By Stacey Harrison

There’s a thin line between being a responsible recycler of resources, and just being a bum. Thanks to a new houseguest, the Goode family gets to see that line crossed like never before.

In order to spice up their annual eco-friendly block party — and to show up that busybody Margo — the Goodes take in famed “freegan” Heinrich. Freegans are people who live entirely off the disposed products of others. They eat or wear nothing that someone else hasn’t thrown out. [Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by sharrison76
No Comments »

By Stacey Harrison

Through a handful of episodes, The Goode Family has already shown us some insufferable characters — the pretentious young filmmaker who champions anarchy while stocking shelves at a grocery store; the animal-rights activists whose methods include bullying and intimidation; the nosy gadfly who schemes her way into the good graces of the local liberal elite — but it may have found a new low with Jen and Sookie, the ultra-chic Manhattan lesbian couple who take up residence in Greenville.

You learn everything you need to know about them by the jar of water on their mantle. It’s from Hurricane Katrina, which is supposed to show how in touch they are with the suffering of humanity. That they can appreciate such a simple statement is good enough for them, in lieu of actually doing anything to help anybody. They surround themselves with like-minded snobs who throw parties, host game nights and treat an opening on the local arts council like it’s the Holy Grail. Needless to say, Helen loves them. Becoming their friends, and thus being a part of the hip arts scene quickly turns into her life focus, so much so that she fails to take the bait when Bliss brings home a beer-swilling, mullet-wearing buffoon who likes to go dynamite fishing in order to tick her off. [Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by sharrison76
No Comments »

By Stacey Harrison

First off, I’m not a fan of the new Friday night time slot. While ABC paid lip service to the idea that it doesn’t mean the show is on its way out — that oh no, they’re in the midst of packaging this and other low-rated shows like Surviving Suburbia into a new TGIF bloc — the writing seems to be on the wall. Which is a shame, because The Goode Family seems to be hitting its stride.

All the big targets the show tries to hit — white guilt, snobbery among the do-gooders and political correctness overtaking common sense — are nailed dead center in the latest episode, which is a perfect illustration of that old saying about where a road paved with good intentions leads you. [Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by sharrison76
1 Comment »

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s brilliant animated comedy Futurama is having a Family Guy-type resurrection as it will be returning to production on 26 new half-hour episodes more than six years after its last original episode aired on FOX. The episodes will be running on Comedy Central beginning in mid-2010, with a broadcast run also possible. Comedy Central has been airing reruns of the series since 2006, along with the Futurama movies made since its cancellation. It has been the movies’ blockbuster performance on DVD and Comedy Central that helped revive interest in bringing back the series.

“We’re thrilled Futurama is coming back,” says Groening. “We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000.”

Cohen adds, “We’re excited and amazed that the show is coming back, perhaps due to some sort of mysterious time loop.”

“When we brought back Family Guy several years ago,” comments 20th Century Fox TV chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden, “everyone said that it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived. But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back.”

Tags: Animation, Comedy, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
No Comments »

by Karl J. Paloucek

Fans of Nickelodeon’s animated series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius have something to look forward to, and fans of Nickelodeon’s animated series in general have a lot to look forward to with five new animated series on the horizon.

Among the highlighted pickups are Jimmy Neutron spin-off Planet Sheen, detailing the space-age stories of Sheen Guevera Estevez, Neutron’s resident ADD case, who steals off in a rocket and finds himself on Zeenu, a world of limited intelligence and technology. While Sheen navigates the peculiar planet with its odd customs and inhabitants — including an emperor who finds him fascinating and a two-headed villainous princess with a crush on him — he just wants to find his way back home. Joined in the pursuit by a NASA-trained talking chimp, Nesmith, will Sheen and his pal ever make it back? (Our guess would be no — unless the series does well enough to plan its own demise years down the line.) Voice talent for the series includes Jeff Garcia and Rob Paulsen from Neutron, Soleil Moon Frye and others.

Also on tap is T.U.F.F. Puppy, about Dudley Puppy, the defender of [Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy, Family by kpaloucek
No Comments »

by Sarah

The season finale didn’t disappoint — hooray!

The guys are at the Clam waiting for Cleveland to arrive and claim his beer, which is just sitting there looking lonelier than Alan Rickman’s answering machine (“Hello, Alan Rickman, this is Alan Rickman reminding you to move the pork chops from the freezer to the fridge so they defrost properly. Do not disappoint me. Remember that turtle joke for the party tomorrow. Ha ha.”). When Cleveland finally gets there, he brings his new friend, Madame Claude — a psychic! She tells everyone who they were in a past life: Joe was an octopus who got all his legs torn off by a shark, Quagmire was Jack the Ripper, and while Peter believes he was a strawberry, it turns out that he was Griffin Peterson, the true founder of Quahog.

[Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by knockturn
1 Comment »

The creators of the latest Batman series said they were going to mine the depths of the DC Comics vault and trot out odd characters that haven’t seen the light of day for many years. They’ve stayed true to their word, having dusted off the likes of Gentleman Ghost, Blue Beetle, Kite Man, The Demon and several others. Tonight it’s Crazy Quilt, who has plotted vengeance against Robin.

Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) guest stars as Crazy Quilt, who has quite a (ahem) colorful history. His anger toward Robin apparently stems from the Boy Wonder having robbed him of his sight. Sure, Crazy Quilt has taken his place in the pantheon of dubious Batman villains, but this show revels in reclaiming lost characters and giving them new life.

Check out the vibrantly hued battle in “The Color of Revenge” in next week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold airing Fridays at 8:30pm on Cartoon Network.

Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics

Tags: Animation, TV News & Program Updates by sharrison76
No Comments »

by Sarah

Peter, seated comfortably in front of the fireplace in a library, announces that this episode will be a retelling of three stories by the greatest author of the last 1,000 years: Stephen King.

[Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by knockturn
2 Comments »

Gillian’s getting married, and all the Griffins except Brian are invited, and she wants Peter to give her away. Despite Brian’s insistence that he’s over Gillian, he’s still hurt by being left out, and Stewie suggests that he and Brian have dinner with Gillian and her fiancé. Turns out Derek speaks French (and orange! Mandarin. Mandolin.) and is something like Superman and Mr. Miyagi in one. Worse, Brian follows him to the bathroom and finds that he has no apparent shortcomings at all. Distraught, he gets wrecked at a bar and ends up in bed with Lauren Conrad of MTV’s The Hills.

[Read more →]

Tags: Animation, Comedy by knockturn
No Comments »

by Karl J. Paloucek

Whether you’re still feeling blown away by the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies, worried about the mounting U.S. debt to China or just like the idea of cute, little characters teaching your child Mandarin, you’ll be happy to know that Nick Jr.’s Ni Hao, Kai-lan is back for Season 2 starting May 11.

This season presents new challenges and goals for Kai-lan and her audience. Season 2 brings 20 new half-hour episodes that not only deal with building a basic Mandarin vocabulary, but also engage preschoolers’ increasingly complex emotional issues. In the first week alone, in addition to acclimating to the Mandarin expressions for various concepts like “arm,” “jump” and “mooncake” (makes you want to know, doesn’t it?), the show puts Kai-lan and her friends in situations that require them to learn about the importance of pitching in, forgiving when you’ve been wronged, and how to use humor to alleviate feelings of disappointment.

That’s not too bad for a bunch of little animated pals, is it?

________

Photo:

Credit: Nick Jr.

Tags: Animation, Family by kpaloucek
No Comments »