Blame Canada

WARNING: Contains spoilers. It’s a time-honored tradition among animated comedies to rip on Canada, so it’s no surprise South Park put the entire country on strike in last Wednesday’s episode to poke fun at the WGA labour (yes, labour) mess. When the South Park boys found out Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel (who’s Canadian) was replaced by Jim […]

It’s King of this Hill

While the other animated comedies have been hit-or-miss this season (quite often on the miss side), there is one under-the-radar show that has been consistent. Fox’s King of the Hill is coming back for its thirteenth season with thirteen episodes. All the show’s principals are returning, including creator Mike Judge. Hill doesn’t garner the same type of attention The Simpsons, […]

Viewers flock to cable premieres

Bravo’s new season of Top Chef – shot on location here in Chicago – was a big hit with viewers. Airing Wednesday night at 9 p.m., the season premiere of the cooking contest nabbed 2.2 million viewers – up 11 percent from last season. However, Top Chef was topped by the season premiere of South Park and the series premiere […]

Let’s go to Cleveland

Remember when Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane was upset with Fox for airing those episodes of Family Guy that were not approved by him during the recent writer’s strike? Well, I guess all is forgiven… Fox is talks with McFarlane about a possible spin-off of Family Guy featuring Cleveland Brown, the lone African-American character on the show. If you watch […]

"Clone Wars" to TNT, Cartoon Network

George Lucas’ new animated Star Wars series Star Wars: The Clone Wars will premiere this fall on Turner’s Cartoon Network and on TNT, with a 3-D motion picture (also titled Star Wars: The Clone Wars) scheduled to hit theaters on August 15. The program and movie is being distributed and produced by Warner Bros.– not News Corp’s Twentieth Television, which […]

Allan Melvin, R.I.P.

The man who provided many voices for numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons and acted on TV series such as The Brady Bunch, The Phil Silvers Show, and Archie Bunker’s Place has passed. Kansas City, Mo. native Allan Melvin died of cancer Thursday in his Los Angeles home. He was 84. Melvin was best known for the role of Sam the Butcher on […]

Adult Swim news

The Aqua Teens are back: A movie and a Boston bomb scare later, the trio is back with more wild irrelevant adventures. Aqua Teen Hunger Force returns to Adult Swim to begin its sixth season on January 20. The last new episode aired on December 20, 2006 (not on March 25, 2007 as the linked article states). While Aqua Teen […]

Score big with Bender

He’s not Devin Hester (that’s for sure), but his return is a touchdown for long-suffering Futurama fans. Futurama is back with the equivalent of four all-new episodes in stores today on DVD titled Bender’s Big Score. Taking the same tack Family Guy used to thank its fans for helping bring back the show to network television two years ago (in […]

Take that, Stewie!

Yes, it’s true – Eric Cartman introduced the Colorado Buffaloes during a college football game airing on ABC this weekend (pretty funny stuff.) Next thing you know, Bart Simpson will introduce the Chicago Bears on next week’s Fox telecast against the New York Giants (I would have said Homer, but he would just mess up the names… D’Oh!)

Fox rocks on Sunday

Its’ hot Sunday night lineup trumped the American Music Awards on ABC and the New England Patriots-whatever team lost to them on NBC (however, the AMAs scored its highest ratings in three years, no doubt owing its success to female viewers, who are the biggest mainstream music fans.) Fox’s Sunday night lineup in up 23 percent in adults 18-49 from […]

Partying like it’s 1998

It’s been a great year for animated prime-time shows – The Simpsons were a success at the box office and continues to be so on TV in its 19th season; Family Guy continues to roll on thanks to its new found success in syndication; Adult Swim continues to be a strong draw among young males; and even shows like Drawn […]

Fox to proceed without McFarlane for new "Family Guy" episodes

Get your jet skis ready, because there’s gonna be a show. Fox is apparently proceeding with the production of new Family Guy episodes, without the input of creator Seth MacFarlane, who is on strike with the rest of the Writer’s Guild, and has refused to work on the series. The first of those “strike affected” episodes will air, starting this […]

The Great Pumpkin Rocks

ABC’s seventh airing of former CBS classic It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown rocked the ratings last night, notching a second-place 7.2 household rating and a first-place 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, which is up 46 percent from last year’s airing, which landed on a Friday, and posted significant ratings improvement over the sagging time period averages of Cavemen and Carpoolers. […]

CW out of kids’ business

The CW is discontinuing Kids’ WB and handing over the time over to 4KidsTV. The futures of many Kids WB shows (Tom & Jerry Tales, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue, etc.) are up in the air.