The History of Looney Tunes on Television (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon) - Nick Knacks Episode

[@MultiMal3]

So the story of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon involves Jack Warner, Mob-owned parking garages, about six different buyouts, "E.T.: The Video Game" and the First Iraq War. This feels like an episode of "Connections" where James Burke was drunk that day.

[@AJ-xc4qe]

Honestly, finding out that at least one of the ACTUAL Warner Bros was a POS pretty much explains the company's corrupt side all the way up to now. I gotta wonder how he'd react to another POS flushing his company's stocks down the drain.

[@DigiRangerScott]

“And no Bosko. Sorry Bosko.” gives off major “Except for Larry!” vibes from the Jason and the Argonauts number from the Shelf Life episode of Fairly OddParents

[@ucproductions5810]

Kind of sad, honestly, given that there were probably young kids who liked the character despite not being fully aware of his racial status.

[@darthmeyers074]

Ehh..all Bosko was is a cheap Mickey Mouse knockoff anyway.

[@ucproductions5810]

@@darthmeyers074 The character was created and trademarked a year before Mickey Mouse was. Thankfully, it took about five years for the studio to find their own style. Bosko isn't very interesting, but I've honestly never liked Mickey Mouse. I think he's annoying.

[@lamontyaboy718]

@@ucproductions5810 also, as mentioned in the video, he's a character in blackface so you know incredibly racist. Suprised they aired those on Nick in the late 80s-early 90s. Certainly would not fly today. But atleast he's more entertaining than the next looney tune they created "Buddy". man does Buddy SUCK

[@ucproductions5810]

​@@lamontyaboy718 Frankly, I'm surprised that Nickelodeon would even show a blackface character on television. I get that they couldn't fully obtain the rights to later characters such a Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck, but there were better substitutes that Nick could have used by that point. I don't even think Bosko was tolerable even in the 90s, either. You are right, however, about Bosko being more entertaining than Buddy. Buddy does suck.

[@KaiserBeamz]

An excellent companion piece to The Merrie History of Looney Tunes, which I heard is a good mini-series that everyone should watch along with KaiserBeamz's other videos about anime and animation history. Take it from me, this totally unbiased third party here.

[@2idiot2animate28]

Hello

[@ratmankey]

I actually just discovered Nick Knacks because this episode popped up in my reccs and I thought it was a new Merrie History video. You both do amazing work!

[@lamontyaboy718]

@@TheLooneyTunesCritic you mean AniMat?

[@megamanfan3]

Oh, hey! I can to this video from your content.

[@SpadePyro]

I can confirm, as I watched all of merrie history of looney tunes after seeing this

[@DigiRangerScott]

Man, with Jack Warner’s conduct, Yakko and Wakko feel like far superior Warner Brothers

[@ZidaneWarner]

And the Warner Sister ;)

[@scr0ngle108]

@@ZidaneWarner Well he spelt "Warner Bros" not "Warner Bros." Can't forget the dot!

[@JohnPannozzi]

Jack also ratted out Commies during the McCarthy hearings and supported the Vietnam War. Kinda a jerk.

[@SonicSimpson]

@@ZidaneWarner how original

[@DigiRangerScott]

@@ZidaneWarner No, they feel like superior Warner Brothers.

[@SAPProd]

Hearing Bugs shill about how much he likes “Tang” is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.

[@TheEman590]

You should see the commercials where Bugs gets chased for Post Alpha-Bits Cereal. I have them as an extra on my Looney Tunes Golden collection DVDs

[@SAPProd]

@@TheEman590 just found some. Hahahaha. So when Bugs wasn’t craving Tang, he was chasing after some brown sugar!

[@TheEman590]

@@SAPProd Sure was! Lol! I love finding these old commercials. I noticed when it came to cereal companies, Post sponsored Looney Tunes, Kellogg's sponsored Hanna-Barbera shows like Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Top Cat, and General Mills sponsored the Rocky and Bullwinkle show and Underdog. Bullwinkle: "Jump onto a bowl of Cheerios." In fact, when I was a kid, Kellogg's was the main sponsor for the Disney Afternoon. Lots of commercials for Cocoa Krispies, Frosted Flakes, Honey Smacks and Eggo Waffles in-between episodes of Talespin and Darkwing Duck.

[@SAPProd]

@@TheEman590 I remember that about the Disney Afternoon! Man, I bet there’s some interesting exploration to be found with cereal sponsors and kids’ cartoons! Thanks for sharing!

[@TheEman590]

@@SAPProd No problem. Learning about entertainment history is fun for me, whether it's music or film and television. Cereal sponsors and their connections to cartoons might be worth a look at. Heck, bringing this back to Nickelodeon, many a commercial seemed to be promoting Post like Fruity Pebbles, Golden Crisp and Honey Comb or General Mills like Lucky Charms, Trix and Honey Nut Cheerios. Mmm...yummy!

[@SpongeyTheEditor]

"There was that time Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon almost ruined the first Iraq war"-Poparena 2021 What a wild ride.

[@abraveastronaut]

Really, it sounds like the war ruined the Looney Tunes promotion.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Another interesting fact that "Looney Tunes" debuted on Nickelodeon just three months after "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was released, and it was a big hit. Around that time, WB cartoons were still in syndication on local TV stations including WWOR-TV (channel 9) where they carried the pre-48 WB cartoons from AAP along with a mix of post-48 WB cartoons where it was shown in mornings before school, and "Steampipe Alley" with Mario Cantoine also debuted that year, one of the last local TV kids shows to air on Sunday mornings where they throw in some WB cartoons in-between segments, plus games and more, along with a final segment which was like an obstacle course from "Double Dare".

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

That was because the contracts for those TV stations didn't run out yet when Nickelodeon first ran the Looney Tunes in '88.

