Benny actually voiced the equally politically incorrect Joe Jitsu in UPA's "The Dick Tracy Show".

Again, three of the five cartoons that MeTV hadn't shown on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" prior to this morning were ones that I had mentioned in a previous post in this thread. Spooky. The only cartoons that I hadn't seen before were "Guest Who?" and "Tumble Weed Greed".

"Bats in the Belfry" obviously had not been restored. But I wonder why there was no audio at the beginning? Thunderbean's print of "Bats in the Belfry" doesn't have that problem.

The Beary Family cartoon credited the male voices to Daws Butler, even though it was obviously Paul Frees. I wonder if the Lantz studio was trying to recycle credits like the Paul Terry-era Terrytoons? Another Beary Family cartoon, "Let Charlie Do It", has a credit for "Woody's voice".

Smedley looking at his fur-less tail, then saying "Puny little thing, ain't it?" in "Fractured Friendship" was straight out of "I'm Cold". I wonder if Sid Marcus watched "I'm Cold" to learn from "the master"?

Even though I had recently seen "The Goofy Gardener" on "The Woody Woodpecker Show", I didn't notice the first time that the woman's scream when she loses her bathing suit after the lawn mower falls in the swimming pool sounds like June Foray to me. I wonder if it actually was June? Occasionally Daws Butler did "vocal effects" for Woody, like sneezing and screams of pain.

Not surprisingly, "Woodpecker From Mars" was edited, though not as much as I thought that it would be. Hopefully MeTV doesn't get any backlash. "Woodpecker From Mars" deserves to be shown on TV, as a showcase for Dal McKennon. (Actually, the last three cartoons that were shown on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" this morning could be seen as showcases for Dal McKennon, considering that he did a woman's singing voice in "The Goofy Gardener". At least he got screen credit for all of them except the first "Maw and Paw" cartoon.)

The episode of "Toon In With Me" on MeTV on Wednesday, July 24th:

"Happy Birthday, Marvin!"-"Bill and Toony celebrate Marvin the Martian's birthday."

Three of the four cartoons that hadn't been shown on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" prior to July 27th were ones that I had mentioned in a previous post in this thread. Makes me wonder if someone from MeTV is monitoring this board, like WB used to monitor the GAC Forums. (Though WB did it to make sure that Jerry Beck and Earl Kress didn't spill the beans about anything.) The only cartoon that I hadn't seen before was the Beary Family cartoon.

Even though I had recently watched "Mouse Trappers" on MeTV, I didn't notice the previous time that the mouse might have been voiced by Mel Blanc. (The mouse's hiccup is definitely Mel Blanc, but it could have been a recycled recording from an earlier cartoon.)

I didn't think that I was going to be able to watch "The Woody Woodpecker Show" on August 3rd because of what became Hurricane Debby. (And even though I did get to watch it, there was a weather bulletin scrolling across the top of the screen for the entire length of it.) The two "repeats" were the only cartoons that I had seen before.

Even though I had watched "Nutty Pine Cabin" recently on MeTV (and have it on DVD, thanks to Thunderbean), I didn't notice before that the hiccup of the beaver who gets covered with paint might be a recycled Mel Blanc recording. Walter Lantz reused Mel Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh for a decade, so why not a hiccup? And it sounds like Sara Berner voiced Andy Panda.

Woody using a saw to keep Sugarfoot from being "burned at the stake" in "Horse Play" makes no sense. Cal Howard seems to have forgotten that he was writing for a woodpecker.

EDIT: Of the seven cartoons that aired on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" on August 10th, I watched four cartoons in a row that I hadn't seen before, followed by two "repeats" back-to-back, then "Rock-A-Bye Gator", which I had seen before.

Again, Woody using a saw to cut the "Indian's" ladder in two in "Tepee (sic) For Two" makes no sense. Bob Ogle also seems to have forgotten that he was writing for a woodpecker. And the "Indian's" Tex Avery-style reaction was lifted straight out of "Crazy Mixed-Up Pup". I repeat, I wonder if Sid Marcus watched Tex Avery's cartoons to learn from "the master"?

The Beary Family cartoon went a little overboard with the Woody Woodpecker references. It sounds like Dal McKennon did Charlie's scream of pain when the rooftop TV antenna hit him in the butt. And coincidentally, the same day that I watched "Roof Top Razzle Dazzle" (for the first time) on MeTV, I also watched this Terrytoon (for the first time) on YouTube:

Only two "repeats" in the August 17th episode of "The Woody Woodpecker Show". (MeTV must not have gotten any backlash the first time that they showed "The Secret Weapon", since they showed it again.) The only ones that I hadn't seen before were "Bedtime Bedlam", "Fodder and Son" and the Beary Family cartoon. (And that Beary Family cartoon has to be one of the worst ones in the series, even though it didn't follow the usual "Charlie tries to repair something or install something himself to save money, with disastrous results" plot.)

