that's all folks
#OverIt: Bugs Bunny turns 70 and somehow gets a new show
- 70 years old and going strong?
- Get smart: Baby Einstein is more in style for curious kids.
The 70th birthday of America's favorite smart-talking rabbit, Bugs Bunny, came and went Tuesday without any Lady Gaga-sized fuss. On July 27, 1940, Bugs made his debut in the short animated film, A Wild Hare, where he first stuttered his signature line, "Eh ... what's up, doc?" The bunny's particular flavor of humor was modeled after the era's comedic talent, Groucho Marx.
Heads up: The Golden Age of American Animation is over, and the carrot-touting character has faded into obscurity, replaced by colorful personalities like SpongeBob, Dora the Explorer (which is set to already celebrate its 10th birthday next month) and Hannah Montana. And those choices are only for the abused children who aren't showered with more intellectual options guaranteed as a fast track to the Ivy League — Baby Einstein and the ilk.
An animated rabbit with a crippling speech impediment doesn't necessarily expand minds the way it once did. P.S. — kids these days don't make the Groucho connection.
Yet the industry's giving B.B. a second shot when he returns to TV screens this fall in Cartoon Network's The Looney Tunes Show, in which he'll be living in the suburbs with Daffy Duck as a roommate, Odd Couple style. Sorry, Cartoon Network, but children's television already has its spokesmen for gay marriage in the form of Bert and Ernie.