Page 118 of 127

Bringing Action Back, Part 2

silverstar 6 Comments

Regarding the current state of action cartoons, most notably the recent and abrupt cancellations of shows like The Secret Saturdays, Sym-Bionic Titan, Generator Rex and the recent Thundercats reboot, and the relocation of many of these action cartoons to Saturday morning (DC Nation was placed on SatAM from the start), many action cartoon fans believe that network execs have had it in for action for a while now. “These shows are wasted on Saturday morning!” they complain. “Why don’t these shows air at night? They should be airing at night! It’s like they want these shows to fail!!” To which I say, the notion that The Powers That Be actually set these shows up to fail is just plain ridiculous; if the Suits in charge had no desire to keep these shows going, then they wouldn’t have bought them and greenlit them in the first place. But I do agree that shows like these are better suited for nighttime. However, here’s the thing: networks like CN have already tried airing action cartoons at night (first with You Are Here, and again with Night of Action), and they all failed to strike ratings gold.

It could be that their competition is just that good; I personally feel that Disney Channel’s live-action kidcoms (which typically air their premier episodes during prime time) are not funny and you can’t tell them apart, but they’re not aimed at me. However, I tend to think that the reason is partially due to the reasons listed in Part 1: that stand-alone comedies are easier to follow and have greater replay value since they don’t have to be shown in a specific order. The prime target audience for channels Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and The Hub are kids, and by and large, kids aren’t interested in following long, ongoing sagas and overlapping story arcs; that sort of thing is more enjoyed by hardcore action fans and comic book readers, and they tend not to want to get up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. Networks could try to market these shows towards the older, more secular action-loving crowd, but the problem with that is that adults don’t buy toys, at least not to the same degree that kids do. (On a semi-related note, it’s worth pointing out that the reason Animaniacs‘ run on Kids’ WB! was terminated by the network after 99 episodes wasn’t because of low ratings, but because the show was much more popular with adults than it was with kids, not a good thing for a show which airs on a block called KIDS’ WB). Unless action is to be restricted to adult-oriented programming blocks like Adult Swim or be simplified to a form that’s more appealing to younger audiences (like Batman: the Brave and the Bold or the upcoming Teen Titans GO!), this trend is likely to continue.

There’s another fly in the ointment regarding putting action on top again, a fly the size of an allosaurus, and that’s money. The harsh reality is that action shows don’t sell anymore. They are awesome and fun and cool and deep and intricate and all that good stuff but they don’t make money, plus they cost a truck load per episode to make.

Back in the 80s and 90s, the shows we watched had a lot of money from toys and merchandise coming in. Kids today don’t buy action figures like we did. More accurately, their parents don’t buy them, so the companies don’t get all of that revenue. Also cereal companies used to be the prime investor in these shows because they could advertise all of those great commercials selling sugar cereals to kids. That is illegal now. So when the government stopped that, it devastated the industries’ income. They had to start making cheaper, simpler shows. Studios take massive risks trying to make action shows that they know they can’t sell toys for or get money from commercials for. The market has changed dramatically and action shows, which typically involve more complex character designs, backgrounds and plots, are very expensive to produce, too expensive to produce if only a handful of people are going to watch and studios and networks aren’t going to make that money back in the form of toys, games and other assorted merchandise.

Times have changed, eras change, and yes, kids do watch comedy, they love it. Like it or not, more money is made from kids comedy than kids action. Times may have been different when we were kids, but it’s changed. The people working at the studios (artists/directors/writers) may and in all likelihood do want to tell these awesome action stories, but the fans don’t buy the back packs, toys, DVDs, or even watch the shows on cable anymore to give action shows the desired ratings. How can action survive when there is no money?

Finally, I’d like to pose a question: am I a bad person because I’m not particularly upset that Green Lantern and Young Justice may be going away? I’m admittedly not really an action cartoon person, though I can take action in small doses. That said, even at it’s best, I’ve always felt kind of “eh” about GL: TAS , probably because I could always take or leave the GLs in general, and I enjoyed YJ a lot more when it was just the 6 core sidekicks; I didn’t like how it went the Justice League Unlimited route and added a bunch of new characters. First, I’m not into time-skips to start with, and YJ has this ongoing plot which never seems to end, and too many characters, sub-plots and twists for a lazy person like myself to try and keep track of.

