Animation

One hundred and fifty episodes is an impressive achievement, but it's particularly gratifying for Seth MacFarlane's 'Family Guy.' Once canceled by FOX, and revived due to fan response to DVD sales and airings on cable, MacFarlane is now the king of FOX Sunday nights. So how did he choose to celebrate his perseverance?

'Family Guy' is known for elaborate musical numbers, innumerable cutaway gags, and sheer nonsense sequences like a giant chicken fight that lasts for minutes and minutes. Quite literally, anything was a possibility, so what a surprise that MacFarlane chose to have two of the show's most popular characters have a conversation. And that's it.

The tail end of the hour-long episode was a clip compilation of some of those musical numbers. But the bulk of the episode had Stewie and Brian, locked in a bank vault for two days, just talking to one another. No cutaways, no broad humor, though I won't say there wasn't toilet humor.

(S21E20) From the inspired 'Tik Tok' musical opening sequence to the last gag, 'To Surveil With Love' ranks as one of the best 'Simpsons' episodes in years.

I never expected the rest of the episode to live up to that killer opening, but, unbelievably, it just got better as it went along.

The bit that had me laughing the hardest: After surveillance cameras are installed in every inch of Springfield, Bart marking the town's one blind spot by dropping his pants and drawing a line every time he doesn't hear Ned gasping, "Buttocks!" "Tushie! or "Boy cheeks!" A perfectly funny bit that got even funnier when Homer asks Bart, whose pants are still down around his ankles, what he's doing. "Experimenting with my butt," says Bart. "My little Einstein," Homer says proudly as he pats Bart's head.

Whenever MAD Magazine crops up in a conversation with someone under the age of 20, their mind immediately jumps to 'MADtv.' That's when my mind blows a fuel cell and launches into a death spiral.

Back in the late '90s when the Fox sketch show hit the airwaves, my brain almost exploded at the thought of a MAD Magazine TV show. I read the magazine cover to cover and kept a stack of them in my bookcase until the covers withered away with time. I thumbed through each issue for my favorite writers and artists like Dick DeBartolo, Mort Drucker and Frank Jacobs. I didn't date much.

The final product left me very disappointed. Now, it has another chance to be something better. DC Comics has announced they are developing an animated sketch show for Cartoon Network that's centered around more than just the magazine's brand.

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?

(S21E19) Finally, a good -- maybe even great -- episode. 'The Squirt and the Whale' packed more laughs in the first few minutes' Alternative Energy Expo than the entire running time of most recent eps.

Once again, 'American Dad' flew solo this week, representing the vast Seth MacFarlane Sunday night empire on FOX. 'Sons of Tucson' will be back to finish its run throughout the summer. The geniuses at FOX then decided that next week, 'Family Guy' and 'The Cleveland Show' will be all new, while 'Dad's' a rerun. This is the kind of brilliant planning that had 'Sons' premiering after a night of almost all repeats.

We all know about the Green movement that has pushed its way into every facet of our lives. And though its been around for a few years, some folks believe this thinking of greener living, which equals the lack of oceanfront property in the middle of Iowa, is a brand new concept. This couldn't be further from the truth!

The fact is, there have been surges of environmentally-conscious thought in every decade since Earth Day was conceived back in 1970. The biggest surge came in the early '70s when Woodsy Owl told us to "Give a hoot -- don't pollute' and a crying Native American lamented over the trash thrown out of moving cars. This thinking even permeated the safe haven of Saturday morning cartoons during this time, thanks in no part to a bunch of washed-up Hanna-Barbera characters in a flying, wooden ark.

Good news for those of you hanging out after 'South Park' to watch 'Ugly Americans': Comedy Central has decided to pick up some more episodes of the animated, horror-comedy.

But before you go apoplectic with excitement, the network has ordered just seven additional installments. However, with the amount of time it takes for some animated shows to be produced, and the fact that this is cable, that's almost like a full-season order.

