Thanks Emru.
Emru Townsend edits (and founded) one the most respected journals in all of animation, fps: The Magazine of Animation, and I’m proud to have him as our premiere guest producer and blogger for the special feature Black Comedy Week. Emru’s got a unique perspective on the subject and I’m particular grateful to him for venturing in with us.
When I worked at Turner Broadcasting (running Hanna-Barbera) in the 90s I fought hard, often, and ultimately unsuccessfully for the company to do a special, limited edition video of their racially charged cartoons from the Warner Bros. and MGM libraries. No go. They were sensitive –rightfully I think– about the subject matter, and I got mixed feeling from my grandma research in the Black community. I felt –still feel, obviously– the material represented an important, if often repulsive, historical document, and that contextualized properly, it served a great purpose to have it out.
Emru kindly consented to help Dave, Carrie, Mike, Alex, Eric, and I with some of the material in the ReFred library. I’m hoping you’ll feel the same way and give Emru some positive comments and feedback. Thanks guy, I hope we can repay the favor sometime.
–Fred
»
On November 15th, 2006 at 12:00 am
This is a bold move to show these films, and a great idea at the same time. This shows the power of ReFred. You won’t see this kind of line-up on television. It’s much better to talk about these things than pretend they were never created, or edit them to the point of PCness. Well done everyone.
On November 16th, 2006 at 12:00 am
BURBANK, CA (November 13, 2006) – Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services is launching Saturday Morning Forever, part of the new Hanna-Barbera.com. As part of the launch, fans of popular Hanna-Barbera characters and animated series will be able to go to http://www.hanna-barbera.com and enter the “Saturday Morning Forever Ultimate Prize Pack” sweepstakes for a chance to win more than $4000 worth of prizes.
Saturday Morning Forever will offer two full hours of cartoons per week, comprised of approximately 80 percent classic Hanna-Barbera shorts and 20 percent new, original content. Tweens, teens and teens-at-heart can watch classic programs such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Yogi Bear, among others at http://www.SMF-TV.com, as well as download screensavers and other content, all at no cost.
“Saturday Morning Forever aims to bring the classic Hanna-Barbera characters into the online world of today’s teens and tweens. Its original content re-imagines the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons with a nod to the media-savvy teen/tween audience,” said Sam Ades, Director of Brand Strategy, Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services.
The “Saturday Morning Forever Ultimate Prize Pack” sweepstakes is being sponsored by Post Cereal and Sprint. One grand prize winner will receive a prize package worth more than $4000, including a Sprint Power Vision Phone FUSIC™ by LG®, a year’s supply of Post® Fruity or Cocoa Pebbles Cereal, a plasma screen HDTV, a DVD Player, the Entire Hanna-Barbera cartoon DVD collection, and more. Also, Hanna-Barbera.com is running 52 weeks of “Free Prize Inside” sweepstakes, with one winner selected per week, and prizes valuing up to $50 each.
In addition to Saturday Morning Forever, several new interactive components have been added to the new Hanna-Barbera.com, including games, quizzes, polls, trivia contests, sweepstakes and more.
The new Hanna-Barbera.com is designed to connect fans with classic Hanna-Barbera characters such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, and many others, and serve as a premiere destination for pop culture enthusiasts ages 12 to 16. The site offers a mix of entertaining, relevant, engaging and interactive content.
The launch of Saturday Morning Forever is part of Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services’ comprehensive Web initiative for three of its most popular brands: Hanna-Barbera, Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo. Fans of Warner Bros. Studio’s characters will be able to interact with their favorite cartoons in unprecedented new ways. Also recently unveiled are Looney Tunes.com (www.looneytunes.com) and Scooby-Doo.com (www.scooby-doo.com) – all new Web sites that feature engaging editorial content, games, classic cartoons, personalization tools, and a whole range of new interactive experiences.
About Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services:
Warner Bros. Advanced Digital Services (www.warnerbros.com) provides full-service, cutting-edge interactive solutions for Warner Bros. Entertainment subsidiaries. The company also oversees all aspects of warnerbros.com, which serves as the entry point into, and aggregator of all things Warner Bros. Entertainment, including such megabrands as Harry Potter, Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo.
###