MeTV's
Toon In With Me block did so well over the past few years that owner Weigel is turning it into its own 24/7 network. It's basically what Cartoon Network was like back in 1992, but on steroids. It will have classic H-B/WB programming, but also classic cartoons from other studios. It will launch June 25.
Boomerang is dead. Meet the new Boomerang.
EDIT: Here's a list of affiliates (https://www.rabbitears.info/search.php?request=network_search&network=Me-TV+Toons) that will carry it on launch day.
So apparently the test to see if this channel would work was their Catchy Comedy channel's Looney Tunes marathon from a few weeks ago, and that gave them the highest ratings in the channel's history, meanwhile Me TV's Saturday morning block outranks basically all of Nick @ Nite.
These cartoons have never stopped being popular. I'm glad they'll have a place to be continuously rediscovered.
Edit: Based on a couple of sources I've talked to or seen, not everything that's on the website will air on day one, which is honestly for the best. You don't want to frontload the channel right off the bat, save some things for later.
From another source, Tom Ruegger's other series like Animaniacs aren't currently included but aren't off the table just yet. There might be an exclusivity contract with Hulu that needs to expire first is my guess, but they've been MIA for a minute, so who knows.
Here's their launch line up schedule (https://x.com/MeTVtoons/status/1795883379956515152) Looks pretty solid all things considering.
Weigel CEO Neal Sabin confirmed on Facebook that MeTV Toons will be available on streaming services like Frndly (https://try.frndlytv.com) and Philo. (https://www.philo.com/login/subscribe) However, they won't be ready until the Fall. EDIT: Never mind. They'll be available on launch day.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GOyrZphWUAErfUY.jpg)
Weigel sent Black Nerd some interstitials they will be playing on the network. Check out this early preview.
These are cool! Real cartoon 101, but I bet these will be informative and welcome to those who don't know their animation history that well.
Looking forward to it, I'm going to subscribe to Frindly a day or two before it starts airing to see if I can record some shows for day one.
Now this has nice effort put behind it. Cartoon College has some nice bits of trivia and the Quick Shticks is something I know MeTV does during the Saturday Morning cartoon block as well.
Update: Frndly will NOT be getting MeTV Toons in the Fall.
They will be getting it...tomorrow on launch day. (https://try.frndlytv.com/blog/metv-toons-launches-june-25th)
Get a Frndly account if you can't get the channel in your area.
MeTV has been my go to channel to put on in the background when nothing else is on for years, will be more than happy to have this on instead. It just amuses me in my lifetime we went from these shows being all over free over the air television, then moved to cable as a bargaining chip, and now back to free TV because they aren't viable enough for cable.
Obviously, it doesn't really matter since it's not like kids are gonna wake up at 6 AM to watch the show, but it's weird Captain Planet is still considered fit for the E/I quota despite being a 30-year-old cartoon. That's like a history or science teacher using a 30-year-old textbook instead of a recent edition. You end up teaching kids shit that's long since been debunked, or has been re-evaluated by modern scholars as having discrepancies. And I'm pretty sure more than a few Captain Planet episodes have aged badly as an educational tool. I looked up a random clip, and it's a show where the world population is still 5 billion and the Soviet Union is still a thing.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQ8V75TXsAE0FjA?format=jpg&name=small)
But MeTV's also been airing Saved by the Bell as an E/I show in spite of that show having no educational merit even back then. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oRipJAlW5M) So I guess the FCC's just too lazy to either enforce or repeal that rule. Honestly, I don't know why no lobbyist or bored parent pushes them on the matter, since kids are watching more shit online than on local network television. And your average YouTube celebrity's probably a worse influence on kids than a TV show.
I prefer where I live where it's showing Bugs Bunny and Friends at 6am, while METV is showing Toon in With Me. Had Looney Tunes on two different channels yesterday morning, just like old times.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on June 25, 2024, 11:45:59 PMBut MeTV's also been airing Saved by the Bell as an E/I show in spite of that show having no educational merit even back then. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oRipJAlW5M) So I guess the FCC's just too lazy to either enforce or repeal that rule. Honestly, I don't know why no lobbyist or bored parent pushes them on the matter, since kids are watching more shit online than on local network television. And your average YouTube celebrity's probably a worse influence on kids than a TV show.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on June 25, 2024, 11:45:59 PMBut MeTV's also been airing Saved by the Bell as an E/I show in spite of that show having no educational merit even back then. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oRipJAlW5M) So I guess the FCC's just too lazy to either enforce or repeal that rule. Honestly, I don't know why no lobbyist or bored parent pushes them on the matter, since kids are watching more shit online than on local network television. And your average YouTube celebrity's probably a worse influence on kids than a TV show.
