Series Description

The Bugs Bunny show was a kids TV Show on ABC. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck would open each episode by singing the theme song, "This is It!" and then Bugs would either tell the audience the theme of that evening's cartoons or introduce a guest host who was always another Warner Brothers character. Then three post 1948 Warner Brothers cartoons were shown with new segments in between each two. A commercial featuring Bugs or occasionally another Warner Bros. character aired after the second segment. At the end of each episode, a sneak preview of the next week's episode was shown.

Characters

Voices

Mel Blanc .... Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck / Yosemite Sam / Sylvester / Tweety
Mel Blanc .... Porky Pig / Wile E. Coyote / Foghorn Leghorn / Tasmanian Devil
Mel Blanc .... Marvin the Martian / Pepe Le Pew / Speedy Gonzales

Jim Backus .... Smoky the Genie
Bea Benaderet .... Miscellaneous Characters
Julie Bennett .... Miscellaneous Characters
Billy Bletcher .... Miscellaneous Characters
Arthur Q. Bryan .... Elmer Fudd
Daws Butler .... Miscellaneous Characters
June Foray .... Granny / Witch Hazel
Stan Freberg .... Miscellaneous Characters
Ben Frommer .... Miscellaneous Characters
Joan Gerber .... Miscellaneous Characters
Paul Julian .... Road Runner
Hal Smith .... Miscellaneous Characters
B.J. Ward .... Miscellaneous Characters

Opening Overture Lyrics

Title: "This is It!

Written By: "Jerry Livingston" and "Mack David"

Performed By: "Mel Blanc" (as "Daffy Duck" and "Bugs Bunny")

Overture, turn the lights!
This is it. The night of nights.
No more rehearsing and nursing a part.
We know every part by heart!

Overture, turn the lights!
This is it. We'll hit the heights!
And oh, what heights we'll hit!
On with the show, this is it!

(Then a pause while Bugs and Daffy Duck walk off stage and return with all of the other characters and sing:)
Tonight what heights we'll hit!
On with the show, this is it!

Bugs Bunny Show Trivia:

Most Americans did not have color televisions until the mid-1960s so even though the episodes were in color, the first 52 episodes were originally broadcast in black and white.

Some sources show a third season of this series on the Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (CBC) in 1971 but those were actually just episodes from the original two seasons. There was one difference though. This time they aired in color.

Many people realize that the six minute long, 1958 Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Knighty Knight Bugs" won an Oscar for "Best Short Subject, Cartoons" but few know of another Bugs Bunny distinction. One year earlier in 1957, another cartoon was produced titled, "What's Opera, Doc?". You have probably seen it. It's the one where Bugs and Elmer Fudd do their own version of composer Richard Wagner's opera "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Anyway; it was the first cartoon to be preserved in the "National Film Registry" for being considered "culturally significant"! Quite an achievement for a cartoon!

The Bugs Bunny Show was also one of the few cartoon series to air in prime time. It was broadcast at 7:30 PM Eastern time on Tuesday nights just like another hit cartoon series, "The Flintstones" that aired on Friday nights at 8:30 PM Eastern time. The two series had one feature in common that probably accounts for why they made it to prime time. Parents didn't mind watching along with their kids. In fact, adults were the largest segment of the audience for both shows.

Theme Song

Title: "Bugs Bunny Theme"

Written by: "Jerry Livingston and Mack David"

Overture, curtains, lights,
This is it, the night of nights

No more rehearsing and nursing a part
We know every part by heart

Overture, curtains, lights
This is it, you'll hit the heights

And oh what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it

Tonight what heights we'll hit
On with the show this is it