June Bugs -- Too High a Profile

[J Lee]

Reading the Wall Street Journal article (and I wish they had listed the 12 cartoons for all their readers and tossed in at least a paragraph about Speedy Gonzales being banned, too) I think what the whole thing comes down to is, sadly, there was just too much publicity connected with the "June Bugs" show for the people at Cartoon Network, who wanted to air every Bugs Bunny cartoon, to slip it by the apparently all-too politically correct people in Burbank.

The promotion given to June Bugs made it show up on the Warner's PC police radar, and given that they program the network to deal with the least tolerant audiences (New York, L.A. or Washington, D.C., where protests against the "racist" AOL Time Warner would be most likely), the Burbank crowd just chickened out.

Bugs' popularity, unfortunately, doomed the chance to see those cartoons because people care about the character so much. A writing campaign might help, but overall I think this will probably be a three-day embarrasment for Warner Bros., after which the storm will blow over.

On the other hand, hardly anybody even knows or cares when a late-night only Acme Hour airs on the weekend. It would be nice if the people at CN who wanted to show all of the Bugs cartoons would think about programming a four-hour movie block on Saturday night, and then sneaking in all 12 of the Bugs on the 2 a.m. Acme Hour show. Not the way it should be, but probably the best we could hope for.

[barnyarddawg]

Do you think we should be concerned about these cartoons not being released on DVD? Because judging by the tone of the article, it's a distinct possibility.

[J Lee]

Outside of releasing them on the international market, I think the WB execs in Burbank are so scared of the "racist" tag, there's no way under current conditions they'll release a DVD with those cartoons in the U.S., even though several played on Nickelodeon or ABC for years with no complaints.

[ChrisWinston]

Originally posted by barnyarddawg
Do you think we should be concerned about these cartoons not being released on DVD? Because judging by the tone of the article, it's a distinct possibility.

I've been wondering this myself lately. A mere guess is there's a 50/50 chance the Censored 12 will ever see the light of day on DVD.

I think what needs to be done is folks who want these cartoons released need to put pressure on the execs in charge. A letter writing campaign is in order. People who have Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes websites should devote a page to the cause so people can know what to do.

I'm going to be writing them myself and not just once but i'll write again and again and again. What I'm asking for, what I'd like to see, is the release of the ENTIRE Bugs Bunny collection on DVD. I'll also mention I'd like to see other collections to follow: Elmer, Daffy, etc and ULTIMATELY they'd put all the Looney Tunes on DVD in different volumes. I will mention my unhappiness with the Censored 12 not appearing on June Bugs and why they SHOULD not be left to rot, but should be included on the DVDs. Heck, they can put a small disclaimer on the packaging. The # of people who will buy the DVDs to see the "controversial" cartoons will be greater than the # of people who wouldn't buy them because they might think it would be supporting racism/discrimination/whatever.

Another thing to maybe mention but really isn't as important is the extras they can add to the DVDs such as behind the scenes documentary type stuff including interviews with Mel Blanc, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Carl Stalling, etc.

All this will get done a lot easier and sooner if folks get involved and voice their opinions to WB. Even if you don't have a DVD player yet i say you should still get involved. The entire Bugs Bunny collection on DVD would be an amazing thing to have. Other collections and ultimately all Looney Tunes would be a goldmine.

[happyheathen]

Originally posted by ChrisWinston


I've been wondering this myself lately. A mere guess is there's a 50/50 chance the Censored 12 will ever see the light of day on DVD.



Welcome aboard the bandwagon - now that there are at least 100 people who want all the WB 'toons on DVD, I'm sure WB will change their minds and release all this stuff they have been suppressing since 1968...

call me cynical.