Boomerang (British TV channel)
Encyclopedia
Boomerang is a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland
launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media
, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV
, UPC Ireland
. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry
, and contemporary classics like Pink Panther and Pals
and The Garfield Show
. Around 2007, it started airing live action programming.
kids channel CBBC
. A timeshift channel, Boomerang +1, was launched on 6 March 2006. Since 2004, the UK version of Boomerang has had a separate on screen identity and logo from the US version (prior to this, the channel had carried US branding and logos). The UK version also has custom made onscreen idents. For example these show children doing various activities such as shopping, playing games etc. Boomerang along with Cartoon Network and Toonami use to have a Top Up TV
channel on LCNs 72-74, although Boomerang only broadcast between 05:00 and 12:00. When you tried to tune in to the channel via Freeview it came up with an advert for Top Up TV
.
cutting power from different parts of Soho one at a time for four hours, purposely, due to the inability as the 2006 European heat wave
had hit Turner Broadcasting System Europe. The power cut caused a mix up of channels (i.e. Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang
and Toonami, with Boomerang
being broadcast on CN Too). Boomerang
+1 was off air for some time, while TCM
, reverted between TCM France and other programming during the times it was able to provide a service. TCM 2
didn't have a power cut because of its downtimes of timesharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel website
s were offline also. Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people curious into why the incorrect programmes were played out when compared to the EPG CN Too and Boomerang
were showing episodes of The Flintstones
. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this service. This is due to technical difficulties. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages. Whilst most channels returned to the air relatively quickly, it took longer for CN Too to resume programming and it was also joked on various animation based forums by Toonami UK viewers, many of whom have made note of their disdain for the direction in which Turner took the Brand in the UK, that the backup transmission was more entertaining, purely on the basis that there's no live action aired during the black out. The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the black-out displayed the message "Sorry! Toonami is broken, we'll be right back as soon as we fix it.". These idents have since been re-used in disclaimers warning viewers not to try stunts on various shows at home.
, the station's programming consists almost exclusively of MGM, Hanna-Barbera
and Warner Bros.
archive programming, though it also includes fairly recent programmes featuring older characters, such as Garfield and Friends
, Taz-mania
,and The Pink Panther Show
. Unlike the U.S. station, commercials are broadcast. The channel occasionally suspends its regular programming for theme weeks, most often for Scooby-Doo
and Tom and Jerry
. For a few months starting from September 2000, more archive action-oriented programming was shown on the Boomeraction slot at weekends, including shows such as The Fantastic Four
, Centurions
and Challenge of the GoBots
. This endeavour was short-lived however, and the slot and its programmes were permanently dropped from the schedules in May 2001. For a short while, Boomerang UK aired a few on CN's shows like Camp Lazlo
and Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends.
Another competition called "Pet of the Week" aired on Boomerang from October 24, 2009.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV
Top Up TV
Top Up TV is a pay television service in the UK launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial platform. The aim of the service is to "Top Up" Freeview customers by providing additional channels and services....
, UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
, and contemporary classics like Pink Panther and Pals
Pink Panther and Pals
Pink Panther and Pals was an animated television series based on the classic DePatie-Freleng Panther shorts from the 1960s, produced for Cartoon Network by Rubicon Studios in association with MGM Television. The show premiered on Cartoon Network on March 7, 2010 at 7:30am, presented in both HD and...
and The Garfield Show
The Garfield Show
The Garfield Show is a CGI animated television series that premiered in France on France 3 on December 22, 2008. English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on May 5, 2009. It premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009 at 3:00pm...
. Around 2007, it started airing live action programming.
History and Popularity
Boomerang was the most popular Turner channel in the UK with large audiences often beating popular BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
kids channel CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
. A timeshift channel, Boomerang +1, was launched on 6 March 2006. Since 2004, the UK version of Boomerang has had a separate on screen identity and logo from the US version (prior to this, the channel had carried US branding and logos). The UK version also has custom made onscreen idents. For example these show children doing various activities such as shopping, playing games etc. Boomerang along with Cartoon Network and Toonami use to have a Top Up TV
Top Up TV
Top Up TV is a pay television service in the UK launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial platform. The aim of the service is to "Top Up" Freeview customers by providing additional channels and services....
channel on LCNs 72-74, although Boomerang only broadcast between 05:00 and 12:00. When you tried to tune in to the channel via Freeview it came up with an advert for Top Up TV
Top Up TV
Top Up TV is a pay television service in the UK launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial platform. The aim of the service is to "Top Up" Freeview customers by providing additional channels and services....
.