[@MarcBarkyMarta]

WWOR? Good to see another NYC-area native.

[@WindowshadeCure]

I heard that when Harry found out that Jack bought the company for himself he chased him around the movie lot with a lead pipe. That's straight-up Daffy Duck antics right there.

[@brockpifer9929]

Hey, I don’t blame him for wanna to murder his ass for that. For buying the studio and taking the president position and giving literally every single project pre 1950 to AAP

[@papachillothezappey4050]

More like Chuck Jones's Daffy Duck antics (Seriously people should start clarifying which Daffy they're talking about)

[@stephenholloway6893]

It wouldn't surprise me if Harry did try to get Jack for that.

[@AJ-xc4qe]

Honestly, finding out that at least one of the ACTUAL Warner Bros was a piece of shit pretty much explains the company's corrupt side all the way up to now. I gotta wonder how he'd react to another piece of shit flushing his company's stocks down the drain.

[@AJ-xc4qe]

Honestly, finding out that at least one of the ACTUAL Warner Bros was a POS pretty much explains the company's corrupt side all the way up to now. I gotta wonder how he'd react to another POS flushing his company's stocks down the drain.

[@Showsni]

That Warner Brothers backstabbing history is crazy! Being born in the late 80s, I definitely felt the impact of Loony Tunes/Merrie Melodies in the 90s. Remember Tazos in packs of Walker crisps? I still have episodes like the Abominable Snow Rabbit recorded off TV onto VHS. That said, I'm pretty sure I didn't watch them on Nickelodeon, as we didn't get cable TV until later; I must have watched them on the BBC.

[@jenniferschillig3768]

And I will love him and hug him and pet him and name him George!

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

@@DigeeTheGenie Nick UK was established in 1993.

[@CrashFan03]

@@Justin-Hill-1987 yeah and i don't think Nick ever aired looney tunes in the uk. I'm pretty sure BBC and ITV played hot potato in a similar fashion to CBS and ABC

[@ziyaadjamil2324]

@@Justin-Hill-1987and Looney Tunes was shown on Cartoon Network UK

[@JasontheCartoonFan]

Hearing Bosko say "That dirty fuck" made me laugh much harder than I probably should have.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Supposedly that was Harman and Ising's farewell message to Leon Schesinger and Warner Brothers.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

As Hank Williams, Jr would say...in short cartoons, you just can't say the f-word!

[@stephenholloway6893]

​@@JohnSmith-zw8vp You can in the pre Hays Code era.

[@lamontyaboy718]

​​​@@stephenholloway6893my guess as to how they got away with it was because whoever prescreens the cartoons probably didn't believe he actually said the f word since they didn't think anyone would dare just say "fuck" in a film, nonetheless a cute cartoon. So they though he said something else. Actually were films pre-screened for audience approval before the hays code? They might not have been.

[@2kidsandadog782]

@@stephenholloway6893I keep finding you everywhere! That’s cool

[@yeetkunedo]

This was a major portion of my childhood, and what caused me to fall in love with not only the art of animation, but *animators.* I wouldn’t have such deep appreciation for gods like Chuck Jones without Looney Tunes on Nick.

[@ARRRRRRGH1]

I got weirdly excited hearing about Cartoon Network on a Nickelodeon based series. Felt like crossing enemy lines lmao. This is your best video yet!

[@raphaelmarquez9650]

Finally caught up with this series. It's hard to imagine how Looney Tunes use to air on Nickelodeon when I was first introduced to them on Cartoon Network.

[@pikachuhutch234]

Let’s all boo on Cartoon Network.

[@thenightstar9]

@@pikachuhutch234 Or how about let's never do that

[@pikachuhutch234]

@@thenightstar9 Yeah I was JK Kidding on that comment.

[@Saintnick90]

I primarily watched Cartoon Network as a kid, but if I was over at a relative or friend's house and they didn't have CN, I watched Nickelodeon. Even then, I always noticed that the Looney Tunes shorts were different from the ones I'd seen on Cartoon Network.

[@PastelSkies-n3v]

25:57 RIP Fred Ladd - February 19, 1927 - August 3, 2021 (6 days after this video's upload) - and his partner in running his Color Systems was none other than... Elliot Hyman, yet again.

[@SparkzEnt]

There was the Mel Blanc dedication that Nick and Nick at Nite aired when he passed away

[@icky_sticky_mars]

Kaiser Beam's series is incredible but I also recommend the podcast Cartoon Logic for anyone who loves classic cartoons. It's hosted by Bob Jacques (director on Ren and Stimpy) and animation historian Thad Komorowski.

[@jdenoe69]

Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon: Or how Greg learned to stop worrying and love Warner Bros Cartoons.

[@bradyanderson6311]

Nick was a junky network to air Looney Tunes with ABC's 60s.

[@Redkodiak1994]

Weird to see this on nick I think Cn and boomerang is more fitting

[@stephenholloway6893]

@@Redkodiak1994 Well at the time the broadcast rights was split between Nickelodeon, ABC, local syndication and Tuener (though it was TBS and TNT then Cartoon Network and later Boomerang after the rights with Nickelodeon syndication and ABC ended.

[@Redkodiak1994]

@@stephenholloway6893 ah ok

[@MadsAboutYou]

And now there’s MeTV Toons available over the air, showing classic cartoons 24/7. So glad that kind of resource exists again.

[@kewl0210]

Finally, the Pop Arena Big Chungus Special. Been waiting for this one.

[@apbuitron]

You did a fantastic job getting all this history out there for us. Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon was my introduction to these characters and I'll always cherish those memories.

[@theotakux5959]

46:16 This commercial has been stuck in my mind for 30 years. Because I LOVED the Bosco cartoons as a kid, and Nick was BRAGGING that they were going to stop showing them. It felt like a slap in the face to a five year old.

