"The frog was on life support for a long time, and then we got permission from a federal court to disconnect the feeding tube," Ancier said. "Services will be held," Janollari said apologetically. "That was a symbol that was - especially in extensive testing that we did - that perpetuated the young teen feel of the network, and that is not the image we want to put out to our audience." "Wait, wait - we should talk about that," Janollari said. "And that gets a really negative reaction - okay!" said Ancier. "And buried, yeah," chimed in programming chief David Janollari. "The frog is dead and buried," WB Chairman Garth Ancier said defiantly. "Is the frog dead?" asked one critic after noticing that Michigan was missing from all the WB signage in the Beverly Hilton ballroom where the network's day at the press tour was taking place. In retrospect, industry experts said yesterday, it was inevitable that Don Johnson would be added to the WB schedule and Michigan J. This limited the network's growth among the young adult set, which did not sit well with the Old Men of Time Warner. Unfortunately, it worked too well, and coupled with the fact that so many stars of WB's prime-time hits were in high school, the network once known as the WB, or the Frog, became known as That Teen Network, not friendly to anyone over 20. vault an animated frog (created by the same guy who'd given us Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Pepe Le Pew) that, they reasoned, would appeal to younger viewers. Frog got snuffed because he skewed too young.īack in the mid-'90s, when the WB was launched with programming specifically targeting teens and young adults, it decided not to employ a serious network TV logo - such as an eyeball or a peacock - but instead to dust off from the Warner Bros. In fact, they had the crust to suggest that Mr. ![]() Frog's demise had not been the work of ageists. You do the math.īut WB suits, onstage to discuss their new prime-time shows starring Sara Gilbert, Jay Baruchel, Rebecca Romijn and even Don Johnson, insisted Mr. In the biggest news yet to come out of the action-packed Summer TV Press Tour 2005, WB suits, after being grilled during a midday news conference with the Reporters Who Cover Television, confessed yesterday to killing off their beloved mascot, Michigan J. We take you now to Beverly Hills, Calif., for the latest on this breaking story: contract player best known for his top hat, cane and ragtime songs, is dead, killed by the WB network for whom he had been working as a mascot, The TV Column has learned. ![]() ![]() Subtle and grandiloquent at the same time, One Froggy Evening’s silent-movie story (except for that singing!) is one of Chuck Jones’ most celebrated and brilliant masterpieces.Michigan J. Inducted into the National Film Archives of the Smithsonian Institution in 2003, One Froggy Evening joins two other Jones masterpieces there, What’s Opera, Doc? and Duck Amuck confirming their classical immutability. It is but a frog after all, and without believability, it wouldn’t have been as shocking as it was, when seconds later it burst into “Hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my rag-time gal …” The true hallmark of the Jones genius was, is, that always there must be believability, without which none of these fables would have the life they do. That may sound ridiculous-who knows that is the way amphibians blink? I know it, so I have to put it in, and you’d better be impressed!” - Chuck Jones, Chuck Reducks “I felt I had to make the frog believable in a very short time, so when he pulls himself out of the tin he slips a little bit, and when he blinks he blinks upward. Unnamed at the time, the singing frog tormented and abused the man who discovered him, driving him to rack and ruination in just six and a half minutes. A slinky, slimy green amphibian made cartoon history when it premiered in movie theaters across the country on December 31, 1955.
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