Updated on December 10, 2021
Yes, months after the first season ended, “The Looney Tunes Show” is back…and so are my reviews of this show. Though the latter isn’t likely to last for long, based on what I saw tonight.
The plot: Daffy becomes the coach of Gossamer and his friends’ water polo team, despite knowing nothing about the game. Meanwhile, Bugs becomes addicted to Porky’s butter-and-fat-laden catering cuisine.
While I was hoping this episode would mark the sign of something different from the previous season, it doesn’t seem to be that way. Most of the elements I didn’t care much for about the first season—the sitcom-style writing, Daffy feeling like “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”‘s Master Shake, etc.—are still present.
The elements I did enjoy:
- The sight gag of actual horses in the pool.
- Bugs “urging” Porky to keep cooking for him.
- Bugs’ reactions toward/remarks about Porky’s initial bland cooking.
- Porky as the usual amusing “straight man” of the Looney Tunes cast.
Like last season, there’s a “Merrie Melodies” song number, in this case Marvin the Martian singing about his love of his planet-annihilating death ray in “Laser Beam.” (Apparently, it’s good for blowing up stars, too!) Unfortunately, I’ve read that this season’s dropped the Road Runner shorts, which where usually the funniest parts of the first season.
The animation’s slightly different this season. The colors seem done in a brighter tone, including Bugs’ fur looking more grey and less pastel-like than in the first season (as the first season-era screenshot accompanying this post shows). The characters also look a bit less angular; Porky resembles his classic look more than he did in the first season.
All in all, I’ll give it a few more episodes, but I’ll probably be bailing on watching the remainder of this series if it’s more of the same.
For another (admittedly also disapproving) take on this episode, see The A.V. Club’s review.
