So you might recall that like a year or so ago, Warner pulled the entire Looney Tunes library off Max, and then, once called on it, said no, it was a clerical error, we'd never do a thing like that. Well, they did it again, and apparently this time they're gone to stay. All the classic shorts are gone from streaming, and just a few modern features are still up.

This doesn't upset me on any practical level. I'm not really in the habit of watching old Looney Tunes cartoons. I watched Duck Amuck when I first saw that they were on Max and that was about it. But as a general signpost for the state of streaming media and one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world, it is very concerning that Warner Brothers finds itself unable to air Bugs Bunny. What could it have cost them to keep them available? What damage did it do to have them there? Are some of the most famous cartoon characters of all time somehow not marketable properties anymore? It's especially concerning when you consider that for the longest time, Warners had a corporate culture of taking itself and its work very seriously. Famously, Time Warner didn't really make any money for anyone who owned it because they just put everything into content and more or less broke even. Turner started a whole cable channel to run its old cartoon library, cost 'em nothing. The whole promise of the streaming era was supposed to be access to all these vaults of content, but now that seems to be unaffordable. Still plenty of Discovery slop, though.

Sentimentally speaking, it makes me sad that kids won't grow up watching Looney Tunes anymore. Before Cartoon Network, and I think even before Nickelodeon got a package, my grandparents had this whole boxed set for my sister and me to watch whenever we were over, which was often because they were basically down the street. And aside from enjoying the Road Runner owning Wile E. Coyote, I'm sure there was a small degree of cultural literacy that came from watching cartoons from the '40s and '50s. Probably the music more than anything. And it was a shared experience. Every generation grew up not with all the same cartoons, but at least that same bedrock. And I think there's something missing that you can't replace with the wholesome dog program or whatever everyone watches now.

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Hopefully they sell it to Disney.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I never thought to look for Looney Toons but we were just watching some classic “Tom & Jerry” on Max.

Was this a content pull then? Like, we’re afraid of the social media mob?

my kids loved the old looney tunes cartoons on max. that was really the only thing on max they watched. i signed up for hard knocks and kept it but i canceled a week ago so i could sign up for apple tv+

There was a newer looney tunes show that came out in like 2008 or 2010 ish time frame. it was hilarous. Max had that one too.

I forget what channel...somebody airs Sunday Night Cartoon at around 8. We usually end up watching a half hour or so - even the kids.

No, they just said they want to focus on "adult and family programming." Is this not family programming? They ran in theaters; the point was that they were for everybody to enjoy. It must just cost server space that they don't think they can afford.

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Hardly can call it Max then.

Imagine how horrible music streaming would be if it followed the same model as movie/TV streaming. Want to listen to Metallica? Sign up for Spotify. Now you want the Beatles? Oh, that's Apple+. How about Fleetwood Mac? You can't stream it today... it's only for rent or purchase. That's what we're dealing with for video and it's a fucking abomination.

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Streaming coming in to undercut cable and then rugpull the consumer base by replacing quality content with slop is like when Wal-Mart wipes out a Main Street, except this is more like Wal-Mart wiping out Woodfield. We had a good thing going with digital cable and DVR.

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But people saved $10 a month for a few years so it was worth it.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Can put those savings toward paying $300 a year for three of the worst teams in sports.

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Warner wouldn't pull it because it "costs" too much to keep on there. They pulled it because they think they can make more shopping the archive to someone else with deeper pockets (think Netflix here)

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

But Netflix is trying to get out of the acquisition game and just make crap in-house. I saw that their latest idea is to have people on screen narrate their own actions ("I am walking into the living room") so that people who are looking at their phones can follow along. It's bleak. Everything is so bleak.

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Is Gen Z clamoring for cartoons from the 1940s?

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Merry Melodies was the pinnacle of animation I say with 100% seriousness as I slowly shrink and transform into a corn cob

Gen Z has never watched Adventure Time or Regular Show. They don't want Looney Tunes.

They on they phones

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They should watch Looney Tunes on them!

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Whitey, these mafuckers have only watched clips of Spongebob. We were listening to your band the other day, and I was all like, "Hey, they were featured in the Spongebob movie," and they started talking about favorite clips on TikTok and Instagram. They don't even watch that one cartoon with the guy with the arrow on his head.

So they ain't watching no Looney Toons. And get this, Cracker: They don't even know about that great trick of dressing up like a woman to get yourself out of trouble (or just to mess with someone). It's a crime.

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Useless gen-alpha doesn't know how to paint a tunnel on the side of a mountain, go through it, and then watch their assailant crash into it. They've never even fallen off a building and been unaware of it until looking down and holding up a sign that says "uh-oh."

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What song was it? The HIV Song?

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They're clambering.

Nailed it! But make sure to put the song name in quotes.

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Theyre parkouring.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Netflix might be churning out shit for the lowest common denominator but some of the other streamers like Hulu, Apple TV+, and Max are still giving us some great content.

Between Righteous Gemstones, Severance, The Pitt, and White Lotus, there is no shortage of quality TV to watch.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Chuck Jones is a fucking genius

i think Hulu has a better library of "classic TV" and should be the Hub. Or, honestly, i don't know why Tubi can't hold that stuff. They have retro cartoons and stuff.

it's bizarre how this works. "freaks & geeks" is now on paramount+, and "supernatural" is being dropped from netflix by the end of the year.

Tex Avery too. Droopy was awesome.

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When I was in 5th grade and actually did watch a lot of old animation, Cartoon Network had a Tex Avery Show on Sunday nights, that and a show called "Toon Heads," which I think was old Warners cartoons but with backstory on how they got made, almost like a mini-Turner Classic Movies. I feel like the channel was in a good place then, because they had a lot of stuff like that where they actually presented animation seriously, but then they also had Space Ghost and Cartoon Planet as breakout hits for stoned gen-Xers and precocious millennials.

However, I do remember watching on sick days and middays would just be, like, The Snorks, so it wasn't high-minded animation-aficionado stuff 24/7.

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my kids have a few shows that I think followed the Looney tunes/ Animaniacs blueprint IMO and made a really good show.

The one that sticks out the most is Teen Titans Go! This show is hilarious as an adult even.

I also have a softspot for spongebob.