The Extras - How TCM Is Bringing Looney Tunes Back To Classic Movie Nights

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Send us a textBugs Bunny is TCM's February STAR OF THE MONTH. Scott McGee, Senior Director, Original Programming at TCM, joins the podcast to explain what fans can expect, and what he knows about the 6-year licensing deal TCM made for the Looney Tunes Library. We also provide updates how this impacts the airing of Looney Tunes on TUBI and MeTV. This is an episode that subscribers of TCM, TUBI, or MeTV Toons don't want to miss.Join our new public Facebook Group for Warner Archive Animation Fans and get the latest update on all the releases. Warner Archive Store on AmazonSupport the podcast by shopping with our Amazon Affiliate linkDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.The Extras Facebook page The Extras TV YouTube ChannelThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group Join our new public Facebook Group for Warner Archive Animation Fans and get the latest update on all the releases. As an Amazon Affiliate, The Extras may receive a commission for purchases through our purchase links. There is no additional cost to you, and every little bit helps us in the production of the podcast. Thanks in advance. Otaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. [e-mail]

Hi, I'm animation historian Jerry Beck, and you're listening to The Extras. Hi, Tim Allard here. I know many of you are fans of both Looney Tunes and TCM, and recently they announced that Bugs Bunny will be the star of the month for February. So that was exciting news, and then that was just followed by an announcement of a licensing deal for six years between these two iconic Warner Brothers. But there are also a lot of questions, so I reached out. to friend of the podcast, Scott McGee, who is the senior director of original productions at Turner Classic Movies. And this is my conversation with him, and he gives us some background on what this

partnership means, what the start of the month means, and I think you'll find that it answers many of your questions. Now, there are a few, though, that we weren't able to answer. So stick around to the end because I did get more information that's crucial to fans of both DCM and Looney Tunes. So stick around for that at the end of our conversation. So Scott, earlier this month you posted about Bugs Bunny being TCM's start of the month for February. So let's start there. What brought this about and what are some of the details behind that? Well, I myself found out about this back in November.

I was not aware that this was even a thing until Charlie Tabish, our head of programming, does what he does best, and that is burying the lead. He often does this when he's in meetings. He'll just casually drop something, and then like, wait, what? And that was one such moment for me when he just casually mentioned, oh, yeah, and we're going to be getting the Looney Tunes Library in February, and then other items, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? What did you just say?

He knew that I would be that excited about it. So I was not aware of it. And so I don't really know how this came out. I do know that as it often is, that Charlie had been in some sort of form of discussions with people at Warner Brothers. And I'm just so thankful that it happened. This is something that as a film lover and somebody who wants definitely wants TCM to succeed, I've always felt in my bones that the Looney Tunes belong on TCM. And lo and behold, it just came out of nowhere and it happened.

So I'm really, really excited about that. In terms of the parameters of the deal, I'm not really aware of it other than I know that it's going to be for an extended period of time for the foreseeable future. I don't know if these will be going on HBO Max. I don't know anything like that other than what we have plans for them on air, which are also ongoing in and of themselves because there's so many of them that, you know, we got to come up with, you know, a strategy and how we how we show them and how we program them. I'm not one that's usually involved in the programming of the channel, but I do, of course, blend my insight and not. my own feelings on the matter to Charlie, and he is very receptive to input for me and all others

as well. So I'm sure it's an ongoing effort to kind of figure out how we're going to fit these in and how we're going to program them and curate them and how they best complement all of the films that we have unspooling on TCM every day of every hour of every week of every year. Well, let's go back to just specifically we can talk about the Bugs Bunny star of the month because I think that's out there with some details. It starts February 2nd. I read that you're going to launch with a wild hair from 1940 directed by Technavary. Then you're just going to for what, two weeks or so, have just a lot of bugs on every day?

