Recently, I have been seeing a surprisingly large resurgence in a series that seemed to come and go about 10 years ago without leaving much of an impact - 2011's "The Looney Tunes Show", known as the suburban, Seinfeld-esque re-imagining of the classic ensemble. And though I had fond memories of the show, I was more than curious enough at this sudden trend to revisit the series for myself.
When it first arrived, it got some polarizing reception, with of course the negative side being the more vocal end. A lot of the criticisms at the time were surprisingly pretty reasonable at face value: a lack of cartoony slapstick, characters being dumbed-down or flanderized, and just being a plain jarring departure from what Looney Tunes was designed to be. There were some defenders in those years, particularly Doug Walker (funnily enough), but they were fairly few and far between. But as time went on, especially after the series ended in favor of further iterations, its existing fans have become more vocal about what they liked about it which then rubbed off onto various newcomers, and by now it has hit the point where it has reportedly trended on the streaming service HBO Max as well as constantly getting viral posts across social media.
I'll admit, while I got some enjoyment out of the show right from the start, I thought it was fairly mediocre in many ways, partly because I somewhat bought into these criticisms for a while and partly for some shortcomings I'll describe as we get to them. But sure enough, about mid-way through season 2 around 2013, I grew myself appreciating what it set out to do a lot more and I found myself tuning in to each new episode until it quietly disappeared after August of that year. But even then, I didn't quite the expect social media to gravitate to it so much this long after the fact. So was it just a matter of the show being too ahead of its time, a matter of attracting a different audience, or just plain nostalgia that turned the general consensus on this show around over the years?
Obviously this means creative liberties have to be made to the characters. The smart-ass Bugs Bunny is very laid-back and usually played as a sort of straight man, which many believe made him bland. But what people forget about the iconic character is that even from the beginning he was quite chill by default; as famously stated by Bob Clampett, "I play it cool, but I can get hot under the collar." And that very much holds true throughout the show, we just see his calm side more often because of the extra time devoted to stetting up a story. The more he's wronged, the more he becomes the smart alleck. It helps they do give him a few more flaws that make sense for someone like him, particularly his occasional lack of self-awareness. There's an entire plot where he essentially destroys his house in a vain attempt to install a shelf himself, and another where he lets a lie snowball into accidentally putting himself in an Albanian prison, just to name a couple examples. But they don't feel jarring because they still stem from an everyman position.
Then of course, there's Daffy Duck. He's been portrayed in a number of different ways over the years, from being an naive nutcase to a smug manipulator to a selfish loser. This iteration seems to be an interesting mix of all these versions. He has the foresight of a 4-year-old, making decisions on a whim with no regard for the long-term effects. He also loves to cheat his way through life however he can and freeload off the happy-go-lucky pushover Porky Pig. And of course, this leads to him usually ending up on the bottom of the totem pole. It goes without saying he's pretty dang unlikable most of the time, but I think what makes him an enjoyable foil is just how unpredictable he actually is, and that it consistently goes along with Chuck Jones' interpretation that Daffy "expresses all of the things we're afraid to express", making him feel like a sort of outlet for our own selfish urges. Plus there's his relationship with Tina, which you'd think any relationship involving him would fall completely flat, but she sees just enough good deep down that she knows can be let out of him with the right motivation. It's surprisingly endearing every time she appears.
Speaking of relationships - Lola Bunny, easily the character people remember the most from this show, partly from how radically she changed from her original appearance in "Space Jam". Apart from furry bait, she had virtually no personality to go off of (and her hook certainly wouldn't fly in the 2010s), so when executives asked to bring her back it was a pretty daunting task to try and figure out a good angle to take her. Turns out, making her a rambling, lovesick ditz with the voice of Kristen Wiig turned out to be a winning combination. Many people criticized her witless nature, and I wouldn't blame you if you found her annoying at first, but I think that's greatly oversimplifying what she actually represents in the show. She's more impressionable than anything else, and just from how she talks her train of thought manages to almost make sense in a twisted kind of way. Plus, as much as an obsessed stalker as she gets, there's a certain earnestness to how she behaves as well. Even though her mind isn't all there, it becomes hard not to admire her optimism and Wiig's performance just adds to the already hilarious lines she gets.
The secondary and tertiary characters of the cast are also implemented into the show's world in such various ways. Yosemite Sam as the annoying redneck neighbor and Foghorn Leghorn (aka Big Fat Rooster) as the eccentric business mogul both feel as natural as they get. But then you have Witch Hazel (or Lezah, as she's called here) being much more sane and sassy, often getting offended at witch stereotypes as well as having Gossamer as a child - which in particular proves to be so bizarre a decision I found it kind of charming in its own right. Of course, this inevitably leads to a handful of inclusions I ended up not being a fan of, like Taz who becomes Bugs' dog and Elmer Fudd as a news anchor, both of which feel out of place even in a Looney Tunes world and simply don't give them much to do.