[@chrisrj9871]

I kinda liked Bosko, not the biggest fan but I didn't hate those cartoons. As a preteen, I never picked up on any racist intonations or whatever the word is. It wasn't as blatant and obvious as others from the era so I feel like it could have worked. I noticed they still played Buddy which had their own problems. If anybody needed to leave for certain, it was Buddy.

[@Astralite1]

correction: at 17:02 when you mention MGM, you pronounced it wrong. the "Mayer" in the name is pronounced with a long "A", the same as "mayor"

[@BUBBA1207]

The fact that looney tunes in nickelodeon almost screwed up the first iraq war is one of the most insane and hilarious things I've ever heard in my life.

[@Saintnick90]

"One of the more...colorful characters in television history." I see what you did there.

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

"If you like Nick Knacks, you'll LOVE The Merrie History of Looney Tunes." Can confirm.

[@KKAkuoku]

I’ll co-sign that recommendation

[@DigiRangerScott]

I will also cosign

[@DLZ2000]

I love that the series even used Greg's catchphrase, "The past was a mistake."

[@juliagoodwin9510]

Same!

[@WeirdoOfWeirdos]

Can also confirm.

[@Lynn17]

I was today years old when I learned Warner Bros was full of backstabbing. "Sorry, Bosko, but you're a direct homage to racist minstrel shows and today's kids vibe more with the colorful animals blowing each other up than your black and white rubber hose antics." I know he was technically the first Looney Tune, but Bugs had more staying power and appeal. (That said, the Bosko and Honey ep of Tiny Toons was one of the best imo.) >cross-generational appeal That reminds me of when I used to watch Bullwinkle on Nick as a kid and my campmates made fun of me for it, but it was a good show my dad grew up with and I look forward to when Nick Knacks gets up to 1992. "Younger generations having easier access to the art of the past is always, always, always a good thing." +1000. I grew up with Nick at Nite, the oldies station, and the cartoons my parents were into. I hope once my niece is a little older my sister will introduce her to the stuff WE grew up with.

[@supermakermatic2111]

That last point is why I was so dissapointed when The Splat turned out to just be a rebrand of The 90s Are All That instead of a daytime block or new channel. I think every generation of cartoons should be passed down in some form to the next (well, except the 60s/70s/80s cereal and toy-driven stuff at least) because if near-100 year old Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, or even much younger but still vintage reruns of earlier Simpsons and SpongeBob episodes, can resonate with today's youth so could long-cancelled 90s and 2000s cartoons. New content and ideas should come first, don't get me wrong, but it's important to celebrate history and promote curiousity about the past to younger generations rather than presenting a "the future is now!"/"these ain't your grandpappy's cartoons!" philosophy.

[@lainiwakura1776]

Ha, that's one of the few things I remember about Tiny Toons! Also that summer vacation movie.

[@TDOTCRFH4]

90s WB loved doing that kind of thing, animaniacs brought back the dover boys, as well as bosko's far less popular successor, buddy

[@ucproductions5810]

The only reason Bosko was there in the first place is because Nickelodeon could not fully obtain the rights to later shorts with more popular characters. When Nickelodeon was able to do so, they gave the BW toons the axe and began showing cartoons with Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck.

[@thecartoonguy2934]

1999 was the day Nickelodeon stop airing looney tunes and started airing spongebob

[@thepantweaver]

Man, that aap Looney Tunes production card is SO nostalgic! Which is so odd seeing in the video that they folded so soon. Some of their prints must've been used in those VHS compilations you mentioned. I can't explain it otherwise.

[@NoahRodriguezShow]

I think Cartoon Network may have been using those same prints because I remember seeing the AAP production cards as late as the late 90's-early 00's

[@Vimacone]

Me TV aired one last year of I Taw A Putty Tat

[@miketief]

@@Vimacone The aap logo still appears on the 1950s Popeye cartoons, which WB has yet to restore. .

[@theoddbox]

I see that logo show up in a lot of different places so could be just about anything really

[@ericn.wilson2345]

In a lot of cases, the new TV distributors spliced their logos into the original negatives. That's how I remember it happening with Betty Boop, at least.

[@charlesfcopeland9756]

Very informative! I had just binge watched the series of merry melodies that you mention at the start and found this to be a perfect companion. Several months ago I was scrolling channels at 7am, tired of the morning national news, and found Toon-in with METv. Haven't missed a show since.

[@vgtrp]

I didn't realize how unnecessarily over complicated the history of Looney Tunes on TV isIt makes me wonder if Jack Warner saw the potential in both TV and its animation library, and past film library for that matter, if all this could've been avoided. Also, not only does MeTV air Looney Tunes on Toon in with Me but also air an hour block on Saturday..

[@davezanko9051]

And not only does MeTV have an hour-long Saturday block of Looney Tunes, it opens with "This Is It". The Bugs Bunny Show lives.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Besides the Warner content that they own or has distribution to MeTV also has the Columbia Screen Gems and Lantz shorts but not the UPA shorts and did had the DePatie Freleng shorts.

[@urzishra14]

Damn. The best Nick Knack yet. Thanks so much for doing this one.

[@waffledog]

As much flak as Bosko gets, I wanna say Nick leaned just as - if not more - on the Seven Arts cartoons. The real cheap late 60s ones - you were almost guaranteed one or two per show. Bugs Bunny might have been the face in the commercials, but for a majority of the run Nick's version of Looney Tunes was mostly Cool Cat or Merlin the Mouse.

[@pronkb000]

Definitely. I didn't groan as loudly as I did when Bosko or Buddy came on, but I definitely knew when I saw those spinning lines instead of the classic WB popout logo, that I wasn't getting one of my favorite cartoons.

