Merrily We Roll Along: A Post-1969 History of Looney Tunes
- Thread starter Tacomaster
- Start date
1. Will Warner Bros. eventually buy out the other members of the Cartoon Group? A case could be made in buying United Artists in particular, since they own the older WB catalog and also possess the rights to the James Bond franchise - which in the 1970s/1980s is much more popular than now.
2. If/when a certain individual with the initials C.J. gets ousted for [REDACTED], what will it mean for individuals the likes of John Krickfalusi, Chris Savino, Butch Hartman, John Lassester, and Justin Roiland?
3. This one is technically more of an idea than a question, but could Merrie Melodies (specifically) be turned into a showcase for creative animated music videos for MTV? I mean just a suggestion, but the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies were originally made to promote WB’s song catalog in the 30’s. Plus, in 1981, Warner Communications owns both MTV and Warner Bros Records along with other big name record labels. Just something to think about.
2. If/when a certain individual with the initials C.J. gets ousted for [REDACTED], what will it mean for individuals the likes of John Krickfalusi, Chris Savino, Butch Hartman, John Lassester, and Justin Roiland?
3. This one is technically more of an idea than a question, but could Merrie Melodies (specifically) be turned into a showcase for creative animated music videos for MTV? I mean just a suggestion, but the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies were originally made to promote WB’s song catalog in the 30’s. Plus, in 1981, Warner Communications owns both MTV and Warner Bros Records along with other big name record labels. Just something to think about.
- At the very least, they will absorb DFE and acquire UA after the Heaven’s Gate fiasco. (Assuming I start working on this again)
- Let’s just say they better be on their best behavior.
- Sorry, but the MM name already means a different cartoon series, and hasn’t been about music for literal years. However, WB Animation could work on some stuff for MTV…
Okay. So, if this comes back, then WB will own Ultraman outright? I wonder if we can get some Ultraman/DC crossovers?
Yeah, they better be, and why not make them get help so they won't do this in the first place?
Okay, and MTV becoming more animated is a great idea! Certainly better than reality shows......
IOTL he did some one-shot appearances on TV in the early 70s, but his first major role was in Jeannie (an animated spinoff of "I Dream of Jeannie"). He not only played Corey Anders, but also sang the theme song.
So Hamill staying as a voice actor ITTL, with maybe some singing as well, is reasonable.
If WB Animation does make original work for MTV, how does that affect Disney's plans? They started up the D-TV music videos in 1984, inspired by MTV. But if WB's already making animated videos, would Disney step up its game and create new animation for their videos?
Logical.
Not RN, given their turmoil in 1984 ITTL, but maybe later, for Cartoon Network
Do you at least see one of them changing their views on managing the production of cartoons, or even views on women?
Maybe instead of going down the path of reality TV, MTV instead becomes similar to Adult Swim - only as an entire channel. Music videos could still be around to, but they have to be creative and abstract - not just the band/artist performing. Another option is that the network is successful enough that Warner Bros. keeps MTV Networks rather that selling it of to Viacom.
Not trying to hijack the thread like that other guy, just throwing out ideas.
Well, I sure one of them would.
That's a GREAT idea!!!!!!!!!!!
And I already know what music should be played!
Right.
1976 Part Two - TV
PART TWO - THE TELEVISION MARKET, changes only (Been a while, eh?)
KIDS
PRIMETIME
KIDS
- Blaze the Princess Dragon from WB and Jay Ward premieres on NBC, with the following segments
- The titular Blaze the Princess Dragon, centering around a massive subversion of the “knight saves princess from dragon”. Here, the princess is also a dragon, who often saves the day and has several knightly attributes (bravery, nobility, and a cool sword among them). Several King Arthur elements are used as well, such as her sword Excaliburn and her companion the Pixie of the Puddle. The series centers around Blaze interacting with various fairy tale characters (in typical Jay Ward “fractured” style) and solving their problems.
- Blaze’s Corner, a retooling of Bullwinkle’s Corner from the original Rocky and Bullwinkle
- A revival of The World of Commander McBragg, initially from Total Television
- Revivals of Dudley Do-Right and Aesop and Son, originally from the original Rocky and Bullwinkle
- New segment Fang the Wonder Dog, a dimwitted parody of Lassie.
- A revival of Super Chicken, from George of the Jungle.
- On Jeanie the Genius, the Time Flies segments are replaced by revived Peabody and Sherman segments, originally from the original Rocky and Bullwinkle, and the third segment becomes a revival of Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley, previously their own show from Total Television. Jay Ward coproduces all three segments, even the Jeanie ones!
