The Looney Tunes Show: Good or Bad?

The Looney Tunes Show: Good or Bad?
Released	April 9, 2013
Running Time	11:56
Previous Review	Catwoman
Next Review	The Cat in the Hat
Link	http://channelawesome.com/nostalgia-critic-editorial-the-looney-tunes-show-good-or-bad/

NC: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I remember it so you don't have to. The New Looney Tunes Show: Good or Bad?

(Clips of the show play.)

NC(voice): There's been a lot of variations of the classic Looney Tunes characters over the years, but this latest reincarnation has caused the most controversy.

NC: And when I say "controversy", I mean geeks complaining about on message boards. Hell, there's probably people out there that should make videos about it. (chuckles, then thinks)

NC(voice): With that said, this rendition seems to have the most audiences split. The reason mostly centering around the Looney Tunes being domesticated. "They're not loony anymore!" some say, "It's mostly dialogue with not enough slapstick and too many changes made to the Looney Tunes personas,". Being a die-hard Looney Tunes fan myself, I felt it'd only fare to throw in my two cents.

NC: And, in my opinion... I think it's funny. Undeniably flawed, but still very funny.

NC(voice): I personally enjoy it because the focus is kept on what made the Looney Tunes hilarious to begin with: the Looney Tunes' personalities.

(Clips from the original Looney Tunes cartoons play.)

NC(voice): People forget that a lot of the Looney Tunes cartoons didn't have as much slapstick as you would think. It actually was a lot of talking. Take the most famous examples with Elmer, Bugs and Daffy. Most of it technically is just standing around discussing who the slapstick should happen to. And only once in a while did the slapstick actually happen. This is why many say the Warner Bros. cartoons were more adult humor...

(Clips from a Mickey Mouse cartoon play.)

NC(voice): ...where Disney cartoons were more childish humor. Theirs definitely had more motion and action...

(Back to the original Looney Tunes.)

NC(voice): ...but focus less on developing the jokes. Keep in mind also that these original cartoons were usually about seven minutes long.

(Back to the new Looney Tunes Show.)

NC(voice): TV shows nowadays are at least triple that time. So everything has to be expanded, including the dialogue. And with that said, the slapstick is still there, it just has to be proportionate to the time given or else it will be overused. But that's no the only complaint. Another one is that they're too domesticated. Bugs and Daffy live in Suburbia and focus more on the problems a Seinfeld episode would focus on rather than a Looney Tunes short.

NC: Well, in many respects (shrugs) I think Seinfeld is kind of similar to Looney Tunes.

(Clips from Seinfeld play showing the characters that are similar to the Looney Tunes characters.)

NC(voice): Isn't Jerry very similar to Bugs, or George is very similar to Daffy? Hell, even the visual humor and hair-brained schemes of Kramer seem very similar to the Coyote. So I think it's a very welcomed comparison.

(Back to the new Looney Tunes Show.)

NC(voice): And in many respects, Looney Tunes actually has a bigger advantage because it's animated. Therefore, it can go even further with it's humor. For example, there's an episode where Lola invites Bugs to be in her family portrait. But when Bugs chips a tooth, she wants to selfishly leave him out, despite Bugs being more determined than ever to now want to be in it just out of spite. Now that's very Seinfeld. But the fact that they go so far as to have a car chase with a coach and carriage, an explosion and a fall of a cliff resulting in all of them getting a chipped tooth for the portrait, that's Looney Tunes. So in many respects, it is a similar setup, but they can have even more fun and creativity with their jokes. Because, simply put, there's no boundaries. I guess another reason it works for me is because I believe that, while truly great characters don't change over time, environments do. And if Looney Tunes still wants to speak to both an adult and a kid audience, the characters can stay the same, but it has to evolve with the rest of the world. Changes have to be made. And I think many of us now how most people react to change nowadays.

(The Critic is on his back without his jacket, tie or hat, waving his arms and legs, acting like a little kid having a temper tantrum.)

Critic (in a Douchey McNitpick voice): I don't want change! I don't want change! Everything has to stay the same!

NC(voice): But as long as the environments create comedic possibilities for their personalities to work off of, I'm all for it. It's true some of the characters have been changed around but again, I think it's for the better. Bugs is just as much the everyman now as he was in the past because the show acknowledges people's weaknesses of modern day and their clever solutions of modern day. But having him more fragile and actually able to lose, it makes him more identifiable, as well as much more appreciative when he actually does win. If he always won it would become boring.

(Scenes from the original shorts play.)

NC(voice): Even the original cartoons had to mix it up once in a while. And Bugs always had to show some weakness as he had to get into a predicament that he had to get out of.

(Back to the Looney Tunes Show.)

NC(voice): Thus, we're all the more interested in how he'll use his cool and wit to deal with the situation when we know it could just as easily backfire. Daffy is still just as selfish and diabolical as ever, Porky still seems to be the optimistic pawn in everybody's plans, and then we have Lola.

NC: Oh, Jesus, we hippity-hoppity-Christ, thank you for Lola!

NC(voice): This has literally gone from one of my most despised Looney Tunes characters into one of my favorites.