[@mightyfilm]

For better or worse, there was at least an eclectic collection of WB shorts that showed the earliest days right up to the limited animation before they stopped being regularly produced. Boomerang/CN's compilation mostly shows the 40's-late 50's shorts with a couple 90's cartoons in the mix, but they have such a limited selection. Every time I turn on that channel when their Looney Tunes block is on, it's ALWAYS "Don't axe me" (and every time the exact scene with "Quackers and cheese? Quackers and milk?"), Boston Quackie, or "Dixie Fryer." The only mid-60's cartoons they air are the not that good Road Runner ones, so make of that what you will. They do put like one or two into the rotation every so often, and they've put some Pepe LePew cartoons back in recently.

[@chrismc410]

I never understood what the various networks had against Bosko, there likely would be no Warner Bros. Animation without him and the mouse would have taken over long ago. The bunny has held him at bay. Mickey Mouse in many ways basically is Palpatine and Bugs is a mix of Obi-Wan and Yoda. No one trolls better and nigh on invincible. Very few toons have fought Bugs and won and usually a pyrric victory at that

[@mightyfilm]

It seems that for the early stages of Looney Tunes on television it could have been a rights issue, but there seems to be two major issues with any modern usage of the character. B&W Looney Tunes cartoons NEVER get rerun for one thing. The original recolored Porky in Wacky;and is the earliest cartoon I ever see in Boomerang's rotation. Secondly, they're going to stress the hit characters. Bugs and Daffy, while not the first LT characters, are the big names of the franchise. They're who the mainstream associates LT with. And of course the parade of Sylvester and Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, and so on. Characters you'd see on T-shirts and Happy Meals and Funko figures and stuff. Bosco doesn't bring in anyone, except the die hards, and even then he's recognized for his historical importance, not the entertainment value. While the character did have a role in the establishment of WB's cartoons, Porky and Daffy were the first star power characters. Plus, other than the fact Felix beat Mickey to the market when it came to merchandising, Bosco was never the marketable force that Mickey was. And promoting Mickey to company mascot and cash cow back in the day is partially why Disney stuck with him so long. Had Bosco toys beat Mickey to the market and with greater intensity, they'd probably keep him around as well.

[@davezanko9051]

Yeah, up until the "Sorry Bosko" shuffle, Nick had to settle for what was decidedly the "C" package of shorts that no one else wanted. Though that was in part because by the late 80s many local television stations had dropped morning cartoons and the market for syndicated Looney Tunes packages had significantly declined, so WB basically consolidated all the good cartoons that weren't in the Saturday morning "A" package into the one syndicated "B" package, leaving the "C" package (which no one was buying anymore) with the leftovers. And that's what Nick got, because that's all that was available. And heck, if one considers the a.a.p./UA/MGM/Turner package was still being syndicated outside of WB's control right up until the TimeWarner/Turner merger (Ted didn't just use them for his own channels exclusively), the Nick package was really the "D" package.

[@NoahRodriguezShow]

Wow, this is a fascinating video. Funnily enough, thanks to this video I finally understand a dimension of the Krusty the Clown character that I never got before. I was completely unfamiliar of the kind of show Krusty was meant to lampoon, this was an interesting look into that era

[@hanschristianbrando5588]

When I was little, I thought the 1968-colorized cartoons had actually been made in 1968--hence the modern Warner Bros.-Seven Arts opening and 1968 copyright date--by the original artists (now old, of course) trying unsuccessfully to recapture their old style. Kids can be dumb in a smart way.

[@richardgillette5759]

Atari wasn't "destroyed" in 1982. I got an Atari in 1983 and it's games were very popular until Nintendo came out. Atari had Frogger, Pitfall, Donkey Kong, Pac Man and many of the arcade games of the time.

[@technicolordreamer]

Astounding work! The depth of your research constantly amazes me! I truly enjoy the Nick Knacks series for both its informational and its entertaining qualities.

[@itsjayden8002]

8:01 28:32 A WB president not caring about animation? Good thing that never happened again.

[@trianglecirclesquarex]

David Zaslav: Am I a joke to you?

[@neilforbes416]

55:00 "Bill" was actually puppeteer David Strassman, who was very popular in Australia through the Station GTV-Melbourne produced *Hey, Hey It's Saturday* shows. Strassman's main puppets were the extremely bratty *Chuck Wood* and the oh-so-painfully shy childlike *Ted E. Bare.*

[@supervector4757]

I think I've lost a lot of respect for a certain Warner Brother

[@aestroai8012]

Another great episode. Looney Tunes are still fresh in my head thanks to Nick, and I absolutely loved how they presented it all. Like CN Nick started to have real fun with in house animations of the characters, and that's something I wanted to make a career out of. When I was really young I always wondered what was that A.A.P. logo in front of the cartoons, and now I know. It also amazes me that it's all gone full circle and those cool FTA stations have the classic cartoon show formats again! I can't even pick up digital TV where I live now, and I actually liked MeTV, Cosi, and Antenna TV because I'm a huge vintage TV person, and they had all the exclusive stuff.

[@yelloweyeball]

I just find it fascinating and kind of hilarious, that after watching the Kaiserbeamz series on Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies, and learning about all the different eras and challenges the studio faced from the 1930's to the late 40's and beyond, Jack Warner had no idea where the animation studio was on his lot, and had no idea what they were making. And while all these great feature films were being made at the Warners' studio, the Warners were having all these squabbles and backstabbing's with each other. Then again, maybe that was to the filmmaker's advantage, especially the animation studio, since they were making this art without the suits looking at what they were doing.

