By Tony Mazur
Remember waking up on Saturday mornings and you made yourself an overflowing bowl of cereal and turned the TV on? Because you're young and you don't know any better, you turned up the TV really loud, waking up your parents. You knew what channel had the Saturday morning cartoons. From 6:00 until noon, the house permeated sugar cereal and the sounds of falling anvils and TNT.
If you're between the ages of 10 and 80, you grew up with the Looney Tunes. I grew up watching all of the shorts. So did my father. He even has a tattoo of Yosemite Sam on his bicep. We all know the characters; Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, Elmer Fudd, the Tasmanian Devil (Taz), and much, much more.
As of a few years ago, all Looney Tunes have been removed from syndication. They had a great run from the 1950s until approximately 2001, last shown on Ted Turner's Cartoon Network. My dad and I were devastated when we noticed Cartoon Network replaced Merrie Melodies in favor of Courage, The Cowardly Dog.
Looney Tunes has encountered much controversy over the years. Well, actually the last few years. Special interest groups have come out against the cartoons, saying the amount of stereotypes displayed in the cartoons is deplorable. Speedy Gonzales cartoons were pulled from syndication in 1999 because of their alleged stereotyping of Mexicans. In the early cartoons, some characters danced around in blackface. During World War II, many anti-German shorts were shown at movie theaters to pep the spirits of the soldiers.
Another criticism of the Looney Tunes is the incessant violence throughout. Guns, cannons, mousetraps, hammers, etc., were used as a form of slapstick humor. In one particular cartoon, Rabbit Fire (a.k.a. Wabbit Season, Duck Season), Elmer Fudd shoots Daffy Duck in the face a few times, knocking his bullet-holed bill off of his face. ABC replaced the scene with still frames, but CBS and the former WB network cut out the entire scene.
I miss the Looney Tunes. Today's cartoons don't even hold a candle compared to Chuck Jones and Tex Avery shorts. I really do not think these cartoons transcended into real-life violence. I don't think kids hit each other with garden hoes and wooden mallets after watching animated mice do the same to hungry cats.
I think it was absurd that the networks censored Speedy Gonzales cartoons. Can we just admit that racial humor is funny? Isn't that why Chappelle's Show was so successful?
I'm tired of this political correctness. There is no more humor in our society. You can't make fun of blacks, gays, Jews, women, Muslims, etc., but it's fine and dandy to make fun of white men, especially President Bush. The key to having a successful television commercial nowadays is to include talking or singing animals or babies. And if a spot features a singing animal AND baby, well, hold onto your socks, folks!
And so, we salute the Looney Tunes as they drift away from our society, along with culture and comedy. I guess I'll just have to buy all the DVDs...
Showing posts with label ABC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABC. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2008
Saturday, November 17, 2007
OSU/Michigan liveblogging third installment
By Rick Morris
Continuing the parallels with the Wisconsin game of two weeks ago, Ohio State had a lot of success in the third quarter running Beanie Wells right at, over and around the defense. Right after a 65-yard Ray Small punt return touchdown was called back, Wells rumbled in from 62 to provide the signature big play the game had been missing and put his team up 14-3. That remains the current score.
Chad Henne left due to the deteriorating nature of his injuries, but has returned to the sidelines. Mike Hart has still had no impact outside of the team's field goal drive in the first quarter, with 43 yards on 16 carries. Wells, who ripped off a long touchdown run as a backup in last year's game, has in his second Ohio State/Michigan game already surpassed Hart's accomplishments in the rivalry, having put up 169 yards on 25 carries to go with his two touchdowns. Brandon Saine has been in the game, tallying 18 yards on 8 carries, but regrettably is still not being used on screen passes.
The talented wide receivers on both teams haven't done anything, in part due to the weather and the quarterbacks' difficulties in battling it.
Just as Michigan was starting to get some momentum in the early fourth quarter off of a long punt return, Jim Tressel appealed the call on the field and won it as the replay judge ruled that the ball should be spotted 12 yards back. Henne returned for an anticlimactic three-and-out that ABC commentator Kirk Herbstreit correctly said would remind nobody of Willis Reed's heroics. Ray Small just recovered a punt he muffed deep in his own territory and the Buckeyes will now continue running the clock down, leading 14-3.
