I suppose I’m the one who’s the fool, for thinking this day would never actually come, even though all signs were pointing in this direction. First Warner Bros. Discovery, under the inexpert stewardship of David Zaslav, took down half the classic Looney Tunes catalog (and the better half, at that) from their all-encompassing streaming app, Max. That was at the beginning of 2023, and by the end of that year WBD tried to remove all the remaining episodes, but backlash was swift so WBD backtracked. And of course there’s the tangential issue of Zaslav canning the completed film Coyote vs. Acme for a tax write-off — twice!! — which star Will Forte is still salty about years later. And well, folks, here we are: WBD has gone and removed all of the last standing classic Looney Tunes cartoons from Max, for a purported reason that’s a real stinker.
Of course you realize, this means WAR!
That’s all folks.
The original Looney Tunes animated shorts, which ran during the golden age of animation from 1930 through 1969, have been scrubbed by Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Max.
Deadline confirmed with a representative that the original shorts are no longer on Max. This is part of a new plan whereby the streamer will prioritize adult and family programming. Children’s programming, such as Looney Tunes and Sesame Street before it, doesn’t fare as well and is no longer viewed as a priority.
Other spinoff versions of Looney Tunes remain on the service, including six seasons of 2020’s Looney Tunes Cartoons, two seasons of 2015’s New Looney Tunes (the third season and some episodes from Season 1 are not available), two seasons of 2002’s Baby Looney Tunes, 2021’s four-episode scripted podcast Looney Tunes Presents: Bugs and Daffy’s Thanksgiving Road Trip, two seasons of 2023’s Tiny Toons Looniversity and its corresponding 42-minute Tiny Toons Looniversity: Spring Break special (thigh its winter spinoff is not streaming), five seasons of 1995’s The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and two season of 2022’s Bugs Bunny Builders.
This marks a departure from previous maneuvers: In 2023, Max clarified that the classic cartoon was not leaving the platform after an erroneous list of titles being removed in December included the program on it. “Looney Tunes was included in error as a title leaving the platform. This is not the case and the show will continue streaming on Max,” a statement read at the time.
The decision is not a surprising one, as children’s animation has long seen a steady decline. Last year, the parent company shuttered Cartoon Network’s website, just a week after its Boomerang streaming service — which aired mostly classic cartoons from Warner Bros. Animation library — shut down.
The move to scrub Looney Tunes from Max comes amid the March 14 release of The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Story, the first fully animated feature-length project receiving a theatrical opening in the franchise. That movie was originally greenlit for Max. However, when Warner Bros. Discovery took over, the straight-to-streaming movie wasn’t deemed a priority and sold to Ketchup Entertainment out of the American Film Market. The previous David Zaslav-led administration at Warner Bros. also made the Looney Tunes feature film, Coyote vs. Acme. That movie was shelved by the current WBD administration as it was deemed too costly to release, with the pic’s $70M production cost getting a writeoff from the corporation.
That’s the last straw for me; I’ve HAD it with the current WBD (and WH) administration! Our country is being dismantled, and now you’re also taking away Bugs Bunny?! This is not a tenable situation!! I am completely unable to ten at this point! Give us our goddamn Looney Tunes, Zaslav, you monster! (I thought of calling him an ultra-maroon, but ultimately decided it would be too great an honor.) Hyperbole Objectively sound analysis aside, what is this cockamamie argument of theirs for why just the classic Looney Tunes have been removed? First of all, will someone please explain to me the difference between “family” and “children’s” programming? Regardless, how are we supposed to take that line seriously, when a dozen other LT spinoffs, many if not most for children, are being kept on Max? And finally, show of hands: how many adults have watched our beloved vintage loonies without any kids present, simply for their own entertainment? Yeah, me too.
Still, I take full responsibility for not heeding the warning signs of this eventual outcome. As the great hare himself once said: “What did you expect in an opera, a happy ending?”
photos credit: Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty and screenshot of Max search page
I had been contemplating subscribing to MAX again for a few shows/movies but…
Nope nope nope, not going to do it.
I hope he and his descendants suffer for generations.
I used to subscribe the a streamer called boomerang- based on the cartoon channel spin-off the boomerang channel that showed cartoons from my 70s childhood and all that great looney toons stuff from decades before.
They even had playlists – where you could just want cartoons with bugs and a particular other character.
Daffy, Yosemite Sam, – and one with the big red thing and marvin the Martian.
also- scooby doo.
Then i went to turn it on one saturday morning in october, and it no longer existed.
Gone. Instead, the auto signed me up for max at the same price $5 for six months.
But a lot of the cartoons (including laff-a-lympics- a fav of mine) were just gone.
and all the themed playlists were gone.
When the price goes back to normal price- i’ll cut it off.
But, yeah, I hope that dude and his descendants suffer for generations.
Also- i am trying to watch season 1 of the white lotus- and so far, 3 episodes in, i am not getting why people like it.
You can check out Tubi. It’s free but you gotta deal with commericals, just like the “olden days”. I’ve found some old cartoons on there. We’ve been watching a lot of Scooby Doo 🙂
Ain’t he a stinkah? There are still some classic Looney Tunes on Prime, but I know a lot of folks have dropped Prime. I am, unfortunately, weak. Now, off to Perth Amboy, hope I don’t take a wrong toyn at Albakoiky!
Anyone who still has VHS or DVDs of those, lock them up in a vault, because they are now gold.
There is a channel that started last year called MeTvToons. They play cartoons 24/7, and lots of them are Looney Tunes. Go to their website to see if it’s available in your area. I’m in the NYC area and I watch it a lot.
Saturday mornings at lanne’s house during childhood: stumble downstairs at 6:30am or so. Watch looney toons on TV, then the rest of the 1980s cartoons–smurfs, pac man, frogger, etc.
Teen years: bought looney tunes dvd collections for dad as christmas presents.
Adulthood: watch Looney tunes with dad and laugh at all the in-jokes that went over my head as a kid.
All of Gen X right now is wishing for an anvil to drop on the Max bastard’s head: (fun fact: I used to think anvils were specifically designed to be dropped on heads by smart-alleck rabbits and road runners).
I want to pull an enormous hammer out of my pocket and bop that fool over the head. Or chase him into a bread factory, where he’ll get caught up in the machines, next to be seen as a pair of eyes and hands sticking out of a loaf of bread on a grocery store shelf.
This really is such bs. I love old school Looney Tunes. I watched Boomerang all the time with or without my kids until they took it away. I’m also still and will be forever salty about the loss of Coyote vs Acme. What is this world coming to 😭
Back when the Cartoon Network first aired and they didn’t have much original programming yet, they played a lot of classic Looney Tunes – I mean the really goofy ones from the 1940s, not the kid friendly Saturday morning ones from the 1980s. I was glued to that channel as a kid.