Adult Swim

There has been a lot of hoopla made recently over 'South Park's' 200th episode. With that going on, everybody forgot was that another animation sensation is approaching its 100th episode. Insomniacs will be able to catch it at the stroke of midnight this coming Sunday night, May 2nd. I refer to 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' on Adult Swim.

While it's unlikely Muhammad will be making an appearance (although not outside the realm of possibility given the surreal nature of the show), one has to wonder how the creators will celebrate this landmark occasion, particularly when the show has been on the verge of cancellation at least twice (with two "final" episodes aired: 'The Last One' and the live action 'Last Last One Forever and Ever').

A rather awesome video press release was created by Adult Swim for the occasion. It's available after the jump. What would you like to see in 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force's' 100th episode?

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern). All shows mentioned are new, unless otherwise noted.

7:00 to 8:00
ABC: 'America's Funniest Home Videos'
CBS: '60 Minutes' -- Interview with John Gotti Jr.
FOX: 'Til Death'
NBC: 'Dateline NBC'
Animal Planet: 'Wild Kingdom'

8:00 to 9:00
ABC: 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'
CBS: 'Amazing Race'
FOX: 'The Simpsons' and 'The Cleveland Show'
Discovery: 'Life'
Disney: 'Sonny With a Chance' and 'Good Luck Charlie'
Food Network: 'Food Network Challenge'
Nick: 'Victorious'
Style: 'Ruby'

9:00 to 10:00
ABC: 'Brothers & Sisters' -- Two-hour edition
CBS: 'Undercover Boss'
FOX: 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad'
NBC: 'The Celebrity Apprentice'
A&E: 'Gene Simmons Family Jewels' -- 9:30 start time
Discovery: 'Life'
Food Network: 'Ultimate Recipe Showdown'
HBO: 'The Pacific'
Showtime: 'The Tudors' -- Season premiere
Style: 'Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane'

10:00 to 11:00
CBS: 'Cold Case'
A&E: 'Kristie Alley's Big Life'
AMC: 'Breaking Bad'
Discovery: 'The Deadliest Catch: Best of Season 5'
Food Network: 'Iron Chef America'
HBO: 'Treme' -- Series premiere
History: 'Ax Men'
Lifetime: 'Army Wives' -- Season premiere
Style: 'Jerseylicious'
TLC: 'Hoarding: Buried Alive'

11:00 and beyond
Cartoon Network (Adult Swim): 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' at midnight and 'Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job' at 12:30

The late night underground cavalcade of evil teddy bears and talking inanimate objects with a predisposition towards drug, substance and sexual addiction is moving deeper into prime time.

Cartoon Network will extend their crazy popular Adult Swim block into 9 p.m. Eastern time starting next year, January 2011.

Turner Animation president Stu Snyder said the decision to expand the block is "100 percent a reflection on the success of Adult Swim as a brand."

[via Pop Candy]

Robot Chicken is its own bizarre, wonderful little world, usually coming to you 15 minutes at a time on Adult Swim. It always seemed to me a show that probably only worked in small doses, but Robot Chicken: Season Four on DVD was consistently funny over two discs of near-continuous watching (and the extras are at least as entertaining). Here are my thoughts in a short video.

Venture Brothers, the funniest and best written show that -- inexplicably -- nobody watches, is getting its own line of toys and collectibles.

The appropriately named Bif Bang Pow!, a collectibles manufacturer, announced today a deal with Cartoon Network to make a new line of toys based on the Adult Swim animated comedy. Fans can look for a collection of action figures, bobble heads, vehicle models and other goodies.

This is a great sign for a show that deserves a lot more attention than it gets. As well-written as The Simpsons or South Park, Venture Brothers shows off spot-on parody and multi-layered jokes in every episode.

If you're not excited now, you never will be. The Entertainment Earth blog has announced that a company called BifBangPow will be making action figures and bobbleheads of the characters on Adult Swim's The Venture Bros.

Frankly, it's overdue. Action figures are usually reserved for kid's or cult movies and television shows, and Team Venture is definitely the later. In fact, other than the DVDs and a set of exclusive mail-order t-shirts, there really hasn't been that much supplementary merchandise for the show (and the midnight timeslot of the latest season doesn't help promotional matters).

One popular rumor regarding the merchandising delay is negotiations between Adult Swim and Doc Hammer, Jackson Publick and company over who gets what share of the loot. One can only hope that, if true, that issue has been resolved.

Admit it, you'll only be buying the figures in order to sleep with your very own Doctor Girlfriend. Or maybe that's just me.

So you're out buying the last of your gifts on Christmas Eve, and you've just about had it. Before you pull up to the counter one last time, there's something you need for your ride home. Aqua Teen Hunger Force's Christmas album, Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas.