- The Film Fair, a preschooler targeted compilation of shorts produced by the British animation studio… FilmFair, premieres on CBS. The following shorts are featured:
- 2 Paddington Bear shorts per episode
- 2 Wombles shorts per episode
- 1 Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings shorts per episode
- Chuck Jones produces several Road Runner segments for PBS’s The Electric Company.
- Changes to the Rising Sun:
- Gigantor is out, and a new Pinocchio series is in- much to Disney's dismay
- Ultra-7 is swapped out for Return of Ultraman, known ITTL as Ultraman Returns
- Rankin-Bass’s block gets a name, The Pagoda (from a type of Japanese building), and several lineup changes:
- Tranzor Z gets a second season, adapted from Great Mazinger
- The Microids is retired and replaced with a colorized version of the 1968 Cyborg 009 anime, retitled Cyborg 9
- Korobokkle is mercifully pulled, and Calimero premieres in its place. The show is about a charming but hapless baby chicken, the only black one in his family of yellow ckickens.
- Inspired by WB and Rankin-Bass’s anime blocks, and with the fanatic approval of Stan Lee, Universal and Marvel create two Americanized adaptations of Toei’s tokusatsu series:
- The Masked Rider, adapted from Kamen Rider
- The Rangers Five, from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger
- In addition to their new primetime block, Universal/Lantz and Marvel premiere the hour-long series The Avengers on CBS, to compete with WB’s Justice League on NBC.
- Filmation’s Wacky and Packy, from IOTL’s Uncle Croc’s Block, premieres on ABC.
- The Lenny Leopard Show, a compilation of Rankin-Bass’s new animated theatrical shorts (and some old Screen Gems and UPA shorts), premieres on CBS.
- The New Adventures of Gilligan is canceled.
- Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle is produced by WB through DePatie-Freleng instead of Filmation.
- Crawford, a series from WB and Chuck Jones about “a boy who needs to struggle to get it right and whose inanimate bedroom furniture and objects become characters within the story”, premieres on NBC. It lasts for only a single season.
- Hanna-Barbera’s Monster Squad airs on ABC instead of NBC, due to NBC airing Monster Mash-Up and the removal of Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters from Saturday Morning.
- The Great Grape Ape becomes the Grape Ape and Mumbly Show.
- Reruns of the Woody Woodpecker Show air on Saturday mornings on NBC, as well as in primetime. In addition, Walt Disney Productions, who are getting drowned out by both the volume and quality of product in primetime and the unexpected return of the theatrical market, places their toe into the Saturday morning market, offering The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse as a compilation of old Mickey Mouse shorts.
- Instead of a combined Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt Hour, Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt run as separate half-hour series, with the former being a revival of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? series, adding reruns of that initial series to the rotation after the new episodes had finished airing.
- The Ghost Busters from Filmation returns for a second season, which was planned IOTL but scrapped.
PRIMETIME
- A Rocky and Bullwinkle revival from WB and Jay Ward premieres on NBC, with the following segments
- The titular returning Rocky and Bullwinkle, naturally.
- The return of Mr. Know-It-All.
- The return of Fractured Fairy Tales. Ward initially wanted this to be part of Blaze the Princess Dragon, due to the fairy tale theming, but found himself reusing many of the fairy tales in Blaze from both the initial and even new runs of FFT, in addition to the series themselves being VERY similar to each other, so the decision was made to move FFT back to Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- A revival of The World of Commander McBragg, initially from Total Television, shared with Blaze, and previously seen on reruns of the original Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- Another TTV revival, Underdog. Originally set for Blaze the Princess Dragon, but Ward was worried Underdog would overshadow Blaze.
- New segment Rah Rah Woozy, about a guinea pig and a mouse escaping a laboratory and attempting to be college students.
- New segment Hawkear, a Gary Cooper-sounding Davy Crockett parody.
- The Wonderful World of Disney moves back to Sunday and expands back to an hour. The Muppet Show is bumped up to 8 PM.
- The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters leaves Saturday morning and moves to primetime on ABC.
- Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and Devlin are canceled.
- Wonder Woman makes its full premiere on ABC.
- CBS premieres four Marvel-based shows from Universal/Lantz
- The Amazing Spider-Man, a half-hour teenage superhero dramedy
- The Fantastic Four, a half-hour hybrid between superhero adventure and family/friend sitcom
- The Incredible Hulk, an animated version of the IOTL 1978 series based on the IOTL 1977 movie.
- Dr. Strange, an hour-long fantasy series that only lasts a season, and is very very weird.
- Thanks to the success of The Muppet Show, ITC distributes another “adult puppet show” in syndication. Their choice, Gerry Anderson’s Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, was initially targeted at kids during its initial run in Britain and earlier syndicated runs in the States, but the very dark tone and violent content caused it to be recontextualized as a series for adults. In addition to the opening narration, a new intro sequence using the well-known lyrical version of the closing credits theme. (The initial near-instrumental version used on early episodes became the new regular closing theme.)