I still remember when my high school health class showed that episode. It was also around the same time they aired SBTB on Adult Swim of all things and I couldn't help but think about that one bumper they made about it, so I had to contain my laughter during that scene. It's even funnier considering where I live, an hour of SBTB gets pre-empted by some random local programming of all things.
But yeah, I don't get the whole EI thing anymore since how Saturday Morning cartoons are dead and TV stations scramble to fill it with whatever programs that people probably don't even watch.
It's not like content or quality control matters to the FCC either, since all those afternoon time slots that used to be kid show blocks eventually became nothing but reruns of Maury, Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil, etc. And Dr. Phil telling viewers they can get high by choking themselves is worse for kids than any mindless toyetic cartoon.
Black Nerd interviews Neal Sabin regarding future programming coming to the channel.
EDIT: Here's a complete summary of the interview. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1814169048910815297)
So I've been recording a few things from the channel, mostly ignoring the stuff that's easily available like Looney Tunes and Scooby, instead checking out a few toons that are scarcer or I haven't seen in a while. Some thoughts:
-Harveytoons- There's a reason Casper is the only character who has anything close to longevity here, he's a likable enough lead, even if his shorts are predictable- Casper sees someone in trouble, scares away almost everyone in his path except his friend of the day, only for them to fail their way upwards to solving whatever problem is ailing the character. Not very flexible, but it's at least kind of charming, especially the earlier shorts which had more variety and less blocky animation.
Everything else... meh. Little Audrey is justa girl with an irritating laugh (love Mae Questel, but no thank you). Baby Huey is disturbing, they can't decide if he's an overgrown toddler or a permanently brainlocked adult, and his shorts aren't memorable enough to justify either concept. And Herman and Katnip lives up to its reputation- Tom and Jerry without any semblance of wit or charm, instead tripling down on wanton cartoon violence. This is the real inspiration for Itchy and Scratchy btw, but don't take that as a compliment.
UPA- I've never been much of a fan of these cartoons, preferring the more vibrant animation that Disney, Warner and MGM embraced before the studio's influence took over the industry. Seeing some of their originals again, however, does show a team of talented individuals from the big studios wanting to try different things with the medium and not doing a terrible job of it.
Except for Mr. Magoo. I can't stand that guy. It's not even the one-joke concept, two if we're being generous. I can't stand his mumbling.
Histeria!- This was my most curious addition, as this is the forgotten Spielberg/Ruegger project. Never aired outside of Kids WB!, where it had its last broadcast at the start of the millennium, and aside from briefly being a part of AOL's short-lived cartoon package 15 years ago, has been MIA since. I do understand not only why it didn't maintain better than even Freakazoid! and why this kind of show was falling out of fashion- it's just not very funny or memorable. Some of it is charming in how much of a late 90s time capsule it is, like how one episode features extended parodies of both Seinfeld and those golden oldies CD compilations, but that's all been treaded ground for nearly a decade by the time it aired. Tiny Toon repeats were being added to the block when this started airing, and those still felt more fresh than this did.
And I don't think it's very good as a history lesson. The songs aren't as catchy as your average Animaniacs tune, and nearly every attempt to blend fact and humor comes off as trite and preachy. The characters also aren't very good. Father Time is just another tired Frank Welker job, the baby only exists to liven up the stuffy history material with even more dull potty humor, and everyone else is at best a two-dimensional pastiche.
That said, I'm reminded of Kiddington when his namesake shows up. Hope he's doing well.
Speed Racer- I don't really talk about it, but I have a lot of nostalgic attachment to Speed Racer. I might have seen Fox's Totoro dub or one of the Nick Jr shows first, but this is the first anime I distinctly remember watching as a child, to the point that I'd try to sneak up and watch it at 1 am on Cartoon Network when I was a way-too-young age. Maybe that's why I have such strong sleeping issues.
If you best know the show from the Dexter's Lab parody (can't speak about the movie), what you think is true- it's very past-paced and silly, but that's part of the charm. The dub is kind of mockingly bad, yet still kind of watchable even if it feels deliberately primitive compared to a dub today. Frankly, it's just kin of fun to see how absurd the show is and how the children involved are allowed to be in such dangerous action. Like, how old is Trixie and why is she able to own a helicopter pilot's license?
