I was fortunate enough to work at WB TV Animation at the time as an assistant editor, and worked on Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, and (erm) The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. I’m still in the animation business, but I’ve never had a better job, nor do I expect to. The company was staffed with amazingly good people (except for one [higher-up but I’m not naming names] guy who screamed and belittled people all the time, and who hasn’t worked a lot since, thankfully), was really progressive (oh, the seminars they held on sexual/workplace harassment!), and as stated previously, the best gig I’ve ever had. And while all of the output from those years might not be as great as the classic Looney Tunes (or Popeye or Tex Avery), it was miles beyond anything else any other studio was doing at the time. (Kricfalusi excluded, but I think we can all agree he was kinda sui generis.)
There’s still great cartoons being made (see Adventure Time or Regular Show), but those last great WB days will always be special to me. Added bonus…? It was run so well that being a slack mofo was par for the course. Then came that hateful word, “productivity”…it’s never been the same since.
