Updated on December 10, 2021
Another week, another “Looney Tunes Show” episode. (Yep, SPOILERS…)
Plot this week: Daffy, seeing he needs a slight bit of beak work done, thinks he’s hideous looking and goes for a drastic beak job. Meanwhile, Bugs, fascinated by the idea of Porky’s nine-to-five work life, gets a job at Porky’s company.
This one was better than last week’s “Newspaper Job,” but still has the usual flaws of the series (though they seem to be slightly increasing the amount of incidental music, at least). Porky’s occupation in this series is revealed as being an accountant (no, not for an Acme company—what kind of cartoon do you think this is?!).
I could’ve done without the (literal) toilet joke, or the “canker sore cream” reference (though the scene gives us a rare bit of cartoonish behavior on Daffy’s part, as he whips out various ludicrous objects). I did like some of Porky’s lines (including about how soul-draining his job is), plus the look on his face at initially being annoyed by Bugs. I don’t think there’s any original shorts (or many spinoffs) that show Porky and Bugs heavily interacting (aside from maybe the Looney Tunes Christmas special in the 70s, or the various old comics, or the screwball Bugs-prototype in the old short “Porky’s Hare Hunt“), so this episode subplot at least stands out for that.
Old shorts reference: Bugs’ bedroom has a poster for the “Coachella Valley Carrot Festival,” which Bugs was trying to get to in the classic short “Bully For Bugs.” I’m also wondering if Daffy’s doctor (or the blond bulky guy Daffy walks around later in the episode) are also characters from Looney Tunes shorts; they look vaguely familiar… (EDIT: someone online suggests the doctor’s Dr. I.Q. High without his light-bulb hat; High was from the original series short “Duck Dodgers in the 24th-1/2 Century,” and appeared on the 2000s “Dodgers” TV series as well.)
As for the high points of the show, there’s no “Merrie Melodies” short this week, but we do get another Road Runner short, “Heartbreak Bridge.” The Coyote tries to trap the Road Runner on a bridge (that he blew up both ends of); hilarity ensues.
