Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes franchise has existed almost as long as animation itself, with characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig entertaining generation after generation. Tonight at 8PM (ET) on The Cartoon Network, the Looney institution continues with the first episode of the latest series, The Looney Tunes Show.
The finished product is something appealing for viewers of all ages. For the kids, there’s the inherent humor associated with characters like Bugs and Daffy. For the grown-ups, there are references to pop culture – most hilariously, in the first episode, being a reference to the Superman movies, complete with John Williams score – that almost make this “Looney Tunes by way of Family Guy,” without the crude humor. Tonight’s premiere episode, “Best Friends,” shows what would happen when Bugs and Daffy end up on a game show that is basically the friend version of The Newlywed Game.
Classic Looney characters like Speedy Gonzales come and go in these stories, and a “Merrie Melodies” ode to grilled cheese will have everyone laughing. What’s interesting is that originally, the “sitcom” style format with Bugs and Daffy as roommates was not the initial intention, as they were hoping to do a Looney Tunes variety show. “We wrote a ton of sketches, and that’s what the show was going to be for a while,” story editor Hugh Davidson revealed to us when we interviewed the show’s creators last week.
Looney Tunes writer Rachel Ramras explained to us why that plan didn’t work out. “It seemed like as we were doing it, these characters – who they are – are so rich. Bugs being Bugs, Daffy being Daffy – but why, then have Daffy be a character other than himself? It seemed like it was doing a disservice to the characters and not really capturing what is so wonderful about them.”
“It’s more about the friendship of Bugs, Daffy, and Porky more than anything else. It’s not that much about suburbia, or where they live… it’s more about their relationships, and their characters,” Davidson added. The interaction between Bugs and Daffy was particularly interesting to the writers. “I got the sense as a kid; there were shorts that seemed to support this idea that Bugs found something amusing about him,” he added. There’s one where they discover treasure, and Daffy wants to keep it all for himself, and a genie comes out, and there’s a moment where Daffy runs and says ‘You’ve gotta protect me!’ And Bugs does. Then in many other shorts they seem to be just adversaries. But that relationship – they seem more human when Bugs seems to either find amusement. He tolerates it. He likes it. And in our world, Bugs is unflappable. And it’s nice to have a person next to him who’s only flappable. It’s a great comedic pairing.”
Designer Jessica Borutski had been a fan of “the classics,” and her initial desire was to keep the characters the same. “But my mission was to make them look fresh and new for a new generation of kids,” she says. “So I wanted to keep all of the things that I loved about the characters, but they have to look different. I streamlined all of the shapes about Bugs Bunny that I liked, but changed some proportions a bit.”
One segment that wil have a decidedly different look from the classic Looney Tunes is the Road Runner/Coyote portion of the show – where the characters are computer generated. “CGI works really well for them because we can create one environment, and basically just shoot different cartoons in it,” producer Spike Brandt tells us, “and they’re silent characters, so we don’t have to worry about lip synch. Also, by their nature, they’re all about height and speed, so we could do a lot of cool stuff with the camera. They translate very well into CGI,” he says. Each episode will have Merrie Melodies and/or Road Runner cartoons interspersed between the action. “We think of Merrie Melodies and the Road Runner cartoons as bonus material, like bonus material on a DVD. They’re not related to anything; it’s just extra. Because this job wasn’t hard enough. We decided ‘let’s make three different shows and smoosh them all together’,” Brandt adds. Producer Tony Cervone tells us that each episode will have “one or both.” Fans of old Looney Tunes cartoons may notice that the segments have their own little intro themes, and the Road Runner segment in particular, if you listen closely, has some beats from the old “Road Runner/That Coyote’s After You” theme music.
Cervone hopes that Looney Tunes will appeal to audiences of all ages. “We hope the kids will like it, their parents will watch with them; and even if you don’t have kids, we think you’ll get a chuckle.” I know I, for one, will be watching every week.
The Looney Tunes Show premieres tonight on The Cartoon Network. Here’s a preview clip from tonight’s episode:
