[3] Recurring segments new to the revival include Starbox and Cindy, which follows a miniature alien who is part of a fleet who want to destroy the Earth that ends up in the hands of a young girl, The Incredible Gnome in People's Mouths, centered on the titular gnome who ventures into different people's mouths to speak for them, Math-terpiece Theater, which involves dramatized math lessons taught by Dot, and Everyday Safety, a parody of 1980's safety videos featuring the Warner siblings.

[8][15] Both Wild and Swarr stated that Spielberg wanted the revival to feature more political satire, and they found a middle ground between that and being a children's show.

[13] The revival primarily features the returns of Yakko, Wakko and Dot, Dr. Scratchansniff, Ralph the Guard and Pinky and the Brain, with many of the numerous other supporting characters from the original show not included in their own segments, instead having their roles largely reduced to non-speaking cameos; in the case of Hello Nurse, this has been one of the first characters that the staff knew they could not bring back due to the changing sensibilities between the 1990s and 2020, according to Wild.

[16] Similarly, Thaddeus Plotz was confirmed to have departed Warner Bros. with a new Latina-American CEO named Nora Rita Norita in charge.

For the rest of the extensive supporting cast from the original series (including characters such as Slappy Squirrel and Buttons and Mindy), though there were plans for them to return in their corresponding segments in early stages of development, they were discarded because, as in a similar manner to Hello Nurse and Thaddeus Plotz, they wanted to update the reboot with a new set of characters that were far more relevant; for example, in the case of the Goodfeathers, Wild felt that a parody of Goodfellas would be "so dated", thus giving them the opportunity to make spoofs of modern films, also due to the fact that in his opinion, some jokes will not be suitable for these segments; aside from making cameos throughout the revival, there has not been a word yet if these characters will return in the future.

[17] Similarly, Dot was presented to be more reliant on her wits than being cute, an aspect Wild also believed would resonate better with current attitudes.

[14] Similar to the DuckTales reboot, they also considered careful nods to other cartoon characters from related series or past Looney Tunes, but without losing the show's focus on the Warners or Pinky and the Brain.

[25] The music was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Bernsteins coordinating with each musician individually from separate locations to assemble the final pieces.

In reviewing those, they found that the episodes produced by TMS Entertainment were generally considered the best and Swarr described their work as "The construction is so good; they have so much control.

[27] They crafted a set of rules alongside the models for the revised characters that they then used when they sent the show off to be animated by seven different studios: Yowza!

[15] In additional to the character model updates, they wanted the background art to feel like paintings but avoiding some of the stylings of the 90s, like exaggerated curved features.

[34] On October 10, 2021, a second season teaser was shown at the 2021 New York Comic Con, satirizing Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s, specifically ThunderCats, Transformers, and G.I.

It began with a four-episode marathon on the evening of November 20, 2020, before easing into a permanent time slot of Saturday mornings the following day.

[45][better source needed] The first season was officially released on DVD on June 1, 2021, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment through Studio Distribution Services.

[46] In April 2021, the first season of Animaniacs was released on iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and the Microsoft Store.

[51][52] The first season of the show received positive reviews from critics who praised the voice acting, musical score and animation.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Charming and chaotic, if slightly too caustic, Animaniacs is a delightful revitalization of a beloved series that's fun enough to make up for any early fumbles.

[56] Variety's Caroline Framke said that the series focused too much on trying to lampoon current and political events, a measure exacerbated by the fact that the forward-looking writing approach was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of simply parodying the entertainment industry in general, and left the show "more of a sour aftertaste that keeps it from being as effervescent as it once was, and could be.

Club's Danette Chavez gave the first season a C+, stating that "when Animaniacs remembers to have fun, it makes for lively, occasionally impressive, viewing" but felt that the balance between satire and silliness was off, with many of the parodies that targeted modern issues lacking subtlety.

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's misadventures are still a hoot, and the Pinky and the Brain segments help add just enough variety to keep each episode humming along.

[64] Tom Ruegger, the creator of the original series who was not brought back for the reboot, was also disappointed with the final product, stating in an interview with Rolling Stone that he found it "morally, ethically and professionally wrong", while at the same time, criticizing certain aspects of the reboot, most notably Warner Bros. not bringing back the original team and the absence of the other characters, stating about the former that the revival should not have used the title of Animaniacs, as he explains that it was an umbrella title for all of the characters, not only the Warners and Pinky and the Brain.

[66] According to Paulsen, the series had been animated before the legal battle among Depp, Heard, and The Sun had begun, and that the reference was only poking fun at the nursery rhyme.