The Road Runner Show

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The Road Runner Show
The Road Runner Show title card.jpg
On-screen title card.
Network CBS (1966–1968)
ABC (1971-1973)
Production company Warner Bros. Television
DePatie–Freleng Enterprises
Distributor Warner Bros. Television
Original release September 10, 1966—February 26, 1972
Run time 30 minutes
Starring Paul Julian
Mel Blanc
June Foray
Julie Bennett
Hal Smith
Music composed by Barbara Cameron (theme song)
Series navigation
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The Road Runner Show is an American animated anthology television series produced by Warner Bros. Television and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises. It is the third compilation series that consists of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts that ran from 1930 to 1969 in the golden age of animation, mainly centering on cartoons starring the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. It initially ran on CBS from 1966 to 1968 for one season, then on ABC from 1971 to 1973 for an additional two seasons.

In addition to the aforementioned cartoons, it also compiled shorts with Tweety and Sylvester as the middle segment, and other WB animated character(s) in the third. It was also combined with newly-animated wraparound segments for the series.

From 1968 to 1969, CBS combined it with The Bugs Bunny Show to produce The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour.[1] The Road Runner Show would return to its original format in 1971, when ABC picked it up for further airings until 1973, when they dropped it due to its excessively violent scenes. Later, CBS re-acquired the show under its reruns as The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, until the mid-1980s.[2]

Production

Development

Aftermath

Music

The opening song was composed and performed by Barbara Cameron.

Opening Theme Lyrics

If you're on a highway and Road Runner goes "beep, beep!"
Just step aside or you might end up in a heap,
Road Runner, Road Runner runs down the road all day,
Even the coyote can't make him change his ways

Road Runner, the coyote's after you,
Road Runner, if he catches you you're through

Road Runner, the coyote's after you,
Road Runner, if he catches you you're through

That coyote is really a crazy clown,
When will he learn that he never can mow him down?

Poor little Road Runner never bothers anyone,
Just runnin' down the road's his idea of having fun

Episodes

The following is a list of episodes that aired during its third season. Episodes for the first two seasons are unknown, save for the first episode of season one.

Episode Original air date
1x01 September 10, 1966
3x01
  • Wile E. and Road Runner: Zip 'n Snort
  • Tweety and Sylvester: The Jet Cage
  • Other: The Wild Chase
 September 4, 1971
3x02 September 11, 1971
3x03 September 18, 1971
3x04 September 25, 1971
3x05 October 2, 1971
3x06 October 9, 1971
3x07 October 16, 1971
3x08 October 23, 1971
3x09 October 30, 1971
3x10 November 6, 1971
3x11 November 13, 1971
3x12 November 20, 1971
3x13 November 27, 1971
3x14 December 4, 1971
3x15 December 11, 1971
3x16 December 18, 1971
3x17 December 25, 1971
3x18 January 1, 1972
3x19 January 8, 1972
3x20 January 15, 1972
3x21 January 22, 1972
3x22 January 29, 1972
3x23 February 5, 1972
3x24 February 1, 1972
3x25 February 19, 1972
3x26 February 26, 1972

Bridging segments

In between its main segments, each episode of the series would feature brief wraparound segments that involve Wile E.'s various attempts and strategies of catching the Road Runner. They were directed by Robert McKimson under DePatie–Freleng Enterprises.[3] The segments used stock music cues by William Lava from the "Larriva Eleven"[Note 1] Road Runner cartoons. A total of fifteen segments were made for this series. The full list of segments is as follows:[3][4]