- After initially teaming up with the Cartoon Group for Rocky and Bullwinkle and Blaze the Princess Dragon, Ward gains a stake in the Warner Cartoon Group. In addition to having Ward help on the Looney Tunes shorts and TV shows, WB and DFE also help to coproduce Ward’s Cap’n Crunch commercials. To return the favor, Ward helps DFE and WB with their Starkist commercials starring Charlie the Tuna (WB had been coproducing them with DFE since the formation of the Cartoon Group).
- Due to Ward’s preexisting ties with DFS and Total Television (the latter’s World of Commander McBragg had aired on Hoppity Hooper, reruns of the original Rocky and Bullwinkle, and the short-lived repackaging The Dudley Do-Right Show, the latter alongside Tooter Turtle and The Hunter), the existing rights owners give the rights to their series to Ward. This results in TTV-originated segments showing up on Ward-produced WB shows.
| Saturday Morning | ABC | CBS | NBC |
| 8:00 AM | The Grape Ape and Mumbly Show (Hanna-Barbara) | The Film Fair (new show!) | The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (Disney, new show!) |
| 8:30 AM | Wacky and Packy (Filmation, new show!) | The Jeanie the Genius Show (WB/Ward) | The Woody Woodpecker Show (Universal/Lantz, reruns) |
| 9:00 AM | Jabberjaw (Hanna-Barbara, new show!) | The Lenny Leopard Show (Rankin-Bass, new show!) | Crawford (WB, new show!) |
| 9:30 AM | Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (Hanna-Barbera) | Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (WB/DFE, new show!) | Monster Mash-Up (Universal/Lantz/Sid and Marty Krofft) |
| 10:00 AM | Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (Hanna-Barbera, new show!) | The Avengers (Universal/Lantz/Marvel, new show!) | Blaze the Princess Dragon (WB/Ward, new show!) |
| 10:30 AM | Monster Squad (Hanna-Barbara, new show!) | (continued) | Land of the Lost (Universal/Lantz/Sid and Marty Krofft) |
| 11:00 AM | The Krofft Supershow (Sid and Marty Krofft, live-action, new show!) | Shazam (WB, live-action) | Justice League (WB) |
| 11:30 AM | (continued) | The Secrets of Isis (Filmation, live-action) | (continued) |
| 12:00 PM | (continued) | Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (WB) | The Kids from C.A.P.E.R. (live-action, new show!) |
| 12:30 PM | American Bandstand | The Ghost Busters (Filmation, live-action) | Muggsy (live-action, new show!) |
| 1:00 PM | (continued) | CBS Children's Film Featival | Sports |
| 1:30 PM | Sports | (continued) | (continued) |
| Sunday Morning | Rising Sun (all from WB technically) | Pagoda (all from Rankin-Bass technically) |
| 8:00 AM | The Adventures of Pinnochio (new show!) | OFF AIR |
| 8:30 AM | Genie in a Bottle | OFF AIR |
| 9:00 AM | Kimba the White Lion | Chappy the Witch |
| 9:30 AM | Princess Knight | Mako the Mermaid |
| 10:00 AM | Astro Boy | Calimero (new show!) |
| 10:30 AM | Moonlight Mask | Zoom the White Dolphin |
| 11:00 AM | Ultraman Returns (from United Artists, live-action, new show!) | Tranzor Z |
| 11:30 AM | Speed Racer | Cyborg 9 (new show!) |
| Primetime | CBS Toonsday | NBC Wednesday-mation | ABC Toon Thursday | CBS Marvelous Fridays (all Universal/Lantz/Marvel, all new shows) |
| 8:00 PM | The World of Warner Bros. (WB) | The Woody Woodpecker Show (Universal/Lantz) | The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (Rankin-Bass, new to primetime!) | The Amazing Spider-Man |
| 8:30 PM | The Tom and Jerry Show (MGM/Hanna-Barbera) | The New Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (WB/Ward, new show!) | Fraidy Cat (Paramount/Filmation) | Fantastic Four |
| 9:00 PM | Blondie and Dagwood (WB) | Star Trek: Phase II (Paramount/Filmation) | Wonder Woman (WB, new show!) | The Incredible Hulk |
| 9:30 PM | Norman Normal (WB) | (continued) | (continued) | (continued) |
| 10:00 PM | MAD (WB) | Planet of the Apes (Fox/Nelvana) | These Are the Days (Hanna-Barbera) | Dr. Strange |
| 10:30 PM | (continued) | (continued) | (continued) | (continued) |
Yeah. Was starting to think that this TL was dead.
Nice.
I'd probably watch this despite my age.
Wait? They can do that? How?
