Eh, what’s up, doc? How about five days of wisecracking, anvil-dropping mayhem to celebrate Bugs Bunny’s birthday? The Looney Tunes icon hopped onscreen 82 years ago this week. Here’s what MeTV has in store starting the morning of July 25—25 toons total!
Monday Bugs’ Firsts
In 1940’s “A Wild Hare,” Bugs rains down slapstick vengeance on hapless hunter Elmer Fudd; this Oscar-nominated Tex Avery short marks the official birth of the carrot-chomping prankster with the Brooklyn accent. His irreverent personality was inspired by Groucho Marx and also by Clark Gable’s fast-talking It Happened One Night character, who snacks on a carrot while hitchhiking. Plus: See an early BB prototype in “Porky’s Hare Hunt” from 1938. Animation historian Jerry Beck is a guest.
Tuesday Bugs & Sports
Bugs scores with classic installments about boxing, golf, high-diving, bullfighting and baseball.
Wednesday Bugs’ Birthday
Watch the Warner Bros. mascot evolve through the decades, from early Merrie Melodies shorts to a faux blooper reel that landed on Cartoon Network in the ’90s.
Thursday Global Bugs
Beware the bunny with the passport! In “French Rarebit,” Bugs outwits rival Parisian chefs battling to make him a meal in their fancy eateries. And in “Ali Baba Bunny,” after Bugs and Daffy Duck stumble upon a sultan’s treasure, a bemused Bugs poses as a genie to evade bumbling guard Hassan.
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Friday Fairy-Tale Bugs
Nothing Grimm about these parodies — like “Beanstalk Bunny” (above), aka “Jack and the Bean-stalk.” In “Little Red Riding Rabbit,” Bugs tussles with the Big Bad Wolf and turns the tables on obnoxious teen Little Red. “The Windblown Hare” riffs on “The Three Little Pigs,” and Bugs quips, “Why, Granny, you’re just a wolf in cheap clothing!”
Toon In With Me, Monday, July 25, 7am/6c, MeTV
