Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000 they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet never forgets. Case in point: Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action), PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, The Magic Schoolbus and Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...
posted by Rhaomi on Sep 22, 2009 - 160 comments

Hollywood Bloopers: 1936-1947 A couple of the years won't load for me, but the ones I can watch are fun.
posted by grumblebee on May 29, 2009 - 14 comments

Did you guess wrong about which format would win the high-density disk war? Buy a lot of HD-DVDs? Warner Brothers has a special program now where they'll swap your WB HD-DVDs for Blu-Rays of the same titles for $5 each. [more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle on Apr 24, 2009 - 50 comments

Some forty-three classic Warner Brothers cartoons. (Sorry, no index page.)
posted by cthuljew on Nov 27, 2008 - 18 comments

SingleLinkYoutubeFilter: "Punch Trunk" (Chuck Jones, 1953).
posted by pxe2000 on Feb 26, 2008 - 53 comments

Hey daddy-o, when you hear that big brash horn section pump out that oddly familiar riff, only to stop cold and make way for that that prescient single note from an electric guitar, followed straightaway by a twangy voice in perfect rockabilly delivery proclaiming "well, she's got a dress that looks like a sack!", then brother, you're listening to the hoppin' boppin' sound of Wally Deane's Drag On. Once you hear it, you'll wonder why Quentin Tarrantino never put it in a movie. Wally Deane: one of the greatest rockabilly acts you never heard of.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Dec 8, 2007 - 21 comments

Ándale! Ándale! Arriba! -- Step aside you rat! Speedy González (no relation to Alberto) debuted in 1953 as a Warner Brothers' cartoon mouse (The Fastest Mouse in Mexico). Originally voiced by the master, Mel Blanc, his time on screen has at times been controversial -- especially when paired with his cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez. Cartoon Network deemed his portrayal of Mexicans/Latinos to be offensive. "There evidently wasn't a problem with the Mexican caricatures at the beginning of Speedy's career. The 1955 animated short 'Speedy Gonzales' won an Academy Award [Best Short Subject (Cartoons)], and two other cartoons, Tabasco Road and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe, were nominated for Oscars in 1957 and 1961."
posted by ericb on Jul 29, 2007 - 48 comments

The Censored Eleven [IMDB] is a group of Warner Brothers cartoons that have been withheld from syndication because of their racial stereotypes: Hittin' the Trail to Hallelujah Land (1931; info), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936; info), Clean Pastures (1937; info), Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937), Jungle Jitters (1938), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938), All This and Rabbit Stew (1941; info), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943; info), Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943; info), Angel Puss (1944), and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (1944). [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Jul 10, 2007 - 65 comments

Warner Music set to buy Rykodisc. Although Rykodisc has already lost its independence, its apparent corporate resting place is bad news to fans of Ryko's many remarkable but commercially underperforming artists, and particularly to the legion and devoted fans of Frank Zappa [flash, audio], whose conflicts with and hatred for WB are well documented. Prove me wrong, Warner Bros. For the love of that which is best (music), prove me wrong.

CAVEAT It would be dishonest of me to post at WB's expense without publicly giving them credit for letting Mr Bungle do whatever they wanted.
posted by Eothele on Mar 26, 2006 - 10 comments

Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie on Mar 23, 2006 - 26 comments

"What we're doing is taking Bugs Bunny, a classic, and changing him for the kids – making him fresh, cool and hip." By fresh, they mean he will be a martial arts expert. By cool, they mean from the future. By hip? Laser eyes.
posted by Simon! on Feb 17, 2005 - 86 comments

[Re: merchandising] "That's the ultimate goal of all kids programming, if we score, it's a gold mine."
posted by Capn on Feb 16, 2005 - 14 comments

The Warner Bros. Cartoons Filmography And Title Card Gallery has more title cards and coloured rings than you can shake a carrot at. A great resource that goes hand-in-hand with this and this for all your Looney Tunes-related research.
posted by Robot Johnny on Nov 29, 2004 - 10 comments

They sold everything from Earthquake Pills (caution: not effective on Road Runners) to Trick Balls (warning: explode on contact!). They may be the world's most diverse goods & services company, with the possible exception of Wal Mart. I speak, of course, of the fine folks at ACME, whose full catalog is finally available online. Go, now, read! Don't make me use my Ultimatum Dispatcher!
posted by jonson on Jun 28, 2003 - 20 comments

Harry Potter released unprotected. In a move that makes me say both "Wha?" and "Kickass!", Warner Bros chose to release the Harry Potter DVD and VHS home versions sans the Macrovision copy protection. It could stand to be quite an experiment, or quite a blunder on their part.
posted by mathowie on Jun 15, 2002 - 14 comments

AOL Time Warner's Marketing Wizardry : "With its Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., AOL leveraged its promotional and advertising might across its empire of Internet, cable TV, movie, music and magazine outlets to ensure that kids, parents, teens and everyone else knew that "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was debuting in theaters Nov. 16. In the days leading up to the film's release, tracking studies showed an extraordinary 100% awareness among moviegoers that "Harry Potter" was coming."
posted by owillis on Dec 2, 2001 - 18 comments

"The gremlin in Falling Hare (who, let us reiterate, is *not* Wendell Willkie) has an elegant flying helmet/plane tail design and a Benny Rubin-like laugh." The Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion covers the heyday of Merrie Melodies and Loony Toons, with capsule biographies of Warner Brothers animators, explanations for no-longer-obvious cultural references, and brief notes on the characters. No design to speak of, but a wonderful resource for anyone searching for a list of WB cartoons that parody Cab Calloway, arguing about whether Elmer Fudd predates Yosemite Sam, or just wondering what the heck Marvin the Martian's given name was.
posted by snarkout on Aug 29, 2001 - 29 comments

Warner Brothers is going after Harry Potter fan sites. This isn't the first time. It should be interesting to see if they come after The Leaky Cauldron Weblog. It seems they're going after sites with "Harry Potter" as part of the domain name. However they do have a trademark for "Leaky Cauldron".
posted by bkdelong on Dec 8, 2000 - 4 comments