The Bugs Bunny Show on DVD and Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Timothy E]

60 years ago today, on June 19, 1962, The Bugs Bunny Show aired on the ABC network with the episode entitled "Foreign Legion Leghorn." Bugs used the magic of television to transport the viewers to the arid wasteland of the Sahara Desert, which found Foghorn Leghorn being cursed out as a "goldbrick" by his French-accented sergeant, voiced by Mel Blanc.

The sergeant asked how Foghorn Leghorn ever made it into the French Foreign Legion, which led Foggy to reminisce about how he was literally a "hen-pecked" rooster in The Egg-cited Rooster(1952).

After leaving that farm behind, Foggy met up with Miss Prissy and competed for her affections against the Barnyard Dog in Of Rice and Hen(1953).

After being hitched at the altar with Miss Prissy, Foghorn attempted unsuccessfully to keep her son, Egghead, Jr., entertained in Feather Dusted(1955).

After being bested by Egghead, Jr., Foghorn Leghorn made his escape to become a "Foreign Legion Leghorn."

The original footage created for this episode, as well as all of the underlying cartoon shorts integrated into the narrative, was produced by the Robert McKimson unit.

 

[Timothy E]

On June 26, 1962, The Bugs Bunny Show returned to its recurring theme of the artifices of animation in an episode entitled "Watch My Line." An unseen animator used a brush to help Bugs introduce the cartoon shorts of the evening, which began with A Waggily Tale(1958), in which Junior abused his dog Elvis and learned his lesson the hard way by being on the receiving end of the same treatment after being transformed himself into a dog.

Next, the animator's brush helped Bugs introduce the Road Runner, who was pursued immediately by the Coyote in Scrambled Aches(1957).

Finally, the animator had his own fun at Bugs' expense in Rabbit Rampage(1955).

The anonymous animator was revealed in the end to be Elmer Fudd, as he finally had satisfaction against Bugs by wielding the god-like powers possessed by an animation artist.

Chuck Jones' Rabbit Rampage(1955) was clearly inspired by his earlier short Duck Amuck(1953), which saw Daffy Duck suffering at the whims of a devious artist, who was revealed at the end to be Bugs Bunny. Although it is generally considered to be an inferior imitation of Duck Amuck(1953), Rabbit Rampage(1955) worked very well as the conclusion of "Watch My Line."

The title of this episode was intended to parody the title of the long running TV game show What's My Line? which was being broadcast on CBS at that time.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

I read somewhere that the Saturday morning run of The Bugs Bunny Show began on April 7, 1962, therefore the two runs overlapped until the original Tuesday night run was canceled after the August 7, 1962 episode.

I wonder which repeat episodes were shown between April 7 and August 4, 1962?

~Ben

 

[Timothy E]

I read somewhere that the Saturday morning run of The Bugs Bunny Show began on April 7, 1962, therefore the two runs overlapped until the original Tuesday night run was canceled after the August 7, 1962 episode.

I wonder which repeat episodes were shown between April 7 and August 4, 1962?

~Ben

The primary source for airdates of first run and rerun episodes would be documents at the ABC TV network. TV Guide and other print TV listings would be a good source as well, even if not as reliable and definitive as network documentation.

The TV Guide magazines of the early 1960s did list episodes for some but not all of the Saturday morning programs. The listings at that time for primetime programs in TV Guide did provide information on the episodes for virtually all of the network programs.

 

[Timothy E]

On July 10, 1962, Pepe Le Pew hosted The Bugs Bunny Show in The Cat's Bah. Pepe was shown in his luxurious subterranean apartment, complete with its own mailbox and a tunnel hole leading to an elevator.

The original footage, produced for this episode by the Chuck Jones unit, led directly into The Cat's Bah (1954), in which Pepe recounted his romantic adventures in the Casbah.

Pepe suggested then that it would be appropriate to take a "respite from romance" with the story of Bugs Bunny's efforts to take a vacation in Miami Beach in Frigid Hare (1949).

An interesting change was made to Frigid Hare when it was integrated into this episode of The Bugs Bunny Show. The original ending of Frigid Hare (1949) had the penguin asking Bugs to stay with him for the last 4 days of Bugs' vacation. After being told by the penguin that the days are 6 months long up here, Bugs said "Wow! If I stay up here, I won't have to be back to work 'til July 1953!"