Woody makes sure to get "plenty of Cokes" before he starts to watch TV in "Bedtime Bedlam". I wonder if that was a reference to the Lantz studio making advertising films for Coca-Cola? Of course June Foray voiced the "mother", but it sounds like she also did the "vocal effects" for the "baby" as well. It seems like around this time she started branching out beyond Disney and the MGM cartoon studio with her voicework. (But I could be wrong.)

"Little Televillian" did a lot of poking fun at TV commercials, just like "Ballyhooey". I wonder if that was because of writer Homer Brightman, director Alex Lovy, or both? And the mild-mannered man utterly losing his temper (recycled from "To Catch A Woodpecker") shows that Daws Butler could do more than just celebrity impersonations.

I wonder if "Fodder and Son" (and Windy and Breezy being spun off into their own short-lived series) was inspired by the popularity of Humphrey Bear at Disney?

Of course Dal McKennon voiced Professor Dingledong (possibly his first appearance), as well as most of the supporting characters in "Private Eye Pooch". But the dog's sneeze sounded like Daws Butler to me.

Flintstones and Jetsons aired for the last time on MeTV's main channel, and a gut feeling tells me Saturday Morning Cartoons are on their way out as Weigel puts more focus on the Toons channel.

Considering that "Bugs Bunny and Friends" has the highest ratings on the channel, I kind of doubt it.

I believe it is actually the 4th or 5th, but yes, it draws enough ratings (and makes sense to air as a "cross promotion") to keep on. We'll have to see though, but I doubt it is going away

I must've been thinking about "Toon in With Me" that I heard somewhere that it might be in either the second or first highest rating spot on the channel.

Im sure that both SMC and TIWM will still remain on the main channel for the many cities still waiting on Metv Toons.

You could even argue if their Saturday morning block is so popular they could expand it to say 6-12 and with access to much more material introduce that on METV proper. Like JamesJackson, says above with METV Toons not in full distribution, METV being able to show potential distributors how well the cartoons are doing on regular METV could help convince other providers to take it on.

Replaced by two episodes of The Brady Bunch, an episode of Happy Days and an episode of Laverne and Shirley.



It can take awhile for a new channel to get added to a cable TV provider's lineup. Cartoon Network launched sometime in 1992. My cable TV provider didn't pick it up until January 1994. (It was one of three new channels, the other two being FLIX and Comedy Central. They cost $2 a month each, or $5 a month for all three. Of course I payed it to be able to see proper B & W versions of the B & W Popeye cartoons, even though the opening titles and the endings got butchered, along with other B & W cartoons.) Turner Classic Movies launched sometime in 1995, but my cable TV provider didn't pick it up until the fall of 1997. (Also, MeTV was initially carried by Tampa's longtime NBC station WFLA, but at some point it switched to being carried by one of Tampa's independent TV stations, WMOR. But at least that was a smooth transition. Antenna TV was initially carried by Tampa's CBS station WTSP, but then was dropped completely. A long time passed, I think over a year, before another local TV station picked up Antenna TV. (Ironically, it was picked up by WFLA.)Though Antenna TV has gone downhill. First they started scrunching the end credits off to one side. Now I've heard that Antenna TV is airing the colorized versions of the first two seasons of Bewitched and the first season of I Dream of Jeannie, which I think used the edited-for-syndication versions. Of course, MeTV used to air Ted Turner's colorized version of the first season of Gilligan's Island, but they eventually got proper B & W versions from WB.)

Four "repeats" in the August 24th episode of "The Woody Woodpecker Show". I hadn't seen the ones that weren't "repeats": "Crowin' Pains", "Hot Time On Ice" and "Goose in the Rough".

The Lantz studio sure liked to recycle character designs. The farmer in "Crowin' Pains" looks just like Sam, husband of Maggie. (I think that character design was also reused in "The Tenant's Racket", but I didn't get to see the MeTV broadcast of it because of my cable TV (and my internet and my landline phone) being out for two Saturday mornings in a row.) The little old lady eating popcorn in the park looked familiar too, but I couldn't pin it down to a specific cartoon.

Apparently "the psychotic goose" (quote from someone on GAC Forums, maybe Jon Cooke) is female. But I never heard of a female character wearing a bow tie.

