The Road Runner Show

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Opening Title Card

The Road Runner Show is an animated anthology series which compiled theatrical Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, which were produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons between 1948 and 1966. The Road Runner Show ran for two seasons on CBS (1966–68), and then ran on ABC for two seasons (1971–73). There was one Road Runner/Coyote cartoon during each episode, with a Tweety and Sylvester cartoon in the middle segment, and other WB animated character(s) in the third segment (usually Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, and Hippety Hopper). Because of shorts featuring the latter two, Sylvester appeared in more cartoons than the Road Runner, the title character.

CBS combined The Road Runner Show with The Bugs Bunny Show in 1968 to create The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour. The Road Runner and the Coyote more often shared at least an hour with Bugs Bunny on CBS during the late-1960s through the mid-1980s.

The theme song was both written and performed by Barbara Cameron.

The title card music used in each segment is a cut-short version of the 1964-1967 Looney Tunes theme music by Bill Lava as heard during the DePatie-Freleng era.

Each episode has new, animated bridging sequences showcasing one of the Coyote's botched attempts of catching the Road Runner shown between each cartoon, animated by an uncredited Robert McKimson and using Bill Lava's stock music cues from the "Larriva Eleven" Road Runner cartoons as background music.

List of Episodes

Season 3 (1971-72)

1. Zip 'n Snort / The Jet Cage / The Wild Chase (Sept. 4, 1971)
2. Beep Prepared / Putty Tat Trouble / Cats and Bruises (Sept. 11, 1971)
3. Ready.. Set.. Zoom! / Hyde and Go Tweet / Weasel While You Work (Sept. 18, 1971)
4. Zoom at the Top / Tree Cornered Tweety / Hoppy Daze (Sept. 25, 1971)
5. War and Pieces / Tweety's Circus / A Sheep in the Deep (Oct. 2, 1971)
6. To Beep or Not to Beep / Trick or Tweet / Birds of a Father (Oct. 9, 1971)
7. The Solid Tin Coyote / A Street Cat Named Sylvester / The Dixie Fryer (Oct. 16, 1971)
8. There They Go-Go-Go! / Dog Pounded / Woolen Under Where (Oct. 23, 1971)
9. Scrambled Aches / Hawaiian Aye Aye / Dr. Jerkyl's Hide (Oct. 30, 1971)
10. Sugar and Spies / A Bird in a Guilty Cage / Cannery Woe (Nov. 6, 1971)
11. Whoa, Be-Gone! / Tweet Tweet Tweety / Don't Axe Me (Nov. 13, 1971)
12. Clippety Clobbered / Greedy for Tweety / Pop 'im Pop! (Nov. 20, 1971)
13. Hopalong Casualty / Tweet and Lovely / Wild over You (Nov. 27, 1971)
14. Hairied and Hurried / Tugboat Granny / Mother Was a Rooster (Dec. 4, 1971)
15. Lickety-Splat / Tweet and Sour / Fish and Slips (Dec. 11, 1971)
16. Tired and Feathered / Fowl Weather / A Mutt in a Rut (Dec. 18, 1971)
17. Going! Going! Gosh! / Gift Wrapped / Mouse-Taken Identity (Dec. 25, 1971)
18. Rushing Roulette / Ain't She Tweet / The Mouse on 57th Street (Jan. 1, 1972)
19. Stop! Look! And Hasten! / Catty Cornered / Chili Weather (Jan. 8, 1972)
20. Highway Runnery / A Pizza Tweety-Pie / Strangled Eggs (Jan. 15, 1972)
21. Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z / Trip for Tat / What's My Lion? (Jan. 22, 1972)
22. Shot and Bothered / Muzzle Tough / Touché and Go (Jan. 29, 1972)
23. Fast and Furry-ous / A Bird in a Bonnet / Claws in the Lease (Feb. 5, 1972)
24. Out and Out Rout / Tweet Dreams / The Slick Chick (Feb. 12, 1972)
25. Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner / Snow Business / To Itch His Own (Feb. 19, 1972)
26. Boulder Wham! / Tweet Zoo / The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (Feb. 26, 1972)