At the time of the original release of Frigid Hare, the date of July 1953 was still a date in the future. This episode of The Bugs Bunny Show being produced in 1962 meant that July 1953 was no longer a date in the future, but in the past. For this reason, Mel Blanc redubbed his original lines for Bugs from 1949. In The Cat's Bah (1962), Bugs said "Wow! If I stay up here, I won't have to be back to work 'til July 1968!" Mel Blanc was still on contract to provide voice work for the new animation being produced for The Bugs Bunny Show so it was a matter of convenience to have him do a new reading of Bugs' dialogue from Frigid Hare.

After the conclusion of Bugs' adventure, Pepe recalled that the object of his affections in the first cartoon had left him, which led Pepe to enlist in the French Foreign Legion in Little Beau Pepe (1952).

Pepe found the tables had been turned on him by the end of this episode, an ending shared with several other Pepe cartoon shorts.

This episode aired just 3 weeks after Foghorn Leghorn had also joined the French Foreign Legion in Foreign Legion Leghorn, which aired on June 19, 1962. Like Pepe, Foggy had joined the Foreign Legion following misadventures in love, the cliche reason for disillusioned adventurers, in fiction, to enlist in the Foreign Legion. This was a cliche long before the release of Little Beau Pepe in 1952 but it worked well to close out The Cat's Bah (1962).

 

[RBailey]

Just a quick note to thank you for your posts on The Bugs Bunny Show. I look forward to your episode reviews. Great memories!

 

[Timothy E]

On July 24, 1962, The Bugs Bunny Show played with its show within a show theme in an episode entitled The Honey-mousers. The show began with Bugs ending his hosting duties at the conclusion of a successful episode. As Bugs descended down an elevator shaft to his dressing room, he broke the third wall in addressing the viewer and talking about the show. As Bugs relaxed in his dressing room, he invited you, the viewer, to sit down and relax with him. The TV in his dressing room was turned on, and you both began watching what Bugs described as an adult situation comedy type show. The TV screen in Bugs' dressing room then transitioned to showing Sylvester guarding a lighthouse against giant mice, and small ones, in Lighthouse Mouse(1955).

Following a commercial break, the viewer was back again in the dressing room as Bugs attempted to introduce The Honey-mousers in Cheese It The Cat(1957) over the noise that you, the viewer, were making as you crunched your snack in your mouth.

The Honey-mousers were a parody of The Honeymooners(1955-1556), the classic Jackie Gleason TV show, with the people replaced by mice. Director Robert McKimson produced some brilliant parodies of TV shows in his Looney Tunes shorts of the 1950s. The original bridging footage for this episode was created by the Robert McKimson unit, as were all of the cartoon shorts integrated into the episode.

After the conclusion of the previous cartoon, Bugs introduced another cartoon short with the same characters aptly entitled The Honey-mousers(1956).

At the end of the last cartoon, Bugs introduced the coming attractions in a preview of the next week's episode.

Bugs announced that it was already time for him to host another episode of The Bugs Bunny Show as he took his leave and proceeded back to the stage for the next episode.

See you next week, folks!

 

[Timothy E]

On July 31, 1962, Bugs Bunny hosted an episode entitled A Star Is Bored. This was also the title of a Bugs Bunny short from 1956 which is featured in this episode, and the title is a play on words of a well known feature film that has been remade a number of times.

The bridging sequences for this episode featured Bugs and Duffy showing the audience how animated cartoons are created. The episode began with Bugs showing an example of storyboards, and then demonstrating Mel Blanc's voice, and the process of showing animated drawings in sequence to give the illusion of movement on the screen.

The storyboards above are recognizable as being from a cartoon that was in production, but had not yet been released, when this episode first aired on July 31, 1962. I am very fond of this particular short released in 1963, and bragging rights go to the first person who successfully identifies the cartoon which was produced from these storyboards.

Bugs used a moviola machine to introduce each of the cartoons featured in this episode, beginning with Catty Cornered(1953), in which Sylvester tried to rescue Tweety from kidnappers, for his own selfish purposes.

Next, Daffy showed Bugs how he believed animation should be created.

Then, Bugs introduced the Road Runner and Coyote in There They Go-Go-Go!(1956).

Finally, Daffy left the animation department, and Bugs moved to his dressing room where he was interviewed regarding his show biz experiences with Daffy in A Star Is Bored(1956).

