^ It hasn't showed up either on TV, home video, or streaming for years. And yet I think it's one of the more popular Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Here we are just days away from the premiere and I noticed on MeTV's website they had made changes to the listings of shorts scheduled to air.

Updated listings for Saturday, January 2 per MeTV's website:

7:00am - Popeye and Pals
"Lumberjack and Jill"
"Popeye the Sailor"
"The Paneless Window Washer"
"Betty in Blunderland"
"Goonland"
"A Little Soap and Water"
"The Fistic Mystic"

8:00am - The Tom & Jerry Show
"Filet-Meow"
"One Droopy Knight"
"Buddies Thicker Than Water"
"Alias St. Nick"
"Unwelcome Guest"
"Down and Outing"

9:00am - Bugs Bunny and Friends
"You Ought to Be in Pictures"
"Hair-Raising Hare"
"Two Scents Worth"
"Birds Anonymous"
"Beep, Beep"
"Bugs Bunny Rides Again"

During the Popeye hour, no cartoons were removed but the Betty Bop cartoon "A Little Soap and Water" was added.

During the Tom & Jerry hour, "Little Buck Cheeser" was replaced with "Alias St. Nick"

During the Bugs Bunny hour, "Porky Pig's Feat" was replaced with "You Ought to be in Pictures".

We can all speculate why the changes were made, but to the best of my knowledge, there was nothing controversial about any of the shorts that were replaced. I did not notice any other changes in the schedule, but I guess that it is possible that more changes can happen along the way.

On a side note, on MeTV's website, I saw the hosts of the weekday morning series "Toon in with Me" and all I can say is they are already overusing the puns by having a tuna puppet named Toony in addition to the show being named "Toon in with Me".

Oh, really? I was looking forward to seeing "Porky Pig's Feat" as well. Oh well, at least there's still "Two Scents Worth," "Beep, Beep," and what is perhaps my favorite Yosemite Sam short "Bugs Bunny Rides Again."

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Catching the kick-off show right now, starting with What’s Opera Doc. I think this moment is pretty much the first regular US broadcast of Looney Tunes outside CN/Boomerang in 20 years, and OTA broadcast since who knows when.

Watched the kickoff on MeTV tonight. All cartoons were cropped for widescreen (norm for the channel). "Northwest Hounded Police" was emphatically the old Turner copy and not a new remaster. All the rest were the HD restored versions, including, impressively, "The Screwy Truant". It'd be safe to assume this will be the norm: if it's not known to be restored, assume it won't be. But you never know.

BTW, I do know that a lot of the Happy Harmonies were restored, even if they're not available anywhere presently. Not sure of all the titles, but you *might* be seeing them premiere here.

Two predictably famous Looney Tunes (What’s Opera and Froggy Evening), two MGM Tex Avery entries (Screwy Truant and Northwest Hounded), one decent later B&W Popeye (Customers Wanted) and another 50s Looney Tune. Not bad. Six cartoons in one hour with commercials, which is decent. But this wasn’t technically a regular episode. It’s really unclear what the host/puppet are actually gonna do, because they did nothing more than briefly intro and later promote the show. One assumes they’re either planning some light/flimsy comedy or maybe even briefly discussing the actual cartoons, but who knows.

Catching the kick-off show right now, starting with What’s Opera Doc. I think this moment is pretty much the first regular US broadcast of Looney Tunes outside CN/Boomerang in 20 years, and OTA broadcast since who knows when.

Yes, the last time classic Looney Tunes shorts were shown in the US outside of Cartoon Network or Boomerang was on ABC in September 2000, which of course was also the last time it was shown on a broadcast network, until now. So, it's been 20 years and 4 months.

It's about time too, because Looney Tunes have been on auto-pilot on Boomerang for the last several years now. MeTV's schedule already looks a lot more diverse.

I watched the whole Kick-Off Show as it was airing. Besides Looney Tunes, I quite liked the Droopy short. Believe it or not, it was the first I ever actually watched a Droopy short. Popeye, I've seen a bit of, but this was the first time I seen the short they were playing earlier.

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All cartoons were cropped for widescreen (norm for the channel).

Though the Warner Brothers cartoon titles were "window-boxed." (Then they did go to cropped for the cartoon itself.)

“Popeye the Sailor” was censored on this morning’s broadcast, so expect all the racial stuff to be excised... Which is OK with me given this is all-ages all-access. If stuff gets cut for violence, I’m checking out, though.

The Fleischer and Famous Popeyes were all from the HD restored copies, and the two Betty Boops were the DNRed transfers from the laserdisc... All cropped...

^ The opening scene for "The Fistic Mystic" was censored for that very same reason. I was kind of expecting it for this cartoon and the aforementioned short "Popeye the Sailor". I was also expecting the Betty Boop's to be sourced from PD copies.

On a side note, looking at the next 2 weeks, the only 1950's Popeye shorts scheduled to air are ones that are PD. I would also like to point out that a clip from a 1950's Popeye short used in a promo looks like it was sourced from a PD copy. This is only speculation on my part, but I think as of right now it is safe to assume that there won't be a wide selection of 1950's Popeye shorts being shown, and the selection that will air will only be ones that are PD.

So... ALL the cartoons are cropped?

I can't understand why anyone would want to watch classic Hollywood cartoons cropped to widescreen. Utter failure.

BTW, I do know that a lot of the Happy Harmonies were restored, even if they're not available anywhere presently. Not sure of all the titles, but you *might* be seeing them premiere here.

That's good news, though I wonder then if they were restored the "HBO Max" way or the "Warner Archive" way.