Great. But yeah, isn't Pinocchio a public domain story or something?
Thanks for using my name idea!
Cool.
I feel there might be some controversy other that in the future................
AWESOME!
What network will these air on? And how successful are they?
Nice.
Ok. Hopefully Lenny Leopard won't be COMPLETELY forgotten in the future.....
Ok.
Nice.
Ok.
Here it is..........The beginning of something great!
I wonder if they could try to find a way to put Masked Rider and the Rangers Five in despite the whole primetime rule....
Also, I think many older kids would probably still watch Captain Scarlet.
Wait, this also means...........LATE NIGHT SYNDICATED CARTOONS!!!!!!!
Will this become the norm?
Ok.
Here's what I would have watched throughout the year:
| 8AM | The Film Fair(Fall/Winter) Mickey Mouse(Spring/Summer) | 8AM | Pinnochio |
| 8:30AM | Jeanie the Genius(Fall-Spring) Woody Woodpecker(Summer) | 8:30AM | Genie In A Bottle |
| 9AM | Lenny Leopard(Fall/Winter) Jabberjaw(Spring/Summer) | 9AM | Kimba |
| 9:30AM: | Scooby-Doo(Fall/Winter) Monster Mash Up(Spring) Tarzan(Summer) | 9:30AM | Princess Knight |
| 10AM | Avengers(Fall-Spring) Blaze(Spring) Dynomutt(Summer) | 10AM | Calimero/Astro Boy(depending on how I feel that week) |
| 10:30AM | Land of the Lost(Spring) Monster Squad(Summer) | 10:30AM | Moonlight Mask |
| 11AM | Justice League(Fall-Winter) Shazam(Spring) Krofft Supershow(Summer) | 11AM | Ultraman Returns |
| 11:30AM | Secrets of Isis(Spring) | 11:30AM | Cyborg 9 |
| 12PM | Fat Albert | ||
| 12:30PM | The Ghost Busters |
Sure was!
So, who are the winners this season?
Didn't comment on the first part because I was taking a break from the site when you posted it, so I'll just comment on both here.
So, first part. Obviously Wendy being more prominent is a good thing for the Casper shorts-not just because of my bias, but because it helped the series dodge a big bullet that hit the other "formula shorts". Star Wars being animated is a really big surprise, even if I'm assuming the plot's fairly similar-but can we please keep it to just three movies this time around?
On the TV side, I think it's pretty obvious that Jay Ward's stuff just pounds everything else into paste this time around. I mean, come on, Rocky and Bullwinkle AND Underdog? No contest. Although Captain Scarlet being here does make me wonder-what are the odds Thunderbirds makes its way to the US eventually?
So, first part. Obviously Wendy being more prominent is a good thing for the Casper shorts-not just because of my bias, but because it helped the series dodge a big bullet that hit the other "formula shorts". Star Wars being animated is a really big surprise, even if I'm assuming the plot's fairly similar-but can we please keep it to just three movies this time around?
On the TV side, I think it's pretty obvious that Jay Ward's stuff just pounds everything else into paste this time around. I mean, come on, Rocky and Bullwinkle AND Underdog? No contest. Although Captain Scarlet being here does make me wonder-what are the odds Thunderbirds makes its way to the US eventually?
I think the odds of THunderbirds coming is very good.
And Thunderbirds did air on TechTV for a short time IOTL before they got killed by G4.
The Saturday morning winners:
| 8 AM | Film Fair |
| 8:30 AM | Jeanie the Genius |
| 9 AM | The Lenny Leopard Show |
| 9:30 AM | Scooby-Doo |
| 10 AM | The Avengers, with Blaze the Princess Dragon in a close second place |
| 10:30 AM | The Avengers |
| 11 AM | Justice League |
| 11:30 AM | Justice League |
| 12 PM | Fat Albert |
| 12:30 PM | American Bandstand |
| 9 AM | Chappy |
| 9:30 AM | Mako |
| 10 AM | A tie between Astro Boy and Calimero |
| 10:30 AM | Moonlight Mask |
| 11 AM | Tranzor Z |
| 11:30 AM | Cyborg 9 |
NEW TIMELINE IDEA
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...istory-of-animax-in-the-united-states.539166/ Hey! Like this timeline, but hate how little it updates? Wish Sony had their own cartoon channel, or that Universal Kids was competent? Wanna see how many press releases I can get ChatGPT to squirt out for me? Then check out Get Animated!: The History of Animax in the United States! It's Sony's version of Cartoon Network, but with Universal tagging along for the ride! Strap in and see how much can change! Does Animax beat the odds and become a major cable channel? Does it beat Cartoon Network to Adventure Time? Does it beat Nickelodeon in the ratings? No on that last one, but for the others, you have to wait and see!