What's A Bosko?

[loyalheart]

who's bosko? what's a bosko?

[SpotLane]

Bosko is a very old B & W cartoon character. They use to air his shorts on Nick when I was little but then stopped because they think how Bosko looks is offending to black people,

[loyalheart]

ohh.... i see...



btw, i like your siggy

[SpotLane]

Originally posted by KimPossibleFan
ohh.... i see...



btw, i like your siggy

Thank you.

[Jack]

If you go to Toon Zone's Early Years site , you'll find all sorts of spiffy stuff about Bosko.

Basically, Bosko was created by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising in 1929. Bosko was the first Looney Tune character.

When Nick wanted a package of Looney Tunes to air in the late 80s, there weren't enough color cartoons (most of them were in syndication or on network television). This shortage of cartoons prompted Warner Bros. to give Nick the black and white Looney Tunes.

In the mid 90s, Warner Bros. managed to shuffle the post 1948 and Colorized Porky Pig cartoons around just enough that Nick would have a decent sized package of color/redrawn/computer colorized cartoons. Bosko was dropped mainly because his cartoons were black and white, and he wasn't a familiar character with most audiences like Bugs Bunny and Speedy Gonzales were.


Jack

[Danielle]

Bosko also happens to be the name of a very nice non-dairy chocolate syrup..... If you want to see Bosko in action, I think there's a Tiny Toon Adventures episode with him in it. Unless I'm mistaken, and I bet I am.

[Joe Tully]

No, you're right, Danielle. He starred in an episode with his girlfriend, Honey, as well as old Merrie Melodies star Goopy Geer. But Bosko and Honey looked more like the Warner sibs than their old selves, probably to prevent any PC complaints about them.

[Shredder565]

Heh, nope, his episode aired last week, IIRC.

[Jack]

Originally posted by Joe Tully
No, you're right, Danielle. He starred in an episode with his girlfriend, Honey, as well as old Merrie Melodies star Goopy Geer. But Bosko and Honey looked more like the Warner sibs than their old selves, probably to prevent any PC complaints about them.

I think you are confusing the Bosko and Honey episode with the Foxy and Roxy episode. Foxy and Roxy's re-design really did make them look like the Warners from Animaniacs. They lived in Two-Tone Town with Goopy Geer. I guess the Tiny Toons people wanted to keep Looney Tunes characters (i.e. Bosko and Honey) separated from Merrie Melodies characters (i.e. Foxy, Roxy, and Goopy Geer). I'm surprised they never used Piggy...

Some speculate that WB re-designed Bosko and Honey so they wouldn't get sued. Warner Brothers never owned Bosko, Harman and Ising did. WB only got to keep the cartoons. That's why you never see Bosko and Honey merchandise.


Jack

[Joe Tully]

You're right, Jack. I would've remembered if I'd thought about it more. I haven't seen those episodes in a long time...

[Waggytoon]

Another interesting coincidence: "Animaniacs" Show #65: "Warners' 65th Anniversary" featured little known black-&-white "Looney Tunes" character Buddy. This time, Buddy was animated in Technicolor, so to speak, and cast as the villain in this half-hour episode spoofing Hollywood's honor shows like Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts (Your parents would probably know more about those.).
Unfortunately, Cartoon Network has no plans to air either the Boskos or the Buddys on their "Late Night Black-&-White" show whatsoever. For all intense purposes, those characters are offically retired in TV viewing other than the "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs" series eps they appear in.
As for Foxy, Roxy, and Goopy, they may show up on future "Late Night Black-&-White" eps. We know Foxy and Roxy appeared on the first returning "Late Night Black-&-White" ep a couple of weeks ago (the show that also featured the Black-&-White print of "Porky Pig's Feat"- complete with opening and closing segments missing from CN's Computer-Colorized version!), so it's certain they'll show up again. However, thanks to CN's lousy plans for Sunday Overnight come October 13, we'll be stuck with a half-hour to fill before "Late Night Black-&-White" thanks to CN squeezing in "O Canada" in the current "LNB&W" slot by that night! Looks like I'm going to bed after I rank the characters come October 13, like I had been for a while on Sunday Nights!!

Classic "Looney Tunes" Character Guest Appearances:

"Tiny Toons"

Bosko & Honey: "Fields Of Honey"
Foxy, Roxy, Goopy Geer: "Two-Tone Town"

"Animaniacs"

Buddy: "Warners' 65th Anniversary"

[livingfruitvirus]

I remember when Nick was advertising their new Looney Tunes show, and the narrator said "And no more Bosko. Sorry Bosko!" like they were proud to have gotten rid of him.

[RockItShipper]

I have seen Bosko t-shirts from time to time, but got no clue where you find them.

[Mackenzie Rainelle]

That's really weird. CN's willing to air the old Popeye WWII propaganda cartoons (Saw one last Sunday of him taking out a German sub to ship spinach to Britain), but not Bosko or Buddy.

[Joe Tully]

Originally posted by Mackenzie Rainelle
That's really weird. CN's willing to air the old Popeye WWII propaganda cartoons (Saw one last Sunday of him taking out a German sub to ship spinach to Britain), but not Bosko or Buddy.

CN doesn't even have prints of the Bosko toons. WB won't send them to 'em. Apparently, they think that CN already has enough B&W cartoons for Late Nite Black & White. But considering how frequently certain shorts get repeated on there, that's an incorrect assumption.

I wanted to smack someone at Nick when I saw that ad about them losing Bosko. Bosko rules.

[Scythemantis]

I remember that ad too! In fact, it's the first thing I thought of from this thread :P

I LIKED the Bosko cartoons on nick!