'The Looney
Tunes Show,' full of bugs
Cartoon Network series brings back all those great characters
By Tom Conroy
May 2, 2011
Entertainment types often talk about “rebooting.” The concept rests on two assumptions. The first is that a formerly reliable TV series, movie franchise or comic book has lost its creative energy — think of that George Clooney “Batman” movie. The second is that a new approach can revitalize it — think of “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”
The Cartoon Network’s new series “The Looney Tunes Show” gets both assumptions wrong. The only problem with the old Warner Brothers cartoons is that the studio stopped making them. The main problem with the new series is that it removes almost everything that made the old cartoons funny. Whereas the original Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts were aimed at adults but accessible to kids, this show will bore all ages.
Premiering this Tuesday, May 3, at 8 p.m., the new show puts Bugs in a suburban home where Daffy, his lifelong best friend, has been crashing for five years. Just having Bugs use the words “best friend” in reference to Daffy is sacrilege.
In this version, Daffy is self-absorbed and stupid, and Bugs is a little hurt because Daffy can’t even remember Bugs’ last name. Despite this, Daffy decides they should appear on a quiz show called “Besties,” which tests best friends’ knowledge of each other.
When Daffy says he’ll do anything to win on the show, Bugs replies, “Even if it means focusing on someone other than yourself for more than two minutes?” After Daffy fails spectacularly, Speedy Gonzales tells him that friends “have to give 100 percent.”
At this point, viewers may be wondering if the show is being produced in partnership with one of those elementary-school programs with names like “L.A.F.F.S.: Learning And Fostering Friendship Skills.”
Although the show evidently has no such hidden agenda, the laffs are few and far between. The jokes sound like rejected sitcom banter, and the pop-culture references are stale.
The humor gets a little adult during the quiz-show segment, in which two Looney Tunes chipmunks are Bugs and Daffy’s opponents. When one of the chipmunks guesses that the other’s favorite dish is “pureed butternut squash in a balsamic reduction with just a hint of clover,” the implication is that they’re more than just friends.
Most of those jokes will go over kids’ heads, but they’ll also miss grown-ups’ funny bones.
Although the graphics are strong and the animation is smooth, there is little of the gleefully manic violence of the original cartoons. Neither the dialogue nor the action builds any rhythm or momentum.
In the second episode made available for review, Daffy and Bugs crash a country club where Bugs meets a beautiful bunny named Lola, who turns out to be too talkative and clingy. Bugs can’t get rid of her.
Antagonists rarely got the better of Bugs in the original cartoons. Two episodes in which he’s a passive victim should turn fans off permanently.
Each of the episodes features a music-video-style clip: In the first, Elmer Fudd sings a punch-line-free romantic song about how much he loves “gwilled cheese.” In the second, Marvin the Martian pleads for understanding and then blows up the earth with his laser.
A computer-generated Road Runner cartoon in the second episode at least reveals some understanding of what made these characters funny.
It may also inspire wily fans of the original cartoons to fantasize about buying an Acme anvil to drop on these poor imitations.
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