That whirring noise you hear is the creators of the original characters spinning in their graves.
Posted on 03/02/2005 10:44:50 AM PST by Comedylover
One look at the new, angry Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck and I’m reminded why I got into this field of children’s entertainment in the first place: The gatekeepers of today’s animation don’t care what parents think. It’s not even a consideration.
If you haven’t heard, Warner Bros. is prepping a new-look Looney Tunes (calling them Loonatics) for the near future, having turned the lovable characters we’ve grown up with into menacing creatures that look like they crawled out of a nuclear disaster.
Warner Bros. just doesn’t get what the fuss is all about.
The studio sent recently named entertainment president David Janollari out to quell the uprising. “We all flipped for it” Janollari explained with glee. “We just said, 'Wow, what a great way to take the classic Looney Tunes franchise that has been huge with audiences for decades and bring it into the new millennium.”
This from the same Janollari who recently told a gay magazine “it would be really remiss of me if I didn't try to find shows on this network that accurately reflect gay life.”
Again, blue-state Warner Bros. just doesn’t get it.
But moms and dads do. I know more and more parents who are using their channel blocking controls to keep children’s shows off the television, let alone MTV. It’s one thing to have show after show that has no redeaming value, it’s another to have show after show pushing an agenda with which many parents don’t agree. Witness the recent obsession with introducing kids to homosexuality. The children’s network Nogin has a show with a gay relationship. A PBS show for kids featured a family with two mothers. And now the Simpsons has a character come out. While the Simpson producers often say the show is not for kids, Fox knows better – which is why they run the show at 8, when more kids are likely to be watching. Note to the producers of the Simpsons: if you want to pretend The Simpsons isn’t for kids, don’t make lunchboxes.
I was first exposed to the children’s entertainment insanity years ago when the sitcom I was writing for was cancelled and I was suddenly asked to pitch children’s shows. At the time, I didn’t know much about them. As I did my homework and pitched show ideas, I kept running into the same problem: they weren’t interested in shows that honored parents or taught a moral lesson.
I wasn’t interested in pitching shows that didn’t. I’d say that was an impasse.
I wanted to create a show that parents could trust. The networks and studios wanted shows that got attention - not necessarily shows kids watched. That’s their right, I suppose. But it was a rather depressing realization. But I’m an optimist, so I kept coming back with ideas for shows that had redeeming value. They kept sending me away with a thank you and a bottle of carbonated water.
Seven years and three kids later, I get it now more than ever. I monitor what my kids see. Even the commercials that run during kids’ shows are problematic. More and more, I’m liking the world of direct-to-video.
So now I see this Bugs Bunny that looks meaner than the bad guys he battled in his worst days, and I ask myself this question: Did they bother asking what parents think? Did they even bother wondering what parents think?
I phoned Warner Bros. to ask that one question, but they didn’t return my call.
In one article, Warner Bros. animation president Sander Schwartz explained “We’re taking Bugs, a classic, and making him fresh, cool and hip.” That’s what parents need. Fresh, cool, hip.
How many times have you said “Where can I find a fresh, cool, hip example for my child?”
Instead, parents who care are being ridiculed. Look at the way the media handled the Spongebob controversy. Most of the articles I read didn’t even begin to represent Dr. Dobson correctly. A single MSNBC story called those concerned “Crackpot Christians” 15 times. Whether or not one agrees with either side of that squabble, it’s rather clear the media are obsessed with their own hostility toward conservatives.
And there’s the rub. Parents tend to lean conservative. Of the 100 fastest growing counties in the United States, 97 voted for Bush in 2004.
When you have kids, these things matter.
But Warner Bros. just doesn’t get it.
Who cares what parents think? They're not home.
Well, some parents get it. Other do not and feel it is their "right" to watch vulgar shows.
He always was.
Who has the gay relationship on Noggin?
We started monitoring the tv, not letting the kids watch Cartoon Network unless Bugs or Scooby was on; watching Nickolodeon with the boys to make sure what was on was okay for them to watch. Well, to got to be such a problem we just got rid of cable all together. We live to far out to get regular channels, so now the boys watch I love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Andy Griffith, Stargate, and Monk mostly. Love the dvd player. Of course, they only get to watch one hour a day, so they have to be choosy. Not a lot to be said for tv programming period.
My 9yo son is very upset that they ruined looney tunes. He loved them just they way they are.
Wow! That looks like ill-conceived garbage.
And we are not thin skined, LIBERALS ARE!!
"Taz" looks like some Mafioso vampire that got caught in a bad transporter accident with Doctor Zoyberg, ending up with lobster claws.
Parents don't care either.
I haven't seen it on yet, but I've banned my 9yr old daughter from watching Brace Face after the Peta episode, I caught that about half through and told her to switch channels. Also there are a bunch of other cartoons I don't let her watch because they are just to stupid (like the 3 Hollywood spie girls who're shopaholics) and any of those damn Dragon Ball Zero and such toons.
Conservatives don't have much to say about SpongeBob. The media is making this thing up. If Robin Williams says conservatives are calling SpongeBob gay, then the media acts as though it's true.
Who or what are the two freak things on the outer edges?
Our kids used to watch Arthur Until they started promoting single parent families and other unusual behavior. My oldest likes Kim Possible but no belly showing is allowed. It's true that the commercials are sometimes more offesive than the shows themself.
The characters are:
Wile E. Coyote
Tasmanian Devil
Bugs Bunny
Daffy Duck
Lola Bunny
Road Runner
Wyle E. Coyote and Daffy Duck, I think!
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