My feelings about this whole action cartoon debacle can be summed up in how I typically view shows of this nature:

“Hey, look. A new action cartoon based on a popular franchise, with deep, intricate plots and elements of drama and deep storytelling. Pretty cool.”

*Watches for a few minutes*

“What else is on?”

*Switches to some check-your-brain-at-the-door comedy cartoon with big-eyed kids, talking animals and rainbows*

Bringing Action Back

goldstar Leave a comment

Undoubtedly, we’ve all heard or read by now that neither Green Lantern: The Animated Series nor Young Justice were announced among returning series on Cartoon Network’s 2013 Upfront. This has lead many fans to believe that both shows are done. Cartoon Network is already getting a lot of heat from some of it’s viewers for giving most of it’s action cartoons the red-headed stepchild treatment; under promoting it’s action series. Canceling most of them prematurely, etc, and this latest news has only added fuel to the fire. Is there any way for action cartoon to start getting some love from cable/satellite kids channels again?

I say the answer to that is yes, although in order to achieve this, it may be necessary for the producers of said action to rethink their strategy/approach somewhat. Here at Twinsanity, we feel that one reason why action cartoons have been getting the short end of the stick as of late is because so many of them are done in a continuing story/saga fashion. I can hear the arguments in favor this technique now: “Continuing stories, sagas, and story arcs are cooler. They give more depth to the characters. It’s more mature storytelling and blah, blah, blah…” Well, that may be true, but the downside of that is that sagas/serials don’t have a very high replay value. Serial cartoons tend to not do well in reruns, which is one reason why comedy cartoons are often looked upon as the favorite children of cable/satellite channels because most comedy cartoon episodes are each a self contained story, so they can be rerun in any order or no particular order and new viewers tuning in for the 1st time can watch any episode without being lost and then having to catch up. Most people don’t want to revisit a saga once it’s finished. They might want to look at some highlights from the past season, but that’s about it. And channels can’t just run random episodes of a serial cartoon because the entire arc’s story line has to be shown in order or else the whole continuity is lost.

Another important issue is finance.. Let’s face it, quality costs mazoolah, and shows like Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series aren’t cheap to produce. The sad truth is that the shows’ niche audiences and low toy sales don’t justify the cost of producing them. Half of an animated shows’ success comes from merchandising, but unfortunately, kids just aren’t buying the GL and YJ toys. I suppose that it could be argued that CN and the other networks could (or should) be running action shows at night and aiming them at teens and young adults instead, but the problem with this suggestion is a) CN already tried running action premieres at night twice and both times the blocks failed to generate ratings from kid viewers who favored the comedy premieres on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, and b) except for hardcore comic book fans, adults aren’t buying action figures and toy play sets based on the shows. The success of Green Lantern: TAS relied heavily on the live action movie being successful, and since the GL movie bombed, there just wasn’t a huge incentive for many fans to tune in to the animated series. Likewise how the Kids’ WB Legion of Super Heroes animated series’ lifespan was cut in half due to Superman Returns, which opened the summer before LoS’s premiere, under performed at the box office.

In regards to serial fashion being “more mature storytelling”, the irony here is that Nickelodeon’s and Cartoon Network’s prime audience demographic is immature, as in kids. Sure, there are the hardcore comic book fans and the cool secular people who’ll tune in, but the networks don’t want to attract just them. They want to kids to watch because kids buy toys, and a show that’s watched largely by kids means that the networks can sell a bunch of over priced plastic toys based on the characters.

