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"MeTV Toons Network to Launch as a Collaboration Between Weigel Broadcasting and Warner. Bros Discovery" (article)

"MeTV’s New Free OTA TV Network MeTV Toons Will Also Have a Free Streaming Version" (article)


(note: "MeTV Toons Television Network" site)

Cartoon Brew "MeTV Toons" article ("MeTV Announces Toons Network, A Free Channel Dedicated To Classic Animation")

In this video, I talk about the Me-TV Toons classic cartoon channel that's launching free over the air. I interview Weigel Vice Chairman Neal Sabin to ask what cartoons will be on the network, where it's launching, and how to access it.

Interesting, but I wonder if they'll be censoring them. For example, I remember reading they got rid of Fudd's gun and were phasing out Le Pew in recent iterations, among other ludicrous decisions. Still, neat idea.

They damn well better not be getting rid of Elmer Fudd's gun. Elmer Fudd shooting Daffy Duck directly in the goshdarn face led to some of the old Warner Bros cartoons' best sight gags. Like the one where his beak has been blown clean around to the far side of his head, or his head is now upside down facing backwards on his neck after the smoke clears. That isn't violent, it's the funniest thing this side of Firefly telling Chicolini 'Come on up here, I want to scare the Cabinet.'

Well, they already did as far as I know for newer stuff, but I'm only wondering if they'd go that far for the classics. I imagine it'd be a lot of work to censor them so I doubt it. If anything they'd probably just omit certain episodes entirely.

Yeah. There's episodes of Looney Tunes that are just gone forever. Like, neverminding the obvious stuff, like Pepé LePew and Speedy Gonzalez---------I'm talking the bigtime racist biz, like every time Bugs dressed up like a minstrel show character. You will never see any of the Banned Eleven on the teevee as long as you live.

All the studios do it, and I get why. You need to conserve it as a part of animation history, they'll put them on the archival DVDs, but god damn. If the crows in 'Dumbo' make you uncomfortable, 'Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat' might just give you apoplexy.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the minstrel type stuff, those are more understandable to ban than Fudd or Le Pew, those episodes can be considered reasonably offensive.

I haven't watched Dumbo since I was a little kid, but I hear the crows are supposedly racist but that case seems flimsy at best.

The worst thing about the crows is that the lead one is named Jim. Other than that, they're relatively innocuous (& arguably even *positive*).
"Song of the Roustabouts", however, is pretty bad, as it openly mocks the actual black human characters singing it.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

The name Jim probably isn't coincidental, so I can see that. I didn't remember that song but according to a Wiki not all the characters singing it are black, so it doesn't appear to be mocking black people specifically.

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Roustabouts_(song)

I actually like the crows, myself.

Aww, man, the crow in 'It's a Wonderful Life' was named Jimmy. Now I'm irritated----------I didn't see it before.

^That one was probably named after Jimmy Stewart, since he's the star of the movie & all.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

No, I mean he was named by his trainer long before 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Evidently said trainer (Curly Twiford) had a long and storied career in Hollywood. He worked on 'Wizard of Oz' (as a horse and bird trainer-----------he didn't train Toto). Anyway, I remember Jimmy the crow from a Rifftrax short that was originally from 1940 ('Wing, Claw and Fang'. It showed some of the animals Curly Twiford had trained, among them a dog, a cat, Jimmy and a penguin), and 'It's a Wonderful Life' came out in 1946.

You can train a penguin? That sounds cute.

Most higher animals can be trained. Some of them are harder to train than others because they're dumber. I heard from an animal trainer that after five months of arduous training, he taught a duck the commands 'quack' and 'turn'. Ducks are pretty stupid, I guess. (They must be----------otherwise Daffy might have eventually learned not to engage with Elmer or Bugs. Or Porky, for that matter. 'Yoiks, and away!')

...you know, the thing that really boils my ass about the racist-ass cartoons is all the live-action stuff showing black entertainers just at the top of their game from exactly that time period. Have you seen Bojangles dancing with Shirley Temple, or Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers in 'Jumpin Jive'? Or how about the jazz dance scene from 'Hellzapoppin'? Because holy frig, but 'Hellzapoppin'.



I bet you the whole movie 'Hellzapoppin' probably cost Universal less than 'Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat' did, both in money and also in terms of having to watch their reflections in the mirror slowly fade away.

That's probably too touchy a subject to stay on, but I'm not sure guys like Tex Avery were racist. It's like how recently there's been a push to not have white actors voice black characters, that's now considered racist but it wasn't really that way before. Sensibilities change over time.

Anyway, I never saw any of those movies. In fact, I never even heard of them since I'm admittedly put off by old movies for the most part. There's a few exceptions but I think the 80's is when things finally started getting consistently good. I don't think it's nostalgia either because I was barely even alive in the 80's.

Well, I mean, there's racism and then there's racism. I'd be fine with calling my grandpa a little bit racist---------------he laughed at 'You're a Sap Mr. Jap' when it came out, but, well, he'd already joined the Navy at that point and was heading towards deployment in the Pacific, he wound up serving three years on a carrier and lost friends in combat missions and kamikaze attacks. Doesn't put him on the same level as some red-faced font of bile ranting about Jews and Mexicans.

When it comes down to it, the Looney Tunes just cast a real wide net. I'm sure the creators were simply trying to make people laugh, not be hateful. Possibly they thought their cartoons were just some flash in the pan that'd be forgotten in only a few years, as well. We can't always anticipate the weird consequences a piece of art will have on the culture. Like, I already brought up how Daffy Duck inadvertantly changed the way Americans say "despicable"------------how about the change to the word "nimrod"? Bugs calls Elmer "O! mighty Nimrod" a few times as an allusion to the renowned hunter from the Bible, but, because Bugs was being sarcastic and insulting, people started using "nimrod" as a synonym for "blockhead", too. Or, like, the standard sort of 'old-timey gangster' accent that's come about, it's more-or-less a result of Mel Blanc doing an impression of Cagney or Edgar G Robinson when Bugs met a gangster-------------it's funny to me that you can, to this day, hear people doing Cagney, who've probably never seen a Cagney flick in their lives. Ditto with Peter Lorre becoming sort of the de facto 'creepy guy/igor' voice everywhere you look, even though Peter Lorre wasn't much of a horror guy, at least compared to his noir stuff.

Cartoon historian Jerry Beck is curating the launch of an all-new national television network, MeTV TOONS, and he's talking EXCLUSIVELY with Don and John about the new network! The Musical Innertube is the ONLY podcast Jerry is talking with about MeTV Toons!
This new channel is dedicated exclusively to the very best of classic animation, from Hollywood-era shorts to made-for-television favorites. In this new collaboration between Warner Bros. Discovery and Weigel – the company behind the top rated MeTV Network – MeTV Toons will welcome dozens of the world’s most loved classic cartoons to this new destination, hearkening back to the glory days of cartoons on TV with familiar friends including Warner Bros.’ most famous animated characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, George Jetson, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, Popeye, Johnny Quest and Fred Flintstone, to name just a few. Alongside Warner Bros. properties, other beloved cartoon characters joining MeTV Toons include Rocky and Bullwinkle, Woody Woodpecker, Casper, Betty Boop, Speed Racer and more.

"Program Schedule"

"MeTV Toons Unveils Debut Programming Schedule" (article)

MeTV Toons is the new TV destination for the greatest classic animation series of all time.

We are glad you are here! Everyone has a favorite cartoon character, and chances are they are on the new MeTV Toons network!

Look for us beginning June 25th!