What's new

The Bugs Bunny Show on DVD and Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Mark Y

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
1,305
Has it been discussed why Porky Pig didn't seem to exist for this show? My theory is they might have been planning to give him his own show if this Bugs Bunny show had been more successful. There was a daytime Porky Pig Show later in the decade. I remember watching it before I went to school.

It's possible, but I never heard or read anything that said they were planning a Porky Pig show that early.

But what certainly did happen was that the Porky Pig cartoons which had been on the Bugs Bunny Show were pulled and moved to the Porky Pig Show in 1964. And interestingly, when the Porky Pig Show ended, the 78 cartoons which had been on that show (featuring Porky as well as other characters) were released into syndication (as opposed to something like the Sylvester & Tweety or Daffy Duck shows later, where those cartoons were folded into the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show).

As a result, Porky Pig was largely absent from the Saturday morning Warner Bros. cartoon shows after 1967.

In Chicago, we had the Bugs Bunny Saturday morning shows in various incarnations over the years, while other Warner Bros. cartoons were shown locally on WGN-Channel 9. It always annoyed me how in contrast to the variety of characters featured on the Saturday morning shows, when WGN ran them in a half-hour timeslot as "Bugs Bunny And Friends," they had three cartoons and 90% of the time, it was Bugs Bunny, then Porky Pig, then Daffy Duck (and the Daffy Duck cartoon often also featured Porky Pig). In fact, I even called the station once to ask what the deal was with that.

What I didn't know until many years later was, even though WGN had hundreds and hundreds of these cartoons in their library, when I finally reviewed lists of which ones were in these syndicated packages (the station had three different packages of cartoons, including the two Warner packages and the pre-1948s from United Artists), as far as starring characters were concerned, the overwhelming majority of the cartoons in their library featured Porky Pig. Other characters such as the Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzalez and Sylvester would pop up here and there, but there weren't that many in these TV packages which featured those characters.

There were a boatload of early 1930s musical Merrie Melodies, but eventually, those were relegated to an early Saturday morning timeslot along with Mel-O-Toons, old Hanna-Barbera cartoons and other castoffs and played essentially as a time filler.

Porky Pig was certainly much more of a "star" in syndication than on network TV.
 
Last edited:

moviepas

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
808

Dated Fri Oct 16 2020

Not knowing where to put the link from Animation Magazine, the article from Disney is a good case for them to consider now issuing Song of the South on disc?
 

MatthewA

BANNED
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2000
Messages
9,727
Location
Salinas, CA
Real Name
Matthew
Not knowing where to put the link from Animation Magazine, the article from Disney is a good case for them to consider now issuing Song of the South on disc?

Very little short of a court order would achieve that at this point with Disney trying to purge the characters from the parks. Intellectual consistency isn't their strong suit right now. WB, likewise still censors the Censored 11 (a holdover from the United Artists Television ownership days that only affected one actual Bugs cartoon) despite their own warning label covering other material they actually did release. Now, that label appears on Hanna-Barbera shows. Time will tell whether Disney relents or doubles down on it and goes after more movies and shows.

But that article forgot to mention one of the sponsors of Disney's "stories matter" program:

Hollywood, Health & Society

Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) is a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center that informs and inspires accurate storylines on topics including health and medicine, social justice, climate change and national security. HH&S’s scientific research sheds light on the critical influence of false and limiting narratives.

I recall hearing similar accusations of racism against him and his shows over the years, but those are somehow like teflon.
 
Last edited:

ClassicTVMan1981X

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
1,687
Location
Milwaukie, OR, US
Real Name
Benjamin
Very little short of a court order would achieve that at this point with Disney trying to purge the characters from the parks. Intellectual consistency isn't their strong suit right now. WB, likewise still censors the Censored 11 (a holdover from the United Artists Television ownership days that only affected one actual Bugs cartoon) despite their own warning label covering other material they actually did release. Now, that label appears on Hanna-Barbera shows. Time will tell whether Disney relents or doubles down on it and goes after more movies and shows.

But that article forgot to mention one of the sponsors of Disney's "stories matter" program:



I recall hearing similar accusations of racism against him and his shows over the years, but those are somehow like teflon.
I am worried that no more H-B cartoons will appear on DVD/BR or HBO Max if the suits go too far here...

~Ben
 

moviepas

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
808
Very little short of a court order would achieve that at this point with Disney trying to purge the characters from the parks. Intellectual consistency isn't their strong suit right now. WB, likewise still censors the Censored 11 (a holdover from the United Artists Television ownership days that only affected one actual Bugs cartoon) despite their own warning label covering other material they actually did release. Now, that label appears on Hanna-Barbera shows. Time will tell whether Disney relents or doubles down on it and goes after more movies and shows.

