https://youtu.be/CWnWwN1z_UM
I know people are getting sick of tv companies recycling old shows, but I did let out a little yelp of joy when this news came through… Steven Spielberg, Amblin TV and Warner Bros have a reboot of the legendary cartoon series ‘Animaniacs’ in the works!
For those youngsters out there going “Ani-whatnow?”, ‘Animaniacs’ originally ran from 1993-97 was a kind of animated variety show, with a huge cast of character segments, linked together by the Warner siblings – Yakko, Wakoo and Dot. Other characters included Goodfeathers – a trio of pigeons based on characters from the film Goodfellas, Slappy Squirrel – a grumpy cartoon veteran, who lives with her nephew, the annoyingly upbeat ‘Skippy’, and of course, Pinky and the Brain – One genius and one idiot lab mice, who each week try (and fail) to take over the world…
What was so utterly brilliant about the show was the fact it was aimed at kids, who loved the zany antics, but the humour and jokes were pointed squarely at the parents. It would often parody things like Gilbert and Sullivan operas, adult films (like Goodfellas), or popular tv shows like Friends and Seinfeld. The humour skirted so close to the line sometimes, but most of the jokes would go over the heads of the younger audience.
Created by Tom Ruegger, ‘Animaniacs’ won 8 Daytime Emmys and a Peabody Award during its original run, and spawned ‘Pinky and the Brain’ off into it’s own series. The 3 Warner sibling characters, who lived in the WB water tower on the studio lot, where actually based on the personalities of Ruegger’s 3 children!
‘Animaniacs’ is apparently still in early development, but I really hope they manage to make it work! And for those of you that clicked the video at the top of the page, I apologise for getting the theme song stuck in your head!
