Streaming Showcase: Boomerang

I like Boomerang well enough, but there needs to be more of it to make me subscribe to it more often. In the grand scheme of things, 5 bones per month doesn't sound like a huge expense, but when there are so many other options out there, a Streaming Video On Demand service has to offer more content to become one of those automatic renewals I can feel good about.

This Time Warner channel has access to tons of cartoons and iconic characters--Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo...but instead of unleashing all of it, it siphons it out and waters it down by throwing in modern stuff like Courage the Cowardly Dog. Now, I'm sure that cartoon has its fans, but are they willing to pay 5 bucks per for access to some of it?

If we were talking every Looney Tune, every Scooby, etc., then we are in business. Even if there was the promise of that or  even some vague hope that was the direction, then it would be different. However, there is an assortment of these properties, and new content is added maybe every week or two. It's nice to see new episodes of The Flintstones added, but in a sense, it's like, so what? All of that show should already be on this kind of classic 'toon service.

I had Boomerang for several months, and I enjoyed watching the likes of Yogi (though not nearly all of Yogi was available) and Magilla. I even watched some Richie Rich, which I hadn't seen in years. There just isn't enough. It's cool to see an underappreciated character like Barney Bear get a dedicated section on Boomerang, but it also exposes the fact that, say, Space Ghost is nowhere to be found.

It's like Warners is hedging its bets and trying to hold back as much as possible. This approach is what killed Warner Archive Instant, which turned off potential consumers with its high price and limited library. We're at the point where protecting DVD sales shouldn't be a big consideration; much of the potential material has been on video for years. At a minimum, Boomerang should add classic cartoons every single week so that its older audience (I find it hard to believe adults are signing up so their kids can watch originals like the Dorothy of Oz cartoon and the new version of Wacky Races) know stuff is always on the way. What about all those short-lived "adult" cartoons Warners controls like Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and Where's Huddles?

The service itself is OK to navigate and use. A sortable watchlist with the ability to select individual cartoons (instead of just, say, "Huckleberry Hound") to it would be a huge plus. The streaming quality is decent. There are good efforts to curate cartoon selections for events like holidays; I enjoyed having easy access to Christmas toons around the holidays, for example.

Ultimately, there just isn't the effort there to justify 4.99 a month. Filmstruck caters to the cinephile with curated collections, constant influx of new titles and even bonus material. There is no reason Boomerang can't do this except, I assume, that it wants to appeal to kids and adults. I don't think this service will be in it for the long haul, though, unless it picks a lane OR allows a Boomerang Kids and Boomerang Grownups kind of split, with the pesky bonus material (like the audio commentaries on some of the old DVDs) safely ensconced on the Grownup side where it won't confuse the kiddies.

Mostly, though, it just needs more stuff. I wouldn't care  about the inclusion of 2000s cartoon shows if there were more of the classic stuff--the material that Warner already has. Imagine having such a massive animation library and charging so much for access to so little of it.