TVSquad

Truly, Hollywood is out of ideas and everything old is new again: The cartoon The Pink Panther will be getting a new show on the Cartoon Network for a 26-episode run.

Of course, this generation has to add their own little spin on the character so he's going to be a little younger (more like a teenager) and hilarity will ensue. Classic characters such as Ant and Aardvark will appear. Perhaps this time they could get the actual Jackie Mason to do the voice of Aardvark rather than having John Byner do an impression of him. He needs the work.

I am trying to withhold judgment on this new cartoon. Having seen this before, I am automatically cynical of any attempts to revive a fond franchise of my youth. It's likely my opinion is not impartial. However, simply hearing that they have to make the main character a teenager in this new version automatically fills me with dread. Will he be talking as well? Even though I'm not the target demographic, I may just skip this one.

A strange thing happened between the 1968 and 1969 Saturday morning schedules -- the superheroes disappeared. After three straight seasons of Space Ghosts, Birdmans, Super Presidents, and Herculoids only The New Adventures of Superman remained. And, that show was pushed back into the 1:00 PM slot, practically eliminating it from the viewing times of children who, after four straight hours of cartoons, needed generous doses of sunlight.

To fill all of the vacant spaces left by the departed heroes and villains, the networks added twelve new series to their respective schedules. Most had one thing in common: comedy, an ingredient that had been absent from the schedule for a number of years. Needless to say, it returned with full force during this season. Another comeback was made by live-action programs that featured a mix of humans and not-so-human characters. In addition, one show premiered that was based on a popular series of toys, while two more premiered that featured the newest trend of animated musical groups brought on by last season's premiere of The Archie Show. Amist all of that came a program featuring a talking, mystery-solving dog and his slightly toasted friend.

So, if you have your Hot Wheels parked around your feet, let's go back to 1969.

I've got plenty to be thankful for in my life, but -- pffft! -- y'all don't care to hear about that! This is TV Squad after all, so let's get down to what I'm thankful for when it comes to all-things television:

Damages getting uber-renewed
As the first season of Damages ticked down toward its finale, I wasn't the only one afraid that F/X was being quiet about the show's renewal status. It wasn't until recently that we were blessed with the news of not only one new season, but two! Many of us fans have already gone into speculating what the major plot will be for the second season, but to now wrap our minds around a third ... wow.

The Shield having all remaining episodes in the can
The WGA strike is obviously going to be a huge downer for TV watchers everywhere, if it hasn't been already. Some shows will take months to reappear, possibly if at all! Thankfully one of my beloved shows, The Shield, apparently won't be affected by the strike, as it has its final season all wrapped up for us like a fat present under the tree (even if it does air in the spring).

New TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• The Brady Bunch - Complete Series
• Entourage - Season 3, Vol. 1
• Law and Order - Season 5
• The Lost Room - Complete Mini-Series
• Mind of Mencia - Season 2 (Uncensored)
• The Pink Panther Show - Vol. 5: The Ant & The Aardvark
• Roseanne - Season 7
• She-Ra - Season 1, Vol. 2
• Tom Goes To The Mayor - Complete Series
• Twin Peaks - Season 2

Perhaps "Short-Lived Segment on A Longer-Running Program" would have been a more appropriate title, but I'll take any excuse to talk about one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

The Ant and the Aardvark was created by Friz Freling and aired as a segment on The New Pink Panther Show and The Pink Panther Laff And A Half Hour, two shows which followed the original Pink Panther cartoon and consisted of made-for-TV shorts rather than the theatrical shorts which made up the original Saturday morning cartoon. The Ant and the Aardvark segments aired from 1969 to 1971, totaling seventeen cartoons in all. Each episode would pit a dimwitted aardvark (almost always referred to as an "anteater") who sounded like Jackie Mason against a clever and resourceful ant who sounded like Dean Martin. Both characters were actually voiced by actor John Byner.

While the set up was similar to Chuck Jones' Coyote and Road Runner shorts, The Ant and the Aardvark had the benefit of being a "talkie," which made it a lot more hip and clever than the slapstick of Jones' tribute to the animal kingdom. And I say that as a huge Looney Tunes fan, myself. Also, the Aardvark's mumbling cadence was hilarious, even if you didn't know who Jackie Mason was. When I was young the Pink Panther never really impressed me much, but I always looked forward to the Ant and the Aardvark. If you want to check out some episodes, YouTube has a few. Unlike a lot of the animation found on that site, these are actually pretty decent quality.

Ladies and gents, Steve Martin will be coming back to host Saturday Night Live on February 4. Whoo-hoo! This guy is such an important part of SNL history, it's as if he used to be a cast member himself. Actually, a lot of people think that Martin used to be a player, but nope, he's like Benjamin Franklin to the presidents (just because he's on the $100 bill doesn't mean he was ever president, y'know). Anyway, this will be an exciting episode. I hope they do this legend justice.

Prince will be the musical guest (I'm trying to think of some sort of Prince-like squeal to express happiness but I can't figure out how to spell it). I hope he and Fred Armisen (who sometimes plays him on the show) will do something together... Hey, maybe Steve Martin can bring Beyonce (his co-star in the new movie, The Pink Panther) to fill in for new mommy Maya Rudolph and Prince can fill in for Armisen! That way, they'd have a real "The Prince Show"! Oh man, that'd be twelve different kinds of awesome.