Continuing the parallels with the Wisconsin game of two weeks ago, Ohio State had a lot of success in the third quarter running Beanie Wells right at, over and around the defense. Right after a 65-yard Ray Small punt return touchdown was called back, Wells rumbled in from 62 to provide the signature big play the game had been missing and put his team up 14-3. That remains the current score.
Chad Henne left due to the deteriorating nature of his injuries, but has returned to the sidelines. Mike Hart has still had no impact outside of the team's field goal drive in the first quarter, with 43 yards on 16 carries. Wells, who ripped off a long touchdown run as a backup in last year's game, has in his second Ohio State/Michigan game already surpassed Hart's accomplishments in the rivalry, having put up 169 yards on 25 carries to go with his two touchdowns. Brandon Saine has been in the game, tallying 18 yards on 8 carries, but regrettably is still not being used on screen passes.
The talented wide receivers on both teams haven't done anything, in part due to the weather and the quarterbacks' difficulties in battling it.
Just as Michigan was starting to get some momentum in the early fourth quarter off of a long punt return, Jim Tressel appealed the call on the field and won it as the replay judge ruled that the ball should be spotted 12 yards back. Henne returned for an anticlimactic three-and-out that ABC commentator Kirk Herbstreit correctly said would remind nobody of Willis Reed's heroics. Ray Small just recovered a punt he muffed deep in his own territory and the Buckeyes will now continue running the clock down, leading 14-3.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Comcast and Big Ten Network both stink!
By Rick Morris
One of the reason's that Deadspin.com is the 800-pound gorilla of sports blogging is that head honcho Will Leitch will often sum up a situation better than anyone else can. The imbroglio with Comcast and the Big Ten Network is one such example: "Whenever corporation argue with each other, the only certainty is that we'll all lose," Leitch writes.
Indeed, we are witnessing a situation in which there truly is no "good guy." The Big Ten Network is trying to extract the maximum amount of moolah to worm its way into as many homes as possible -- naturally, after it has sold off its most attractive football games to the ABC/ESPN family and its most attractive hoops contests to the ESPN channels and CBS. Thank God The Big Ten Network has responded to the crying needs of the free market for endless repetition of Wisconsin-Northwestern cross country events!
And as usual, the cable and satellite providers are as sympathetic a group of folks as your average lobbyist for the trial lawyers. Comcast, fresh off of destroying the NHL's TV visibility through its broadcast rights for the Versus "network," is trying to gain public sympathy by hiring operatives to troll Big Ten college football message boards. The smarmy half-baked "apology" from the firm responsible for said disingenuous postings of course did not mention why similar posts showed up on numerous other message boards.
When the history of sports in the 21st century is written and we look back at how greed and Big Money ultimately destroyed the games we love, both pathetic entities in this battle will have their tales told.
One of the reason's that Deadspin.com is the 800-pound gorilla of sports blogging is that head honcho Will Leitch will often sum up a situation better than anyone else can. The imbroglio with Comcast and the Big Ten Network is one such example: "Whenever corporation argue with each other, the only certainty is that we'll all lose," Leitch writes.
Indeed, we are witnessing a situation in which there truly is no "good guy." The Big Ten Network is trying to extract the maximum amount of moolah to worm its way into as many homes as possible -- naturally, after it has sold off its most attractive football games to the ABC/ESPN family and its most attractive hoops contests to the ESPN channels and CBS. Thank God The Big Ten Network has responded to the crying needs of the free market for endless repetition of Wisconsin-Northwestern cross country events!
And as usual, the cable and satellite providers are as sympathetic a group of folks as your average lobbyist for the trial lawyers. Comcast, fresh off of destroying the NHL's TV visibility through its broadcast rights for the Versus "network," is trying to gain public sympathy by hiring operatives to troll Big Ten college football message boards. The smarmy half-baked "apology" from the firm responsible for said disingenuous postings of course did not mention why similar posts showed up on numerous other message boards.
When the history of sports in the 21st century is written and we look back at how greed and Big Money ultimately destroyed the games we love, both pathetic entities in this battle will have their tales told.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)