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MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television programs from the 1950s through the 2000s.

The network's origins date to January 6, 2003, when it was started as a programming block on Chicago station WFBT-CA. On January 1, 2005, the television station became a full-time MeTV affiliate, renamed WWME-CA. In March 2008, the station was available outside of the Chicago market for the first time, as a subchannel on Milwaukee station WDJT-TV, followed by a nationwide expansion on December 15, 2010.

History[]

On January 2021, the network started to air two blocks called Toon In With Me and Saturday Morning Cartoons. Both consist of classic Warner Bros. cartoons alongside Popeye, Betty Boop, MGM, and Tom and Jerry shorts. This made MeTV the first station in over twenty years to air these cartoons outside of Cartoon Network and Boomerang, and the first non-Warner Bros. Discovery-owned station in the United States since ABC to air Looney Tunes shorts since The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show ended its run on 2 September 2000.

The network also airs a MeTV+ exclusive block, Sunday Night Cartoons, which consists of reruns of certain shorts. However, even though the latter does reruns, it is known to also air new cartoons, restored or unrestored.

From May 2021 to April 2023, MeTV aired Pink Panther, The Inspector, and Roland and Rattfink shorts from DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. In December 2021, the Columbia/Screen Gems cartoons and Paramount's Color Classics shorts made their debuts on "Toon In with Me". In June 2022, the block started airing Paramount's Superman shorts.

On 2 September 2023, MeTV began airing color cartoons produced by Walter Lantz Productions, including Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and other Lantz cartoons, on both the Saturday Morning block and Toon In With Me.

On 1 May 2024, Weigel Broadcasting Co. announced a collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery to launch MeTV Toons on 25 June.[1][2]

Censorship[]

Main article: MeTV Censorship

In stark contrast to other free-to-air and basic cable channels, such as ABC, CBS, the WB, FOX, Nickelodeon, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang (particularly in the United States), MeTV airs the Warner Bros. shorts uncut for slapstick violence, gun violence, dark humor, dangerous behavior, scenes of characters being hanged, strangled, or lynched; scenes featuring suicidal behavior and actions; scenes of characters attempting or committing homicide; scenes of characters ingesting dangerous chemicals or abusing drugs, including alcohol and tobacco; sexual, rude, or obscene references; and scenes featuring mild bad language or references to rude gestures. In addition, shorts featuring or starring characters now considered controversial, such as the Drunk Stork, Chuck Jones' dysfunctional Three Bears family, Speedy Gonzales, and Pepé Le Pew are shown uncut and uncensored on MeTV, rather than being seldom aired or banned. However in the case of Speedy, majority of the shorts aired are the ones paired with Daffy Duck due to less stereotypical depictions present in these cartoons, although at least two cartoons with Sylvester has aired.

However, MeTV still edits and bans the Warner Bros. shorts for outdated racial content, including use of racist language, caricatures, and imagery, when featured on the Toon In with Me and Saturday Morning Cartoons blocks. As shown below, there have been exceptions. MeTV+'s Sunday Night Cartoons block edits the shorts for outdated racial content as well. Occasionally, the shorts will air uncut and be prefaced with a disclaimer that tells viewers that some of the content featured is a product of its time and may be considered offensive to modern audiences, but will be shown anyway because editing these problematic scenes is similar to denying their existence in the first place.

Newly restored cartoons[]

"Toon In with Me", "Saturday Morning Cartoons", and "Sunday Night Cartoons" mostly air restored and remastered versions of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, using the HBO Max releases as necessary. This includes the airing of various restored prints of cartoons that were never released to DVD or HBO Max. As these restorations were done by the same oversea companies that restored the HBO Max shorts, they may contain errors that are similarly featured on the HBO Max restorations. The newly aired restored cartoons includes the following:

Notes[]

References[]



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