AllofTV.net - Animaniacs

• Season 1

Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as the shorter title Animaniacs, is an American animated television series, distributed by Warner Bros. and produced by Amblin Entertainment. The cartoon first aired on FOX Kids from 1993 until 1995 and later appeared on The WB from 1995 to 1998 as part of its "Kids' WB!" afternoon programming block. Like many other animated series, it has continued to appear on television through syndication long after its original airdate. The series will re-run on Warner Bros and AOL's new broadband internet channel Toontopia TV. As of the start of 2007, the first 50 episodes have been released in two DVD boxsets; the remaining 49 are expected to be released by the end of the year. Animaniacs was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation during the animation renaissance of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The studio's first series, Tiny Toon Adventures, had proved to be a big hit among younger viewing audiences, and it had attracted a sizable number of adult viewers as well. Tiny Toon Adventures had drawn heavily from the classic Warner Bros. cartoons of old for inspiration, as well as plots and characterization. The modern Warner Bros. writers and animators, led by senior producer and show-runner Tom Ruegger, used the experience gained from the previous series to create brand new animated characters that were cast in the mold of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett's creations, but were not slavish imitations. The comedy of Animaniacs was a broad mix of old-fashioned wit, slapstick, pop culture references, and cartoon wackiness. The show also featured a number of educational segments that covered subjects such as history, math, geography, science, and social studies. Animaniacs itself was a variety show, with many short skits featuring a large cast of characters. Each episode was traditionally composed of three short mini-episodes, each starring a different set of characters, and bridging segments. This show focused on the adventures, or the misadventures, of the Warner Brothers (Yakko and Wakko Warner) and the Warner Sister (Dot Warner), who, in the show, are the stars of some of the early Warner Bros. animated cartoons. These cartoons were so insane that the studio executives locked the films away in vaults and locked the Warners in the Warner Bros. Studios water tower in Burbank, California. The image of the Warners is a tongue-in-cheek homage to Bosko, Warner Bros.' first cartoon character. The red-nosed Warner siblings bear a striking resemblance to the portrayals of Bosko and his girlfriend Honey (who looks remarkably like Dot) in a 1990 episode of Tiny Toon Adventures entitled "Fields of Honey", also produced by Steven Spielberg. Afraid that the portrayals of Bosko and Honey might be deemed controversial, they were changed to anthropomorphic dog-like characters, and that episode served as the "bridge" between Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs. As well as looking like Bosko, the Warners also bear a notable resemblance to animated characters from the 1920s and 1930s from other studios, including Felix the Cat, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Bimbo, and the early version of Mickey Mouse. Simple black drawings with white faces were very common in cartoons of the 1920s and 1930s, and it is these sorts of characters to which the Warners are meant to pay an homage. Originally, the Warners were intended to be ducks, but producer Tom Ruegger realized that ducks had been used enough by Disney (see DuckTales and Darkwing Duck), so he made the Warners indeterminate "cartoon character" children. Although they looked somewhat like dogs, their specific "species" remained a mystery and was made fun of in many episodes. Ruegger also modeled their personalities a bit after his three sons (who all did voices on the series at one time or another).