Yes, it is silly, downright juvenile, and even a tad obscene in places. But as holiday stress relief goes, it's hard to top "I Sure Hope I Don't Have to Beat Your Ass This Christmas," with an ungrateful Master Shake threatening poor little Meatwad (the live version of the song is above). Or Meatwad's duet with alt.country siren Neko Case on "Santa Left a Booger in My Stocking." Or Meatwad singing "Feliz Navi-wad." (If you're not a Meatwad fan, don't pick this up, he's featured on almost every track).

(S04E08) My heart is all aflutter. Talk about ending on a high note (Venture Bros. will return to finish the season in a few months, Lost-style). Just like "The Better Man," this Doc Hammer-penned episode was the perfect balance of great story and VB's signature comedy. There were so many great moments, quotable lines, and much-missed familiar faces, this quickly turned into one of my favorite episodes from any season, right up there with "Escape to the House of Mummies, Part II" and "Twenty Years to Midnight."

(S07E01) "Larger point: listeners ain't gonna know until they've already paid for the album!" - Shake

Those words, spoken by Master Shake, while recording his Christmas album with Meatwad, were intended to be a jab at consumers -- our Christmas album sucks but you won't figure that out until we have your money. On the contrary, the album (aptly titled "Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas") is an absolute goldmine of comical music hits for fans of the show.

However, last night's companion episode was anything but that. Paling in comparison to classic ATHF X-mas fare (like "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past From the Future"), "A PE Christmas" could have truly captilized on the idea of Shake making Christmas music, but instead never took the idea far enough.

Adult Swim has been pretty mum on what to expect in this Sunday night's Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas special (it airs at 11:45 p.m. ET) but most speculation has suggested that it will have something to do with the recently released Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas album. Looks like that's the case based on the below video clip -- Master Shake and Meatwad are in the recording studio, trying their best to spice up a not-so-familiar holiday classic.

While the episode (it's entitled "A PE Christmas") kicks off the series' seventh season, we won't get any more new episodes until the beginning of February 2010. So take it all in while you can -- it's not everyday that you get to hear about Jesus, Krypton, The Wrath of Khan, and Ricardo Montalbán all in the same Christmas carol.



[via Aqua Teen Central]

Yes, you read that right. Someone took the time to sit down and penetrate the delightful, twisted mind of actor/writer James Urbaniak from The Venture Brothers... in a bathtub.

It was part of comedian Sara Benincasa's web chat series "Gettin' Wet" in which noted humorists and comedians sit down to have a probing and in-depth discussion of their pathos and the process of artistic achievement and creation... in a tub. If you haven't figured out yet that this actually takes place in a literal bathtub filled with soapy water, then no one can really help at this point.

(S04E07) Wow. And wow again. Not only did we actually get closure on a few issues that had the potential to drag on forever (Archie and Betty/Veronica style), but we got one the best episodes of the season. I carefully considered whether my love for the Order of the Triad was making me a bit biased, but I honestly think this episode was a perfect example of advancing characters without sacrificing the comedy that made us fall in love with The Venture Bros. in the first place.

Also, they introduced the hottest VB lady yet, and I dare anyone to try and convince me otherwise.

It's the holiday season at Adult Swim, and its bizarre collection of Christmas specials mark the celebration starting tonight.

According to a network release, Robot Chicken gets the jingle bell rolling Dec. 6 at 11:45 p.m. ET/PT with Episode 71, "Dear Consumer." The show tunes in as "Thor celebrates Christmas in Asgard, and Santa adds 'Walter PPK' to the bad boy list.

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Christmas Special premieres Sunday, Dec. 13 at 11:45 p.m. ET/PT -- sending The Aqua Teens out to record and release their own Christmas album -- after they steal someone's identity.

Another year, another Thanksgiving, and another Fall TV season with plenty of reasons to be thankful. Here's what's winning me over this holiday season...

FX's Sons of Anarchy -- Talk about a complete 180°. This show went from near the bottom of my list last season to one of the most superb dramas on TV right now. Midway through last year's up and down freshman season, I argued that that show had more to offer at a second glance, but for the most part, Kurt Sutter and his team were still finding their footing. Well, they found their footing and then some this year. Season two has been expertly plotted and executed this season and this past week's penultimate episode put the pieces in motion for a season finale that no TV fan should plan on missing.

This is the age of personalized entertainment on demand. It's also the age of talking wads of meat and animated fart jokes. Finally, all of that can now come together on your home DVD player.

Adult Swim fans can now go online and create a disc full of their favorite episodes from the channel's top shows with the Build Your Custom DVD tool.

For $20, you get 110 minutes worth of space to build a DVD. You can choose any of the available episodes from such series as Venture Brothers (right), Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021. After arranging them in your preferred order, you give your DVD a name, description and cover art before paying for it and burning your unique creation.