So perhaps it may be time for more action cartoon to go back to having stand alone plots and stories. It is possible to tell a decent action story without having a continuing saga or serial story running along. Shows like Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS and Justice League Unlimited have all done so. Sure, there was the occasional 2-parter, but usually nothing more than that

Now, I realize that my opinions aren’t the least biased, as I’m admittedly more of a comedy person than an action. Plus, I tend to get bored with a plot that that takes more than 2 parts to resolve. I admit it; I have a 22 minute attention span. But it just might be possible for action to regain some the attention that was once paid to them by network executives if they were to make thing somewhat less complicated for themselves.

Hub Hopes and Predictions ver. 2

silverstar Leave a comment

Image converted using ifftoany

This is yet another Hub post.

With a new year comes new hopes and predictions for fledgling family network The Hub. Lots of people have them, including myself. Recently I was lurking at Toon Zone forums and came across a thread for this very subject, and I’d like to share my own thought on some of these predictions and hopes.

-First, however, I’d like to blow off a little steam: I feel like I’m the only person on Earth who’s not having a fan-gasm about The Hub’s acquiring Animaniacs. Yeah, it’s nice to see the show on TV again, but I don’t get why so many people on the internet are treating The Hub’s acquisition of this show like the Second Coming. OK, it’s a nice comeback, but come on; it’s not like they’re new episodes. Not that a new A! series stands a snowball’s chance of happening, nor would it be a good thing if it did: An Animaniacs revival would likely have different producers and directors, a different composer (obviously, since Richard Stone has been gone a while), cheaper animation with a 21st century kid’s cartoon design aesthetic (forget TMS, and Startoons is long gone), probably a different tone entirely for that very reason would very likely be made without Spielberg’s backing. Who in the world would want something like that? But yeah, sorry Animaniacs fans, but I just can’t get that excited about something returning to TV that I can watch anytime on DVD for free. And of course, with The Hub’s acquisition of A! comes the inevitable fan-wanking for Hasbro to acquire other Silver Age WB shows like Tiny Toon Adventures and Pinky & the Brain for The Hub. Personally, I’d rather see The Hub carve its’ own niche rather than see it become Kids’ WB! 2.0. While I wouldn’t mind some more shows done in the vein or spirit of A! or TTA and the like, I’d much rather get new shows as opposed to The Hub just acquiring more and more canceled reruns. Again, if I want to relive any of these shows, I can just buy the DVDs.

There, I said it. I feel better. Now, on to the hopes and predictions. Poster’s hopes will be types in italics, my text will be normal.

I would like to see the Hub get Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes who would do better job than X-D, And Justice League/JLU to their network.

Ah, no. That’s not happening. All of the Marvel cartoons are property of Disney now, so you won’t be seeing any of them on a non-Disney owned station. The ONLY reason The Super Hero Squad Show airs on The Hub is because Hasbro produces the toy line. That is the only reason, BTW; anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Yes, with a new Avengers series, Avengers Assemble, which is said to basically be the blockbuster movie in animated series form, coming down the pike, it’s become crystal clear that A:EMH is done, but that doesn’t mean that it’s up for grabs; the show will likely just go into the vaults. Disney would rather sit on a show than let a rival network get rich off of it. The Mouse House killed A:EMH to make room for AA, so they obviously have no plans of letting it run somewhere else.

Justice League/Unlimited is a possibility, though I believe that’s already airing on Vortexx. Whether The Hub or anyone else would be interested in acquiring it likely depends on whether the Justice League movie happens and how well it does if it does manifest. (Warner Brothers has made it clear that the possibility of a JL movie hinges almost totally on how well the upcoming Man of Steel movie performs; if MoS tanks, then there won’t be a JL movie, it’s as simple as that.) Comedy has always been a higher priority for The Hub than action, and personally I’m of the train of thought that The Hub should be acquiring less action cartoons, not more.

Wouldn’t it be great if The Hub got The Kids from Room 402?

