Will Looney Tunes ever find success again?

[BlakeConor14]

Looney tunes have not had much success since space jam in 1996 and failed with trying to revamp the franchise with Back in action(2003) and numerous tv shows like Duck Dodgers, Loonatics Unleashed and The Looney tunes show.
I know that Wabbit is currently on. BUT WILL BUGS, DAFFY AND THE GANG EVER FIND A SUCCESS AGAIN

 

[D'Snowth]

Hasn't WABBIT been doing well enough? I haven't seen much of it yet, but I hear a lot better things about it than I have THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW.

 

[BlakeConor14]

I've not seen much of it either

Hasn't WABBIT been doing well enough? I haven't seen much of it yet, but I hear a lot better things about it than I have THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Hasn't WABBIT been doing well enough? I haven't seen much of it yet, but I hear a lot better things about it than I have THE LOONEY TUNES SHOW.

People seem to like WABBIT, but the trouble is most people haven't actually seen it because of Cartoon Network's screwy schedule and the fact that they never advertise it.

As for "Looney Tunes Show", it was generally well liked, it seemed to just be the overly nostalgic whiny internet nerds and people who weren't gonna watch the show anyway saying things like "No, the characters look different and it's not quite as good as the original, so that makes it the worst thing everrr".

 

[The Count]

Maybe part of the problem is that Wabbit isn't even on CN, it's now airing on Boomerang.

Frankly, I preferred The Looney Tunes Show although... Who the heck decided to make Witch Hazel an Afromerican mamma? And make her mother to a small-sized pre-school aged version of Gossimer? That's really the only thing that I didn't fully like about the show.

 

[Drtooth]

People seem to like WABBIT, but the trouble is most people haven't actually seen it because of Cartoon Network's screwy schedule and the fact that they never advertise it.

The thing that utterly baffles me about CN is their scheduling. I understand that they feel the need to run TTG and Gumball at all hours. But what I don't get is the fact they announced 3 perfectly good shows that they could run Saturday mornings, ran them there for 3 weeks, and then dumped 2 of them on Boomerang. And now they feel that there's too much of a programming gap that they have to air crap movies from over 10 years ago (Cat in the Hat?! REALLY?!?!) in the middle of the day. Wabbit and Be Cool Scooby-Doo are stuck in infinate reruns on Boomerang, Bunnuicula's dead.

Had Wabbit a regular slot on CN, I'm sure it would have been more successful and we'd be seeing either the next season or the rest of the first season by now. But then again, Scooby is their cash cow outside of DC superheroes, and they've been doing everything they could to screw the last 2 series. Mystery Inc had that year and a half "hiatus," while the new series is buried in Boomerang. Now, from what I a m to understand, both Wabbit and Scooby were intended for Boomerang to begin with, but no one really gets that channel, even though they started running commercials on it. So basically, they were asking for these shows to do poorly.

Frankly, I preferred The Looney Tunes Show although... Who the heck decided to make Witch Hazel an Afromerican mamma? And make her mother to a small-sized pre-school aged version of Gossimer? That's really the only thing that I didn't fully like about the show.

I get the feeling they were too afraid to give June a secondary role in Hazel, so they went another direction. I didn't like it much either, but I see why it managed to work in giving a nice sense of chemistry between Daffy and Gossamer. I'm a little more annoyed that they didn't have more episodes centering on characters besides Daffy and Bugs. But if there's one complaint that always ticks me off, it's the "Boo! They changed Lola from a one dimensional 'grrrrl power' Furry Porn star to a character that actually belongs in a Looney Tunes Cartoon! WAAAAA!" Lola Bunny sucks. She was a cynical addition to a movie Looney Tunes purists still hate to sell little girls tickets to see it, as Looney Tunes has always been kinda a carrot fest. Tiny Toons fixed it brilliantly, but Space Jam added a character that was Bugs's equal, but superior. And I give credit to various internet shorts made during Back in Action's release (hmmm...the movie she wasn't in) trying to make her funny, but in the end she wasn't a good character until they just threw Kristin Wiig's personality into her.

 

[The Count]

I actually did like Lola in TLTS, she was that crazy chatty girl making it an equal dynamic of Bugs to Lola to then bounce off of Daffy and Tina. Then again, it seems as if Petunia is the one main named female counterpart that has lasted to this day. Bugs and Daffy already had female counterparts from back in the day in the forms of Honey Bunney (yes, that was her actual name) and Melissa Duck (even if her grown-up form was in just that one short with Daffy at the beach, and then became a secondary addition to Baby Loonies). Makes me think how that episode of Tiny Toons where Babs laments the lack of a mentor would have gone if they remembered Honey Bunny or if Lola were already present at that time, four years before her debut in Space Jam.

