TVSquad

Looks like January 2nd's Adult Swim schedule blends a little of the new with a little of the old - and throws in some of the incredibly old for good measure. the 11pm to midnight block is your predictable helping of Family Guy and Futurama, though they've gone ahead and flipped the two shows again. (Why do they keep mucking with this? Do the shows get muscle cramps if they aren't allowed to move around every few months?) 12am, however, sees Home Movies enter the rotation. 12:30am gives us a dose of FLCL, a.k.a. "Fooly Cooly" ("furi kuri", for those looking for a more phonetic rendition). If you haven't seen FLCL before in its previous short-lived, 1:30am reincarnations on [as], this is the time to behold...um...well, it's fairly indescribable. Let's just say that if you thought Aqua Teen Hunger Force was whacked out, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wrapping up the schedule are s-CRY-ed, a good show that I can't get into no matter how hard I try, and Lupin the 3rd, a.k.a. Lupin Sansei, Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of the story of a goofball thief who gets by as much on luck as he does on skill.

Thanks, [as]. This nearly makes up for the 12 oz. Mouse Marathon on New Year's Eve that sent my wife and I running to watch the Law and Order: Criminal Intent marathon on USA.

I'm a raving fan of Full Metal Alchemist. Judging by a TV Japan poll that ranked it as the best  anime ever, this adoration is shared worldwide. And yet, at times, I've found myself growing frustrated at the pace of the show. The last episode on Adult Swim that I felt moved along at a pace pleasing to my Western, ADHD-addled brain was "Theory of Avarice", in which Ed (supposedly) killed Greed. Since then, we've been treated to a series of episodes dwelling on Envy's background, Scar's motivations, the fate of Greed's cohorts after the last major battle, and - most unnecessarily - Winri's realization this week that Sloth is Ed and Al's mother, resurrected as a homunculus. (Welcome to the party, Winri; Al and the rest of us had this figured out WEEKS ago.)

Last  night, Adult Swim's Friday Night Fix ran a few premiere episodes online, including the first new episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force since the parting of the Red Sea. In "Dirtfoot", Master Shake throws himself down a well - which mysteriously appears in the Aqua Teen's front yard - in order to get women to sleep with him. (It's a whole Jessica McClure thing, I guess.) Midway through the episode, it turns out that Shake's built himself an entire bachelor's alcove at the bottom, complete with hot tub, hydraulic elevator - and, oh yeah, a big dirtball with one foot and a predilection for batting for the home team.

Was it funny? On an Aqua Teen scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a...oh, screw that. Yeah, it was funny, though not the pinnacle of laughs; it wasn't "Revenge of the Mooninites", "Bus of the Undead", or "Broodwich". Aqua Teen is a lot like Monty Python: you watch it, not because every episode is hilarious, but because it's a comic delight whenever they do manage to run on all cylinders. We'll see what the rest of the season has in store; for now, it's off to a promising start.

The episode will replay this Sunday, December 4th, at 12am.

Are you addicted to the catchy theme song that opens up Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks on Adult Swim? Yeah, you know you are. The artist behind this track is a talented mofo named Asheru. And, lucky for us,  plenty of Asheru's talent - including the theme song - are available online through his MySpace profile. Check it out. And keep checking out The Boondocks on Adult Swim every Sunday; this series, thank the gods, show no signs of wearing thin.

We know you all love reading about the pregnant exploits of TV celebs such as Jennifer Garner. (Or, um, something like that.) Now, sister blog Blogging Baby is putting a new twist on the celebrity pregnancy phenomenon. For a limited time, you can nominate yourself or a pregnant friend to be a pregnancy celebrity! Blogging Baby will pick one pregnant woman from the list of candidates, and follow the final months of her nine-month journey with all the fervor that causes papparazzi to snap daily shots of Jen & Ben sipping mocha Frappucinos. This is your chance to make some lucky mama a star! (Well, a blog star, anyway. BB is still working out details surrounding the recording contract, maternity clothing line, and short-lived TV spin-off.)