That's All, Folks!

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

And of course, Daws Butler and June Foray were Uncredited as Ralph, Ned, and Alice respectively in the Honey-Mousers. Mel Blanc got all the glory for his voice characterizations.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

And of course, Daws Butler and June Foray were Uncredited as Ralph, Ned, and Alice respectively in the Honey-Mousers. Mel Blanc got all the glory for his voice characterizations.

Both Butler and Foray appeared together in Rocket-bye Baby (August 4, 1956) as Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur, respectively; the duo also did other respective male and female voices in that cartoon.

~Ben

 

[ponset]

Wonder why someone like Arthur Q Bryon never got credit for voicing Elmer Fudd?
If he credited in a cartoon I haven't notice it.

 

[Timothy E]

In post #88 in the discussion of the episode entitled A Star Is Bored, which aired for the first time on ABC-TV on July 31, 1962, I invited readers to identify the cartoon short pictured on the storyboards mounted on the wall behind Bugs Bunny.

Here is a closer look below at the storyboards as they are displayed on the screen during this episode.

The storyboards in this episode are from
Transylvania 6-5000(1963). When A Star Is Bored first aired on July 31, 1962,
Transylvania 6-5000 was still in production, and would not be released until November 30, 1963. This short was the last Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Chuck Jones before he moved to MGM to direct Tom & Jerry cartoons.

For comparison purposes, here are stills from Transylvania 6-5000 which correspond to the storyboard illustrations.

Transylvania 6-5000 never appeared officially on The Bugs Bunny Show(1960-1962) since it was not released until after the series had left prime time for Saturday mornings. Eventually, this short was incorporated into The Bugs Bunny Show in an episode that first aired on November 27, 1971. It was later part of the package of shorts included in The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show.

The title was a parody of a Glenn Miller song entitled "Pennsylvania 6-5000". The title was based on telephone numbers used by phone exchanges during the early 20th century, but had largely fallen out of use by the time that Transylvania 6-5000 was released in 1963.

 

[Timothy E]

This is not exactly a Blu-ray release of The Bugs Bunny Show, however, the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 1 Blu-ray includes many of the cartoon shorts that you might see in The Bugs Bunny Show. The review of this release has been posted here: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/looney-tunes-collectors-choice-vol-1-blu-ray-review/

 

[Timothy E]

The Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 2 Blu-ray is being released today. The review of this release has been posted HERE.

The Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 1 Blu-ray, released on May 19, 2023, includes many of the cartoon shorts that you might have seen in The Bugs Bunny Show. Volume 2, as with the first volume, has no special features. This is what I wrote in the special features section of my review of Volume 1, which is relevant to this thread:

Suggestion for Volume 2 – how about giving us a few episodes of The Bugs Bunny Show with original interstitial animation and commercials? Even the Looney Tunes Golden Collections from years back made at least a minimal effort in this direction.
(But seriously, an 80th Anniversary Edition for Bugs Bunny was released on Blu-ray without a single episode of The Bugs Bunny Show? For shame, doc, for shame!)

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

The Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 2 Blu-ray is being released today. The review of this release has been posted HERE.

The Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 1 Blu-ray, released on May 19, 2023, includes many of the cartoon shorts that you might have seen in The Bugs Bunny Show. Volume 2, as with the first volume, has no special features. This is what I wrote in the special features section of my review of Volume 1, which is relevant to this thread:

Suggestion for Volume 2 – how about giving us a few episodes of The Bugs Bunny Show with original interstitial animation and commercials? Even the Looney Tunes Golden Collections from years back made at least a minimal effort in this direction.
(But seriously, an 80th Anniversary Edition for Bugs Bunny was released on Blu-ray without a single episode of The Bugs Bunny Show? For shame, doc, for shame!)

I think the rarest of the Bugs Bunny Show interstitials would be for the short-lived 1971-73 CBS half-hour run that was cut down from the first season of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.

~Ben

 

[Timothy E]

The Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 3 Blu-ray is being released today.

This is not exactly a Blu-ray release of The Bugs Bunny Show, however, the Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Volume 3 Blu-ray includes some of the cartoon shorts that you might see in The Bugs Bunny Show like There Auto Be A Law, Punch Trunk, and Of Rice and Hen. The review of this release has been posted HERE.