[@vanderfina2544]

To be fair, one thing neither this video or the Kaiserbeamz videos make clear is the studio where the LT/MM were produced, the original Leon Schlesinger Productions Building, was not located on the main Burbank Warner lot until 1955. It was located on what is now Sunset Bronson Studios in the middle of Hollywood, several miles south of the Burbank lot. In 1955 WB Cartoons finally moved to Burbank. So it's not surprising Jack Warner had no idea where the cartoons were actually being produced, when it wasn't even on the same lot where he spent the majority of his time.

[@FrozenUSA]

This is something that I believe is virtually unheard of today. It must have been such a luxury to not have the suits breathing down your necks all the time. I also know that each of the major directors: Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, and Fritz Freling were allowed to hire virtually any animator they wanted. It was only during the early events that are described in this video with TV did any of the suits really start to care about their animation division. This is evident not only in Warner shutting the studios down for a short time but the clear dip in quality when they resumed. I feel that during this time really only Chuck Jones was continuing to turn out quality shorts. It was very sad but understandable when he was fired for working on a feature length animated movie that wasn’t part of his contract. By that time Fritz Freling was on the verge of collaborating with David H. DePatie to create some of the trippiest cartoons but also some of the coolest ones of the 60’s. All that remained was Robert McKimson and his people who were becoming more and more micromanaged by the suits. He was the most stubborn of the bunch and he had the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” guide to his department and you can see that most clearly in his Foghorn Leghorn shorts, which very quickly all started to rely on the same boring format with the only exception being will Barnyard Dawg show up in this one or not? All of this is so fascinating. I never knew the long history of getting Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon. That was where I first saw all these amazing characters. I also was a big fan of “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show” as a kid. Although, after a while it used to be shown like either between 10:30-11:30 or 11:00-12:00 just before the end of Saturday Morning Cartoons on ABC and I was either no longer allowed to watch tv that late into the morning or I wasn’t even home when it aired. I had no idea until I was a little bit older that “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show” lasted until 2000 which was long after I had grown out of watching Saturday Morning Cartoons.

[@thehernandezmediacorporation]

Was there a reason as to why the Harman and Ising B&W Merrie Melodies never went to Sunset Productions but rather to a.a.p. eith the rest if the pre-1948 Warner catalogue?

[@davezanko9051]

A question I've long had as well. Looking at the two pre-1948 packages, the split is weird. It wasn't a pure color vs b&w split because most Harman/Ising Merrie Melodies (28 cartoons) weren't included in the Sunset package with the rest of the b&w cartoons. But at the same time, the first MM, "Lady Play Your Mandolin", and the few b&w MMs that were made after Harmon and Ising left in 1933 and before the MM series went to color in 1935 (12 cartoons in all) are included, so it wasn't a case of the Sunset package being solely from the Looney Tunes series with no Merrie Melodies at all. It's a weird quirk of history. And one that's now largely academic with the libraries being reunified (and the fact that many of the b&w cartoons have entered the public domain due to their age and failure to renew the copyrights as used to be required. Then again, a bunch of the color cartoons from the a.a.p. package are also in the public domain because United Artists neglected to renew their copyrights, too.

[@thehernandezmediacorporation]

​@@davezanko9051if I'm not mistaken I believe it was reported in Variety magazine sometime in the mid-1950s that Jack Warner wanted to get the black and white cartoons on television as soon as possible because he felt they would still be profitable when the majority of television sets in the United States were mostly still in black and white. Of course, before the thought of redrawing these cartoons in color was brought to the table, Jack Warner had already stepped down from his position at Warner Bros in 1967 after selling his remaining controlling interest (shares of the company) to Seven Arts.

[@davezanko9051]

@@thehernandezmediacorporation Makes sense. Which is why I find it odd those 28 Harman/Ising B&W Merrie Melodies weren't included with the rest of the B&W cartoons in the Sunset package, instead winding up with the pre-1948 color cartoons in the a.a.p. package that eventually wound up in Turner's hands before Time Warner bought Turner. It just seems like a weird omission, the reason for which has been lost to time.

[@Vimacone]

And since Lady Play Your Mandolin was a standalone Merrie Melody (i.e. released before the start of the 1931-32 season), that might also explain why it wasn’t sold into syndication.

[@Vimacone]

I reckon the clerical oddity for the 1933-34 season listing was a result of the chaos from Harman-Ising’s departure and Schlesinger trying to reorganize everything

[@MaliceInCandyland]

MeTV is actually starting a retro cartoon channel now. You should add that to an addendum episode. :)

[@segundovargas]

8:12 Boy, what wouldn't I give to be in the same room as Harry when he surely boasted about owning such a character. Harry: Just to name a few of the many LT characters we have, there's Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Mickey Mouse, El- (Everybody bursts into a simultaneous uproar of laughter) Harry: Yes, I know their shorts are a riot. You guys don't need to drive the point home by laughing at just hearing their names alone. Anyway, there's also Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam...

[@pronkb000]

"...Hippity Hopper, the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, Droopy, Tom, *and* Jerry!"

[@jamesnelson5618]

Mickey Mouse is Disney Silly.

[@davezanko9051]

@@jamesnelson5618 That's the point. Did you not actually watch the video? It calls out the fact that Harry Warner didn't actually know which characters came form his studio.

[@jamesnelson5618]

@@davezanko9051 is Bosko of course.

[@TheRegart]

Weird, I used to watch Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon constantly throughout the 90s, but yet I don't recall EVER catching Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon. Tiny Toons and Animaniacs yes, but not Looney Tunes. So this video was very insightful in filling me in on their tenure there

[@47Cartoonguy]

Keep Ted Turner and his damn Crayola crayons away from my movie -Orson Wells

[@pronkb000]

Luckily Citizen Kane never got the colorization process--Welles retained near-total control of the editing of the movie for his life and beyond.

