''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

anthology television series hosted by

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...

that was mainly composed of theatrical '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

between 1948 and 1969. The show originally debuted as a primetime half-hour program on ABC in 1960, featuring three theatrical ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons with new linking sequences produced by the Warner Bros. Cartoons staff. After two seasons, ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' moved to Saturday mornings, where it remained in one format or another for nearly four decades. The show's title and length changed regularly over the years, as did the network: both ABC and CBS broadcast versions of ''The Bugs Bunny Show''. In 2000, the series, by then known as ''The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show'', was canceled after the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' libraries became the exclusive property of the Cartoon Network family of cable TV networks in the United States. Reruns of ''The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show'' were aired on the Canadian channels

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and "cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts an ...

and Teletoon's sister channel,

Teletoon Retro Teletoon Retro was a Canadian specialty channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment that was based on the Teletoon programming block. The service was dedicated to broadcasting classic animated television programs as well as some live-action s ...

(until 2015 when Teletoon Retro signed off). Prior to Teletoon and Teletoon Retro, CBC Television (1960–1975) and Global Television Network (1978–1982, 1990–2000) aired the show. In Australia, episodes of the show were divided between three networks, with most episodes aired on Nine Network, and some episodes divided between Network Ten, and

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

since its debut. In Asia, the program was aired in Japan and South Korea in the early 1960's and also aired on

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

and RPN in the Philippines, it was also aired on TPI (now MNCTV) from mid 1990's to early 2000's and

RCTI RCTI (''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is a West Jakarta-based Indonesian free-to-air television network. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, origina ...

during 2000's in Indonesia as well.

Broadcast and format history

''The Bugs Bunny Show'' in prime time, 1960-1962

The original ''Bugs Bunny Show'' debuted on ABC prime time in the United States on October 11, 1960, airing on Tuesdays at 7:30 PM ET, under the sponsorship of

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

(

Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

cereals, Tang, etc.). Newly produced linking segments were done for each episode by the Warner Bros. animation staff. Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng produced, directed, and created the

storyboards A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in th ...

for the earliest of these, with Robert McKimson later taking over the direction while Jones and Freleng continued producing and writing. The wraparounds were produced in color, although the original broadcasts of the show were in black-and-white. A total of 52 episodes were made. Rather than display the full Warner Bros. logo and opening title/credits sequence of each cartoon shown in each episode (as shown in the original theatrical versions and could take up to 20 seconds), new title cards were created to begin each cartoon, and displayed for only about five seconds over a newly composed musical cue; the card omitted the Warner Bros. logo and any detailed credits of the animators, and simply featured the title of the cartoon in bold letters on a plain background, the main character of the cartoon standing off to one side, and the copyright notice of the cartoon rendered in a smaller font at the bottom, before cutting directly to the opening scene of the cartoon, these cuts were sometimes awkward depending on how the original opening sequence was animated. A general credits line was shown at the end of each full episode: "Stories, Animation, layouts, and backgrounds: Members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 839." (The ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons syndicated to local stations as a package, beginning in the 1950s, generally retained the original opening title sequences as shown in theaters.) The show's

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

was "This Is It", written by

Mack David Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...

and

Jerry Livingston Jerry Livingston (born Jerry Levinson; March 25, 1909 – July 1, 1987) was an American songwriter and dance orchestra pianist. Life and career Born in Denver, Colorado, Livingston studied music at the University of Arizona. While there he com ...

(''"Overture/curtain, lights/this is it/the night of nights..."''). The opening title sequence, animated by Freleng unit animator Gerry Chiniquy,McCorry, Kevin (2007).
The Bugs Bunny Show Page
" features Bugs and

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

performing the song in unison. For the final chorus, a lineup of ''Looney Tunes'' characters joins Bugs and Daffy onstage (Porky Pig, however, is absent from the procession, although Porky had a spin-off show based on the original ''Bugs Bunny Show'' 4 years later titled '' The Porky Pig Show'' which aired on ABC from 1964 to 1967). ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' proved beneficial to the Warner Bros. cartoon staff, as it allowed the studio to remain open despite the shrinking market for theatrical animated shorts. Barrier, Michael (1999). ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age''. New York: Oxford University Press. Pg. 562. . The final first-run episode of the original ''Bugs Bunny Show'' aired on August 7, 1962, and the Warner Bros. animation studio closed the following spring.

