TVSquad

Everyone, I need your attention! I am about to do something that rarely pops up in my life and, I'm guessing, in yours as well. It might be a little shocking, so I want to make sure that you're near a chair. Deep breath, here it goes...

I want to thank my cable provider. I'll wait until you can sit down. Need a drink of water? Breath of fresh air?

I'm being serious here! I know that it's rare that someone publicly thanks the utility that sucks their money away and provides little if any variety, but I think this time it's merited. You see, for years now the networks have been lacking a very important series of programs that are important to the proper education of our youth. I speak about Looney Tunes cartoons.

For many of us these cartoons were a staple of our childhood (and part of our adulthood) and taught us many important facts. For example, painting a hole in a brick wall allows us to walk right through it, every day is apparently Duck Season, and Acme is the largest manufacturer of explosive devices. They also increased our memory capacity as we learned to recite every word from every episode that we watched numerous times over. Unfortunately, this left very little space for us to learn much in school.

Unfortunately, Looney Tunes cartoons began to disappear from the airwaves as more and more parents and network executives became concerned that children would drop a five thousand pound weight on their younger brother just for a chuckle. As I write this not even Cartoon Network airs these types of programs on a regular basis. This is where the appreciation for my cable provider comes in. Thanks to their Video On Demand system I, along with my children, are able to watch Bugs, Daffy and Porky once again.

Under the 'Kids WB' VoD section (from Comcast; at least here in the Mid-Atlantic), there are currently a number of classic Bugs Bunny cartoons ready for review. The one that's a favorite of my kids right now is 'Little Red Riding Rabbit', which features Bugs against Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. I have caught my children humming Red Riding Hood's song numerous times during the day. As for me, a person who has not watched that cartoon in years, the verbatim recitation of the script came easily. Yes, we can view the cartoon any time on YouTube or the new Kids WB website, but there's something to watching it on the 42" flat screen over the 20" computer screen.

So, once again Comcast, thank you very much for bringing the old Looney Tunes cartoons back to television. I can now bridge that generational link between my Hannah Montana-watching daughters and my classic cartoon self. Now, all I have to do is introduce them to Thundercats, currently available On Demand as well, and we'll be set.