 

[Drtooth]

Oh...that Tiny Toons episode. I have sooooo many problems with the logic in that one. Mainly the complete myth that Bosco cartoons were funny.

I've heard tell that even Jar Jar Binks hisself was redeemed in episodes of The Clone Wars. I really think TLS was Lola's second chance, even though it took me a while to appreciate it. Only other thing I remember her in was in the Tweety's High Flying Adventure movie, and even then she was just...there. Like she could have been replaced by literally any obscure LT character and it would be exactly the same. She was just color commentary for Tweety's around the world trip, for those who haven't caught it. The LTS showrunners basically said they didn't even care about the character and built her completely around Kristin's usual roster of playing crazy women. Like the only time she played someone sane was in Ghostbusters. And while that put me off the character at first, it worked wonderfully for the series and the character. I'd say they probably intended her as a one shot, but liked her so much, she became a regular. And I especially like as the show went on, Bugs actually grew accustom to and even liked her zaniness. They could have played her as a stalker crush that Bugs would constantly run from, but they didn't and made them a legit couple.

But as far as Looney Tunes Show being successful or not...well, it did bring the characters back into the public eye and reruns of classic Looney Tunes shorts to CN and Boomerang. The thing that never fails to get me is the Looney Tunes were huge in the 90's for some reason. I'd say partially because of Taz-Mania and the fact local syndicated stations still ran LT cartoons during the day. But mostly because they were on all those T-Shirts. Tweety became American Hello Kitty for some reason, causing the common misconception that he's a girl (not helping that the WB marketing department kept dressing him up as a woman). It's just everything went off rails with Back in Action, which was to relaunch the franchise, and then all these plans fell through. That lead to that stupid action series, which was a failure for being a generic, forgettable series. I mean Sunday Morning DIC Boboht Entertainment level of forgettable action cartoon, if it wasn't well known they slapped the Looney Tunes into it.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Welp, you got LeBron in the new Space Jam, so that's gonna bring about as much commotion as the first one did, though there's nothing quite like the first time. What kind of art direction they will go in is beyond me, since the Looney Tunes have been a bit Dexter's Lab-ified lately.

Edit: We can speculate and overthink all day, but as Drtooth said, with the Looney Tunes being massive in the '90s and much less so today, do you think that would play any part in the presumptive success of a Space Jam sequel? LeBron's coming hot off a championship and he still has a couple more years of being on top of the world, so that alone should bring kids in.

 

[Drtooth]

Welp, you got LeBron in the new Space Jam, so that's gonna bring about as much commotion as the first one did, though there's nothing quite like the first time. What kind of art direction they will go in is beyond me, since the Looney Tunes have been a bit Dexter's Lab-ified lately.

I really don't want a Space Jam sequel. Space Jam is a moral quandary for me. I like the film, I k now the film knows it's not taking itself seriously yet is a pretty cynically made movie to cash in off the better short form commercial interactions between NBA all stars and Looney Tunes. Commercials that somehow went beyond shilling sneakers and McBacon Deluxes and became it's own thing. Like these collector's cups.

There's a lot to like in this movie, but only once they remove the klunky reality subtext and get into the insane last 20 minutes or so where Bill Murray randomly shows up and the villain says "I didn't know Dan Akroyd was in this picture!" And it's such a build up to the great parts. The film's all over the place, but sadly more competent and coherent than Back in Action was made. And we all know that one was screwed severely by the executives, making it a hot mess when it could have been great.

Problem is, the movie went from being some hated cynical cash grab that many felt was an insult to the Looney Tunes to camp cult classic to memetic status since. I don't think a second one would be able to work, and most comedy sequels years after they were first made turn out...well... awful and mean spirited if you wanna talk about Dumb and Dumber. And we all know the two ways Space Jam 2 would go. Either retread of the first one with new references thrown in or something that just tries too hard to be self referential and self deprecating.

Overall, I just don't think we need any more non-DTV Looney Tunes movies, especially hybrid ones. I know they keep threatening to make Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, and Speedy Gonzales movies that never happen, but...well...errr...they never happen. It's a shame Wabbit's getting screwed by the network. It's cool that there's actually a Wabbit 2017 Calendar. Maybe it has a date for when the next episode happens to air.