Nobody at Warner Bros seems to have a clue what to do with Looney Tunes right now. After the financial failure of the actually-not-that-bad Back in Action, they’ve tried turning them into babies and turning them into superheroes. I can’t say I’ve ever subjected myself to either of those shows, but after watching an episode of The Looney Tunes Show, I can’t see how they’d be worse.
The main plot of the show is that Bugs and Daffy (both ever so slightly off-voiced) are roommates. Yes, it’s the plot of about a thousand sitcoms, and it steals a plot device right from the sitcom handbook: they go on a game show where they have to prove they’re best friends with each other. Predictably, Daffy knows nothing about Bugs, ends up losing the game show, and then ends up going far off the deep end in attempts to show that he’s actually friends with Bugs. There are a handful of decent jokes in here. The show just never finds its stride or its originality. I think I could’ve literally erased Bugs and Daffy from the script, put in Mickey and Donald, and the show wouldn’t have changed.
There’s also the fact that, for a show called The Looney Tunes Show, there aren’t a whole lot of the classic characters I was expecting. The only people we see in the main plot besides Bugs and Daffy are those two mouse/chipmunk/marmoset??? things that are polite to each other (I have no idea what they’re called, but you know what I’m talking about) as their rival game show contestants and, as my dad put it, Speedy Gonzales as Jiminy Cricket. Somehow, Speedy has become even more of an offensive Mexican stereotype. An odd choice, considering his cartoons were removed for that reason, but now they look downright PC in comparison. I don’t understand at all why these are the only characters. They go on a game show, and the host is a generic human. What, you couldn’t even put Porky or Foghorn Leghorn in the role? They’re on a cruise ship, and the cast is filled out with generic humans. Why not have Granny and Tweety be on the cruise, too? Why not add some character and jokes everywhere you can get it?
The show also had a Merry Melodies segment. I had read a while ago that the show would have musical segments. I was not prepared for Elmer Fudd singing a Barry White-style number to grilled cheese. Not about, to. I’ve seen old cartoons try desperately to be hip and modern before, but this was just embarrassing (especially since I’m pretty sure Barry White falls under neither of those). I don't even know where they got Elmer's apparent grilled cheese fetish from. This whole show was just embarrassing. Besides the fact that it’s apparently spurred Cartoon Network to show classic Looney Tunes shorts again, I can’t think of any reason why this should exist. I can’t think of any reason why it should be watched. It has no wit, no charm, and no originality.
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