Old Man Zaslav Slashes Boomerang to Move ‘Scooby-Doo’ and More to Max
After serving the retro animation community proudly for seven years, the classic cartoon streaming service Boomerang will cease to exist at the end of September — and this time, it’s not coming back.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president David Zaslav seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with his company’s immense library of classic works of art. He loves purging old Warner Bros. films from the Max streaming library, and he hates it when subscribers watch anything older than the pilot episode of MILF Manor. In Zaslav’s post-art, pro-”content” business model for Max, the streaming hub for Warner Bros. Discovery’s most culturally significant IP becomes even more bare-bones with each round of cuts, and the original shows and movies produced by Max oftentimes face cancellation after post-production and pre-premiere, leaving solidly screen-tested films like Coyote vs. Acme in a permanent state of inaccessibility to the average subscriber.
With Zaslav’s “subtraction by subtraction” approach to the Max library in mind, it came as no surprise when, this past weekend, Boomerang, the budget streaming service devoted to the preservation and appreciation of classic animated franchises such as Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo, informed its subscribers that its parent company will soon be pulling the plug.
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However, Boomerang did offer some hope to Saturday morning cartoon stans when it told them that many of the shows in its library will migrate to Max, where, if we’re all lucky, Zaslav will leave them alone and accessible. On the other hand, if we’re not so lucky, he’ll probably just lure Looney Tunes fans into splurging on Max subscriptions before dropping the classic titles from streaming like an anvil on an all-too-obvious bull’s-eye.
According to the customer notice on the Boomerang website, franchises such as Scooby-Doo, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Courage the Cowardly Dog that used to be available through its $5.99/month, ad-free subscription will find a new home at Max, where the base service, Max With Ads, starts at $9.99/month. Thankfully, the Boomerang TV premium cable channel will still be available to those who subscribe through partnered TV providers.
“Starting September 30, you can watch fan-favorite Boomerang shows alongside Max’s full catalog of iconic series, hit movies, fresh originals, breaking news, and family favorites including The Amazing World of Gumball, Teen Titans Go!, Lego Batman and more!” Boomerang spun the end of its streaming service in its message to customers, mindfully omitting any mention of the possibility that, in a year’s time, all of those series “and more” may go the way of Batgirl should Zaslav decide that Max simply offers too many options.
In a vacuum, it’s not some a travesty that classic animation fans who somehow aren’t physical media collectors will have to pay an extra $4 per month to get their Scooby-Doo fix while enjoying access to so many more contemporary titles on top of their cartoons. However, ever since the merger between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Discovery, Inc. in April 2022, Zaslav’s whole approach to running his mega-conglomerate has been consolidation followed by extreme cuts, and classic titles have long been the first ones on the chopping block.
Only time will tell if Max considers classic cartoons to be worthwhile assets, or if Zaslav will slam the rest of the Looney Tunes in streaming jail along with their old friend Wile E. Coyote.