Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes is the collective title for a series of theatrical shorts, originally produced by Leon Schlesinger for Warner Bros., which first appeared in 1930. Schlesinger sold his assets to Warner Bros. in 1944, and the studio thus became sole owner of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and other characters The blanket term is often used to encompany the related series, Merrie Melodies, which shared the same artistic team and pool of characters, and more recently, many productions involving the characters.

In 1969, Chuck Jones, one of the Looney Tunes directors, wrote the following letter about Sesame Street to a television critic at the Los Angeles Times:

"The major and most important phenomenon is that no commercial show will ever be quite the same...I have a feeling that Joan Ganz Cooney (Executive Director, Children's Television Workshop) and David Connell (Vice President and Executive Producer) have opened a Pandora's box that will scare the hell out of everybody in TV because the TV-watching child will devour Sesame Street to the last crumb. And if that is true, some network is going to realize that intelligence is just conceivably commercial, which is just so revolutionary, it just might be un-American."

Muppet Mentions
Looney Tunes #47, the December 1998 issue of the comic book series published by DC Comics, included an 8-page story called "Puppet Regime." The plot involved Daffy Duck's jealousy over the fact that he's not been cast in the new children's film Cuddly Buddies: The Movie. The film stars spoof versions of various children's TV icons, most notably Barney the dinosaur, but also Bananas in Pajamas and, in a two page section, Sesame Street. The street, renamed ABC Sunflower Street, is populated by a collection of "Schmuppets," including a purple Big Bird analogue, an orange Kermit the Frog spoof (whose eye pupils change into different punctuation marks, according to mood), a purple Oscar the Grouch, and a cheerful green monster combining aspects of Elmo and Grover. The scheming Daffy, posing as a health inspector, sucks up the whole bunch into a vacuum cleaner, prompting "Kermit" to shout, "It's not easy being cle-e-a-an!" The collective puppets get their revenge in the tale's final panel.

Appearances

 * Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck appeared in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, with members of the Muppet Babies and other characters.
 * Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Tweety all made a cameo appearance in The Earth Day Special, which also featured a cameo by the Muppets.
 * Bugs appeared in an anti-litter music video which aired on Sesame Street.

Connections

 * Jim Henson is seen with director Chuck Jones in a photograph which appears in Jones' 1990 memoir, Chuck Amuck.
 * Bob Bergen is the official voice of Porky Pig and others.
 * Mel Blanc was the voice of many of the characters in the Looney Tunes stable, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Road Runner, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, and countless others.
 * Bruce Lanoil puppeteered Daffy Duck in green-screen shots and voiced Pepe LePew in the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
 * Joan Gerber provided the voice of Granny in the cartoon Corn on the Cop.
 * John Goodman appeared in the specil Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
 * Bill Cosby appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
 * Whoopi Goldberg appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years, and made introductions on the Looney Tunes: Golden Collection Volume 3 DVD set.
 * Little Richard appeared in the special Happy Birthday Bugs: Fifty Looney Years.
 * Chevy Chase appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
 * Jeremy Irons appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney unes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
 * David Bowie appeared in the special Bugs Bunny's Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary Special.
 * Danny DeVito provided the vocie of Swackhammer in the movie Space Jam.
 * Dan Castellaneta made a cameo in Space Jam.
 * Frank Welker provided the vocie of Charles the Dog in Space Jam.