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On one hand, it's tough to describe the new Animaniacs as a "variety series" when it's really just a pairing of two elements. It's hard to say whether this more rigid format is the right approach or not. In the five episodes Hulu screened, there's only one segment that doesn't fall into either of those two categories. As in Season 1, there's little effort made to introduce new characters and break up that pattern. Every episode features one Animaniacs segment, one Pinky and the Brain segment and one shorter segment to wrap things up. Thankfully, these more adult-oriented moments never feel out of place, and the experienced, talented voice cast certainly help in that regard.īy now, the new series has established a very clear formula. Whether it's lengthy musical numbers patterned after Gilbert & Sullivan plays or jokes that veer into surprisingly dark territory, the new Animaniacs can be surprisingly edgy at times. The tone may be lighthearted and silly, but the writers have mostly abandoned any pretense of Animaniacs being a show aimed at children. If anything, they have a bit more bite now than they did back in 1994. Season 2 further cements the fact that Yakko, Wakko, and Dot have lost none of their edge over the past few decades. That's what winds up driving many of the show's storylines. If there's any sort of through-line at all in this very plot-light series, it's that the Warners are both fascinated with and mystified by 21st Century social media. That said, the series does succeed in casting a slightly wider net this time and not relying too much on political jokes that became outdated sometime between the scripting and animating phases. In case you were wondering, yes, there's still a fair amount of political humor targeted at the previous presidential administration.
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