I already mentioned it on Twitter a while ago, but I can't get over how Tobe Hooper based Leatherface off the unintentional subtext he got from Baby Huey. (https://movieweb.com/texas-chainsaw-massacre-leatherface-inspiration-baby-huey/) Because yeah, that is a character who's meant to be cute and funny, but misses the mark so hard and becomes creepy to watch.
Don't know if I have a soft spot for Mr. Magoo, or if I just remember the Christmas Carol special.
As for Histeria, yeah. The failings are obvious. It's not particularly funny, and it's not really educational either. But despite all that, it's hard not to feel bad considering this is Ruegger's last big stab before his status at WB severely tumbled. As well as how much edutainment TV's just been a rotting corpse lately, if we're at a point when broadcast stations can just air 30-year-old Captain Planet and Histeria reruns and pretend it's educational enough to be E/I. Makes me miss the idea of WB spending a ton of money on making an educational show, even if it's more for the "idea" than the execution.
I also they're airing fucking Yo, Yogi. (https://metvtoons.com/shows/yo-yogi) And why? Did their catalog of old cartoons dry up already? How much does it cost to buy the Yo, Yogi rights compared to any other cartoon from that era?
Sonic the Hedgehog (the DiC cartoon) is joining the lineup. (https://x.com/chomper1994/status/1850620455255736682)
Right now it's just the Christmas special, but this bodes well for it to potentially join.
Won't lie, I'm nostalgic enough to at least record it.
Occasionally wondered how weird those 90s Sonic cartoons look to modern viewers since they're very early adaptations. Like showing the DiC Zelda cartoon to people who finished Tears of the Kingdom.
Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated joins December 1. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1855138674427539695)
Okay? Cool that it's on TV again, but seems way too recent. Like putting Modern Family on regular MeTV.
It's going to be a part of their Sunday Scooby block, where they air random parts of the franchise. They used to show movies and have recently aired Pup.
I wonder if this will be the latest show they'll air for now, or if Be Cool and Guess Who are also eligible.
I get it, but it's still kinda funny, when I remember MeTV fans bitched when that channel briefly aired Full House because it was too recent. Even though it's over 3 decades old.
MeTV Toons' full holiday lineup for December. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1859417279575859258)
...Caillou? What the heck?
I continue to be confused by their kitchen sink approach.
Clearly the rights holders want it to remain relevant, which also explains its brief run on Cartoonito.
Get that balding bastard out of here. Why would a Boomer or Gen X'er be nostalgic for that monster?
Heathcliff is joining MeTV Toons on January 15. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1872816621250855146)
Not the well-known DiC show, but its predecessor, Heathcliff and Dingbat.
I think they may have access to both Ruby-Spears and DiC's iterations of Heathcliff. It'll be interesting to see if they can air both in the same slot.
MeTV Toons is joining DirecTV, channel 295.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GtdCbT3WgAABnDm.jpg)
MeTV Toons officially joins DirecTV on June 30. (https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/06/metv-toons-network-launching-on-directv-on-june-30)
More MeTV than Toons, but I guess someone at the FCC finally asked how Saved by the Bell was educational and the network's replaced it with animal shows to fulfill the E/I quota. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1938317350329000126) Not gonna lie, it had a pretty good 35-year run of tricking the government into thinking it was a valuable teaching tool. Few other series could hope to scam the FCC like that.
Now which will come first, the FCC asking why they even still have E/I standards when no kid's watching local network TV in the first place, or them asking MeTV Toons why they're airing Captain Planet? Because I caught an episode a few months back, and the message wasn't even pro-environment, just "Isn't Ted Turner such a cool guy?"
MeTV Toons gets FOUR new shows on September 15!
-Star Trek: The Animated Series
-Where's Huddles?
-Linus the Lionhearted
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(https://i.imgur.com/NHAoG2i.png)
MeTV Toons uploaded a (now-deleted) promo reel on Vimeo with a ton of new shows coming.
https://twitter.com/bluecat12217/status/1966867912507224344
Fantastic Max
Goldie Gold and Action Jack
Wildfire
Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series
The Mumbly Cartoon Show
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures
The Legion of Super Heroes
So another case of them getting whatever was cheap? How much did Legion of Super Heroes cost to license compared to the DC cartoons people remember like BTAS or Teen Titans? A third of the price? A fourth?
What can you even do with Dumb and Dumber TAS, Wildfire, or Goldie Gold and Action Jack? Those shows are only 13 episodes each and have no nostalgia appeal. You can only rerun them for so long.
Wake me when they get BTAS/STAS, Beast Wars, and Gundam.
