The logo used in 2001.
June Bugs was an annual marathon of Bugs Bunny cartoons that aired on Cartoon Network every June from 1993 to 2002, and on Boomerang from 2004-2006.
History[]
1993-1996[]
For the first few years, the marathon lasted for 24 hours, consisting only of the pre-1948 Bugs Bunny cartoons that were in Turner Broadcasting's ownership at the time.
In 1996, the marathon was hosted by "Uncle Paul" (Paul Parducci), who played a man in a rabbit costume.
1997[]
In 1997, following Turner's merger with Warner Bros., the marathon was expanded to run for 48 hours, and began including the Warner-owned post-1948 Bugs shorts. However, due to pre-existing exclusivity contracts with ABC and Nickelodeon, they could only use the shorts the other two networks weren't using. Since there aren't enough Bugs Bunny shorts to sustain a full 48-hour runtime, many of the shorts would be repeated over the course of the marathon. The 1997 marathon would notably include the world premiere of the previously unreleased 1991 short (Blooper) Bunny.
1999[]
In 1999 and 2000, the marathon was subtitled "This is a Bunny's Life". The marathon was divided up into one-hour blocks each featuring shorts that followed one of the following central themes:
- Evolution of Bugs
- Musical Bugs
- Bugs in Space
- Bugs and Yosemite
- Bugs in the Spotlight
- Bugs and Daffy
- Bugs and Friends
- Bugs in the Big City
- Bugs' Horror Stories
- Patriotic Bugs
- Classic Death Scenes
- When Animals Attack
- Adventurer/Traveler Bugs
- Fairy Tales & Fables
- Bugs and Elmer
- Chuck Jones' Bugs
- Friz Freleng's Bugs
- Bob McKimson's Bugs
- Bob Clampett's Bugs
Some of the shorts from the Nickelodeon package made their Cartoon Network premieres during the marathon which include (in broadcast order):
- Porky's Hare Hunt (1938)
- Long-Haired Hare (1949)
- The Hasty Hare (1952)
- Mad as a Mars Hare (1963)
- Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
- Bunny Hugged (1951)
- Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (1953)
2000[]
By the end of 1999, Nickelodeon's exclusivity contract had completely expired, which allowed Cartoon Network to air more Looney Tunes shorts. Naturally these shorts aired on this year's June Bugs, which included (in broadcast order);
- Patient Porky (1940)
- Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1991)
- Big House Bunny (1950)
- Captain Hareblower (1954)
- High-Diving Hare (1949)
- Hare-abian Nights (1959)
- Sahara Hare (1955)
- Porky Pig's Feat (1943)
- Transylvania 6-5000 (1963)
- Which Is Witch (1949)
- Apes of Wrath (1959)
- People Are Bunny (1959)
- Bushy Hare (1950)
(Which Is Which only aired twice on Cartoon Network in the United States during this marathon before being pulled.)
2001[]
In 2001, after Cartoon Network had picked up the broadcast rights to the last remaining post-1948 Looney Tunes shorts from ABC, it was announced that the following June Bugs marathon would include all 177 Bugs Bunny cartoons ever made at the time in chronological order, and would include the network premiere of the Bugs shorts from the ABC package. However, twelve shorts were ultimately deemed too politically incorrect by Warner Bros. executives, and were thus skipped in the marathon. The twelve banned shorts have been coined the Twelve Missing Hares, based on the name of a ToonHeads episode about them that was intended to air as part of the marathon, but never did. The twelve banned shorts were:
- Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)
- All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)
- Any Bonds Today? (1942)
- What's Cookin' Doc? (1944)
- Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944)
- Herr Meets Hare (1945)
- A Feather in His Hare (1948)
- Mississippi Hare (1949)
- Frigid Hare (1949)
- Which Is Witch (1949)
- Bushy Hare (1950)
- Horse Hare (1960)
(It's assumed that certain cartoons such as Patient Porky, Fresh Hare, and Southern Fried Rabbit would have aired uncensored as well.)
Ironically, several of these 'banned' shorts would be seen after the fact, either on Cartoon Network or on DVD:
- What's Cookin' Doc? aired completely uncensored during the marathon anyway.
- Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, Frigid Hare, Bushy Hare, and Horse Hare would eventually air on Cartoon Network afterward.
- ToonHeads would later air Herr Meets Hare in a special episode about World War II cartoons, and would also show Any Bonds Today?, albeit with the offending scene edited out, as part of its "Lost Cartoons" special.
- Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, What's Cookin' Doc?, Herr Meets Hare, Mississippi Hare, Frigid Hare, and Bushy Hare are all restored are released on DVD.
2002[]
For the 2002 airing, the marathon was titled "June Bugs A to Z" and showed every Bugs cartoon (except the twelve banned ones) in alphabetical order, with Porky Pig narrating the bumpers. (Due to there being no Bugs cartoons whose titles started with the letters V, X, Y, or Z, the bumpers had Porky saying that "we looked everywhere" for those but couldn't find any.) This was unfortunately the last annual appearance of the June Bugs marathon, as Cartoon Network oddly did not air it in 2003 and would drop Looney Tunes altogether for a few for several years starting in 2004. The marathon would move to Boomerang and aired from 2004-2006, using the "A to Z" version.
2012-2013[]
A decade later, in 2012 and 2013, the June Bugs marathon was revived, but not in its original form. The marathon instead featured a mix of classic Looney Tunes shorts and episodes of The Looney Tunes Show.