Looney Tunes Franchise In Trouble?

[wiley207]

Looney Tunes are now streaming on Tubi. It appears that the outright majority of shorts are there. For some reason three or four shorts are combined into an approximately half hour episode, and there are 262 of these “episodes”.

Color me impressed! And with this news comes a new Sam Valentino vlog...

 

[19MagiswordLane]

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bump in viewership once people discover they have the shorts on there for free. Another way to show the WBD brass that the Tunes still matter.

 

[zakawer2]

Thing is, Tubi doesn't exist in Denmark, and HBO Max in my country stopped having the Looney Tunes theatrical shorts by the time they converted the old HBO Max (the original one with the obsolete purple app) to Max (the newer one with Discovery content in it that has since been renamed back to HBO Max) in May 2024.

Though since HBO Max in my country did add some classic CN shows earlier this month, I'm more optimistic about the future.

 

[Corwin Haught]

Something that hasn't been talked about is the fact that Tubi has timed the commercial breaks so that they come between the shorts, which I really appreciate.

As my Tubi viewing has continued, I have encountered some "episodes" with commercial breaks in the middle of a short.

 

[wonderfly]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Looney Tunes Move From HBO Max To Tubi"​

"There was much wailing when HBO Max under David Zaslav got rid of all its Looney Tunes in one nasty purge. But one’s loss is another’s gain: the hundreds of shorts that were excised from the WB servers have found a new home on free streaming service Tubi.

The new Looney Tunes section is up as we speak. It’s not every single short in history (the absence of Norman Normal will be severely felt I’m sure), but it’s close enough to it. Someone counted and figured out there are 789 shorts in all, served up in blocks of three per episode, making for 262 blocks (with the last two consisting of four and six shorts).

The cool thing is that the blocks seem to be arranged in chronological order. If you know the date of which a favorite short came out, you should be able to find it. The first block has the earliest Merrie Melodies like Lady Play Your Mandolin, and the last few have Chuck Jones’ final batch of shorts from the 90s and Larry Doyle’s six shorts from the early 2000s the company didn’t like and tried to bury."

Read the full article here.

 

[zakawer2]

Joke's on you: Tubi doesn't exist in Denmark (or even anywhere else in Europe aside from the UK), and HBO Max in Denmark stopped hosting the Looney Tunes shorts by May 2024 (when the service was converted from the original HBO Max platform to the Max platform). I'm still hopeful that they might return on HBO Max though, seeing as HBO Max in Latin America still has them and HBO Max in Denmark partially added a slew of classic CN shows.

Also, while the theatrical shorts left the U.S. version of HBO Max due to the availability period expiring and WBD refusing to renew it there, they weren't actually purged by Zaslav to begin with.

 

[MTAF1976]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Looney Tunes Move From HBO Max To Tubi"​

"There was much wailing when HBO Max under David Zaslav got rid of all its Looney Tunes in one nasty purge. But one’s loss is another’s gain: the hundreds of shorts that were excised from the WB servers have found a new home on free streaming service Tubi.

The new Looney Tunes section is up as we speak. It’s not every single short in history (the absence of Norman Normal will be severely felt I’m sure), but it’s close enough to it. Someone counted and figured out there are 789 shorts in all, served up in blocks of three per episode, making for 262 blocks (with the last two consisting of four and six shorts).

The cool thing is that the blocks seem to be arranged in chronological order. If you know the date of which a favorite short came out, you should be able to find it. The first block has the earliest Merrie Melodies like Lady Play Your Mandolin, and the last few have Chuck Jones’ final batch of shorts from the 90s and Larry Doyle’s six shorts from the early 2000s the company didn’t like and tried to bury."

Read the full article here.

just to correct: Norman Normal IS on Tubi its just misplaced with shorts from the earlier 60s

 

[wiley207]

...and Larry Doyle’s six shorts from the early 2000s the company didn’t like and tried to bury."

Indeed. In fact, MeTV picking up the Looney Tunes in 2021 was when those six cartoons made their American television debut. Cartoon Network and Boomerang outright refused to air them for a long time (though Boomerang eventually started showing some of them at the very end of 2023). But they did air on Teletoon in Canada for a while. I can see why Warner was so ashamed of how those shorts turned out and tried to bury them for a while alongside "Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island", "Loonatics Unleashed", "Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" and "Yo Yogi" (until the last two were added to the now-defunct Boomerang streaming app in the late 2010s and soon began airing on the actual Boomerang channel for a while and then on MeTV Toons). Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if executive producer Sander Schwartz requested his name be taken off those shorts!