Dumb and Dumber is a little interesting as the last show HB made for a non-Turner channel, but I can't say that I'm particularly interested in watching some of it.
Fantastic Max, maybe, I have memories of watching that on CN during various sick days way back when. I liked it better than The Smurfs, anyway.
The most interesting recent acquisition to me, besides TMNT, is Star Trek TAS, their first Filmation series. I guess this means that Paramount is a viable player for the channel, which hopefully will result in Terrytoons showing up. I'd like to see a little more of classic Mighty Mouse. And if Filmation is on the table, I have a soft spot for their Archie shows, which don't look any less cheap than their usual work but are much closer to the comics than Riverdale... give or take Veronica's terrible southern belle accent.
Yeah, it's interesting, but I also saw they're airing Trek TAS at the same time the main channel airs TOS. Okay? I know ratings don't really matter anymore unless they're extremely bad, but it's a strange form of self-competition.
Don't know if this is flamebaity or not, but Nemalki recently wrote an article against the idea of MeTV Toons ever airing any of the CN catalog like Dexter's Lab and PPG. (https://thoughtnami.blogspot.com/2025/08/dont-give-mouse-cookie.html) And it was a take so dumb I considered writing a rebuttal on the blog, because it's just the slippery slope fallacy combined with the refusal to admit most of the big CN cartoons are old now. Powerpuff Girls is a 27-year-old show. There are college freshmen right now who weren't alive when a new episode of the original show aired. It's retro. And acting like MeTV Toons is sacred ground that mustn't be besmirched by 90s cartoons (ignoring all the 90s and 00s toons already air on the network) just sounds melodramatic and reactionary. Is anyone really gonna shed a tear if Johnny Bravo or whatever replaced an airing of Marine Boy or Police Academy: TAS?
Besides, we know the real reason they won't get those shows is because they can't, if all their new acquisitions are obscure relics like Dumb and Dumber. Though it leaves me wondering what the prices are for some of these licenses. Because the Weigels who own MeTV have the money to get Gilmore Girls on Start TV, and is that show seriously cheaper than any of the big CN classics or any of the shows Rynnec mentioned?
I kind of get it, he doesn't want to se MeTV Toons turn into Cartoon Network 2.0, but I don't see any kind of reality where they're able to make their own cartoons like CN; although to be fair, apparently Ted Turner was reluctant to expand HB's production to allow the World Premiere Toons...
But at the same time, we're going to run out of big name shows to air, and they can't run on hype from Looney Tunes, Flintstones, and TMNT hype forever, right? Maybe airing some of the less-popular Nicktoons and CN shows wouldn't be such a terrible idea, but at the same time, it looks like Discovery Kids is becoming a new home for the latter. My Gym Partner's a Monkey is about to join Steven Universe and Summer Camp Island.
Quote from: Avaitor on September 25, 2025, 11:24:22 AMBut at the same time, we're going to run out of big name shows to air, and they can't run on hype from Looney Tunes, Flintstones, and TMNT hype forever, right? Maybe airing some of the less-popular Nicktoons and CN shows wouldn't be such a terrible idea, but at the same time, it looks like Discovery Kids is becoming a new home for the latter. My Gym Partner's a Monkey is about to join Steven Universe and Summer Camp Island.
And the thing is, the time gap between when Flintstones premiered on TV and when CN first started and reran Flintstones episodes was 32 years. In only 3 years from now, Dexter's Lab will be that same age. The inherent problem with nostalgia TV is that time's always gonna move forward, there are just more generations to accommodate over time, and unless we find a miracle cure that lets people live to be 200 soon, the majority of the audience that gets the most out of Flintstones or Huckleberry Hound nostalgia will keep shrinking with each year. And yeah, the idea of Looney Tunes getting overshadowed and forgotten isn't a wanted scenario, but that's just one small piece of the pie for this channel, while I can't imagine a cultural need to keep airing Challenge of the Gobots or The Mask TAS in the present day. Or Superfriends, frankly. That show was such a pop culture punching bag when we were kids that even CN got in on it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGQEAiZJMco&pp=ygUSc3VwZXJmcmllbmRzIHBhbnRz)
Because right now, the channel is definitely filled with a bunch of hand-me-down shows that nobody really cared for back then and haven't bothered to reappraise. And even the shows that people do care about, TMNT's not exactly high art. Nobody sane's gonna bitch if they replaced airings of Underdog with Ed, Edd, n Eddy or whatever. Acting as if airing some CN shows will compromise the channel's integrity and create another MTV/TLC/A&E/History Channel situation is just silly.