The move to Saturday mornings, 1962–1985

ABC began re-running ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' on Saturday mornings in mid-August 1962 until September 1967 when it was moved to Sunday mornings for the remainder of its run. The series was rerun in color beginning in 1965, and remained on ABC until September 1968. At this point, the series switched to CBS, where it was combined with '' The Road Runner Show'' (which had aired on CBS since 1966) to create ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour''.McCorry, Kevin (2007).
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour Page
" The standard ''Bugs Bunny Show'' opening and the announcer's introduction of Bugs Bunny ("that

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winning rabbit!") were directly followed by the rabbit's saying, "...and also starring my fast feathered friend, the Road Runner", after which ''The Road Runner Show's'' theme was played. ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' combined re-edited bridging sequences from both shows to link the seven cartoons featured in each episode. The bridging sequences would be edited further in later versions of the ''Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour''. In 1971, ''The Road Runner Show'' moved to ABC, and a reconstituted half-hour ''Bugs Bunny Show'' aired on CBS, featuring re-edited versions of the bridging sequences and a different grouping of cartoons. In 1973, ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' returned to ABC for two seasons, only for CBS to re-acquire both shows and bring back ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' in 1975. In 1976, Sylvester and

Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for t ...

were featured in their own ''Sylvester and Tweety Show'' for one year, necessitating the removal of most of the Tweety and/or Sylvester cartoons on ''Bugs Bunny/Road Runner'' that season. Also that year, a weekly half-hour prime-time edition of ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show'' briefly aired on CBS' Tuesday night schedule from April through June. ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' became ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show'' in November 1977 after CBS added another half-hour to the runtime. In 1981, a companion ''Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy, and Speedy Show'' was added to the CBS schedule, which included a number of later cartoons produced by a reestablished Warner Bros. Cartoons studio from 1967 to 1969. The following year, this new companion series was canceled, and its cartoons were incorporated into ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show'', which was broadcast as two separate hour-long programs on Saturday mornings (for the second program, the show's opening titles were re-animated). In 1983, CBS returned the show to 90 minutes and the bridging sequences were dropped. The following year, the "This Is It" opening was jettisoned altogether; a new title sequence (created from clips of the cartoons) and new theme song ("It's Cartoon Gold"), composed by Steve Zuckerman with lyrics by John Klawitter, introduced the show.

Final Saturday morning years, 1985–2000

CBS gave up the rights to broadcast the Warner Bros. cartoons following the 1984–1985 season, and as a result, the show moved back to ABC, where it became ''The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour''. Cartoons featuring Tweety or

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fas ...

were not broadcast on ABC during the 1985–86 season, the latter presumably due to Mexican stereotypes. The following year, however, Tweety cartoons were added to the program, which was reduced to a half-hour and renamed ''The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show''.McCorry, Kevin (2007).
The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show Page
" Beginning with its third season, ''The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show'' was expanded to a full hour, and the original "This Is It" theme was reintroduced with similar animation as the original, accompanied by the introductory sequence introduced in 1982. Another version of the "This Is It" opening sequence was done in 1992 with different character animations. Though the program did not qualify for the educational/informational designation, it nonetheless remained on Saturday mornings after the new designation debuted in 1996, one of the few non-E/I programs to survive the rules changes. The previous year, ABC was bought by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

, and ''The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show'' was the only non-Disney cartoon to remain on the lineup, due to their contract not being up yet, and was in the first few years of the

Disney's One Saturday Morning ABC Kids (originally titled Disney's One Saturday Morning until 2002) was an American Saturday-morning cartoon, Saturday morning block programming, children's programming block that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 13, ...

block starting in 1997 (with the Disney logo omitted from the blocks bumpers during the show). The program was often paired with ABC's in-house Schoolhouse Rock! shorts during this time. The hour-long ''Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show'' remained on the air until 1999, when it was again reduced to a half-hour. In 2000, Warner Bros. made the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies film library exclusive to Cartoon Network, which Time Warner owned as part of the purchase of

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

in 1996. As a result, ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' ended its nearly four-decade-long network run, one of the longest runs in the history of United States network television. Outside cartoons in the public domain, Warner Bros. cartoons would not return to American broadcast television until the 2021 debut of '' Toon In with Me'' on

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

, along with a companion Saturday morning block.

Legacy

This show is credited for keeping the Warner Bros. cartoons made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. Indeed, the show ran for almost four decades, and helped inspire animators, comedians, historians, and others who watched Saturday morning television. The "This Is It" song's fame is such that it has been used elsewhere, such as in the Canadian province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

where it was used in a

TV commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

promoting the various

performing art The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...

s where artists of various disciplines sing separate lines of the song. In " The Opera," an episode from the fourth season of the US sitcom '' Seinfeld'', Jerry sings "This Is It" to Elaine while both characters are waiting outside the theater, causing Elaine to exclaim, "You know it is so sad, all your knowledge of

high culture High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society con ...

comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons." When Warner Bros. released its video series "Golden Jubilee", featuring the classic cartoons, the opening sequence shows the Tasmanian Devil maniacally riding a motorcycle down a city street, chased by a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

car. He makes a sharp turn into a theater, where the rest of the Looney Tunes are performing to the ''Bugs Bunny Show'' tune. In 2021, the original "This is It" opening sequence was re-edited into the intro to ''Bugs Bunny and Friends'' as part of the ''Saturday Morning Cartoons'' block on

