The Bugs Bunny Show, on ABC / CBS
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This show originally aired in prime time on ABC, in 1960, which is fifteen years before I was born. It later moved to Saturday mornings, sometimes on ABC and sometime on CBS. And it went by various names over the years. I must have watched it on CBS in the early 80s, at which point I suppose it would have been called "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show," but I don't really remember. The title isn't really important, anyway. To me it will always just be "Looney Tunes." I guess there was some new material produced specifically for the show, over the years, but I think it mainly consisted of animated shorts that were originally released theatrically, in the late 40s through the late 60s. (The shorts included both "Looney Tunes" and "Merry Melodies," but I personally don't distinguish between the two.) Anyway, if I ever get around to rewatching any of the old shorts, I'll put reviews of them in my site's short films section. For now, I can't say much of anything specific about the show, but it was an important part of my childhood (and an important part of the history of animation in general). So of course it's very nostalgic to me. Um... I also want to say that in later years (the 1990s), Cartoon Network aired an annual marathon of some of these cartoons, called June Bugs. I'm not sure how much of that I ever watched, but it's something I remember being at least aware of, for several years, and now I find the idea of that marathon kind of nostalgic, as well.

Of course the show included a bunch of classic cartoon characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester & Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Michigan J. Frog, the Tazmanian Devil, et al. What can I say? Everyone already knows these cartoons. Lots of slapstick violence and whatnot... it's just... I dunno, it's all too much to try to describe, except to say that it's, you know, looney. And brilliant. And funny. And sometimes controversial. But, again, classic. Oh, and of course the opening theme song, "This Is It," is pretty damn classic, itself. (I often think of it being referenced in an episode of Seinfeld.)

There have also been many great musical numbers in various Looney Tunes cartoons, a couple of my favorites being "What's Opera, Doc?" and "The Rabbit of Seville." In 1991, a CD called Bugs Bunny on Broadway was released, a soundtrack to a touring show from 1990. I always wanted to get that, but I never got around to it, and now I'm thinking I probably never will, because the tracks are not quite like the original versions from the cartoons. In 2010 there was a new CD released called Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, which includes a lot of the same music, but I doubt I'll get that, either. I'm not sure if there's any CD that includes the original recordings of music from the cartoons, which is a shame.

Over the years there have been tons of (directly or indirectly) related projects: TV specials such as Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special in 1978, "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" in 1979; numerous modern shows (some with old characters, some with new characters), such as "Tiny Toon Adventures" in 1990, "Taz-Mania" in 1991, Animaniacs in 1993, Pinky and the Brain in 1995, Duck Dodgers in 2003, Loonatics Unleashed in 2005, "The Looney Tunes Show" in 2011; movies such as "Space Jam" in 1996 and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" in 2003, etc. A lot of that stuff I've never seen, but would like to, and some I saw at least a bit of, but haven't yet written reviews of, so I should try to see them again someday. It may not all be as great as the original cartoons, but it's at least worth checking out.