Much of the programming that made up the core of Boomerang's lineup was originally part of TBS's Disaster Area, a block of children's programming that aired on that network from 1997 to 1999. Boomerang had originated a programming block airing on Cartoon Network that debuted on December 8, 1992. It was aimed towards the generation of baby boomers, and was similar to the Vault Disney nostalgia block that would debut five years later on the Disney Channel. It originally aired for four hours every weekend, but the block's start time had changed frequently. The Saturday block moved to Saturday afternoons, then back to the early morning, and the Sunday block moved to Sunday evenings. Eventually, Boomerang was shortened by an hour, reducing it from four hours to three each weekend. Turner Broadcasting System eventually converted Boomerang into a standalone cable channel that debuted on April 1, 2000.[2] The Cartoon Network programming block was reformatted to air cartoons in production during a certain year (The Flintstones and Top Cat for 1961, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and Scooby-Doo for 1969, et al.). The block was often simulcast with the Boomerang channel on Saturday mornings until 2004. The Boomerang channel initially carried a looping programming format that rotated each week.
Once Boomerang launched as its own channel, on-air promotions for the channel aired at the end of every program within the Cartoon Network block, in attempt to increase visibility for Boomerang. In October 2004, all of the older programming on Cartoon Network, including Looney Tunes, Baby Looney Tunes, and shows from Hanna-Barbera migrated to Boomerang. On October 2 and 3, 2004, nearly four months after the relaunch of Cartoon Network, the Boomerang programming block was replaced with the then-debuting Adult Swim. Boomerang consisted with an everyday lineup of older reruns of classic anthology series such as The Popeye Show, Tom and Jerry, The Bob Clampett Show, ToonHeads and programs formerly seen on Boomerang such as Super Globetrotters. Looney Tunes aired on Cartoon Network for the last time officially on those dates, and would not return to that network until March 14, 2011, when Cartoon Network added two hour-long blocks of Looney Tunes shorts in a run-up to the debut of The Looney Tunes Show.
Boomerang originated as a commercial-free channel, being financed solely by subscription fees and product tie-ins. In order to fill out a half-hour block (Boomerang programming follows a strict half-hour scheduling format), breaks between programs featured promotions for Cartoon Network and/or Boomerang programming (in the latter's case, most of the bumpers are several years old), occasional advertising for DVD products from Warner Home Video, various animated shorts, and eventually public service announcements for Cartoon Network's "Stop Bullying: Speak Up" initiative. Advertising time for cable and satellite providers is leased to some providers such as Dish Network, through insertion by those providers.