Animated sequences produced for the show

A series of short animated scenes were produced for the show, featured "linking" moments during the fictional theater setting of the show. These scenes included: * A frustrated Daffy Duck bickering on stage with Bugs Bunny. Daffy declares, "''Last'' week you said you were going to introduce me ''next'' week!" Bugs replies, "Right...but this isn't next week, is it?" Daffy trips himself up and replies, "You're doggone tootin' is isn't! This is ''this'' week! And next week is uhhh...ummm...sheesh!" * A barking sheepdog wanders into the theater, saying "Which way did he go? Where's the little bunny I saw on TV last week?" Daffy, at this time, has dressed up in a rabbit costume and is on stage pretending to be Bugs. The sheepdog pounces upon Daffy and exclaims, "At last, at last! I have caught a bunny rabbit!" * Bugs entertains the audience by playing a guitar. An angry Yosemite Sam barges in the theater shouting, "Can't ya see I'm tryin' to sleep?!?", snatches the guitar from Bugs, and snaps all of its strings. * Bugs demonstrates some cartoon physics, including slow motion, fast speed and "virbrating to a stop." The show's title sequences and some of these linking material scenes from the original ''Bugs Bunny Show'' are included as bonus features on each volume of the ''

Looney Tunes Golden Collection The ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection'' is a series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' animated shorts. The series began on October 28, 2003, and ended on Octo ...

'' DVD collection (with the exception of Volume 6). As the original color negatives were cut up by CBS and ABC to create later versions of the show, the linking sequences are presented on DVD using a combination of footage from both what's left of the color negatives (some of which were used in later incarnations, thus helping to preserve them) and the black-and-white ABC broadcast prints prepared in the early 1960s. On the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2'', the opening to the ''Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show'' (with the announcer calling it the ''Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'') and two openings to the ''Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show'' (the 1988 opening and the 1992 opening) were released as special features. In 2009, an episode of the ''Bugs Bunny Show'' in color was released on the Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Volume 2 set. Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Volume 2 includes an episode of the ''Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show''.

List of Original Primetime Episodes

Season 1 (1960–1961)

Season 2 (1961–1962)

Formats

Prime Time: * ''The Bugs Bunny Show'', October 11, 1960 – August 7, 1962 ( ABC) Saturday Mornings: * ''The Bugs Bunny Show'', August 1962 – September 8, 1968 (in color starting September 10, 1966) ( ABC) * ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'', September 14, 1968 – September 4, 1971 (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

) * ''The Bugs Bunny Show'', September 11, 1971 – September 1, 1973 (CBS) * ''The Bugs Bunny Show'', September 8, 1973 - August 30, 1975 (ABC) * ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'', September 6, 1975 – November 12, 1977 (CBS) * ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show'', November 19, 1977 – September 7, 1985 (CBS) * ''The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour'', September 7, 1985 – September 6, 1986 (ABC) * ''The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show'', September 13, 1986 – September 2, 2000 (ABC)

Credits

* Senior Directors: Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson * Co-directors:

Hawley Pratt Hawley B. Pratt (June 9, 1911 – March 4, 1999) was an American film director, animator, and illustrator. He is best known for his work for Warner Bros. Cartoons and as the right-hand man of director Friz Freleng as a layout artist and later as ...

, Gerry Chiniquy,

Art Davis Arthur David Davis (December 6, 1934 – July 29, 2007) was a double-bassist, known for his work with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Max Roach. Biography Davis was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...

, Abe Levitow, Maurice Noble, Alex Lovy, David Detiege, Rudy Larriva, Tom Ray * Stories, Animation, layouts, and backgrounds: Members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 839 * Music:

Carl W. Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by Wa ...

, Milt Franklyn, John Seely,

William Lava William "Bill" Benjamin Lava (March 18, 1911 – February 20, 1971) was a composer and arranger who composed and conducted music for feature films as well as that for the Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' animated carto ...

William L. Hendricks William L. Hendricks (May 3, 1904 – March 29, 1992) was a former USMCR Colonel who was the key figure in setting up the "Toys for Tots" program. Aside from his USMCR career, he also worked in the film industry for many years, initially as a docu ...

Walter Greene Walter Greene (January 23, 1910 – December 23, 1983) was a film and television composer who worked on numerous productions for over 30 years. Career Born and raised in Tarkio, Missouri, Greene attended Tarkio College and the Horner Institute ...

, Eugene Poddany, Doug Goodwin, Rob Walsh, Quinn Amper, Fred Strittmatter, Dean Elliot * ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' Opening and Closing Theme: "This Is It" by

* Film Editors: Treg Brown, Hal Geer, Fred Farrell, Chuck McCann, Jim Champin, Lee Gunther * Producers: Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, David H. DePatie * Executive Producers: Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, David H. DePatie,

*Cast: Mel Blanc, Stan Freberg,

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

, Hal Smith, and Arthur Q. Bryan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bugs Bunny Show 1960s American animated television series 1960s American anthology television series 1970s American animated television series 1970s American anthology television series 1980s American animated television series 1980s American anthology television series 1990s American animated television series 1990s American anthology television series 2000s American animated television series 2000s American anthology television series 1960 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings 1985 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings American children's animated anthology television series American Broadcasting Company original programming ABC Kids (TV programming block) CBS original programming English-language television shows Looney Tunes television series Television series by Warner Bros. Animation Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Warner Bros. Cartoons Animated television series about rabbits and hares Bugs Bunny