I think it's the first week. This is one of those instances where, for various reasons, due to practicality and just other programming commitments that we have in February, most notably 31 days of Oscar, that sometimes it's beneficial or even necessary to kind of backfill or front fill, rather, the offerings of whoever that star of the month is. And in this case, being Bugs Bunny, yeah, it just made more sense to sort of isolate them to one week. But that's just a taste of what's coming on the regular for TCM. You're going to see these Looney Tunes. I don't know if they'll be in every break, but they will be on throughout the day. And so we're looking forward to seeing how that all works out. But getting back to bugs, I think it was kind of a no-brainer to.

to make him the Bugg star of the month. In fact, it was not even something I had even dreamed of. That was just something that Charlie came up on his own. But it makes sense. I mean, Bugs Bunny is the flagship character for the Looney Tunes Library. He is, you know, the greatest star out of the lineup. And, you know, he's in a lot of ways, has been a corporate mascot for Warner Brothers itself. So, and frankly, he is one of the biggest stars.

who ever came out of Hollywood. He's known the world over, and, you know, and he rubbed elbows, so to speak, with all the greats, you know,

James Cagney, Betty Davis, Jack Warner, later on, Mickey Mouse in 1980s, who framed Roger Rabbit. But as we show in a new TCM original, that is coming down the pike,

should be up on the air, very, very soon, and it will be on YouTube as well. But it's one of our celebrated Star of the Month specials on whoever the Star of the Month is. You know, in the past we've had, you know, very well-known people read a script or talk about in voiceover only their association or their fandom of whatever star. You know, we had the late great Richard Lewis talking about Star the month Buster Key. for one time, for example. But this is an instance where we have, we had an opportunity to put somebody on camera.

And so for about a five to six minute piece, we have talking about Bugs Bunny, Pat and Oswald, Dana Gould, and Bill Hader. And so they will pop up throughout, and you'll be seeing the highlights of Bugs' career. you'll be seeing some of his greatest moments and you'll be seeing why he is such an enduring star of the small and the big screen.

So I'm really, really excited to share that with you guys and I'll post the TCM YouTube link just as soon as it's available. Right. Yeah, I'm looking forward to those. You always do a great job with those. They're in the programming on the broadcast but then available for others, which is always nice. Well, going back to that news about this six-year licensing deal to bring the Looney Tunes Library to TCM, what does that partnership look like?

Is it an exclusive deal or just something that you'll be populating on a regular basis? No, no. Don't know. I do not know if it's an exclusive deal. I know some people have had questions about that regarding Looney Tunes on Me TV, I believe. Right. But I have no idea how it affects those. those other agreements.

As for how they're implemented, it's just depending on how we end up, you know, how we program them all. And so I don't know if Charlie has in mind other ways of using these Looney Tunes libraries, even off channel. I imagine that we will try to get some of them, as we have before in the past, get some of them into our film festival programming. So that's always something that we all opportunities that we always look for. And so that will continue.

But as for, you know, the other questions regarding the deal and the limits, that's, yeah, that's about as far as I know at this point, Tim. You bet. And I think you've had other cartoons on like Popeye cartoons on Saturday mornings. Do those stick around? Do those go away? Do they get replaced by this? Any idea?

I don't know what Charlie has in mind for those cartoons. I do know that we're not going to stop celebrating and highlighting animation from wherever they may come from, regardless of whether or not their loonytunes or Warner Brothers cartoons. We've had a looks at the Fleischer cartoons. We've had looks at some Disney shorts, I think. We've looked at the Patty Freeling cartoons. UPA output. And so, yeah, that's always been really important to celebrate animation, no matter where

it comes from, and in no matter what form or style it may take. So that will continue. But as for the Flintstones and other Hanna-Barberas, I'm not sure how that will be impacted, if at all. Yeah, I mean, it's an evolving thing, but this is great. And then let's talk a little bit about the cartoons themselves. Do you know anything in terms of will these be? some of the previous versions that were edited or censored?

