Season Review: Looney Tunes Cartoons Season Four

The new year has gotten off to a good start, as far as I’m aware. So why not continue this streak with the return of our favorite Looney Tunes characters? Yes, the wacky yet lovable toons are back again to bring us another collection of shorts to distract us from the cold weather and the COVID scenario. Seeing how much I enjoyed the previous season, it’s hard for me not to pass this one out.

The fourth season of Looney Tunes Cartoons showcases yet another collection of bizarre antics featuring our beloved characters. The ten-episode season features Elmer Fudd attempting to arrest Bugs Bunny, Tweety’s trip to the Grand Canyon, and of course, Daffy humiliating Porky and Elmer for the billionth time. Of course, it also has the mini-gags that appear amid its shorts, such as “Put The Cat Out” and “Balloon Salesman”, which debuted in season three.

There really isn’t that much that hasn’t been said already regarding the fourth season of Looney Tunes Cartoons. It offered more of the same elements you expected from the previous seasons, such as the zany animation, lovable characters, and humorous dialogue. To me, that’s all I could ask for. However, the fourth season also shows tiny signs of losing the show’s momentum.

One of them, in particular, is the variety in the character lineup. Season four consists of ten episodes focusing on Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, and Tweety. Additionally, it featured some brief appearances from Foghorn Leghorn, Petunia Pig, Rocky and Mugsy, and Pete Puma. Like in the previous seasons, the characters still delivered plenty of charisma and laughs in their chemistry and scenarios, especially Porky and Daffy. Unfortunately, after the first few episodes, their multiple appearances became repetitive until the season’s final short, “Bottoms Up”, where the show pits Bugs against Pete. While I still don’t mind Bugs, Tweety, and Daffy embarrassing the same opponents in different locations, I wish that it make more cartoons centering on the other Looney Tunes characters to maintain its variety.

The episodes themselves delivered a solid amount of wackiness to satisfy many fans of the classic cartoons. My favorites regarding the season would have to be “Beast A-Birdin”, “Grand Canyon Canary”, and “Hole in Dumb”. “Beast A-Birdin”, which has Sylvester attempting to eat other birds, offered a suitable change in the formula yet still captured the hilarity of the cat’s failures. “Grand Canyon Canary” and “Hole in Dumb” both provided some enjoyably hilarious visual gags for the two opposing pairs: Sylvester and Tweety and Daffy and Elmer Fudd. As for my least favorite short in season four, I would have to pick “Bottoms Up”. Despite a change of pace in Bugs’ usual targets, that short was an average way of concluding the season, mainly because it only shows Bugs tricking Pete into eating himself.

For the mini-gags, the only new segment that appeared in season four was “Daffy Magician”. That gag showed Daffy tricking Porky into mopping the stage as part of his “magic trick”. It’s a fine addition that could potentially conjure up some more magical ideas in the later seasons. The rest of them consists of earlier sketches that appeared in earlier seasons, such as “End of the Leash”, “Balloon Salesman”, “Bugs Hole”, “Telephone Pole”, and “Put the Cat Out”.

I was not a massive fan of the “Put the Cat Out” sketch in season three, and the same applies to it in season four. It’s still lazy and not as hilarious as the other sketches. I still believe The Flintstones did this sequence better. The “Balloon Salesman” gags were probably the best ones, in my opinion, especially the one where everything pops like balloons, including the background. Plus, it’s the only mini-gag that appeared more than once this season compared to the other ones.

Overall, the fourth season of Looney Tunes Cartoons still packs a punch in its hilarity, charm, and bizarreness. Unfortunately, the cracks in its character variety still linger amid its nonsensical randomness, and the “Put the Cat Out” segment struggled to gain some laughs once more. Nonetheless, it’s another enjoyable collection of cartoon shorts that appeases its target audience, including me.