Why? Why would that be great? Why would The Hub even want to acquire The Kids from Room 402? What would be their incentive to do that? What would they possibly gain from acquiring that? The Kids from Room 402 hasn’t been seen anywhere since its’ initial run on Fox Family in 1999-2000. Who besides a few internet geeks like us even remembers that show? Let me explain something once again: cable/satellite channels like The Hub don’t acquire shows ‘just because’; there has to be a demand for them and some kind of incentive for said network to acquire them, i.e. a guarantee that they’ll make back the money they spend on such acquisitions. There’s no profit to made in The Hub’s acquiring some also ran cartoon which hardly anyone remembers and hasn’t resurfaced anywhere in 14 years, and no profit = no need or desire on Hasbro’s part to acquire it. Channels picking up shows just to be nice and to make viewers happy may be how it works in Happy Lollipop Land, but here in the real world TV is a business, and like all businesses it revolves around profit. It’s all about the Benjamins, folks; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Rule of Thumb: if you can’t think of another reason for The Hub (or any channel for that matter) to acquire a show besides “I like it” or “I haven’t seen it in a while” or “It existed”, then chances are it’s not in the network’s best interests to acquire it.

How does anyone feel about The Ripping Friends, Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island, Bro ‘Town, Mr. Bean: The Animated Series and Sgt. Frog join the Hub family?

How we feel about these shows joining The Hub is irrelevant, since none of them will be joining the Hub. Allow me address each of these pics individually:

The Ripping Friends: while it did live its’ brief lifetime on Fox Kids, the fact remains that it didn’t resonate with its’ kid audience. Fox had hoped that the fact that Ripping Friends was created by the man who gave us Ren & Stimpy, John Kricfalusi, would be enough to generate interest in the show, but that didn’t happen. Kids just weren’t into Ripping Friends, and at bottom, like Ren & Stimpy before it, the show really wasn’t for kids. When RF finally did resurface, it was on Adult Swim, so it would be severely out of place during the kid-vid hours. There’d be no reason for Hasbro to acquire Ripping Friends unless the network was planning to launch an adult cartoon block, which I actually think it a good idea; there would be finally be a suitable place to put Dan VS.

Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island: Really? REALLY? Are you serious??? Why in the flaming heck would The Hub, or any channel, for that matter, want to acquire Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island?!? Even the average 2-year-old saw this show for what it was: a remarkably weak knockoff of SpongeBob Squarepants which shamelessly ripped off everything from the concept to the setting to the characters to the lead’s buck teeth to the use of voice actor Bill Fagerbakke, and just above public access production values. Why would Hasbro want to acquire a show so painfully lame and heinously unpopular that even Kids’ WB! opted to bury it forever and The Hub would be made fun of for even airing it? You might as well suggest that The Hub start airing Loonatics Unleashed.

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series: Sorry to be the crusher of dreams, but The Hub will not be acquiring Mr. Bean: TAS. Cartoon Network US will not be acquiring Mr. Bean: TAS. Nickelodeon US will not be acquiring Mr. Bean: TAS. NO American cable channel will be acquiring Mr. Bean: TAS. Why not? Because nobody in America besides you is Jonesing for Mr. Bean, that’s why. It’s not for lack of trying, mind you: there were no less than 3 attempts to bring Mr. Bean to the States, a live-action series on HBO and 2 US movie releases: Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007), but none of them set America on fire; the 2 movies were box office bombs (in the US, anyway), and hardly anyone watched the HBO show. Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Supermans 3 and 4 and Batman and Robin sucked too, but they’re still all based on popular franchises in high demand with viewers; by contrast, The Mr. Bean phenomenon just never caught on here for whatever reason, and again no demand= no chance of profit and no chance of profit = no chance of an acquisition. Personally, when it comes to Rowan Atkinson I’ve always preferred Black Adder anyway.

Bro’ Town: Congrats, you picked a show with even less of a US following than Mr. Bean. Bro’ Town is a cartoon from New Zealand which to be fair, is pretty successful in its’ native country (5 seasons) but the fact remains that most Americans have never heard of it; heck, I didn’t know this show existed before this guy mentioned it, and then I had to look it up on Wikipedia. If you have to inform your viewing audience that a show exists, chances are a network isn’t going to go out of their way to acquire it. Also, based on what I’ve read, Bro’ Town targets a young adult male audience, and The Hub doesn’t really specialize in that sort of thing. Again, not going to happen unless Hub decides to launch an adult cartoon block.