Content Notes

• About 27 Road Runner cartoons and 26 Tweety and Sylvester cartoons are included in this show, with the first episode #1 being the only episode to contain two Road Runner cartoons sandwiching one Tweety and Sylvester cartoon.
• Among the third segments of each episode, the show contained three Elmer Fudd cartoons (only one featuring Daffy Duck), two Pepé Le Pew cartoons, four Speedy Gonzales cartoons (all co-starring Sylvester, one shared with the Road Runner), two Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoons, four Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, and two one-shot cartoons directed by Chuck Jones. Of all 26 episodes, Sylvester appeared in eleven of these third segments, and among the minor characters in the Sylvester cartoons, Spike and Chester co-star in only one, while Hippety Hopper co-stars in four (three featuring Sylvester Junior), while Sylvester Jr. co-stars in six (three featuring Hippety Hopper).
• Despite the third segments' title card depicting Yosemite Sam, no Yosemite Sam cartoons are aired in this show. No Bugs Bunny or Porky Pig cartoons are included in any episode of this show either because they had show of their own.
• Of all the 27 Road Runner cartoons aired in this show, Chuck Jones has the most with fifteen, followed by Rudy Larriva with nine, Robert McKimson with two and Friz Freleng with one.
• Almost all the Sylvester cartoons aired in the third segments in this show are directed by Robert McKimson, except for "Chili Weather", "Dr. Jerkyl's Hide", "Cats and Bruises" and "The Wild Chase", which are directed by Friz Freleng. In addition, all three Elmer Fudd cartoons in this show are directed by Robert McKimson.
• Despite both the opening and closing sequences of this show including clips from "Chaser on the Rocks", "Hip Hip-Hurry!" and "Wild About Hurry", none of these are included in any episode.

Availability

Episode #1, "Zip 'n Snort/The Jet Cage/The Wild Chase", is available on the Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Volume 2 DVD.

Notes/Goofs

• The clips in the opening sequence are as follows:
  • Road Runner closing his eyes as he turns his head and opening an eye. (Chaser on the Rocks)
  • Wile E. Coyote looking at us smugly, then preparing to run. (Lickety-Splat)
  • Road Runner zipping into frame, stopping for a moment before continuing. (Rushing Roulette)
  • Wile E. trying to squish Road Runner with a huge rock, which hits him instead. (Hopalong Casualty)
  • Wile E. fluttering his eyebrows before the Road Runner speeds past him. (Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner)
  • Wile E. trying (and failing) to catch Road Runner via trapeze. (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • Wile E. throwing a grenade at Road Runner, but it gets thrown back to him by a cactus and explodes. (War and Pieces)
  • Road Runner, obscured by his running dust, running along the road. (most of the Rudy Larriva cartoons)
  • Wile E.'s first plan failing. (Tired and Feathered)
  • Road Runner halting to look back at the Coyote. (Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner)
  • Wile E. trying to shoot himself to Road Runner with a bow, but ends up hitting the wood instead. (Zip 'n Snort)
  • Wile E. looking between his legs to see Road Runner, who then beeps. (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • Wile E. trying to whack Road Runner while riding a skateboard with a sail, but then ends up falling down a canyon. (Highway Runnery)
  • Wile E. trying to throw a dynamite stick at Road Runner with a slingshot, but it explodes on him before he can throw it. (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • A split-second of Road Runner running. (most of the Rudy Larriva cartoons)
  • Wile E. chasing Road Runner on a rocket, but it hits a low plateau and sends him flying. (Wild About Hurry)
• The clips in the closing sequence are as follows:
  • Far-distant shot of Wile E. chasing after Road Runner (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • Shot of Wile E. chasing after Road Runner (Lickety-Splat)
  • Wile E. tries to grab the Road Runner, but misses (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • Shots of the Road Runner running along the roads, leaving a trail of dust on his trails [1] (Hip Hip-Hurry!, Lickety-Splat)
  • A split-second of a shot of Road Runner beeping (most of the Rudy Larriva cartoons)
  • Shots of the Road Runner running along the roads, leaving a trail of dust on his trails [2] (Hip Hip-Hurry!, Lickety-Splat)
  • A confused Wile E. as to which way his prey went when the Road Runner ran through a 3-way Y fork. Road Runner answers for him by pulling up behind him and beeping, giving the coyote a real headache on the rocks above. (Hip Hip-Hurry!)
  • Wile E. chasing Road Runner on a rocket, but it hits a low plateau and sends him flying. While flying, Wile E. attempts to catch the Road Runner, but ends up ramming into the top of a tunnel. (Wild About Hurry)
    • Some episodes of the series have the closing sequence partially shortened (where the first 4 sequences are cut), or fully shortened (where the first 6 sequences are cut), while some episodes have the closing sequence shown in full.

Gallery

"Zip 'n Snort"

"The Jet Cage"

"The Wild Chase"

"Weasel While You Work"

"A Sheep in the Deep"

"Trick or Tweet"

"The Dixie Fryer"

"Woolen Under Where"

"Wild over You"

"Mouse-Taken Identity"

"The Mouse on 57th Street"

Stop! Look! And Hasten!"

"Strangled Eggs"

"What's My Lion?"

"Out and Out Rout"

"To Itch His Own"

"The Slap-Hoppy Mouse"

The Road Runner Show Intro-0

The Road Runner Show - Closing - 1966

Road Runner Show CBS Title Cards