A Nudder One

"A nudder one?" This was the glee-filled cry that came from our son on Saturday mornings, many years ago. His joy came as a direct result of the guitar twang that accompanied the Warner Brothers logo, announcing the beginning of "a nudder" Loony Toon. My wife and I kept our eyes closed and feigned sleep. This was expressly difficult because our son was bouncing up and down on the bed between us, giddy with every punch, slap, explosion or fall. and every seven minutes, there was another one.
This was back in those heady days when my wife and I were simply trying to get enough rest to deal with everything that our little boy had to do on Saturday. Merrie Melodies gave us that chance to recharge our parental batteries before the next flurry of blocks and trains and trucks and more trains. We listened to the voice characterizations of Mel Blanc, the music of Carl Stalling, and the sounds of chaos. And above it all came the laughter of our son. This was the music of our Saturday morning.
Later, of course, that spell was broken as our son's love of Chuck Jones and his colleagues' work became diluted with visions of transforming robots, aspiring Jedi knights, and the delicious conceit of Bob The Builder. That little round guy whose best friends just happen to be construction equipment? What kid wouldn't be obsessed with that? Parents not so much.
These days we don't tend to see our son until lunch time on Saturdays. His corner of the DVR is pretty well filled with episodes of Top Gear, both British and American versions. There aren't a lot of cartoons on his list. Still a lot of cars, a few trucks, but not many trains. We don't watch a lot of television together, especially not on Saturday morning. He did pick up a season pass to the FX series "Tyrant" for us to watch. I have yet to sleep through an episode, or even pretend to do so. My wife hasn't found the time to sit down and watch just yet. Maybe if they were a little shorter.
Like seven minutes long.
With a Carl Stalling soundtrack.
And Mel Blanc could do all the voices.