Technical faults and interruptions
On July 27, 2006, Boomerang, along with its sister channels suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in Soho, London. This was due to the energy supplier EDFEDF Energy
EDF Energy is an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom...
cutting power from different parts of Soho one at a time for four hours, purposely, due to the inability as the 2006 European heat wave
2006 European heat wave
The 2006 European heat wave was a period of exceptionally hot weather that arrived at the end of June 2006 in certain European countries. The United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany and western part of Russia were most affected....
had hit Turner Broadcasting System Europe. The power cut caused a mix up of channels (i.e. Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang
Boomerang (British TV channel)
Boomerang is a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV, UPC Ireland. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, and...
and Toonami, with Boomerang
Boomerang (British TV channel)
Boomerang is a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV, UPC Ireland. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, and...
being broadcast on CN Too). Boomerang
Boomerang (British TV channel)
Boomerang is a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV, UPC Ireland. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, and...
+1 was off air for some time, while TCM
Turner Classic Movies (UK)
Turner Classic Movies is a subscription digital television channel featuring classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which include many MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. titles...
, reverted between TCM France and other programming during the times it was able to provide a service. TCM 2
TCM 2
TCM 2 is a British television channel. It is a UK-only spin-off channel from the UK version of TCM, and shows the popular films from the Turner Entertainment library . Films are shown from 20:00 to 04:00 from Monday-Sunday, and the following week includes a new line-up...
didn't have a power cut because of its downtimes of timesharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s were offline also. Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people curious into why the incorrect programmes were played out when compared to the EPG CN Too and Boomerang
Boomerang (British TV channel)
Boomerang is a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland launched on 27 May 2000. It is broadcast 24 hours on the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV, UPC Ireland. It mostly features classic cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry, and...
were showing episodes of The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this service. This is due to technical difficulties. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages. Whilst most channels returned to the air relatively quickly, it took longer for CN Too to resume programming and it was also joked on various animation based forums by Toonami UK viewers, many of whom have made note of their disdain for the direction in which Turner took the Brand in the UK, that the backup transmission was more entertaining, purely on the basis that there's no live action aired during the black out. The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the black-out displayed the message "Sorry! Toonami is broken, we'll be right back as soon as we fix it.". These idents have since been re-used in disclaimers warning viewers not to try stunts on various shows at home.
Boomerang programmes
Like the U.S. channel of the same nameBoomerang (TV channel)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
, the station's programming consists almost exclusively of MGM, Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
archive programming, though it also includes fairly recent programmes featuring older characters, such as Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with...
, Taz-mania
Taz-Mania
Taz-Mania is a American cartoon sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation from 1991–1993, broadcast in the United States on Fox from 1991-1995...
,and The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1979. The television series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast on two American TV networks:...
. Unlike the U.S. station, commercials are broadcast. The channel occasionally suspends its regular programming for theme weeks, most often for Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
and Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
. For a few months starting from September 2000, more archive action-oriented programming was shown on the Boomeraction slot at weekends, including shows such as The Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four (1967 TV series)
Fantastic Four is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and the first animated series based on Marvel's comic book series Fantastic Four. The program, featuring character designs by Alex Toth, aired on ABC from 1967 to 1970. It lasted for 20 episodes, with repeat episodes airing...
, Centurions
The Centurions (TV series)
The Centurions is a syndicated 30 minute American science fiction animated television series produced by Ruby-Spears and animated in Japan by Sunrise. Comic book legends Jack Kirby and Gil Kane contributed to the design and concepts of the show....
and Challenge of the GoBots
Challenge of the GoBots
Challenge of the GoBots is an American animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, based on the Gobots toy-line released from Tonka. Most of the toys were imported from the Japanese Machine Robo toy line. The show originally debuted in animated form as a five-part miniseries, which aired in...
. This endeavour was short-lived however, and the slot and its programmes were permanently dropped from the schedules in May 2001. For a short while, Boomerang UK aired a few on CN's shows like Camp Lazlo
Camp Lazlo
Camp Lazlo is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray, produced by Rough Draft Studios, Joe Murray Productions and Cartoon Network Studios. It aired on Cartoon Network...
and Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends.
Pet Personlity Awards
Boomerang set up a yearly competition, since 2009, where viewers can submit and vote for any photos and videos of their pets. A downloadable virtual puppy is also available and one of the categories. Each award category is based on the characters from Boomerang's programming:- Garfield - Greediest
- Tweety - Cutest
- Scooby Doo - Funniest
- Tom & Jerry - Oddest Couple
- Bugs Bunny - Most Talented
- Scrappy Doo - Bravest
- Pink Panther - Most Unusual
- Daffy Duck - Fave Celebrity and Pet
- Best Animal Impression
- Best Looked After Virtual Puppy
Another competition called "Pet of the Week" aired on Boomerang from October 24, 2009.