''The Road Runner Show'' is an American Saturday morning animated

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

which compiled theatrical Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons from the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 1970s to the ...

'', which were produced by

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

between 1949 and 1964. Several of the shorts, especially the ones produced from 1965 onward, were produced by

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng Productions when involved with the Mirisch brothers and Geoffrey Productions; and DFE Films) was an American animation production company that was active from 1963 to 1 ...

after Warner Bros. closed their animation studio. DePatie–Freleng Enterprises provided the animation for the show's intro and closing credits.

Background

From 1966 to 1968, ''The Road Runner Show'' initially ran for two seasons on CBS. From 1968 to 1969, CBS combined ''The Road Runner Show'' with ''

The Bugs Bunny Show ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 1969 ...

'' to produce ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour''. The Road Runner and the Coyote more often shared at least an hour with

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...

on CBS. In 1971, ABC picked up ''The Road Runner Show'' and ran for two seasons until 1973, when the network dropped the show due to its excessively aggressive scenes. Later on, CBS re-acquired the show and aired them as reruns under ''The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour'' until the mid-80s. Each show would feature one Road Runner/Coyote cartoon, with a

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 ...

and

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented ...

cartoon in the middle segment, and other WB animated character(s) in the third segment (usually

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.'' Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon panthe ...

Foghorn Leghorn Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon rooster who appears in ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of A ...

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 ...

Pepé Le Pew Pepé Le Pew is an animated character from the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons, introduced in 1945. Depicted as a French striped skunk, Pepé is constantly on the quest for love. However, his offensive ...

and

Hippety Hopper Hippety Hopper is a young kangaroo character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' series of cartoons. Robert McKimson introduced Hippety Hopper in '' Hop, Look and Listen'' (1948), which established the pattern for future Hippety Hopper cartoons ...

). The intro of every cartoon was replaced with a simple title card, along with the shortened version of William Lava's arrangement of '' The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down''.

Theme song

The theme song was written and performed by Barbara Cameron. In 1999, it was covered by the Mexican band

Chicos de Barrio Chicos de Barrio is a Mexican musical group formed in 1995 in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. The group has 11 members, of which the percussion, harmony and swing are predominant. The group's music combines urban, hip hop, salsa, vallenato, reggae an ...

and was later parodied in ''

Histeria! ''Histeria!'' is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, ''Histeria!'' was an explicitly educational program created to ...

'' featuring

Father Time Father Time is a personification of time. In recent centuries he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device. As an image, "Father Ti ...

and Big Fat Baby. It has also been covered by

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached ...

, and Barbara Cameron re-recorded the theme with her son, Jazz violinist Doug Cameron (with Paul Julian's iconic ''Beep-Beep'' and other sound effects from the shorts used on the recording) for his ''Different Hats'' album in 2008. An instrumental version was used as the theme song for the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote segments of '' The Looney Tunes Show''.

Cast

* Paul Julian as

The Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, t ...

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

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' ...

as Granny (in "The Jet Cage" segment) *Additional voices provided by

Bea Benaderet Beatrice Benaderet ( ; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that s ...

and Hal Smith

References

External links

The Road Runner Show Page
by Kevin McCorry; retrieved 25 November 2018 1960s American animated television series 1970s American animated television series 1966 American television series debuts 1968 American television series endings 1971 American television series debuts 1973 American television series endings 1960s American anthology television series 1970s American anthology television series American Broadcasting Company original programming American children's animated anthology television series Animated television series about birds CBS original programming English-language television shows Looney Tunes television series Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner {{Looney-tunes-stub

Background

Theme song

Cast

See also

References

External links