But that article forgot to mention one of the sponsors of Disney's "stories matter" program:



I recall hearing similar accusations of racism against him and his shows over the years, but those are somehow like teflon.
Interesting reply. We are getting bad in my country with PC but we still have not come heavy on much, yet.
 

MatthewA

BANNED
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2000
Messages
9,727
Location
Salinas, CA
Real Name
Matthew
Cartoon Network got pretty scissor-happy in the 1990s with the Bugs cartoons they showed, just in a different way than the broadcast networks had been.
 

darkrock17

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2007
Messages
3,495
Location
Alexandria, VA
Real Name
Andrew McClure
I am worried that no more H-B cartoons will appear on HBO Max if the suits go too far here...

~Ben

HBO Max would only put the known H-B series on there, if it wasn't released on DVD as either part of the Golden or Classic Collection it wont likely be there.

Doesn't that Boomerang app thing have a lot of classic H-B and Cartoon Network series on it?
 

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
On October 25, 1960, the third episode of The Bugs Bunny Show aired with Bugs Bunny introducing Pepe Le Pew as host.

BugsBunnyShow17.JPG

BugsBunnyShow18.JPG

BugsBunnyShow21.JPG


The theme of this episode, as one might expect with Pepe as host, was "love." First, Pepe introduced his appearance in "Wild Over You" being shown in a Parisian theater.

BugsBunnyShow22.JPG

BugsBunnyShow23.JPG

BugsBunnyShow24.JPG


The next cartoon short with a "love" theme was "Go Fly A Kit."

BugsBunnyShow25.JPG
BugsBunnyShow26.JPG
BugsBunnyShow27.JPG
BugsBunnyShow28.JPG


This episode concluded with Claude Cat pursuing a couple of teenage mice with crushes in "Mouse Warming."

BugsBunnyShow30.JPG
BugsBunnyShow29.JPG

BugsBunnyShow31.JPG


Chuck Jones and his animation unit produced the bridging sequences featuring Bugs and Pepe in this episode, which featured shorts directed by Jones exclusively.

BugsBunnyShow20.JPG


The animation created specifically for The Bugs Bunny Show by Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Bob McKimson conveys all of the same style, beauty, and artistic merit as anything produced in the theatrical shorts. This episode even had an exquisitely created long pan shot as Pepe looked out from his balcony over a stylized background of Paris.

BugsBunnyShow19.JPG


This original animation deserves to be seen and appreciated rather than remaining locked up unseen in a film vault.
 
Last edited:

BobO'Link

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
12,087
Location
Mid-South
Real Name
Howie
That image is made from three 4:3 frames stitched together. The original background *would* have been continuous as shown and they'd simply move it past the camera using a conveyor type device (there's a name for it but it escapes me at the moment) exposing a frame (or two), moving again, etc. to give the impression the camera was panning the image.
 

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
On November 15, 1960, the sixth episode of The Bugs Bunny Show aired with Daffy Duck asking Bugs if he could finally host the show, and Bugs reminding Daffy that his turn is next week, and this week is not next week, even though this week was next week last week. The verbal sparring between Bugs and Daffy was reminiscent of their wordplay in Chuck Jones' "Rabbit Fire", "Rabbit Seasoning", and "Duck, Rabbit, Duck."

BugsBunnyShow32.JPG


Bugs dropped the names of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Ricky Nelson as he presented a musical number inspired by the three artists.

BugsBunnyShow35.JPG


After his musical number was not received warmly by every member of the audience, Bugs recalled a similar situation that arose in "Long Haired Hare."

BugsBunnyShow33.JPG

BugsBunnyShow34.JPG


Sylvester went hungry while fishing and attempted to "rescue" Tweety in "Sandy Claws".

BugsBunnyShow36.JPG
BugsBunnyShow37.JPG


Yosemite Sam also popped up in the bridging sequences and Daffy finally had his opportunity for a drum solo. Hubie and Bertie drove Claude Cat out of his mind in "Mouse Wreckers".

BugsBunnyShow38.JPG
BugsBunnyShow39.JPG
BugsBunnyShow42.JPG
BugsBunnyShow41.JPG
BugsBunnyShow40.JPG
 

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
On November 22, 1960, Daffy Duck finally had his chance to host the show in its seventh episode.
Bugs Bunny introduced Daffy, only to find that Daffy was temporarily missing.

BugsBunnyShow43.JPG


Daffy reappeared dressed as a rabbit so that he could impersonate Bugs and host the show. Daffy found himself followed by a sheepdog mistakenly believing him to be a bunny rabbit, foreshadowing the dynamic played out in the following year in "The Abominable Snow Rabbit"(1961), with the sheepdog having the same voice as the later Abominable Snowman.