But on the flip side, a couple pleasant surprises came as well. Speedy Gonzalez was not just a hyper little rodent, he's a strong role model who doesn't hesitate to tell it like it is and call out other people's bullshit, on top of effortlessly running the very successful restaurant Pizzarriba. And the other is Cecil Turtle, a return over 50 years in the making and man was it worth it. He appears as a sadistic customer service rep, and then again near the end where he scams people out of money. The main reason he disappeared for a while definitely has to do with Bugs generally being portrayed as an antagonist whenever he'd appear in the old days, but this finds a pretty clever workaround. In both appearances, Cecil continually pushes Bugs' buttons and seems to almost have him pinned to the wall (in one instance, even at gunpoint) and even though Bugs does win unlike the classic run-ins, he has to really work for it and thus they feel earned when they happen. And sure enough, the character has returned to being a semi-regular part of the ensemble in the iterations since.
But then you get to the tone of the show, which is where things start to get really interesting. Despite airing on Cartoon Network, TLTS was very committed to resembling shows like "Seinfeld", down to having a lot of the social satire humor, non-patronizing dialogue, and many stories being applicable to young adult life. Kids could definitely watch and laugh at a lot of the antics and visual humor, but for the most part it's something that seemed to be made for roughly the same crowd as Regular Show - general audiences, but with a lean toward adults. It almost felt like a return to form for the franchise, as not only were the theatrical shorts like this (something easy to forget in the modern age), but before this point it was clearly struggling to find an appealing direction in the general public. From "Space Jam" up until this series, they all seemed to suffer under the stigma of animation being largely a kid distractor, even with a few being successful in their own right like "Duck Dodgers". Which yes, I'm pretty sure did contribute to the initial skepticism.
For example, take a look at the aforementioned episode "Customer Service". It's certainly full of jokes that kids are likely to laugh at, like Daffy self-congratulating on the most mundane of tasks, Lola getting covered in toner ink spots, and Lola fantasizing Bugs in a customer role when Tina tries to get her to role-play. But the vast majority of the substance is much more likely to go over their head. Specifically, the stories of Bugs having to deal with Cecil (who turns off his cable and 'accidentally' makes things worse just for kicks), Daffy getting a job at the cable company only to fire people, and Tina having to come to grips with her attitude toward her customers. These are all situations that simply aren't applicable to what most kids, even of the 6-12 bracket, are likely to experience or be too familiar with. But as an adult, particularly one who dealt with at least one of these situations for themselves, would laugh their rear off because they keep the gags somewhat grounded in reality while keeping the characters as true to themselves as possible in the environment.
As for the writing itself, the quality is surprisingly varied for material that was mostly given to the same crew of 3-4 people. I think one reason why it didn't have the warmest reception at first is because the first handful of episodes are generally rather slow and are very limited in set pieces and characters. Some lines are humorous, but many are either overly meta (which cracks the illusion they're going for) or are just too awkwardly paced to properly land. But then around episode 10, they start to discover a groove by relying more on cutaways, subplots, and making the initially-mundane stories devolve to absurdity. And they get a good enough handle on the characters where their inclusion in any situation can become funny in and of itself. They aren't always consistent about it, like they make Daffy just a little insufferable in a few episodes like "Here Comes the Pig". But for the most part, they really figured out what works over time, particularly come season 2.
An episode like "You've Got Hate Mail' is a key example of how strong the writing became by then. Both stories start off really mundane: Daffy accidentally sending a scathing e-mail to everyone and Bugs having to prepare for Lola's family photo only to chip his tooth. But the twists they take are so many and off-the-wall that it's hard not to laugh at them, not to mention getting as many characters as possible involved. Bugs' initial reluctance to be included in the photo makes sense given how uncomfortable Lola still makes him sometimes, but then when Lola doesn't want him included, his turnaround is even more justified because he outright adores rubbing spite in his wrongdoers' faces. And Daffy being determined to break into Tina's apartment and laptop are also made really funny because of how his logic consistently starts to almost make sense, but not quite. These concepts aren't very humorous by themselves, but it's the energy and strong character interactions that make them as entertaining as they are.
So yeah, I think a variety of different factors can account for the Looney Tunes Show's recent resurgence. Not only were people able to better judge the series as a whole, thanks to having all 52 episodes fully accessible on HBO Max, but the increased goodwill people now have toward the franchise with "Looney Tunes Cartoons" and the promising-looking "Space Jam 2" made people more inclined to view it a positive light as well. It obviously doesn't win over everyone; with a shift this drastic you're bound to turn away some people, and I doubt anyone who was especially skeptical at first would be immediately swayed. But for those who were able to take a quick look when they were in the marketed audience years ago, and are now able to view it as adults (who the show was actually written for), all of a sudden so many more of the jokes and situations connect. It really is a subtle deconstruction of the life we currently lead, all told through beloved cartoons that we know and love. And as passionate as several recent Looney Tunes projects have been, there will never be another interpretation like this one.
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