Disney has lobbied the federal government to change the way copyright law works to protect Mickey Mouse, but at Warner Bros. Discovery, they can’t even bother keeping Bugs Bunny on their own streaming service. By the end of 2022, 256 Looney Tunes shorts had been removed from HBO Max, covering everything from 1950 to 2004, which is about half what the streaming service had when it launched. Older shorts from 1930 to 1940 are still available, but Vulture notes that the deleted “What’s Opera, Doc?” cartoons (see above), “Rabbit Of Seville”, “Duck Amuck” and “One Froggy Evening” (as if the death of The WB wasn’t enough insult to the great Michigan J. Frog).
But wait, there’s more: HBO Max also pulled seasons four through six of The Flintstones, making it 78 episodes, leaving only the first three seasons on the platform (now where are kids supposed to learn about The Great Gazoo? ). Variety explains that these shows were licensed by Warner Bros. to HBO Max (again for the ones in the background: THIS COMPANY OWNS HBO MAX), but the streaming service has reportedly decided not to renew those licenses (with HIS OWN COMPANY). , to save money . That’s in line with Warner Bros. Discovery’s crusade against animation and animators, with WBD head David Zaslav already phasing out his company’s cartoon offerings in early 2022.
Oddly enough, one of the first places this news popped up was on a Twitter account called @thecartoonnews, a Twitter Blue account (take what you will of that) that somehow abbreviates its name to “CCN.” This account tweeted about the removal of the Looney Tunes shorts On the 31st of Decemberwhich was correct, but earlier this week it claimed the shorts were removed “temporarily due to a maintenance review to fix Photoshop titles” and that they “will be returning to HBO Max soon.” A rep has confirmed to The AV Club that that part isn’t true and that the shorts were removed on purpose and they won’t be returning to HBO Max (or at least not “soon”).
All of this means that half of Looney Tunes and half of The Flintstones are no longer available on HBO Max and – as with most things pulled from HBO Max – may never be available to stream anywhere again. Some HBO shows like Westworld will be licensed to other ad-supported streaming services in the future, but it’s unclear if Warner Bros. intends to do anything with these discarded Looney Tunes episodes. (But hey, don’t tell Zaslav some of these are still available on YouTube.)
Looney Tunes | Duck Amuck | Classic Cartoon | WB children