[@PastelSkies-n3v]

Did he really say that? Welles passed away in 1985, a year before Turner's (failed) acquisition of MGM and its' library. Would be redeeming and cool if he did indeed say that, though. 😊 (Along with 'Kane' mercifully never getting near the colorization process.)

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Ugh, Ted Turner. What a total jerk.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Has no respect for the black and white classics like Casablanca. Ugh!🤦

[@miketief]

An excellent job, made even better by being compiled by someone who knows the cartoons. Had this been done by a "journalist," I can see all kinds of places where this would have gone off the rails. One thing which might be off subject a bit is that Kinney National Service bought DC Comics in 1967, absorbing much of their management, so that, in effect, it was DC that bought Warner-7 Arts, despite the fact that WB has treated DC almost worse than Jack Warner treated his son (or his brothers). I guess complaining that "we were here first," will never earn them their former, pre-1967 autonomy.

[@jwilliams7554]

IMO the Bosko cartoons were a real treat. It was what distinguished Nickelodeon from the rest of the channels that carried looney tunes. And by this time kids of the 80s never saw full length black and white cartoons on television. That was the novelty of looney tunes on Nick

[@hammerman1758]

The interesting thing about public domain releases is that for certain black and white Looney Tunes shorts, the redrawn and colorized versions are the ones used instead of the black and white originals, despite the redrawn versions still being technically under copyright. For the shorts from the AAP package, the AAP titles are present on public domain releases of those shorts, since they directly use the AAP prints (although some look worse than others depending on which PD VHS has them). In some cases, there was a chance that a still copyrighted short is found on these PD releases, notably "Crowing Pains" with Foghorn Leghorn, "The Unruly Hare" with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and "Gift Wrapped" with Tweety and Sylvester, all of which were made after 1943.

[@chrisrj9871]

4:46 - Sounds disturbingly a lot like today, actually. 11:54 - so I guess this is where the stereotype of "cartoons are made for kids" began huh? Thanks for that.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Pretty much, I saw that through my parents.

[@mathieuleader8601]

its absolutely mad that Nicklelodeon was the original CN

[@stephenholloway6893]

Consider this: Warner created but later sold Nickelodeon to Viacom.Then later bought Turner the ones who created Cartoon Network. Plus they did a similar thing with The Movie Channel and HBO. Only difference was that Time was the parent company of HBO at the time. Still Viacom bought The Movie Channel from Warner before they bought Nickelodeon.

[@williamcrowe2576]

Bosko was one of those flagrant depictions of black people that went out of style along with Amos & Andy. And don't even get me started on Eddie "Rochester" Andersen.

[@neilforbes416]

8:20 Wrong way round! Columbia Pictures was a subsidiary of Screen Gems. Columbia Pictures may have been the main company pre-TV, but on the launch of Screen Gems, the movie side of the business(Columbia Pictures) was relegated to subsidiary status.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Plus the Screen Gems name was previously used for Columbia's animation studio after they bought the studio from Charles Mintz.

[@sapinballwizard]

This is why the Looney Tunes were different on every channel! I swore some channels had better Looney Tunes than others but my parents never believed me.

[@serialthrila13]

Another absolutely tremendous video, thank you sir. I must also request you play Ted Turner in any bio pic made about him, that accent cracked me up. As a life long wrestling fan I've heard plenty of Ol Ted impressions and yours was great.

[@TheEman590]

If I ever do a similar retrospective on Toonami, I'm spending the first episode/video talking about Ted Turner and the rise of his Superstation empire up to the premiere of Cartoon Network. Many a joke will ensue about his accent, love for pro wrestling (WCW brought me to the beach, WWF got me to stay at the beach), and that mustache of his...holy smokes, that mustache of his!

[@GreatMewtwo]

@@TheEman590 What tickles me about all of this is that the WWF actually went all in to rip on Ted Turner in the days leading up to the Turner/Time Warner merger with a character named "Billionaire Ted." I only discovered this not too long ago.

[@TheEman590]

@@GreatMewtwo Ah yes, the infamous billionaire Ted skits. And when Ted Disease was revealed to be the financier of the nWo, they called him trillionare Ted.

[@GreatMewtwo]

@@TheEman590 "I bought myself a network. I bought myself a World Series. I even bought a library of classic movies (heck, I even colorized a few of 'em). But why can't I buy the WWF?"

[@TBONE_2004]

It's crazy to believe, at one time... You could watch Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, ABC, and Fox during the 90s. What happened to those t imes?

[@KKAkuoku]

That acapella Looney Tunes theme at the beginning - :chef’s kiss:

[@TheEman590]

Very catchy, brings back memories

[@jimmymelendez1836]

That version was magnifiqe.😚💋

[@Athenor]

Holy cow the memories when I heard "Overture, hit the lights..." I grew up watching the Bugs Bunny & Tweety show (having not had cable until 2004)... so any time something network TV related comes up in this journey, I just get chills.

[@Rhomega]

43:44 Hey, I remember this! Another memory dug up after something like 30 years. Oh, and 2/18/91 was my 5th birthday, but my family was still living in Germany and I hadn't heard of Nickelodeon. And then Cartoon Network was announced on my 6th birthday.

[@stealthskater5674]

I was 3 yrs old when it was 1991 and I still remember this too brother God bless 😇🙏🇮🇱✝️🛐🙏😇

[@raulzavala9061]

I remember a brief period Saturday morning early 80"s when the Looney Tunes were 90 minutes and had special intros with a pop jingle, was able to find a compilation of them here on KZbin years ago.

[@catholiccontriversy]

"Here's all the 3d from this short"..."I'm your dry skin, I need aseremides."