 

[awinger24]

The fact that Tiny Toons Looniversity and Bugs Bunny Builders got even greenlit in the first place and then WBD just shadow dropping them altogether shows that the previous regime betted on the wrong horse at the wrong time.

Looney Tunes is more likely to do better amongst Gen Z, Millenials and Gen X audiences in my opinion rather than Gen Alpha. I think it should be a wake up call for Warner Bros. to reclassify the Looney Tunes as more of a general audience brand rather than a Kids and Family brand. They would be restricted by executives in terms of what can they do if they keep marketing any new projects to children 6 to 11.

 

[ToonMaster]

I know Back In Action didn't do well all those years ago, but I still don't really understand why Warner Bros. just gave up.

 

[Mejo]

I know Back In Action didn't do well all those years ago, but I still don't really understand why Warner Bros. just gave up.

It's obviously clear that WB basically just ran out of ideas of what to do with the franchise. The shorts being taken off of Cartoon Network and moved to Boomerang (before also being taken off of there as well) didn't help.

 

[Pooky]

It's not true to say they haven't tried since Back in Action, there have been several high profile efforts since then ranging from the radical Loonatics Unleashed to the traditionalist Looney Tunes Cartoons, unfortunately none have really caught on with the public. Perhaps they could have done more to market some of these, but I think it's hard to escape that they simply haven't fit in in the 21st Century like they did in the 20th.

 

[awinger24]

Skydance might buy WBD so I see this franchise is probably numbered as they will milk only SpongeBob.

If the merger is inevitable, Looney Tunes is spiraling to become a dead franchise

 

[ToonMaster]

It's obviously clear that WB basically just ran out of ideas of what to do with the franchise. The shorts being taken off of Cartoon Network and moved to Boomerang (before also being taken off of there as well) didn't help.

WB ran out of ideas? With today's social media world, surely there's something they could do. I mean, if they have I don't know because I try my best to steer clear of social media.

 

[TsWade2]

Skydance might buy WBD so I see this franchise is probably numbered as they will milk only SpongeBob.

If the merger is inevitable, Looney Tunes is spiraling to become a dead franchise

I don't know what to say, but maybe you worried too much. Just saying. And I hope I don't get in trouble on that!

 

[wiley207]

Skydance might buy WBD so I see this franchise is probably numbered as they will milk only SpongeBob.

If the merger is inevitable, Looney Tunes is spiraling to become a dead franchise

Paramount-Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery would indeed be disastrous for the Looney Tunes, given how much they've neglected the Terrytoons. But keep in mind that Netflix, Amazon and even Apple are also interested in making bids.
Also, I thought I heard somewhere that David Zaslav actually rejected the bid offer from Paramount-Skydance?

 

[ToonDude03]

Paramount-Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery would indeed be disastrous for the Looney Tunes, given how much they've neglected the Terrytoons. But keep in mind that Netflix, Amazon and even Apple are also interested in making bids.
Also, I thought I heard somewhere that David Zaslav actually rejected the bid offer from Paramount-Skydance?

If he did reject it, that might be one of the best things he’s ever done. Trust me, the last thing Warner Bros needs is another merger.

 

[zakawer2]

If the Warner Bros. Discovery split happens as intended and Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Cartoonito and Adult Swim stay with the Warner Bros. half of the company, that could be good news for the Looney Tunes franchise.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Paramount-Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery would indeed be disastrous for the Looney Tunes, given how much they've neglected the Terrytoons. But keep in mind that Netflix, Amazon and even Apple are also interested in making bids.
Also, I thought I heard somewhere that David Zaslav actually rejected the bid offer from Paramount-Skydance?

Netflix is the only other bidder confirmed. Neither Amazon nor Apple are even interested from what I heard.

EDIT: The Netflix bid seems to be speculation by Puck and whoever told them, because Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav were both at the Crawford-Álvarez fight in Vegas.

 

[awinger24]

WBD might be exploring to sell the company. Which means that Looney Tunes as a franchise will probably die forever and never be relevant ever again if they were bought by Skydance, Comcast or Amazon.