Grab a scorecard, folks. Even though a character dies at the end of this show, it's still a challenge keeping track of all the competiting interests at work.

Previously, the homunculus Greed had kidnapped Al to try and pry from him the "secret of eternal life". Unbeknownst to Greed, however, military man Frank Archer has allied himself with Greed's homunculi enemies, who track down Greed's crew (along with the captured Al). The homunculi Lust and Gluttony appear to destroy Greed, but Greed's comrades insist that Greed flee while they battle. Showing a loyalty uncharacteristic of his kind, Greed initially refuses, but eventually runs. The battle doesn't end well for Greed's side: in what must be the most grisly way to die ever devised, Gluttony ends up eating his friends.

Greed flees to Dante's house, only to find Dante (apparently) dead and her assistant, Lyra, attending the house. Lyra weakens Greed by trapping him in an alchemical circle and forcing him to spit up the stones which give him his life. Greed realizes what's happening moments before Ed charges back into Dante's house, demanding that Greed return Ed's brother. Greed doesn't mention that he's already let Al go, and instead coaxes Ed into battle. But...why? We soon learn that Greed has his reasons.

The scene: a swanky party. Rich, white people are hob-nobbing, sipping from champagne flutes, and engaging in various other white-people activities...until Huey Freeman strolls up to a microphone and announces that "Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the Devil, and the government is lying to you about 9/11". After a brief silence, chaos erupts. "It can't be TRUE!!" a woman screams, as people slug one another and set themselves on fire.

Huey snaps out of his dream just in time for his granddad to smack him about. "You been dreaming about making white people riot again?" Granddad demands.

Welcome to The Boondocks, the most hilarious new show anywhere on the cable spectrum - and the show that saves Adult Swim from a season of uninspired, poorly-drawn premieres. The series is not scheduled to launch on the actual channel until tonight, but it's been airing intermittently on AS's online-only Friday Night Fix for a few weeks now. I had the pleasure of catching it this Friday. And while I know Aaron McGruder doesn't give a damn what I think, I have to say that, after enduring weeks of solipsistic crap like 12 Oz. Mouse and Squidbillies, it's so refreshing to behold a show this well executed.

Work it out on the floor! This is an oldie but a goodie: a clip from an early episode of Robot Chicken that shows Voltron and his arch-nemesis Robeast in a...dance-off? I've read from some sources that the hip-hop track that lays out the phat beats for this clip is an original number. In reality, however, it's a riff of DMX's catchy "Get It On The Floor". No matter. Watching Voltron get served and slice his opponent in twain with his lightsword puts a hee-larious new twist on all those hours I spent as a kid pretending to be the pilot of Green Lion. How do you like me now, beeyotch?!

If you're not watching the English dubs of Full Metal Alchemist Saturday nights on Adult Swim - well, you're missing one of the best shows on TV, anime or otherwise. The show follows the adventures of Edward and Alphonse Elric, two teen prodigies who excel in the art of alchemy. When their mother dies, they attempt the forbidden ritual of Human Transmutation to resurrect her, a failed bid that leave Al's soul trapped in a suit of armor and Ed with a mechanical arm and leg. The boys then set off on a quest to become state-sponsored alchemists, leveraging the state's resources to find the mysterious Philosopher's Stone - the only hope they have of undoing the damage they've done to themselves.

Adult Swim has been showing new dubbed episodes. The current plot line centers around the Homunculi, a group of "created creatures" who are brought into existence whenever an alchemist attempts a forbidden Human Transmutation. Ed and Al have recently discovered that their alchemical teacher, Izumi, attempted her own transmutation years before in a despertae attempt to bring her stillborn baby back to life. Now the result of her sin, the Homunculus Wrath, is on the loose. And worse yet? Unlike other Homunculi who can't perform alchemy, Wrath can transmute objects easily...because he possesses Ed's severed arm and leg.