^ It is all the result of how MeTV has their aspect ratio set up for broadcast. It is very strange what they do. It is a faux widescreen setup with black bars on the side that are somewhere between 1.5-2" in thickness...far from what you normally see if there are bars on the side. This aspect ratio is applied to all programs that air on MeTV.

Our next batch of cartoons from January 4th-January 9th 2021

Jan 4th
Toon in With Me
BEANSTALK BUNNY (1955), LITTLE RURAL RIDING HOOD, VIM, VIGOR AND VITALIKY, AH SWEET MOUSE-STORY OF LIFE, WALKY TALKY HAWKY

Jan 5th
Toon in With Me
BOWERY BUGS (1949), BAD LUCK BLACKIE, I DON'T SCARE, DOCTOR JERKYL'S HIDE (1954), BIG GAME HAUNT
"Bluto tries to sabotage Popeye's Friday the 13th date with Olive using superstitions."

Jan 6th
Toon in With Me
REALLY SCENT (1959), HAPPY GO NUTTY, RABBIT'S FEAT (1960), UNWELCOME GUEST, MUTT IN A RUT, A (1959)

Jan 7th
Toon in With Me
RABBIT RAMPAGE (1955), CARTOONIST'S NIGHTMARE, A (1935), CARTOON KIT, FILM FAN, THE (1939), BOX OFFICE BUNNY

Jan 8th
Toon in With Me
HARE LIFT (1952), LITTLE JOHNNY JET, HOT AIR ACES, FLYING CAT, JET CAGE, THE (1962)

Jan 9th
Popeye and Pals
SHE-SICK SAILORS, HELLO, HOW AM I?, POPEYE MEETS HERCULES, POOR CINDERELLA, LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE, FOR BETTER OR NURSE
"Betty Boop goes to the ball thanks to the good fairy."

The Tom and Jerry Show
FINE FEATHERED FRIEND, STORK'S HOLIDAY, CUEBALL CAT, WAYWARD PUPS, HOUSE OF TOMORROW, INVISIBLE MOUSE, THE (1947)

Bugs Bunny and Friends
RABBIT OF SEVILLE (1950), BONE FOR A BONE, A (1951), BACK ALLEY OPROAR, CASE OF THE STUTTERING PIG, THE (1937), CHASER ON THE ROCKS (1965), BUGSY AND MUGSY (1957)

By the way, what a surprise for the intro for Bugs Bunny and Friends.

^ It is all the result of how MeTV has their aspect ratio set up for broadcast. It is very strange what they do. It is a faux widescreen setup with black bars on the side that are somewhere between 1.5-2" in thickness...far from what you normally see if there are bars on the side. This aspect ratio is applied to all programs that air on MeTV.

Yeah, I've noticed that too and it's VERY annoying.

At one point, they had it right (1.33:1) but then quickly reverted back.

What's that about?

Been watching my DVR'd copy. They open the Looney Tunes hours with the old "This Is It" segment you used to see on Saturday mornings. Nice.

I think MeTV started doing the crop and zoom faux widescreen thing 2 or 3 years ago, they used to just broadcast the material as-is. I have no idea why, since I don't think their primarily older audience minds the original AR much. Maybe they think the transition between their vintage content and contemporary widescreen commercials is too jarring. In most markets they're most likely carried only as an OTA broadcast digital sub-channel in widescreen 480p. I'm not sure if they get higher resolutions when carried by some local cable franchises. I have one old (2007) HDTV that will do a sort of widescreen stretch for 4:3 content that isn't very distracting - it basically stretches the edges of the image more than the center, preserving all the image detail without looking very stretched or distorted (to me anyway). But I think a lot of people complained or dissed such features, so I think many modern TVs only feature a more simplistic linear widescreen zoom that's best left unused. I just think the older form of widescreen stretch might be a better option for old content than what MeTV has been doing.

MeTV's main competitor (I think) AntennaTV continues to broadcast full frame with black pillar boxes. Actually in my market they broadcast in 4:3 480p and then letterbox their widescreen commercials. I DVR'd all of TTI series when it ran there a few years ago, but they currently carry no animation. Maybe MeTV's move will inspire AntennaTV. They are just celebrating their 10th anniversary BTW. The problem with AntennaTV now (for shows in general) is that they won't let the end credits play uninterrupted (again, starting 2-3-4 years ago), using the time primarily for bumpers and promos while the credits run in a small window. For a while they were doing this to the show openings also, although I think maybe they sometimes let them play unmolested now. And of course both networks use time compression liberally, just the realities of their business I guess.

Back on topic, in addition to to all the B&W during the Popeye hour, just started the B&W Porky, You Oughta Be in Pictures. ABC never would have done that, so the openness to classic B&W cartoons is refreshing. But MeTV is accustomed to showing a ton of B&W content anyway.

“Popeye the Sailor” was censored on this morning’s broadcast, so expect all the racial stuff to be excised... Which is OK with me given this is all-ages all-access. If stuff gets cut for violence, I’m checking out, though.

.

I don't expect suicide gags to make it, and it's going to be interesting to see how much gets cut in terms of guns.

Bugs Bunny Rides Again had all its gunplay intact. Chances are no one cares.

It sure was nice seeing "Lumberjack and Jill," and "The Fistic Mystic" look so good on tv after years of seeing the crappy Turner prints. Other than it being the old Turner print smeared with DVNR it was nice to see "Alias St. Nick." I'm with Thad as long as they don't cut stuff for violence, which so far doesn't seem to be the case I'm on board.

"Bad Luck Blackie" was complete while "Dare Devil Droopy" was not.