Also, I got to watch all of Saturday Morning Cartoons because my sister had to take my oldest nephew to the train station in downtown Tampa that day. (But she came over the next day, and she was on the warpath. I REALLY hope that she dies of cancer too.) A "Quick Clip" from "Casanova Cat" was shown during "The Tom and Jerry Show". So MeTV has "Casanova Cat". They must just be afraid to show it.

Three "repeats" in the August 31st episode of "The Woody Woodpecker Show". The only ones that I hadn't seen were "Woody's Knight Mare" and "Window Pains". My only comment is something that I first saw on someone's blog, maybe Tralfaz. There's "Wonderland Syndrome" in "Window Pains". In most of the cartoon, Charlie has to climb on a ladder to reach the windows on the second floor. But in the scene with the hose, Charlie is almost as tall as the house.

(Yes, I'm behind. My mom's Chromebook had been a-g-o-n-i-z-i-n-g-l-y s-l-o-w for weeks, I think because of a virus. It finally got taken to a repair shop this past Wednesday.)

Keep in mind that by this point, they were recycling backgrounds from previous cartoons and that the only director they had wasn't very observant on such errors and apparently was suffering from eye problems.

It wasn't eye problems. Paul J Smith was legally blind by 1968 and had his daughter filling in all the gaps for him visually. His daughter confirmed this on Cartoon Research long ago. I doubt the budget was there to reshoot by this point

That's what I meant. To be honest, I didn't know there was a difference between eye problems and being legally blind.

The September 7th broadcast of "The Woody Woodpecker Show" started out with four cartoons that hadn't been shown before. I was beginning to think that maybe MeTV got in a new batch of cartoons since it's been one year since MeTV added the Lantz cartunes to Saturday Morning Cartoons (and Toon In With Me). But then came two "repeats", though they did finish with a cartoon that hadn't been shown before. I got to see three Woody Woodpecker cartoons that I hadn't seen before (including another pairing of Woody and Smedley), plus "Papoose on the Loose". (And I had only watched "Chilly Chums" online, never on TV.)

It's looking like Daws Butler got almost as much mileage out of his "little kid" voice as he did his "Art Carney" voice. He used it for Beany, Breezy, Augie Doggie, Elroy Jetson, Chilly Willy in his later cartoons, Andy Panda in "Spook-A-Nanny", and Second Banana in "Merlin the Magic Mouse", as well as incidental characters like in "Papoose on the Loose". And it looks like he got a little bit of mileage out of his "Crazy Guggenheim" voice. He used it for Waldo in some of the later theatrical Magoos (I have no idea why), the orange cat Sam who was in at least two WB cartoons, and the dumb wolf who was in at least two Woody Woodpecker cartoons ("That was a stupid thing to do. EEYOW!"), as well as incidental characters like in "Papoose on the Loose". (But it was kind of strange hearing that voice coming out of the mouth of an "Indian"/Native American.)

Professor Grossenfibber is really just a shorter version of Professor Dingledong. Same head, same voice, and even the "Oh, hello der!". (Dal McKennon also used that voice and the "Oh, hello der!" for a Saint Bernard in a Chilly Willy cartoon.)

"Toon In With Me" on Tuesday, September 17th:

"Happy 75th birthday to the iconic duo, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner! Bill and Toony celebrate with the help of a special guest."

Three "repeats" in the September 14th episode of "The Woody Woodpecker Show". The only cartoon that I hadn't seen before was "Busman's Holiday". (Though I've seen the "Quick Clip" from it more than once.) Not bad for a 1960's cartoon directed by Paul J. Smith, especially considering that most of the cartoon is set on a bus.

Supposedly "Hold That Rock" was storyboarded by Tex Avery. It definitely plays out like one of his cartoons. I still haven't figured out who did the voice of the woman on the telephone. It's definitely not June Foray. Surely it's not Daws Butler, even though his credit says "Voices" instead of "Voice".

I'm getting better at recognizing Sara Berner's voice. She voiced Andy Panda in "Goodbye Mr. Moth" and the main elf in "Jolly Little Elves". So she was doing cartoon voicework at least as far back as 1934, and she did voicework for the Lantz studio for at least nineteen years.

Even though "Kiddie League" and "The Bird Who Came To Dinner" are both cartoons that I well remember from my childhood, I never noticed until this past Saturday that the "overgrown child" who's in both cartoons has two different names, "Chester" in "Kiddie League" and "Reginald" in "The Bird Who Came To Dinner". Yet another example of the Lantz studio recycling character designs, like they did with the character who eventually became Inspector Willoughby/Ranger Willoughby.