BugsBunnyShow46.JPG
BugsBunnyShow47.JPG


Bugs recalled the time he tried to tunnel to the Coachella Valley for its carrot festival, not its music festival, in "Bully for Bugs".

BugsBunnyShow44.JPG
BugsBunnyShow45.JPG


Sylvester attempted to get Tweety on a cruise with Granny in "Tweety's S.O.S".

BugsBunnyShow48.JPG
BugsBunnyShow49.JPG


An entrepreneur's doomed efforts to get rich off of a singing frog were introduced in "One Froggy Evening".

BugsBunnyShow50.JPG
BugsBunnyShow51.JPG
BugsBunnyShow52.JPG


The bridging footage for this episode was produced by Chuck Jones and his unit.
 
Last edited:

Jack P

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2006
Messages
5,809
Real Name
Jack
On November 15, 1960, the sixth episode of The Bugs Bunny Show aired with Daffy Duck asking Bugs if he could finally host the show, and Bugs reminding Daffy that his turn is next week, and this week is not next week, even though this week was next week last week. The verbal sparring between Bugs and Daffy was reminiscent of their wordplay in Chuck Jones' "Rabbit Fire", "Rabbit Seasoning", and "Duck, Rabbit, Duck."

View attachment 81919

I've been looking for that "last week you said I was going to entertain next week," "Yes, but this isn't next week" bridge for years!
 

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
On December 20, 1960, Bugs introduced Porky Pig as host of the 11th episode of The Bugs Bunny Show.
BugsBunnyShow53.JPG

BugsBunnyShow54.JPG


Porky is continually interrupted by Charlie Dog, who is still looking for a master. Chuck Jones' unit recycles some of the animation and dialogue from Awful Orphan(1949).

BugsBunnyShow55.JPG


Claude Cat finds that Two's A Crowd when dealing with the frisky puppy disturbing his domestic idyll.

BugsBunnyShow56.JPG

BugsBunnyShow57.JPG
BugsBunnyShow58.JPG


Charlie Dog tries to show Porky all of his finest canine attributes.


BugsBunnyShow59.JPG
BugsBunnyShow60.JPG


Sylvester and Tweety are All A Bir-r-r-d a train as the cat continues his efforts to catch the bird.

BugsBunnyShow61.JPG
BugsBunnyShow62.JPG
BugsBunnyShow63.JPG
BugsBunnyShow64.JPG


Porky finally blows his top and ejects Charlie Dog from the studio.

BugsBunnyShow66.JPG
BugsBunnyShow67.JPG

BugsBunnyShow68.JPG


Bugs introduces his encounter with Commander X-2 as the Martian tries to collect a typical Earth creature for examination in The Hasty Hare.

BugsBunnyShow69.JPG
BugsBunnyShow70.JPG

BugsBunnyShow72.JPG
BugsBunnyShow71.JPG

BugsBunnyShow73.JPG


Jones' unit even included a caricature of Friz Freleng as an exasperated astronomer in The Hasty Hare.

The Bugs Bunny Show
(1960-1962) was before my time, but I came of age watching The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show every Saturday, which preserved many of the same interstitial sequences prepared originally for the prime time version of the show. Bugs Bunny is my personal favorite, but I still do not want to watch 10 or 20 Bugs Bunny shorts in a row, which is how these cartoons are typically spooned out to us on home video. But take the same 10 or 20 Bugs Bunny cartoons, and mix them up with Porky, Daffy, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzalez, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, Claude Cat, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and I could watch these cartoons all day long.

This is the genius inherent in the concept of The Bugs Bunny Show and its various successor shows. A mixed presentation of these great characters makes the sum of entertainment value greater than the individual parts. The eleventh episode of The Bugs Bunny Show was a great example of this. Start with Claude Cat, then Sylvester and Tweety, and cap it off with Bugs Bunny, and you leave the audience wanting more.

Who wants to see more of this great show?
 
Last edited:

BobO'Link

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
12,087
Location
Mid-South
Real Name
Howie
I'd much, much, rather have more remastered original theatrical cartoons. That TV show, while good for what it was and something my sister and I watched every week, is just half-baked/repeated gags tying together reruns of those theatrical shorts.
 

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
I'd much, much, rather have more remastered original theatrical cartoons. That TV show, while good for what it was and something my sister and I watched every week, is just half-baked/repeated gags tying together reruns of those theatrical shorts.
I agree with you that all of the original theatrical cartoons should be released. I also agree that the shorts should be released complete and uncensored. I do not agree that there is anything "half baked" about the original bridging animation created for the show by Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, and Robert McKimson, for which Mel Blanc provided new voice recordings, and which were animated by many of the same animators who worked on the theatrical shorts.
 