[@jbanks979]

Honestly for as complicated as this ended up being, this was fascinating for me specifically. I had always heard the “pre-48/post-48” distinction, but I had no idea there were THREE packages. As a kid I had no idea why there were cartoons on the Turner channels (pre 1992 I think it was TNT), ABC Saturday mornings, AND Nick, but this pretty clearly broke down the differences. All three ended up being kind of separate entities in that for the longest time the top tier shorts remained separate from the Nick broadcasts, and they all had a separate feel from the wackier, crazier, crappier looking through years of neglect UA package. Even the Nick broadcasts themselves always stuck with the (originally C tier 48-64 short, a Bosco-later a porky, and then a budget 64-69 short which was usually terrible). I was never a fan putting all 40 years of Warner cartoons together as they work best as separate entities. It’s a shame they’ve been so walled off since 2000, as it’s only hurt the brand (it’s not like I a child in the 80’s knew or cared all of the cartoons I was watching were a minimum of 30 years old then).

[@Vimacone]

I discovered Looney Tunes fairly late in childhood (circa 1996), but right before that pre/post-1948 distinction ceased; and the old aap package was the last of the 3 packages that I discovered. I considered the aap shorts, on Cartoon Network, premium or a walled garden, because they were on cable and looked so much better compared to what Nickelodien and ABC were showing. And even then, I wondered why you wouldn’t see, say Wabbit Twouble on Bugs and Tweety. (I’ve learned since then why). I imagine most of us older fans will always think of these cartoons by their TV package distinctions even though they technically no longer exist legally.

[@amwfan88]

Excellent research, Greg! Also, Looney Tunes premiered on Nickelodeon when I was 9 days old.

[@TheEman590]

Days? I was 3 when Looney Tunes came to Nickelodeon. I can vaguely remember "Nick goes Looney."

[@amwfan88]

@@TheEman590 Yep. I was born in September 1988.

[@malikharris5244]

Jack Warner was the ultimate troll!

[@mattamiller2002]

Amazing work. Just in awe of the devotion to cataloguing Nickelodeon's history.

[@KimRinzley]

I can't believe all the twists and turns in this video. This was awesome!

[@carmineknight9123]

Yooo I love Kaiserbeamz and recently saw that they know your channel too! So glad to see the camaraderie, you two are both criminally underrated with fantastic content.

[@racheln8563]

While I appreciated seeing Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon (particularly the inclusion of the black-and-white stuff) they didn't have a lot of the classic cartoons I liked, showing instead what I called "the first and the worst"--the very earliest and very last Looney Tunes made. In other words, they not only showed Bosko and Buddy, but the dePatie-Freleng Speedys and Cool Cat.

[@miketief]

Yres, but I hadn't seen the former since I was a toddler in the '50s, and I'd only read about the '60s cartoons. I was more than happy to finally have access to the "lesser" WB package.

[@indiana2096]

I grew up in the 70s and I feel lucky and grateful for it. I watched the Bugs Bunny show every Saturday morning whichever network it would be on, it was my dependable standard year after year while other cartoons came and went it was always there.

[@LizardOfOz69]

the last few minutes of this video are quite literally "old man yells at cloud"

[@madhat2k]

I remember all the Turner owned cartoons airing on TNT in the early 90s along with Fraggle Rock. It was sort of a proto-Cartoon Network.

[@GreatMewtwo]

It should be noted that having the WB logo scrapped from the Looney Tunes during the Guild Films distribution deal carried the same reasoning behind why Paramount did same. Adolph Zukor of Paramount was so against having the studio being associated with television that the animated shorts had all the Paramount references (e.g. the mountain logo) scrapped when they were sold to NTA and UM&M.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Same with the Popeye shorts AAP had.

[@kurttoy5035]

Adolph Zukor.

[@GreatMewtwo]

@@kurttoy5035 Thanks for catching that.

[@MissAshley42]

I remember wondering as a kid why every channel couldn't have the best Looney Tunes cartoons. Now I know!

[@ivane5110]

Great to hear "On with the show" and "Roadrunner" opening songs again after so many decades. And amazed to know so many i grew up with were a poor copy. (I blame them for my taste in bright odd color combo fashion sense!)

[@Traumaqueenamy]

A lot of the Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons also aired on TNT in the late 80s. I have a bunch of old childhood VHS recordings with the commercials under the title Bugs Bunny & Pals. Seriously, I have hours of these taped. It came on early mornings right after Fraggle Rock.

[@TigerMystic10000]

Maybe in the future, you can do "Nickelodeon's Most Wanted: Yogi Bear" and "The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss"?

[@TheEman590]

All in due time. Yogi when Nick Knacks hits 1990 and Dr. Suess when Nick Knacks hits 1996.

[@diegosanchez5412]

Defunctland did a pretty good video about Wubbulous World.

[@WesleyWhiteside]

There is something to be said about just how interesting this topic was. I didn't realize how much stuff was going on behind the scenes. I'm really interested in those new animated segments from those Looney Tune TV compilations.

[@DanknDerpyGamer]

*"... and no Bosko. Sorry, Bosko"* Ouch. 😂😂😂😂

[@davidginyard2308]

Cartoons aren’t anything without Bugs Bunny and Friends

[@daelen.cclark]

“Time is a web of nonsense.” That fits with cartoons pretty well, honestly.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Bugs did cameo in Porky Pig's Feat, in the Pig's final black and white short. Plus his precursor debuted in Porky's Hare Hunt, another black and white short.

[@TacomasterStudios]

“The embarrassment of a company having to buy the broadcast rights to cartoons they made.” Too bad that doesn’t happen now, eh? Dave Byer will tell you all about it.

[@COMPFUNK2]

42:45-42:51 - I sure did have several of those thugged-out Looney Tunes shirts.