No, these will not be edited or censored, just like everything else that we are on DCM. That's terrific. Of course, as you guys all know, there is some humor that does not date very well to today's audiences. And as always, we are very respectful and very mindful of the way those images are handled, the way they are presented very unfairly, in a lot of ways, in very racist ways. But that doesn't mean that we just pretend they never happened.

And so we will be very sensitive as we always are in presenting these cartoons and indeed all the movies that we present with the proper context of what it means, why it's there and why it's important not to not to pretend that never happened. Yeah. And I think being that TCM is a broadcast channel, it's going to be different than those people who just collect on physical media, on Blu-rays. You have to be more sensitive to that stuff.

That's right. That's right. I will also note that I do not know if this agreement includes the censored 11, which are a handful of Warner Brother Looney Tune cartoons that have been taken out of circulation because of the racial content is so severe. And we did present a collection of these at one of the film festivals, I think, in 2010 or 2011,

with Donald Bogle presenting them and giving his expert insight and context to them. But I don't know if Charles, has any plans to air them or even if we can. So that is, yeah, that's just not something I'm really familiar with other than I know they're out there, but that's as far as I know. Some people have had a question, you know, aren't TCM and Looney Tunes, Warner Brothers, aren't they all the same company? And I think some people are curious about, you know, why do they have to license them and things like that? Without getting into the weeds,

maybe you could explain a little bit of why you have to license these. Well, it's an accounting thing, I believe. This is no secret as well. Movies like Casablanca and Adventures of Robin Hood and all that, we have to license those two from Warner Brothers. So the cartoons are no different. Yeah. Well, it's been announced already that Warner Brothers Discovery is spinning off its

linear TV networks into a separate company called Discovery, Discovery, global and TCM is a cable network. So will it be a part of Discovery Global and how does that have any bearing on you and where you will be in terms of that split and the other people there work at TCM? This is what I know. TCM will fall under Warner Brothers, not Discovery Global. I do not know and I don't think really anything. anybody knows yet how we're going to be fit in, but we're really very optimistic that being under Warner Brothers will be a great fit for TCM. Well, Scott, that was great. Appreciate it. I think we covered, you know, at least what we know so far. And the big deal here, I think, is this start of the month, which is going to be happening very, very soon. And just how you're going to be promoting that to kind of launch this whole multi-year agreement between Looney Tunes and TCM.

that's fantastic. I love the fact that it seems like it's been mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter at least as being six years whatever it ends up being. That is a nice long commitment and shows a real big commitment to Looney Tunes. Yes, and I will also note that

you know, in addition to the Bugs Bunny Star of the Month original that will be coming that's already it's already been made. We're just got to get it up. We have an additional piece that will be airing starting towards the end of the month of February.

And it's called Looney Tunes Come Home, this original. And it too will be a short five to six minute piece that kind of contextualizes why Looney Tunes belong on TCM. And in fact, they're really coming home to where they've belonged all along. Because these films, these short films, are now rejoining a lot of the same classic films that they accompanied when they first debuted in theaters back in the 30s, the 40s, and the 1950s. And so this development of Looney Tunes coming to TCM is really pretty historic because this would be the first time that these cartoons made by a studio for a movie-going audience.

This would be the first time that these tunes have been rejoined with the classic feature films that they were made alongside of. Be the first time that they've been programmed and curated in this way. To be, to be, again, part of classic movies on an ongoing and regular basis. And I just think that's an amazing development for people who, you know, want connection. They want, they want that connection that they get on TCM. interspersed between the features, you know, you get, you get your short subject, you get your trailer, you get your wine club commercial. But man, isn't it just great to get one froggy

evening, for example, or a classic Roadrunner Wiley Coyote cartoon that just makes you laugh stupidly. That's what I, that's what I love about this deal. You know, because I, I'm a, as you know, a ginormous Looney Tunes fan. You know, I got this on my arm last March. My first and probably only tattoo, I'll get it a little closer for you guys. This was, this is my own little message to the world at large. Bugs Bunny does not abide a bully.