Sgt. Frog: A lot of people have been requesting that this show come to the US, but so far no one’s been biting, and if the big channels like CN and Nick aren’t trying to acquire Sgt. Frog, then I don’t see The Hub making a play for it. It costs money to import shows, and dubbing them costs even more money. Right now The Hub doesn’t have the lettuce to acquire and dub an anime.

Yeah….seein as how action has been given a swift kick on other networks, I say bring on the action. More room for comedy. I disagree. Reminds me of the awesomeness of Jetix/Toon Disney. Now we have Disney X-D. A great blend of “diversity”. Where comedies and action shows thrive. Oh wait. X out that last part…

Two things: First, Jetix basically killed Toon Disney and started the Mouse House on their current idee fixee that their classic shorts library and all things related to it have no place on their channels beyond bumpers between teencoms and edutainment shows for tiny tots, so you’ll understand if I don’t have the same fondness for Jetix that you do. Second, it’s not The Hub’s job to pick up the slack of other networks, let alone cater to one viewer’s personal whims.

You prefer action, fine. But why should comedy get the boot because of that? I don’t want to see The Hub go all-action any more than I’d want to see it go all retro. Why does The Hub have to be all action and no comedy or all comedy and no action? Why can’t it show both? I don’t see the 2 as mutually exclusive; if action is working on The Hub, I welcome that, ride that rocket, baby, but I’d rather not see it take over the channel like what happened with Jetix; and given that 3 of The Hub’s biggest hits right now, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dan VS and the recently acquired and heavily promoted Animaniacs, are comedy, not action, cartoons, I’d say the chances of The Hub abandoning comedy altogether are close to nil. Again, comedy is and always has been higher on The Hub’s priority list than action. Hub already has an action block, so why not a comedy block? Nothing wrong with the channel expanding its’ comedy roster, I say, especially with more comedies geared towards slightly older viewers than the Strawberry Shortcake crowd. Dan VS can’t and shouldn’t be the only older-skewing comedy on the network. There’s plenty of room on a 24-hour channel to accommodate multiple genres.

-Personally, my hopes for The Hub in the coming year(s) are simply that as the channel grows and viewership increases, they’ll show other genres besides Action and Retro some love. (Calm down, Action and Retro fans; I’m not saying that there should be none of those shows on The Hub, just that I’d like to see more shows outside of those genres. Variety is the spice of life, after all.) Hopefully they’ll be able to rely less on older shows and movies and defunct franchises so people will finally stop referring to The Hub as an oldies’ channel. I’d like to see The Hub launch and obtain more comedies, more girl-centric shows and more original series and first-run acquisitions, particularly at night.

The Aquabats Supershow – Super Wacky!

goldstar 10 Comments

Most fans of the Hasbro owned cable/satellite channel known as The Hub know the channel as “That Transformers/G.I. Joe” Channel” or “The channel that My Little Pony Built”. Some others know The Hub as the channel that airs Dan Vs. However, there is one show that currently airs on The Hub which doesn’t get as much press as those shows aforementioned, and one that I feel is deserving of more praise than it receives. That series is a live action campy hoot known as The Aquabats Supershow!

The Aquabats Supershow! premiered on The Hub on March 3, 2012 and was created by former child actor Christian Jacobs ad Bob Schultz (both of whom are also the creators of the Nick Jr. series Yo, Gabba-Gabba!) but it’s worth mentioning that The Aquabats (the band)’s history preceded the TV series. In fact, The Aquabats have been around for a little while now. Here’s a brief history on The Aquabats:

The Aquabats is an American rock band that was formed in Orange County, California in 1994. The band was founded by Jacobs, Chad Larson and Boyd Terry. The 3 friends got the idea to form a joke band that satirized the Orange County punk scene. The idea was to start an unabashedly silly band boasting a happy, positive persona — an antithesis to aggressive and humorless punk bands — with the intention of performing at punk shows to poke fun at the scene. Easily identified by their Lone Ranger masks, Positivity Helmets and matching costumes, The Aquabats are perhaps most recognized for their theatrical persona in which they claim to be crime-fighting superheroes. This theme serves as subject for much of the band’s music and as part of their stage shows, which regularly feature comedic stunts and fight scenes with costumed villains and creatures. The band has gone through several fluctuations and also several members with Jacobs and Larson being the only constants.