Quote from: Dr. Insomniac on September 25, 2025, 02:02:31 PMThe inherent problem with nostalgia TV is that time's always gonna move forward, there are just more generations to accommodate over time, and unless we find a miracle cure that lets people live to be 200 soon, the majority of the audience that gets the most out of Flintstones or Huckleberry Hound nostalgia will keep shrinking with each year.
Yeah, the youngest Millennials are pushing 30, with the youngest being 29 right now if my sources are right with the highest being in their early-mid 40s. Sooner or later, these retro channels are going to have to appeal to the nostalgia of Millennials over Gen X or Boomers. While I don't reject the idea of CN shows appearing on MeTV Toons, I still think that's gonna be a long way ahead and they're gonna try to milk it by slowly adding in Fox Kids/Kids WB era shows before we even get to CN's show.
Classic Terrytoons shorts are joining the lineup starting November 2. (https://x.com/CNschedules/status/1978617837649322459)
MeTV Toons is being added to DISH Network.
(https://i.imgur.com/N9y1VGH.jpeg)
MeTV Toons is now on Xfinity (https://twitter.com/MeTVtoons/status/1998441194691432697)
So the pros of MeTV Toons: Cool there's a spot on TV that airs Looney Tunes on primetime. And with CN's flaws becoming irreparable, it's cute someone else is picking up the slack and running old cartoons on TV.
As for cons, this is all personal bias admittedly, but I'm just not a fan of 70s/80s American toyetic cartoons, which the channel overairs. It's hard not to ignore the "Cartoon Network for people pushing 50" vibes the channel often radiates. The 80s version of TMNT was never the one that grabbed me as a kid, always preferred the 00s one. I guess I should be happy they aren't as desperate as to air those 90s Mario cartoons or Captain N to fill time, but you can definitely feel the lack of a decent roster whenever they air Challenge of the Gobots or Superfriends.
Superfriends especially, watching it on TV these days is a weird experience since the last vestiges of its legacy have long been eradicated now that casual audiences associate Aquaman with Jason Momoa riding on giant sea monsters instead of an impotent Arthur who can only talk to fish. What was already seen as enough of a joke that even CN's official promos mocked it in the early 00s is thoroughly a bygone relic in what will soon be 2026 at the time of this writing. And it would be sad if not for just how boring Superfriends is. Yeah, occasionally, there's an episode that's accidentally funny. Adapting Darkseid into a loser who simps for Diana is funny. But everything else, once you get past the "SOLOMON GRUNDY NEED PANTS TOO" memories and Solid JJ shitpost videos and look at the actual show for what it is, I think I know why I never even bothered with it as a DC-loving kid when it reran on Boomerang. Even the 60s Spider-Man cartoon had Bakshi-induced insanity going for it.
Seven new shows coming in February. (https://metvtoons.com/stories/here-are-all-the-new-shows-coming-to-metv-toons-in-february-2)
Cool
Sure, whatever
Same
Fine
Meh
Okay
Forgot what that was
Hey, Paisanos! (https://x.com/chomper1994/status/2032655347383497208)
Oh shit! They got the
SMW and
Captain N shorts, too! :joy:
I wonder if the
Zelda shorts will be included as well. (Didn't see any clips from it, but a man can dream...)
I'd love to say "Hooray, a new generation will be confused by names like Toadstool or wonder why they're calling him Koopa instead of Bowser!", but every time I turn on MeTV Toons and leave it on for long enough, almost all the ads are shit like diapers for the elderly, Mike Huckabee or John Walsh selling wellness pills or demanding the viewer donate money to old ladies in Israel, senior insurance, or some scummy ambulance-chasing lawyer. Just ads for people older than my parents instead of 80s or even 70s kids, let alone people my age. Unless those 80s kids are now incontinent and easy to deceive with snake oil.
Even Brak thinks the commercials are dumb. (https://bsky.app/profile/amerrill2.bsky.social/post/3mgzyngznm22k)
(https://preview.redd.it/good-lord-they-look-dreadful-v0-hfn21uyz1gsg1.jpg?width=837&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0adf72e754c3251e2f9e0658917a074686f5272e)
Sonic and Heathcliff are coming. (https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streaming/metv-toons-quick-draw-mcgraw-sonic-heathcliff-265828.html)
Hell yeah, Quick Draw McGraw.
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest airs November 8. (https://www.tvinsider.com/network/metv-toons/schedule)
Wow. I wasn't sure if this network would air movies. Guess we have our answer.