Segment Description
Manhole Wile E. hides in manhole and attempts to jumpscare the Road Runner by roaring at him. But when he practices his roar, he is instantly hit by an incoming truck which knocks him back into the manhole. The Road Runner comes near to the manhole and beeps inside of it.
Shotgun trap Wile E. uses a double-barrel shotgun as a booby-trap, which shoots the Road Runner if he crosses over a tripwire tied to the shotgun's trigger. However, the gun does not fire once the bird crosses over the tripwire, but instead cuts right through it. When Wile E. tries to fix the tripwire, the shotgun instead opens from the backside and fires right into his face.
Grenade Wile E. throws a grenade with a tennis racket and successfully blows up some cacti for target practice. He then attempts to do the same thing with the Road Runner, but ends up in a game of tennis once the bird uses his own racket. The game ends with the grenade gets stuck to Wile E.'s racket. He tries to gently put the racket down, but the grenade blows up in Wile E.'s face and the racket gets caught around Wile E.'s neck.
Motorcycle Reusing a tactic from Stop! Look! And Hasten!, Wile E. tires to use a motorcycle to catch the Road Runner. When the bird destroys the motorcycle by passing through it in Wile E.'s first attempt, the coyote chases after him with another one. Their chase leads to a curved rock, which ends with Wile E. falling when he realizes that he's upside-down.
Disguises Wile E. disguises himself as the Road Runner, but ends up crossing paths with the bird, who appears as a miniature version of the coyote. In a role-reversal, the Road Runner chases Wile E. The coyote stops in the middle of their chase confused and ends up getting run over by the disguised Road Runner.
Portrait Wile E. draws a picture of himself holding a hunter's rifle and the Road Runner by his neck. When he invites the Road Runner to look at his portrait, Wile E. uses it as an opportunity to snatch him by the neck, but releases the bird once the picture shoots him in the back. Wile E. erases himself from the canvas in frustration and walks away.
Water cooler Wile E. plans to catch the Road Runner by luring him to a water cooler and crushing him with a boulder. When the bird stops to have a drink, Wile E. pushes the boulder off the cliff, but the Road Runner quickly escapes before it could crush the coyote. Wile E. tries to hide away from the boulder, but the Road Runner scares him from behind and has himself be crushed by his own trap. When he emerges, his head is stuck in the water cooler bottle.
Acme Rocket Launcher The Road Runner stops at a sign that says "stand here" in the middle of a bullseye target, which is revealed to be a part of Wile E.'s trap. Wile E. launches an Acme-branded rocket missile in order to blow up the bird. He launches the rocket, but it turns around and heads back from its initial position and blows up Wile E. instead. The coyote, burnt from the explosion, removes the sign and lets the Road Runner free.
Acme Bingo Cannon Wile. E uses an Acme Bingo Cannon to shoot the Road Runner, but the bird blocks its barrel with a large cork upon passing by it. Once Wile. E activates the cannon, it instead shoots itself backwards, and crashes at a nearby mesa wall, causing a large boulder to crush him. The Road Runner arrives at the rock and beeps before leaving.
Robot coyote Wile. E operates a wheeled, coyote-shaped robot from Acme Pest Control services to catch the Road Runner. He activates the robot by pressing four simple buttons: start, chase, catch, and return. The robot does its tasks and returns with the bird, but the robot mows over Wile E and pets the Road Runner.
Rocket Wile. E uses a fireworks rocket rigged with wheels to chase after the Road Runner. But when he lights the fuse, the rocket doesn't take off. Wile E. immediately checks its rear to see what the problem is, only for the rocket to explode completely.
Acme Jet Car Wile E. uses an Acme jet-powered car, but when he uses it to chase after the Road Runner, it instead has it soaring up the air until it crashes onto a large mesa hill. The coyote then falls down and gets hit by an oncoming Greyhound bus, which is revealed to be driven by the Road Runner.
Pitfall trap Wile. E reads a book on traps and decides to use a pitfall to catch the Road Runner. He tries to dig a hole, but misses the Road Runner passing by, and in failing to realize that he was digging on a cliff, falls on top of a train. Wile E. crashes into a train tunnel, and after he lands on the railroad tracks, is run down by another train. The Road Runner comes out of the tunnel, beeps at Wile E. and then dashes away back into the tunnel.
Fake phone booth Wile. E sets up a fake telephone booth that is wired to a giant TNT Battery. When the Road Runner stops at it, Wile E. tries to call him by using a landline phone in hopes of getting the booth's phone to ring. But the Road Runner responds by knocking the phone off the booth and letting it fall onto the ground, and then beeps on the phone before leaving. Wile E. arrives to the booth confused and tries to find out what went wrong, only for the booth to explode when he tries to trigger the dialing mechanism.
Underground explosives Wile. E sets up a rig of explosives down two manholes as makeshift cannons to blast the Road Runner. When the Road Runner arrives, he detonates the explosives, but the location he chose for this trap was actually a narrow rocky arch. When Wile E. activates his detonator, he ends up blowing up two cliff ends supporting the arch. It causes both the broken arch and Wile E. to fall. The dazed coyote emerges from the hole he crashed into and accidentally hits the detonator, which explodes and causes him to lose the bottom half of his fur. Wile E. tries to cover himself, only for the Road Runner to come and beep him back into the hole he crawled out of.

Release

Premiere dates are in order of release

Cast

Credits

Legacy

In instrumental form, the theme song of The Road Runner show was used for Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote segments of The Looney Tunes Show.

In popular culture

  • In the 1980 film The Shining, audio from the show's intro can be heard from the TV when Wendy comfort her son Danny and leaves the hotel room.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Larriva Eleven" is an unofficial term referring to eleven theatrical Road Runner shorts directed by Rudy Larriva.

References

  1. ↑ Woolery, George (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-five Years (1946-1981) - Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 237–238. ISBN 9780810815575.
  2. ↑ Fischer, Stuart (June 10, 2014). Kids' TV: The First Twenty-Five Years. Open Road Media. ISBN 9781497633902.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Road Runner Show Page". kevinmccorrytv.ca. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  4. ↑ "The Road Runner Show: Intro, Bumpers, and Outro!". YouTube. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
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