He is occasionally shown to act as Daffy's conscience. The episode "Sunday Night Slice" showed that Bugs bought his favorite restaurant Girardi's to prevent it from being closed and hired Speedy to help him. When Bugs decides he doesn't want to own a restaurant anymore, he hands ownership of it to Speedy who renames it "Pizzarriba".
  • Yosemite Sam (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – Yosemite Sam is one of Bugs and Daffy's neighbors. He is a liar, a thief and a cheat, amongst other things. Coming from a lower-class background, he tends to steal Bugs' possessions, causing Bugs and Daffy to resent him. His full name was revealed as Samuel Rosenbaum.
  • Lola Bunny (voiced by Kristen Wiig) – Lola is Bugs' scatter-brained, bubbly and obsessive significant other, who has a habit of speaking rapidly, whether anyone else is listening or not. When they first meet, Bugs falls in love with her, but after learning how crazy and ditsy she is, he loses interest and often tries to escape her company. Lola develops a huge obsession with Bugs Bunny that he later finds creepy; Lola is never put off by Bugs' responses to behavior, that include taking photos of him in the shower, spying on him late at night and often stalking him. Later in the series however, Bugs eventually falls in love with Lola again which started when they went to Paris in the episode "Eligible Bachelors" and Bugs manages to stop her talking for a while. Her parents are members of a country club and her father likes Bugs so much that he considers him to be "The son he never had." Lola was redesigned in both appearance and personality to match the series.
  • Tina Russo (voiced by Jennifer Esposito in season one, Annie Mumolo in season two) – A new character original to the show, Tina Russo is a female duck who is Daffy's significant other. She works at a copy store called "Copy Place". Tina is another straight character of the show, with a no-nonsense personality. She first starts dating Daffy because "she likes a project"; she tolerates his selfish and arrogant behavior as she has a keen astuteness which allows her to read between the lines when they first meet; she works out that Daffy is actually insecure and jealous, and that his vain attitude is really a front. Daffy is amazed she works this out so quickly and later reveals Tina, through email, that he can't believe someone "so kind, beautiful, generous, and intelligent" would ever want to be with someone like him. After reading this, Tina is touched, and tells Daffy she loves him. She is based on Melissa Duck from the original theatrical shorts.

Recurring
  • Tasmanian Devil (voiced by Jim Cummings) – In this show, the Tasmanian Devil is portrayed as walking on four legs like a real Tasmanian Devil and his eyes are bloodshot red (later turned yellow when Bugs uses a taming trick that Speedy Gonzales taught him). Initially, Bugs believed Taz to be a dog and kept him as a house pet much to Daffy's discomfort. Eventually, Bugs learned the truth and tried to return him to his home in Tasmania only to find out that Taz would rather live with him. When Taz is not causing trouble for Daffy, he has occasionally tried to eat Sylvester. In the episode "Ridiculous Journey," Taz spoke for the first time in the series and had bonded with Sylvester and Tweety while they evaded Blacque Jacques Shellacque.
  • Mac (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Tosh (voiced by Jess Harnell) – Two goofy gophers who run an antique store.
  • Pete Puma (voiced by John Kassir) – A dimwitted puma who is one of Daffy Duck's friends and does various jobs around town.
  • Marvin the Martian (voiced by Eric Bauza) – A Martian who is one of Daffy Duck's friends.
  • Witch Lezah (voiced by Roz Ryan) – A witch who lives next door to Bugs Bunny and is often annoyed at the antics of Daffy Duck. Witch Lezah is also a hypnotherapist by trade. The character is very similarly based on Witch Hazel, with 'Lezah' being 'Hazel' spelled completely backwards.
  • Gossamer (voiced by Kwesi Boakye) – A large orange furry monster who is Witch Lezah's son. In stark contrast to previous characterizations, Gossamer is portrayed as timid and kind-hearted.
  • Emma Webster "Granny" (voiced by June Foray as an adult, Stephanie Courtney as young Granny) – An old lady who is one of Bugs Bunny's neighbors. Granny is revealed to have been a spy for the Allies in World War II. In "The Grand Old Duck of York," it is revealed that Granny also teaches piano lessons. This series marked the final time Foray provided the voice of Granny before her death in 2017.
    • Sylvester (voiced by Jeff Bergman) – Granny's Tuxedo cat who is always trying to devour Tweety, but always fails when Granny catches him and spanks him hard enough to spit Tweety out.
    • Tweety (voiced by Jeff Bergman) – Granny's Yellow canary who is frequently harassed by Sylvester. Tweety is revealed to have also been a spy for the Allies in World War II during Granny's youth.
  • Foghorn Leghorn (voiced by Jeff Bergman) – Foghorn Leghorn is a rich rooster who has worked under various jobs. He and Daffy get on very well, and are often involved in various schemes.
  • Pepé Le Pew (voiced by René Auberjonois in season one, Jeff Bergman in season two) – Pepé Le Pew is a skunk who's the local Casanova. In the episode "Members Only" he works as a wedding planner when he planned Bugs and Lola's wedding at the country club.
  • Elmer Fudd (voiced by Billy West) – Elmer Fudd is the resident newsman.
  • Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner – Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are shown in short computer-animated segments in season one. They also make small cameos throughout the show.