The show, which is a pseudo-workplace comedy about a social worker who helps humans, vampires and demons (among other unusual creatures) integrate into the normal world, has been fairly steady at about 2 million viewers. With 'South Park' garnering an average of million viewers (ages 18-49), 'Ugly Americans' is holding around half the audience. With the continued success of 'South Park' and new episodes of 'Futurama' on the horizon, 'Ugly Americans' looks to be in good animated company.

The new episodes will begin airing on Comedy Central in October.

Can you imagine 'American Dad' without Roger? It just wouldn't work at all. Episodes with Roger in a pivotal role are generally at least twice as funny as those without him, which is probably why we're seeing more and more of him. That said, this week Klaus actually got himself pulled into a pretty solid B-story, which is a rarity.

(S21E18) Homer Simpson and Clancy Wiggum becoming BFFs should have been comedy gold; instead, this episode of 'The Simpsons' was a colossal bore. It seems like everything hilarious you can do with the Springfield police -- high-speed car chases, putting squirrels down your pants for the purpose of gambling -- has already been done. They never even go out for donuts!

In TV, there are two distinct worlds: our world and the cartoon world. So far, we've gotten along pretty well because, for the most part, cartoons have kept their animated butts in their world.

We don't allow it to happen very often because when cartoons try to invade the real world on those rare occasions, the transference is nightmarish. Their distorted animated features and expressions can make 'Eraserhead' look like an Olson Twins movie.

Here are five of the creepiest looking and sounding real life cartoon crossovers that will have you bleaching your brain with the magic of Clorox 2.

I don't know if you've heard. But, apparently, the bird is the word.

'Family Guy' snuck in a nice callback to the season seven episode, 'I Dream of Jesus,' when Peter burst out with "Surfin' Bird." We got just a taste of Peter's classic dance and performance, but it was enough to bring back the laughs from that excellent episode.

Luckily, the night didn't need to rest on its past glories, as Seth MacFarlane returned to Sunday night dominance. With the failure of 'Sons of Tucson,' FOX dusted off 'American Dad' and brought the series back early to pinch-hit with new episodes. While 'Family Guy' didn't bring us the promised crossover event -- that was apparently an April Fool's joke on us -- they did play the cruelest joke you could imagine on their cast: they told them all they were going to die.

(S21E17) A pleasant enough episode of 'The Simpsons' made better by the presence of C. Montgomery Burns. Even Smithers upped his game, bringing the funny this week. The usual set-up of nonsense events leading to the real point of the episode involved the factory workers putting on a stage production for Mr. Burns' amusement at his mansion, followed by the boys getting drunk in his wine cellar and wrecking his art gallery.

What followed was an unexpected trip to jail, and a completely random side story involving Lisa, Bart and an ant farm. Oh, and lest we forget, Santa's Little Helper had a huge role to play in this particular bonding experience.

Bringing in fresh voices from time to time on a veteran series can really energize things. That's what happened this week, as Seth MacFarlane's former writing assistant, Spencer Porter, stepped up to the big leagues and scripted one of the most unique episodes of 'Family Guy' in a very long time. In fact, in thinking about it now, I'm not even sure if there were any of the show's trademark cutaways.

Instead, we got tons and tons of surreal adventure right there in the main script. Stewie found Brian's script in order to set up Brian's adventure, and then spent the rest of the episode with a massive head wound. Considering Stewie's popularity, it was a brave move to remove him from the episode for so long.

(S21E16) It's always tricky to try and mix comedy with Jerusalem. Unless you're willing to throw caution to the wind and risk offending various religious groups and individuals, you almost always wind up with something that's bland and lame. For 'The Simpsons,' cutting edge and risque seems to be a thing long in their past, and the latter product is what we got.

Everything from Sacha Baron Cohen's aggressive tour guide to the jokes and the storyline in general didn't work this week. I'm not sure if it's because the writer, Kevin Curran, was trying too hard not to offend Muslims, Jews or Christians, but he wound up wringing every bit of humor out of the episode.

Normally, at least one or two jokes can hit, even in a bad episode of 'The Simpsons,' but this one actually got painful to continue sitting through.