Since their debut in 1996, The Aquabats have released five studio albums, two extended plays and one compilation, among other recordings.

The TV series began as a 5 minute pilot called The Aquabats in Color! which was originally pitched to The Fox Family Channel in 1994, but the project was canceled.
Now, back to the present.
Each 22 minute episode of The Aquabats Super Show! is done in a style similar to The Looney Tunes Show, consisting of 1 half-hour story featuring the live action Aquabats doing comedic battle with some formidable, but ridiculous nemesis, intermixed with a funny cartoon blackout starring Li’l Bat, the Aquabats’ mascot, an animated segment (creatively titled “A CARTOON”) via a random miniature TV set that appears in some incongruous location featuring animated versions of The Aquabats (ironically, the cartoon segments follow a continuing story format, while the live action are always a self contained story), and a commercial parody. The latter of which are a staple of the Aquabats’ stage shows.
The series itself is based on the band’s mythology. The Aquabats are a team of costumed superheroes of unknown origin (Jacobs has stated in an interview that the team’s origin is intentionally left vague for the audience’s imagination) who simultaneously perform rock concerts while battling the forces of evil and boredom while traveling around in their souped-up “Battle Tram”, which is much roomier on the inside than it looks on the outside, sporting it’s own lounge, sleeping quarters and science lab. The band/team members all wear matching uniforms, and in the manner of The Tick, are never shown out of costume. Some viewers have speculated that this would make it difficult to tell the individual members apart, but when you start watching the episodes, it surprisingly isn’t. The band’s members consist of:
  • The MC Bat Commander (played by the band’s lead singer, Christian Jacobs, distinguishable by his Zorro-like mustache and his missing front tooth):  He’s the leader of The Aquabats and a self-described “Man of Action”. He’s got the swagger. He’s got the bravado, but interestingly, he’s the only member of the team without a super power. 
  •  Crash McLarson (played by bassist Chad Larson, distinguishable by his being the tallest Aquabat and his bushy eyebrows): Basically a big birdbrained lug who has the ability to grow to 50 feet in size. Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet mastered this ability and so he usually only gets this power to work when he’s extremely mad and/or upset (“GETTING EMOTIONAL!!”). Interestingly, Crash’s animated self seems to be in complete control of his size altering ability.
  • Ricky Fitness (played by drummer Richard Falomir, distinguishable by his trim physique and the braces on his teeth): A reformed juvenile delinquent who’s now all about clean living and fitness. He has the power of super speed. He’s also the band’s “ladies’ man” of sorts, falling for nearly ever attractive young woman he sees.
  • Eagle “Bones” Falconhawk: (played by guitarist Ian Fowles, distinguishable by his long brown hair): The band’s iconiclast and strident individualist who’s full of personal pride to the point of cockiness at times. He possesses a magic guitar which he can fire lasers from. He was also granted a mystical “second sight” from a floating shaman head, giving him the ability to see fairies and other apparitions, as well as the ability to summon an invisible spirit animal, a female eagle known as “The Dude”. But since no one else can see her, his teammates just think that he’s bonkers.
  • Jimmy the Robot (played by keyboardist James R. Biggs Jr., distinguishable by his metal chin plate and his metal hands): Jimmy is an android who was created by The Aquabats (most likely) and is easily the smartest member of the team. He has a computer brain and the ability to fire purple lasers from his fingertips. He’s also the team’s science and technology expert. Ironically, despite his being artificial, seems to possess the most human vulnerability of the team, emotion-wise.