[@aziolsen1750]

think about that. looney tunes on nickelodeon premiered and ended on September 11th

[@ritaandrunt5767]

Thanks for going into clear and thorough detail on this topic

[@AP-hv9ll]

I remember my mom buying one of those 80's vhs tapes. It's the only place I've ever seen the Dover Boys of Pimento University, and Elmer Fudd's cat end the short by committing suicide via a gunshot to the head. Wild stuff for a 10 year old. You can be darn certain Nickelodeon wasn't going to air that until it was properly edited.

[@Jamessmith-xk3fh]

I remember that's where I usually watched Looney Tunes as a kid

[@slashingkatie7872]

I do remember as a kid seeing one era of Looney Tunes shorts airing on TBS and TNT and others on Nickelodeon and being confused by it. Now it all makes sense.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Not only that, local TV stations like WNEW-TV in NYC as well as WWOR-TV carried the “Looney Tunes” and so did WGN-TV in Chicago also carries it as well. That was in the 1980’s.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Not to mention the shorts ABC aired as well.

[@toon4thought]

It must have been miserable being a Looney Tunes fan back in the day, with all the cartoons scattered here and there.

[@vanderfina2544]

Well yes and no. While it could be harder to keep track of where certain shorts would air, the trade off is the Looney Tunes were always on TV somewhere. There was a period in the mid to late 90s where it was possible and fairly likely in fact that Looney Tunes on Nick and one of the Cartoon Network compilation shows(Bugs and Daffy, Acme Hour etc) would be on at the same time. With the frequency that they were on TV you were bound to catch your favorite shorts on one channel or another at some point. Much prefer the days of there being too much LT content on TV to keep track of, than the very little to almost none we've had in the last decade and a half.

[@TheEman590]

Wasn't miserable for me. With cable TV, I knew what networks the Looney Tunes were on and when thanks to commercials and my parents TV guide. Between ABC, Nickelodeon, TBS, Fox and later WB then finally Cartoon Network, I've must've seen almost all of them. Oh, and plenty of VHS videotapes to rent from the store.

[@anactualmotherbear]

Explaining Looney Tunes syndication is always so exhausting, so I am happy to have this video to point to now and save me a breath.

[@TheEman590]

I remember having to switch channels a lot whenever a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies show was on. Nickelodeon, TNT/TBS, ABC, Fox Kids then Kids WB, then finally Cartoon Network. If it had a Looney Tunes show, I was glued and noted what time it was on. Must've seen close to all the shorts by that point.

[@impalaman9707]

I admit to thinking it was a bit weird when WB cartoons started airing on Nickelodeon. That was back when you could watch WB cartoons on virtually 5 different cable channels (and local UHF stations) in the same hour! Why did Nick have to have them?

[@chrisrj9871]

I don't think kids even cared back then.

[@impalaman9707]

@@chrisrj9871 Except if you're a kid like me with Asperger's who noticed such things!

[@andyjay729]

31:05 Oh, and 8 years later in 1980, the extremely expensive Western "Heaven's Gate" would flop in a huge way, destroying the Western genre (though it was basically comatose by then), the New Hollywood era of filmmaking that gave us The Godfather, Chinatown, and believe it or not, Jaws...and United Artists as an independent studio. Another distributor bites the dust! Edit: In case you were wondering why exactly MGM became MGM/UA a year later.

[@kurttoy5035]

I would like to see similar histories of other major studios' cartoons on TV, particularly Paramount.

[@aarongamin2783]

“All I know is that we make Mickey Mouse”-Harry Warner. Yes Warner bros president thought they made Mickey Mouse

[@stephenholloway6893]

It just shows how little they cared about the Looney Tunes gang. Especially when Jack briefly closed the studio because he thought 3D films would be popular.

[@diegosanchez5412]

Again for Jack, wow what an asshole!

[@fosterdalmas5491]

It’s weird how long ago a lot of this happened and how similar it feels now. Warner Brothers not valuing their animation, having constant buy outs and not sure how to adapt times and being behind competitors. Same story different era. Sad how lasting Looney Tunes and how they’re being treated. Great projects cancelled mid-production. But this was an amazingly informative and cool video! I’m hooked on your channel now (and can’t lie, very excited for ‘’my’ era of Nickoloden” but I bet everyone says that).

[@stephenholloway6893]

History does repeat itself the Looney Tunes shorts has always has an complicated history with Warner Bros when it comes to their value to the animators and the characters themselves.

[@JustinCoasters]

If anyone's wondering: Plane DIppy- 1992 Get Rich Quick Porky- 1992 Porky and Teabiscuit- 1992 Porky's Cafe- 1992 Impatient Patient- 1992 Notes To You- 1992 1990- #11 1992- #77 1995- #37 Also at 27:33 The Chicken is just standing there as opposed to the others

[@RollingClone221]

This is a really good video poparena I like how you when through the history of Looney tunes on tv and your Nick knacks series is great.

[@kevinbergman3784]

I liked the Nick Looney Tunes because I got to see a bunch that I never saw before.

[@meyerj75]

Ahhhh! Good Ol' cartoon violence. What was the network thinking coming from Pinwheel to this? At least this was where I got exposure to the really, REALLY old black and white shorts that were unavailable elsewhere such as the Bosko, Buddy, and pre 1944 cartoons mostly Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, etc. After the obscurities were out by 1992, I drifted away from Looney Tunes a year later and somewhat moved into Beavis and Butthead territory. Trust me, I wasn't waiting for the Cartoon Network to TKO Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes like they did with USA's Cartoon Express.

[@Tacom4ster]

For a moment I thought this was another KaiserBeamz Looney Tunes retrospective

[@christianhardtofind6349]

Even though I could now pull up any cartoon I want online, I still long for the days of seeing them on TV on Nickelodeon!