ClassicTVMan1981X

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
1,687
Location
Milwaukie, OR, US
Real Name
Benjamin
On December 20, 1960, Bugs introduced Porky Pig as host of the 11th episode of The Bugs Bunny Show.
View attachment 83773
View attachment 83774

Porky is continually interrupted by Charlie Dog, who is still looking for a master. Chuck Jones' unit recycles some of the animation and dialogue from Awful Orphan(1949).

View attachment 83775

Claude Cat finds that Two's A Crowd when dealing with the frisky puppy disturbing his domestic idyll.

View attachment 83776
View attachment 83777View attachment 83778

Charlie Dog tries to show Porky all of his finest canine attributes.


View attachment 83779View attachment 83780

Sylvester and Tweety are All A Bir-r-r-d a train as the cat continues his efforts to catch the bird.

View attachment 83781View attachment 83782View attachment 83783View attachment 83784

Porky finally blows his top and ejects Charlie Dog from the studio.

View attachment 83785View attachment 83786
View attachment 83787

Bugs introduces his encounter with Commander X-2 as the Martian tries to collect a typical Earth creature for examination in The Hasty Hare.

View attachment 83788View attachment 83789
View attachment 83791View attachment 83790
View attachment 83792

Jones' unit even included a caricature of Friz Freleng as an exasperated astronomer in The Hasty Hare.

The Bugs Bunny Show
(1960-1962) was before my time, but I came of age watching The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show every Saturday, which preserved many of the same interstitial sequences prepared originally for the prime time version of the show. Bugs Bunny is my personal favorite, but I still do not want to watch 10 or 20 Bugs Bunny shorts in a row, which is how these cartoons are typically spooned out to us on home video. But take the same 10 or 20 Bugs Bunny cartoons, and mix them up with Porky, Daffy, Pepe Le Pew, Speedy Gonzalez, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, Claude Cat, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and I could watch these cartoons all day long.

This is the genius inherent in the concept of The Bugs Bunny Show and its various successor shows. A mixed presentation of these great characters makes the sum of entertainment value greater than the individual parts. The eleventh episode of The Bugs Bunny Show was a great example of this. Start with Claude Cat, then Sylvester and Tweety, and cap it off with Bugs Bunny, and you leave the audience wanting more.

Who wants to see more of this great show?
Certainly me!

Probably the most lengthy era was the 1977-85 era when it was expanded to 90 minutes and renamed The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show. During mid-1983, the series was split into two non-consecutive hours (for a total of two full hours) following the cancellation of The Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy and Speedy Show (itself a merger of NBC's The Daffy-Speedy Show and CBS's earlier The Sylvester & Tweety Show). On the second of these two non-consecutive hours, new opening and closing titles were created, which carried over into the 1983-84 season of the series that was reverted back to 90 minutes and also dropping the inbetween bumpers. Part of the newer opening visual (with Bugs and Daffy in vaudeville garb) was also seen on the 1988-92 run of ABC's The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show.

~Ben
 
Last edited:

Timothy E

Reviewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
1,655
Real Name
Timothy Ewanyshyn
On January 10, 1961, Bugs introduced Elmer Fudd as the host of the night's episode.

BugsBunnyShow74.JPG
BugsBunnyShow76.JPG


Elmer recalled how he was "Ant Pasted" by a legion of army ants during his 4th of July celebrations.

BugsBunnyShow77.JPG
BugsBunnyShow78.JPG
BugsBunnyShow79.JPG
BugsBunnyShow80.JPG
BugsBunnyShow81.JPG


Elmer found himself interrupted by Sylvester's competing rhythms, and introduced "The Fair-Haired Hare" in which Bugs Bunny finds his singing interrupted by the intrusion of Yosemite Sam.

BugsBunnyShow82.JPG
BugsBunnyShow83.JPG

BugsBunnyShow84.JPG
BugsBunnyShow85.JPG
BugsBunnyShow86.JPG
BugsBunnyShow87.JPG


Mac and Tosh were interrupted in their gardening when they found themselves in a vegetable processing plant in "I Gopher You."

BugsBunnyShow88.JPG

BugsBunnyShow89.JPG

BugsBunnyShow90.JPG
BugsBunnyShow91.JPG
BugsBunnyShow92.JPG
 

Robbie^Blackmon

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Messages
388
This original animation deserves to be seen and appreciated rather than remaining locked up unseen in a film vault.
Or, shared via ultra-low resolution YouTube clips!




Here's the pile of clips with some lame, unenthusiastic foreign dubbing, but some (like Bugs' song "Gee Whiz Willikins Golly Gee") is in Ingles. Sprackenzie cartoonish?
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top