The Rankin/Bass Christmas special with the dentist elf and random misfit toys grabbed an impressive 10.7 million viewers.
That's pretty good for a 45 year-old animated special that we've all seen 97 times (and probably own on DVD), no? There's something amazingly comforting about that: the same Christmas specials (Rudolph, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, etc) are pulled out every single year and we still watch them. It's the sort of television comfort food that we can't resist.
This looks like something a fan made up on the web but it was actually created by CBS. It's to promote the upcoming airings of Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns, as well as How I Met Your Mother. Is there anything Neil Patrick Harris isn't in these days?
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Popularly licensed and profitable is he!"
That's not how the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song goes, but the statement is factually correct. The Nickelodeon yellow legend is still immensely popular across various age ranges. And that gives you some easy gift ideas for kids in and around your family.
Rather than merely give the kid in question a stuffed sponge for the holidays, you can dig a little deeper and offer up a couple Spongebob board games from Hasbro for less than $25 each.
Is it too early to name Archer as one of my favorite shows of 2010? It's hard to judge sometimes how good an animated show is going to be, but if Jonathan's review of the pilot and the video clips below for Archer are any indication, it's going to be all kinds of awesome. I like spy shows and movies anyway, and this animated, modern take looks really funny. It debuts on FX on January 14 at 10 p.m.
This is an amusing clip from Sunday's episode of Family Guy. It's one of those pop culture flashbacks that the show does and has Chris Matthews and his giant head, talking over and interrupting his guest just like he does in real life. Special bonus: an appearance by someone from That 70s Show!
[Watch clips and episodes of Family Guy and other shows at SlashControl.]
I have to admit I haven't seen any of Total Drama Action. It's a show I often include in my What's On Tonight picks, but I just haven't caught up with it yet. From this recap/preview below, it looks like fun, sort of a weird Cartoon Network version of Survivor, with a few other reality shows mixed in too. The season finale airs this Thursday at 9PM.
From the creator of Home Movies comes a new animated show on Fox. Bob's Burgers will be about a guy (Bob) who runs a burger grill at an East Coast seaside town with his "tightly wound wife and three unhelpful kids".
Fox is obviously returning to form with another animated family comedy, as if their entire Sunday night line-up weren't enough. I yearn for animated shows that dare to be a little different like South Park, Futurama and The Venture Bros.
However, the show involves hamburgers and as a hamburger fan I may give it a shot. It is a bit of a concern that Fox is overdoing it with the animated shows. Perhaps Cartoon Network and Fox should just switch names and be done with it.
Also, based on the photo doesn't the main character look a little like Luigi from the Mario Brothers? Will he have a thick Italian accent as well?
(S21E07) Poor Wiccans, they're so misunderstood. And the three girls representing them weren't really representing Wicca so much as they were representing wayward teens looking for something to latch onto. That, and they probably think their own perceptions of Wicca make it out to be pretty "kewl."
Struggling for something to latch onto in a world that doesn't seem to understand you not only describes virtually every teenager in existence, but Lisa Simpson as well. A sweet intellect in a family of average to well-below-average intellects, Lisa has never fit in at home or at school. So, as long as she can be fairly certain that there's no actual witchcraft going on -- because that would be too scary -- she's in.
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.
No Generation X'er can forget the monochrome colors and compromising frame rate of 1970s Hanna-Barbera animation. Take that unmistakable style and some autumnal inking, and you've got The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't.
Boomerang is reaching into the Hanna-Barbera archives to bring back this all-but-forgotten TV special from the 1970s. You can catch it at 10 a.m. and at 7 p.m. (ET).
According to a network release, The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't "chronicles one dangerously fateful day for Johnny Cooke, a young Pilgrim, and Little Bear, an Indian boy, who are discovered missing. The first Thanksgiving feast cannot start without them, and when their friend Jeremy Squirrel hears they are in peril he goes on a daring rescue mission."
Last night we had comedy done the wrong way (The Cleveland Show) and comedy done the right way on Family Guy. It also showed that Quagmire has some sense and a heart, as he unleashed a very effective rant on Brian (he doesn't like Brian and that view was only worsened earlier in the ep when Brian insulted Quagmire's sister). Here's the scene in its entirety.
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.
The "All Seth, All the Time" block of animation on FOX is getting stronger every week. I think this may have been the most wholly satisfying episode of The Cleveland Show we've had yet. The show finally knows what it is, the characters are settled in and established, and it even knows where it's going to derive its humor.
There's a sweetness to The Cleveland Show that is more reminiscent of King of the Hill than either of MacFarlane's established shows, and I'm glad to see it. My biggest fear was that Cleveland's star vehicle would be nothing more than Family Guy-lite, but after a very rough start, I'm able to see and appreciate it for what it is.
Family Guy may have found their replacement for Cleveland in this week's episode. I hope the boys do find a new "fourth," and I don't think I'd mind if it's the guy they find themselves hanging out with this week. On American Dad, Stan discovers rock music, and he'll do anything to hang out with his new favorite band: My Morning Jacket.
(S04E06) This episode was a rare star-studded treat for Venture Bros. Really honing in on the idea of adult aftermath in the lives of boy adventurer types, Jackson Publick introduced a robot boy, boy detective brothers (Seth Green and John Hodgman), former Wonder Boy (Patton Oswalt) and the return of Action Johnny (Brendon Small). Never before have so many guest voices (okay, four) been crammed into an installment, bringing the entire audience to an immediate nerdgasm.
It's episodes like this that make me think the Parents Television Council has a point.*
I watchedThe Cleveland Show last night, and since it's from the same people who bring us Family Guy and American Dad, I know it's supposed to be edgy and daring and a very adult cartoon. But jeez, does it have to go this far? The plot had to do with Cleveland's dad falling for an older woman who came for Thanksgiving whom he later found out was a guy. Not only did we have to endure endless farting by the woman, Cleveland's dad had sex with the her (not knowing it was a guy) and we had endless jokes about fisting and oral sex. Oh, and let's not forget the three minutes of vomiting that Cleveland and his dad did.
This is the kind of TV ratings news that warms my heart: last night's airing of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer on CBS was the most-watched show of the entire night on any of the other networks, including Christmas in Rockefeller Center, So You Think You Can Dance, The Middle, The Grammy Nominations Concert, and Glee.
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Popularly licensed and profitable is he!"
From the creator of Home Movies comes 
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...
No Generation X'er can forget the monochrome colors and compromising frame rate of 1970s Hanna-Barbera animation. Take that unmistakable style and some autumnal inking, and you've got The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't.
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.
The "All Seth, All the Time" block of animation on FOX is getting stronger every week. I think this may have been the most wholly satisfying episode of The Cleveland Show we've had yet. The show finally knows what it is, the characters are settled in and established, and it even knows where it's going to derive its humor.
It's episodes like this that make me think the Parents Television Council has a point.*
Have any questions for Rich Sommer of Mad Men? Ask them here!
Syfy's Alice -- An early look
The TV Squad Podcast: Surprising shows, decade-end lists, and the Commenter of the Week!
