Metv toons network channel to air classic cartoons

[Ben]

Not only vastly entertaining, but revealing whichever mastermind is actually behind it actually knows their stuff and has genuine appreciation for it.

Quite a unique voice for the info spots…if I didn’t know any better I’d say it was a George Feltenstein soundalike (especially the Froggy talk around 7:55), though probably not intentional.

Do they actually show their 4:3 stuff in those colored windowboxes, or "flat" with black side mattes? Reminds me of the old MGM/UA (and others) LaserDiscs that used to do this to preserve the text on the title cards.

[gaastra]

You got jerry beck working on the channel the guy who did the looney tunes golden collections, looney tunes guide books and saturday morning cartoons dvd sets you know we will get good cartoon info.

[Daniel]

Announcer for the interstitials is Bob Bergen, probably best known as the current voice of Porky Pig. Does remind me of George!

[Ben]

Gaas, you had me at Jerry Beck! No need for more info on that guy! We even met him at Comic-Con! Good to know he’s advising!

And the same for Bergen…you can tell from those spots that this has proper animation talent (of all kinds!) behind it, so it’s good to know my hunches were right and we have some true professionals guiding them on this. Very good!

[droosan]

Do they actually show their 4:3 stuff in those colored windowboxes, or "flat" with black side mattes? Reminds me of the old MGM/UA (and others) LaserDiscs that used to do this to preserve the text on the title cards.

4:3 content on MeTV Toons is pillarboxed (black bars on the sides). I haven't seen any colored windowboxes within the cartoon programs in the three evenings I've watched, so far .. that's just for these interstitial promos.

[Ben]

Oh, cool. Yeah, makes sense for the interstitials, but for the actual shows that’s even better!

[gaastra]

[Ben]

Wow…mentally great prints on a lot of these, and very good ones on others. And those interstitials are great, like potted disc extras.

Pros: seems Jerry Beck will be in his element here, making stuff like this to fill the void of actual disc extras.

Cons: kind of a shame this kind of thing has actually replaced disc extras, since we don’t get anything new like this anymore on new releases.

But more pros: I remain intrigued as to how long it will take Beck to organise some "special programming". I can see, once a routine is set, some themed nights, tribute blocks, etc, and even the running of archive documentary content as such in due time.

MeTV Toons looks to be the US cartoon equivalent of the independent classic movie channel we have here, Talking Pictures TV, which was a family startup in the last few years and has already become the number one go-to for film buffs, with more and more licenses as they go on. Even Disney has started letting them have some limited stuff. There is a niche for these kinds of things and it’s good to see the right people making it viable for companies to get involved with.

[droosan]

Disney studio shorts are kinda the big 'missing link' for MeTV Toons. Watching an average block of "Cartoon All-Stars," you'll see Warner Bros., M-G-M, Fleischer, Famous, Lantz .. in color and black & white .. with a 1950s cartoon followed immediately by a 1930s cartoon.

A Donald Duck or a Silly Symphony cartoon would slot right in to that program.

[Ben]

But then that would make it perfect! And, as we know, nothing in this world is ever perfect..!

[droosan]

I'm really impressed with "Cartoon All-Stars" .. Sunday night's block had a b&w Popeye and a b&w Betty Boop (well, a 'Pudgy,' really), a Little Audrey, a 2-strip Technicolor 'Columbia Favorite' ("Bon Bon Parade"), a 1950s Woody Woodpecker, and a Gene Deitch Tom & Jerry, mixed-in among a bunch of Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies.

That definitely does separate MeTV Toons from Boomerang .. which mostly stayed exclusively with WB (and occasional M-G-M) content, for its classic Hollywood short cartoons..

[Ben]

Of course, a *lot* of all that *is* from Warners, even if it is "stealth"-like, from what they now control. Finally, that amalgamation of various libraries picked up over the years is proving even more fruitful! I’m guessing the rest is largely PD or that they do have a Sony, Paramount or Universal deal which, being a channel is easier to license than for any disc releases. Is Steve Stanchfield involved in any of this? Seems Jerry might have pulled in some favors for some prints, etc…

Is it just shorts and television episodes at this point, or do they have "movie nights" or matinees? It would be cool if some strange and unusual things started cropping up here and there…

[droosan]

Mondays thru Fridays seem pretty well 'locked' as just TV episodes and various blocks of shorts -- "Bugs Bunny & Friends", "Popeye & Friends", "Cartoon All-Stars", reruns of MeTV's Toon In With Me (themed collections of shorts), etc.

On Saturdays & Sundays, it seems they'll mix it up a bit .. with a different lineup of TV episodes, and an occasional movie; The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones was screened this past weekend.

[gaastra]

Yeah they have a movie or specials block and a scooby movie or specials block.

This channel from the list kind of feels like an updated usa cartoon express.

[gaastra]