The Bugs Bunny Show
| The Bugs Bunny Show | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | ABC (Season 1-2, re-airings) CBS (re-airings) |
| Production company | Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Animation |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television |
| Original release | October 11, 1960 - September 2, 2000 |
| Starring | Mel Blanc June Foray Stan Freberg Hal Smith |
| Executive producer(s) | David H. DePatie Friz Freleng William L. Hendricks |
| Producer(s) | Friz Freleng Chuck Jones |
| Music composed by | Mack David & Jerry Livingston (theme music, 1960–2000) Steve Zuckerman (theme music, 1984-85) |
| Director(s) | Chuck Jones Friz Freleng Robert McKimson |
| Series navigation | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| Second title card | |
 As The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. | |
| Third title card | |
 As The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show. | |
The Bugs Bunny Show is an American animated anthology television series originally produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons and Warner Bros. Television for ABC. It is the first compilation series that consists of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts that ran from 1930 to 1969 in the golden age of animation. It initially ran in a prime time slot from 1960 to 1962, running for two seasons and 52 episodes.
After its initial run, ABC moved the program to Saturday mornings from 1962 until 1967, during which it was switched to CBS and merged with The Road Runner Show to create The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. It would later continue to air through various iterations while switching between the two networks sporadically, including as The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show from 1986 until the end of its run in 2000. Because of its four-decade run, it has become the longest-running cartoon program on broadcast television.
In its original 52-episode run, the show was hosted by Bugs Bunny and consisted of three theatrical cartoons with newly-created segments, featuring linking sequences of the characters interacting in a theatre setting. It was originally sponsored by General Mills, with animated commercials for products such as Tang and Post cereals.
Production
Development
Move to Saturday mornings
Aftermath
Music
This is It
The opening song, "This is It," was composed by Mac David and Jerry Livingston and was performed by Mel Blanc.
Opening Theme Lyrics
Overture, curtains, lights,
This is it, the night of nights
No more rehearsing and nursing a part
We know every part by heart
Overture, curtains, lights
This is it, you'll hit the heights
And oh what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it!
Tonight what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it!
It's Cartoon Gold
During the final season of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, the show introduced a new song that replaced the standard one used from The Bugs Bunny Show.
The new song, "It's Cartoon Gold," was composed by Steve Zuckerman, with lyrics written by John Klawitter.
Theme Lyrics
It's cartoon gold for young and old
It's The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show
Bugs is hot, but Coyote's not
And Road Runner's go-go-go
And they go, beep-beep-beep-beep
Boom mama-mama
Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-Bugs!
There's Porky Pig...
Porky: Th-th-th-th-the name's Porky Pig!
And Daffy Duck...
Daffy: You're dispicable!
There's Tweety Bird...
Tweety: Ooh... I tawt I taw a puddy tat!
Bugs Bunny's luck...
Bugs: Ehh... What's up, doc?
And Elmer Fudd...
Elmer: Be vewy, vewy quiet...
Sylvester the Cat...
Sylvester: Thufferin' Thuccotash!
Speedy Gonzales...
Speedy: Arriba! Arriva! Yee-hah!
And then, there's Sam in the Hat...
Yosemite Sam: That snaggled-tooth varmint!
And they go, beep-beep-beep-beep
Boom mama-mama
Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-Bugs!
The famous cartoon show, is the only way to go
It's The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show!
Episodes
The following is a list of episodes for the series' original prime-time run, which lasted for two seasons. In its second season, the episodes themselves are given proper title cards at the beginning.
| Title | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | October 11, 1960 |
| 1x02 | October 18, 1960 |
| 1x03 | October 25, 1960 |
| 1x04 | November 1, 1960 |
| 1x05 | November 8, 1960 |
| 1x06 | November 15, 1960 |
| 1x07 | November 22, 1960 |
| 1x08 | November 29, 1960 |
| 1x09 | December 6, 1960 |
| 1x10 | December 13, 1960 |
| 1x11 | December 20, 1960 |
| 1x12 | December 27, 1960 |
| 1x13 | January 3, 1961 |
| 1x14 | January 10, 1961 |
| 1x15 | January 17, 1961 |
| 1x16 | January 24, 1961 |
| 1x17 | January 31, 1961 |
| 1x18 | February 7, 1961 |
| 1x19 | February 21, 1961 |
| 1x20 | Feburary 27, 2016 |
| 1x21 | February 28, 1961 |
| 1x22 | March 7, 1961 |
| 1x23 | March 14, 1961 |
| 1x24 | March 21, 1961 |
| 1x25 | March 28, 1961 |
| 1x26 | April 4, 1961 |
| 2x01 | October 10, 1961 |
| 2x02 | October 17, 1961 |
| 2x03 | October 24, 1961 |
| 2x04 | October 31, 1961 |
| 2x05 | November 7, 1961 |
| 2x06 | November 14, 1961 |
| 2x07 | November 21, 1961 |
| 2x08 | November 28, 1961 |
| 2x09 | December 5, 1961 |
| 2x10 | December 12, 1961 |
| 2x11 | December 19, 1961 |
| 2x12 | December 26, 1961 |
| 2x13 | January 16, 1961 |
| 2x14 | January 23, 1962 |
| 2x15 | February 13, 1962 |
| 2x16 | February 20, 1962 |
| 2x17 | March 13, 1962 |
| 2x18 | March 20, 1962 |
| 2x19 | June 19, 1962 |
| 2x20 | June 26, 1962 |
| 2x21 | July 3, 1962 |
| 2x22 | July 10, 1962 |
| 2x23 | July 17, 1962 |
| 2x24 | July 24, 1962 |
| 2x25 | July 31, 1962 |
| 2x26 | August 7, 1962 |
Cast
- Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny and various others
Release
Premiere dates are in order of release
- United States: October 11, 1960 on ABC
Promotion
Legacy
The show is credited for first introducing the Warner Bros. cartoons on television, and further exposed cartoons created during the Golden Age of animation a part of the American consciousness. In the four decades of its total run, it also helped inspiring animators, comedians, historians, and others who watched Saturday morning television.[1]
Following the popularity of the series' intial run, Warner Bros. Television went on to produce various television spin-offs with the Looney Tunes cast, all of which contain the same compilation format as The Bugs Bunny Show. The television series that followed include The Porky Pig Show, The Road Runner Show, The Merrie Melodies Show, The Daffy-Speedy Show, The Sylvester & Tweety, Daffy & Speedy Show, Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends, That's Warner Bros.!, and Bugs 'n' Daffy.
Beginning in 2021, MeTV used the "This is It" opening sequence of the show as part of Bugs Bunny and Friends, which aired as part of their Saturday Morning Cartoons block.
In popular culture
- In The Golden Girls episode "Larceny and Old Lace," Blanche asks Rose what Mozart composition is a serande in G for two violins, viola, cello, and double base, in four movements, which the latter replies that was Ein klien Nachtmusic. When Blache asks her where she got it from, she says that it played in The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, during a chase scene with Elmer Fudd and Bugs.
- In the Seinfeld episode "The Opera," Jerry sings the "This is It" theme song while waiting for George and Kramer at the opera. Elain mockingly tells him it was sad that "all your knowledge of high culture comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons."
