MeTV Toons Turns One!

Hard to believe that the wonderful, spectacular, and epic beacon of classic cartoons has now existed for a full year now! We needed this so badly! MeTV Toons is the best thing to happen to fans of classic cartoons such as myself, and while it's been around for only a year, this was actually about four years in the making.

The original MeTV has been around for quite a bit, one of a few channels dedicated to classic TV after TV Land's classic programming became more recent. It wasn't until early 2021 that the channel started to air classic cartoons, but it started bit by bit. On January 1 of that year, Toon In With Me aired a preview episode prior to its official premiere three days later. The show airs weekday mornings at 7AM on the channel and plays classic cartoons on the hour-long show, usually Looney Tunes, Popeye, and Tom & Jerry. It was similar to TBS' old Tom & Jerry Funhouse, which I grew up watching back when I was in first and second grade.

Repeats of that day's Toon In With Me often aired on MeTV+ at 9PM on weeknights, and it later escalated to the point where MeTV aired a Saturday Morning Cartoons block. For three hours every Saturday between 7AM and 10AM, MeTV aired the block, which went through a few changes. Originally, Popeye and Pals aired at 7AM, The Tom and Jerry Show aired at 8AM, and finally, Bugs Bunny and Friends aired at 9AM. At some point in 2021, they added the Pink Panther group, and that cut Popeye in half, with the 7:30AM half dedicated to Pink Panther. The lineup went back to normal afterwards, but on September 2, 2023, MeTV acquired the Woody Woodpecker library. Since then, it's Popeye at 7AM, Tom & Jerry at 7:30AM, Woody Woodpecker at 8AM, and Looney Tunes at 9AM.

MeTV+ would later air a Sunday Night Cartoons block from 5PM to 8PM, and it wasn't evenly divided like the Saturday morning block. Three hours of the classics popping up at random. I really loved watching that Sunday night block, especially at the same time as Sunday Night Football during the season, and even some other sports in the process. I do think back to that Sunday Night block emotionally, because on the evening of June 26, 2022, I was watching two things: Sunday Night Cartoons, and the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup.

With all of this, the rumors of a MeTV Toons channel started, and it grew and grew until it became a reality. Finally, the launch date was announced, and I was looking forward to the channel hitting my TV and replacing an existing channel. On June 25, 2024, MeTV Toons officially launched, and I was so excited... until I didn't see it. I learned the hard way that not everybody got the channel on their TVs outright, and I came very close to actually subscribing to an app that had it. I didn't. I decided to play the waiting game. I'm pretty good at that. Remember that Stanley Cup I mentioned? I waited 21 years for that. I waited patiently for the moment that MeTV Toons would hit my TV.

That moment came on a Monday night in (I believe) early September.

I was flipping through the channels, and there it was: Looney Tunes on at the 8PM hour and the MeTV Toons logo on the lower right corner. I was so so happy! I wasted no time enjoying so many of the things that MeTV Toons had on, and I learned quite a bit about the channel. For one, the lineup is consistent, especially on weekdays. It hasn't changed much in the time the channel's existed. Secondly, any and all animation on MeTV+ was taken off due to MeTV Toons launching. Let me discuss some of the programming.

See that character between Woody and Popeye? That's Casper. Casper!!! Before this channel, I hadn't seen a Casper cartoon in close to three and a half decades!! I barely remembered the Harveytoons group led by Casper and also consisting of Herman & Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey! That block, known as Casper and Company, airs at 10AM weekdays, and Sundays at 8AM. Casper is also part of the network's Cartoon All-Stars block, which used to air twice a day on weekdays, first at 1PM and again at 10PM. It also airs Saturdays at 10PM, and a three hour Sunday Night Cartoon All-Stars airs Sundays between 8PM and 11PM.

I was also surprised when I saw that the channel's collection of cartoons also includes Mr. Magoo. I've heard of the character for years; never seen the cartoons until I got the channel. What a treat! We all know about Mr. Magoo; near-sighted character who always stumbles in to random situations, and is voiced brilliantly by the late, great Jim Backus--prior to becoming Thurston Howell III. As we all know, Mr. Magoo received a live-action big screen film back in 1996, with the late, great Leslie Nielsen playing that role. Mr. Magoo is also part of the Cartoon All-Stars block, and I mentioned that Cartoon All-Stars used to come on twice a day on weekdays, but now only comes on once.

Here's why:

Just when I think I couldn't love this channel more than I already do, they announce that a block known as House of Hanna-Barbera would hit the channel. A preview of this aired on February 16, 2025 for three hours between 8PM and 11PM, and a day later, the block landed on the 11AM-1PM slot, which had been an unpredictable slot for a while. I had already seen some classic Hanna-Barbera on that period for a while, usually incarnations of Yogi Bear (including the short-lived Yo Yogi! series from the 90s), and the Wacky Races group of shows. Before House of Hanna-Barbera hit the channel, I would see Heathcliff and Marmaduke at 11AM at times.

I've been begging for classic Hanna-Barbera to hit TV again for years! We needed this channel so badly. I needed this channel so badly. I remember watching Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Atom Ant, and Secret Squirrel a lot on Cartoon Network, and later Boomerang. Cartoon Network and Boomerang's lack of dedication to the classics is why this channel was created. Oh, and the 6PM hour is dedicated to that classic H-B stuff, so to make room for it, they removed Cartoon All-Stars from the 1PM slot and moved everything else up an hour. House of Hanna-Barbera also airs Sundays from 1PM-3PM, though if there's one problem I do have, it's this: where's Quick Draw McGraw? Again, I'm willing to be patient for that.

We needed MeTV Toons so badly, we really did, and I am so thankful we have this. I love their Looney Tunes coverage. One hour on weekday mornings at 9AM, two hours weeknights and Saturdays at 8PM, and an hour Sundays at noon. I love all of their blocks; I've even been watching some SuperFriends on there since October at times. And I worship their dedication to classic Hanna-Barbera. Cartoon Network and Boomerang think classic cartoons begins and ends with Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and Popeye, and while they are iconic, there's so much more they're overlooking. MeTV Toons appreciates so much of the classics and works hard to do so.

This die-hard classic cartoon fan has two words for MeTV Toons: Thank you!