Others

Production

The Looney Tunes Show was originally envisioned as Looney Tunes Laff Riot, a "true-to-the-classics" show emulating the original run of Looney Tunes shorts announced in July 2009 by Warner Bros. Animation.[3] However, it was scrapped for unknown reasons, and later retooled into the sitcom-inspired The Looney Tunes Show which premiered on May 3, 2011 on Cartoon Network. The show features new character designs by Ottawa-based artist Jessica Borutski which were first created for Looney Tunes Laff Riot and also later retooled for the final series.[4]

For most modern animated sitcoms like The Simpsons, this one doesn't have a laugh track.

The animation was produced by Yearim and Rough Draft Korea, along with Toon City Animation in the first season. The Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner CGI shorts were produced by Crew972.

On July 29, 2014, it was announced that the series would not be renewed for a third season.[5] A direct-to-video spin-off film named Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run was released on August 4, 2015 [6][7]

Broadcast

The Looney Tunes Show premiered in the United States on May 3, 2011 through May 14, 2014 on Cartoon Network. In Australia, the first two seasons of the series began airing on 9Go! and Foxtel channel on Cartoon Network.

The Looney Tunes Show in Africa on Boomerang Africa on May 17th,2011, in France on Boomerang France, in the UK on Boomerang UK and on different Boomerang feeds throughout Europe.

The Looney Tunes Show premiered in the United States. In Middle East, on Cartoon Network Arabic and MBC3.

Home media

The Looney Tunes Show has received home video releases for Season 1. It is unknown when Season 2 will get home video releases

SeasonTitleEpisode
count		Disc(s)Release date
1 3-Pack Fun: The Looney Tunes Show123May 8, 2012[8]
This three-disc reissue for the first three volumes contained the first twelve episodes from the first season.
There Goes the Neighborhood142August 7, 2012[9]
This two-disc release contained the final fourteen episodes from the first season.

The first episode was also released on Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run as a special feature.

Reception

Critical response

Critical response to The Looney Tunes Show has been mixed. Though the voice acting has received praise, the series has been criticized for its direction and lack of slapstick, as well as the designs and personality changes of the characters.[10][11][12] The show, however, remained consistently popular, garnering an average of 2 million viewers every episode.[13][14]

In a 2010 interview with CBC News, series animator Jessica Borutski said in response to fan criticism of the series' new character designs, that the original designs were intended for adults and that "[it is] time for a new generation to meet the characters."[12] Borutski said, "a fresh, new design is the only way to keep characters alive."[12] Cartoon historian Chris Robinson noted also that the mark the original characters have on fans is indelible and that fans are not receptive to change. "[Fans] just really become attached to these things," Robinson said. "It's just so strongly rooted in their childhood that they're unable to separate themselves."[12]

Awards and nominations

The Looney Tunes Show has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.[15]

Year Award Category Nominee Outcome
2011 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Bob Bergen
  • For the voice of Porky Pig
  • Episode: "Jailbird and Jailbunny"
 Nominated
2012 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Kristen Wiig
  • For the voice of Lola Bunny
  • Episode: "Double Date"
 Nominated
2013 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Voice-Over Performance Bob Bergen
  • For the voice of Porky Pig
  • Episode: "We're in Big Truffle"
 Nominated

Music
Main article: Songs from The Looney Tunes Show

Two albums compiling songs from the show have been released digitally by WaterTower Music:

  • Songs from The Looney Tunes Show, Season One (2012)[16]
  • Songs from The Looney Tunes Show, Season Two (2013)[17]
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References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 371–372. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. "The Looney Tunes Show: Season 1 Volume 1". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17.
  3. "TAG Blog: At the 'Toon Factory of the Brothers Warner". animationguildblog.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  4. CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/artdesign/story/2010/05/26/ottawa-looney-tunes-new-design-bortuski.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Frantz on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  6. "Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run Trailer Teases New Animated Movie". Collider. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  7. King, Darryn (May 5, 2015). "Bugs Bunny to Return in Direct-to-Video 'Rabbits Run'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  8. "Amazon.com: Looney Tunes Show 3 Pack Fun S1-V1,V2,V3: Jeff Bergman, Bob Bergen, Fred Armisen, Kristin Wiig, Jennifer Esposito, Maurice LaMarche, June Foray, Jim Cummings, Billy West, Roz Ryan, John Kassir, Eric Bauza, Jess Harnell, Rob Paulsen, Rene Auberjonis, Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, Sam Register: Movies & TV". amazon.com. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  9. "The Looney Tunes Show: There Goes The Neighborhood". tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24.
  10. "Toonzone: the looney-tunes show three critics one reaction". Archived from the original on 2012-02-02.
  11. "REVIEW: The Looney Lunes Show".
  12. "Ottawa animator bashed for Looney Tunes changes". CBC News.
  13. "Tuesday's Cable Ratings: TNT Rides NBA Doubleheader". The Futon Critic.
  14. "Tuesday's Cable Ratings: MLB Playoffs, BET Hip Hop Awards No Match for "Anarchy"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  15. "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance – 2011". Emmys.com.
  16. "Songs from the Looney Tunes Show - Season One".
  17. "Songs From The Looney Tunes Show - Season Two". WaterTower Music. Archived from the original on 2013-08-05.
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