This series mostly reminds me of the old Batman live action series which ran from 1966 to 1968 starring Adam West and Burt Ward, which I didn’t see when it originally aired because I didn’t exist back then (I watched the show 2nd hand in syndication). It’s pure camp and goofiness. Much of what happens on the show is unexplained and is just plain silly, but it works. It’s like a living cartoon. In fact, The Aquabats Supershow is what Warner Brothers’ feeble attempt at a Looney Tunes cape show Loonatics Unleashed should have been; a silly superhero spoof which doesn’t take itself seriously at all.  Any series that can boast not 1, but 2 guest appearances by “Weird Al” Yankovic (one as the U.S. President and the other as a Superman/Shazam knock-off named”Super Magic Power Man”) is OK in my book. Christian Jacobs has apparently wanted to make a series like this for some time now, so I guess that he’s basically living the dream. It’s also worth mentioning that The Hub has ordered a 2nd season of The Aquabats Super Show, which is slated to run this Spring. All I can say is “More power to you!”, guys.

 

Why Y’all Hatin’ on Witch Lezah?

silverstar 2 Comments

As we reach the midway point of The Looney Tunes Show‘s sophomore season, I’ve noticed the hate rants and complaints about the show have diminished considerably. No doubt this is partly due to how the writers and artists have actually listened to viewer complaints about the show and have adjusted things accordingly: they’ve abandoned Jessica Borutski’s original stylized character designs in favor of a more ‘classic’ look, they’ve switched to brighter colors (Bugs is gray again instead of pale lavender!), the writers have upped the slapstick and the visual gags, there are more callbacks to the original shorts, and in general things have just gotten ‘loonier’. (Of course, we still haven’t seen much of Elmer Fudd, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote segments are gone and the Merrie Melodies are on the way out with the departure of Ms. Borutski, but no show is perfect.)

However, it’s not all hunky-dory in the Looney Tunes ‘hood; despite the improvements the show has made, there is one element of TLTS that still continues to raise peoples’ ire. Namely, this lady:

 This harbinger of evil, this blight upon the community, is Witch Lezah, the fun-house mirror version of Bugs Bunny’s Looney Tunes adversary Witch Hazel, here cast as Bugs and Daffy’s no-nonsense witch neighbor and single mother to little boy inside the body of a 9-foot tall giant orange monster Gossamer, voiced by African-American stage, film and TV comedienne and actress Roz Ryan.
While a secondary character on the show itself, there is a surprising amount of hate and derision aimed at this character. The biggest irate questions asked about the Witch are: why is she called ‘Lezah’ instead of ‘Hazel’? Why does she sound black? and Why isn’t June Foray voicing her, especially when June Foray is on the show voicing Granny? One colleague of mine who’s a member of both The Big Cartoon Database and the place I recently moved out of, Toon Zone, is one of Lezah’s biggest detractors, never passing up an opportunity to cast stones at the character and her voice actress. His favorite smack against the character is to call constantly (and I do mean constantly) compare Witch Lezah to Mammy Two-Shoes, the Buelah-esque black maid featured in the early Tom & Jerry cartoons, referring to Lezah as “The Mammy Two-Shoes Witch” and accusing the character of being “an offensive stereotype of a black woman”. His favorite comment (which he’ll spout at the drop of a hat) is: “I think if they decide to bring Mammy Two Shoes back to Tom and Jerry, Roz Ryan would be the perfect voice actress for her.”
Now, I like and respect this guy; he’s a little candid with his views, but he often offers intelligent observations backed by facts and reason, and he does his research so he knows a lot about the animation industry and the people behind it, so I can respect most of what he has to say, which is why I didn’t preface his comments as a Point and Laugh, however, I couldn’t disagree with him more about Witch Lezah. I’ll save my views on his points for later, right now allow me address the other questions people keep asking about the Witch:
  • Why is the Witch called ‘Lezah’ instead of ‘Hazel’?
  • Why does she sound black?
  • Why isn’t June Foray voicing her, especially when June Foray is on the show voicing Granny?
I’ll answer these in reverse order. First, as to why June Foray isn’t voicing the Witch, well, that’s another elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge, but that’s kind of what we do here. Namely, that as of this writing, June Foray is 95 years old. 95. No one wants to face that, but the woman is pushing a century. It’s very possible (and quite likely) that Ms. Foray no longer has the energy and stamina to perform such a lively character anymore, and also WB probably doesn’t want to give Ms. Foray a lot of work to do because it’s not known how much more time she has on this dimensional plane. Note how Granny has been a tad more subdued than her early shorts appearances, and note also how Granny as yet hasn’t had any speaking roles since season 2 started. Regarding why Lezah sounds black, that’s because she’s voiced by an African-American woman, Roz Ryan.
Roz_Ryan_8
Regular viewers probably recognize Ms. Ryan as the voice of Bubbie the whale on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. She also voiced Thalia, the Muse of Comedy on Disney’s Hercules (1997). She has also voiced Cake on CN’s Adventure Time and Wade’s mom on Kim Possible. Among her live-action appearances have been NBC’s Amen (1986-1991), Barbershop (2005), General Hospital (2012) and The Rickey Smiley Show (2012).
As for the name change, I’m guessing that was implemented because LT purists wouldn’t accept anyone else other than June Foray voicing Witch Hazel (though it’s worth mentioning that in Hazel’s first shorts appearance, Bewitched Bunny, she was voiced by Bea Benederet), so the producers established her as a different character altogether, by simply switching the name around–‘Lezah’ is ‘Hazel’ backwards. (Another question I’ve heard more than once is: is there any connection or relation between Witch Lezah and Witch Hazel? I once read on Wikipedia that in-universe Lezah is supposed to be Hazel’s sister and that Witch Hazel herself was supposed to appear on a Halloween themed episode sometime during season 2. Of course it’s worth mentioning that this was posted on Wikipedia, which anyone and their Aunt Gertrude can edit, and said information was promptly removed shortly thereafter, so my guess is that this was nothing but an unfounded and groundless internet rumor.)
Now, on to my friend’s Mammy-Two Shoes analogy. Yes, Lezah’s voice and mannerisms are indeed based on those of a stereotypical Black American woman, but I don’t see this as an offensive ethnic stereotype so much as the writers intentionally basing the character’s persona around that of the actress who provides her voice. Lezah is more or less an animated version of the characters Ms. Ryan typically portrays on TV and movies. It’s no different from how Donkey from Shrek and Iago from Disney’s Aladdin were modeled after their voice actors, Eddie Murphy and Gilbert Gottfried respectively. Now as an African-American, I’m usually the first to point out when something is racially offensive, and I’m not the least bit offended by Roz Ryan’s Witch Lezah, however I do get kind of miffed at my fellow poster’s constant Mammy Two-Shoes comparisons. Is Lezah a tad stereotypical? Yes, no denying that. But I think calling her a Mammy Two-Shoes throwback is taking it a tad too far. And maybe Ms. Ryan could possibly voice MTS, but I can assure  you that a return of Mammy Two-Shoes to the Tom & Jerry-verse is NEVER going to happen. You can file that right alongside of Disney ever releasing Song of the South on DVD in the Never Gonna Happen bin. Now I don’t hate the character of MTS; I can tolerate her appearance in the old T&Js fine, as long as one takes into account when these cartoons were made. African-American women working as domestics for white families were fairly commonplace during the 1930’s through the 1950’s, so such caricatures weren’t considered racially offensive at the time. But a character like MTS would never fly with a contemporary audience today, society has changed far too much for such a character to be socially acceptable in any medium. In fact, the character has recently resurfaced on WB’s Tom & Jerry Tales as the Caucasian Mrs. Two-Shoes, who is clearly the owner of the house and not just a domestic. You’re not going to see Mammy Two-Shoes anywhere ever again, any more than you’re ever going to see Buckwheat on TV again, definitely not the “Otay!” version of Buckwheat, not unless Eddie Murphy decides to start playing him again.
So I say lay off of Witch Lezah, and lay off of the criticism of Roz Ryan voicing the character. Nobody had a problem with Ms. Ryan voicing a short fat Muse or a blue whale, so why take issue with her voicing a green witch?