And so it was time for me to get Bugs Bunny on my arm. but I digress. My point is I am a huge Looney Tunes fan, and I just can't tell you how excited I am that all of this is coming down the pike and that, you know, that seeing these cartoons and, you know, having them being able to liven up our day and just make us laugh is, I think it's something people are going to really love to have. Yeah. It's such a great reflection of the history of Warner Brothers in the studio. because they released their films in theaters, they've released these theatrical shorts in theaters. They historically have been together.

And now, you know, you guys are going to replicate that. And that's fantastic. And I want to say another word about the other original Looney Tunes come home. It too will feature Dana Gould, Bill Hader, and Pat Nosswal. But also additionally, TCM's good friend Joe Dante, he appears on camera and also two cartoon experts, Mark McCrae and the co-author of this Bible, the Looney Tunes and Mary Melodies Guide,

a complete illustrated guide to all of them, all of those Looney Tunes, Jerry Beck is on camera too talking about him. And also there's going to be more of these short interstitials talking more about the Looney Tunes in general. There'll be some additional ones about Mel Blank, about the music, the sound effects, certain directors, and maybe even one or two of these guys,

Patton or Dana or remember, talking about one of their favorite cartoons. So those won't be ready in February or March, but they will be coming down the line later on in the year. Well, that's fantastic, Jerry. Beck is on our podcast frequently talking about the physical media releases. So we know that he knows his Looney Tunes and his animation. So terrific to hear that.

It's always great to talk to you, Scott. So appreciate you giving us this update. You are very welcome. Very welcome, Tim. And you guys enjoy the Looney Tunes, man. I'm just so happy to have them home. Well, there were a few questions that Scott couldn't answer. so I checked with our good friends at Warner Brothers and was able to verify that this is not an exclusive agreement.

So there should be no impact for those of you who watch Looney Tunes on Tooby or Me TV Tunes. As a matter of fact, you can kind of think of it like this. TCM is where you can watch Looney Tunes on cable. Tooby is where you can watch Looney Tunes on streaming. And MeTV Tunes is where you can watch Looney Tunes on broadcast. and everyone should know that Warner Brothers is a partner with Wego broadcasting on MeTV Tunes. So there's a relationship there that isn't going to suddenly disappear. Obviously, we couldn't answer how the actual programming of the Looney Tune Tunes shorts will look on TCM,

and that's just going to be evolving. We do know what it's going to be like at the first week of the month when Bugs Bunny is highlighted. But after that, we'll up to see how that develops. But those of you who watch TCM already, I'm sure that will be provided to you. And I'm really looking forward to seeing these extra videos and behind the scenes things that Scott mentioned. So I'll be sure and post those on our Facebook page and other social media sites when those are made available. If you haven't yet followed our podcast, you may want to do that, whether you watch on YouTube or if you listen to the audio podcast. We do provide updates.

And, of course, we have the ongoing releases. from the Warner Archive for Looney Tunes, Hannah Barbera, and all of the other animation that comes from Warner Brothers. So if you want to do that, if you haven't yet, you may find that to be a great benefit. Until next time, stay slightly obsessed about Looney Tunes. Hey, are you a fan of the Warner Archive animation releases? Do you want to get the latest updates and news right away?

If you're on Facebook, we have just created a brand new Facebook group, called the Warner Archive Animation Fans Group. And we celebrate past releases, but really we created this group because of all of the great releases that have come in this year and are anticipated in the coming years. So there have been a lot of great releases from the Looney Tunes Collector's Vault series. There's the Tom and Jerry releases.

There's all of the Hanna-Barbera releases. I mean, there's just a wealth of animation coming from the Warner archive. So we celebrate all of it. It's a community with other people who enjoy these releases and want to talk about them and share the latest news, reviews, and updates from the Warner archive. So if that sounds interesting to you, check out the link here in the podcast show notes, and we hope to see you soon.