TVSquad

It seems like a no-brainer that television and Comic-Con would go together like peanut butter and jelly. But TV has actually been a bit slow to the game and viewed their presence at Comic-Con as something that goes together like peanut butter and regular butter (trust me, I've tried peanut butter and butter, and it's not good).

This year, studios have recognized the importance of the annual geek con-fab and are presenting more shows and panels than ever before. There is going to be more TV at the Con than you can shake a stick at, so don't forgot your shaking sticks.

Why so many? Variety reports that studios and networks are recognizing the buzz they can generate at the convention through electronic social networking and good ol' word-of-mouth by showcasing and premiering exclusive screenings of their shows.

When it comes to Family Guy, I really tried. I honestly gave it my best shot. I watched the Sunday episodes, the late night reruns on Adult Swim, and even some of the DVDs from my college-aged brother's collection, including the famed feature-length Star Wars parody. I watched until my eyes started planning a prison break from my skull.

I wanted to like it. It's goofy, occasionally satirical and completely unafraid to be silly and bat#*$& crazy. Alas, I couldn't take it. I didn't find it funny or entertaining. The jumps to the pop culture flashbacks made the whole thing disjointed and screwed up the continuity. The characters are as two-dimensional as the paper the Korean sweatshop animators draw on for each episode. The way the show just drags on certain jokes is downright irritating. We get it. Peter hurt his knee jumping out of The A-Team van. A prom night dumpster baby musical number would be hilariously tragic. It's the one and only time I ever rooted for Cartman in an episode of South Park.

That doesn't mean the show's creator deserves the same contempt.

I think Stewie expresses the shock that a lot of people have when they find out that this character from Family Guy is the one that's getting a spinoff (you'd think Stewie or Brian would get one first, but I guess that would take them away from the Griffins and that obviously can't happen). If the writing is good, this could actually be quite good (and controversial).

Stoolbend?

That's a show of faith, Fox, renewing The Cleveland Show for a second season before its first episode airs. Sure you can say it's because animated shows need more lead time as it takes a lot longer to complete an episode; how else can you explain King of the Hill getting canceled back in 1976 and having new episodes through next season.

The second season pick-up is only for a half-season, but it does bring the total number of episodes to 35, which is a good start. Especially for a show that hasn't even started.

A Fox press release today confirmed the horribly-kept secret that Kanye "Voice of This Generation" West will voice a character on The Cleveland Show, a new Family Guy spinoff intended for the fall schedule. A couple of new details have emerged.

We knew West would play kid rapper Kenny West, and now we know West will throw down with Cleveland Jr. in a rap battle to impress fellow student Chanel, voiced by Oscar-nominated Benjamin Button co-star Taraji P. Henson. People.com has some insight about the taping. Apparently, West (Kanye, not Kenny) was a joy to work with, and executive producer Richard Appel said there was a mutual interest in West coming back for more. Would West make a good cartoon character? Would it take away from his beat writing schedule? If they can convince Mike Myers to join the cast, I'm in.

The Family Guy spin-off from Seth McFarlane and company called Cleveland (formerly The Cleveland Show) is being pushed back by Fox and likely will not debut this season.

No doubt the speculation regarding this decision will run wild throughout the Internet. My guess is that Fox wanted more episodes for a stronger Sunday night animation line-up. With the end of King of the Hill on Fox, there is now room, plus three of the four shows will be from Seth McFarlane (the non-Seth show being The Simpsons). No wonder he's so loaded.

A few more voices have been added to the cast of the Family Guy spin-off, The Cleveland Show. The voice of the main character will still be provided by Mike Henry, who also gets an executive producer credit on the show.

Kevin Richardson from The Cleaner is voicing the character of Lester, a redneck neighbor of Cleveland. Interestingly, Mike Henry is a white man voicing an African-American while Richardson is African-American voicing a white man.

Also joining the cast is Sanaa Lathan who will play Cleveland's love interest Donna and Nia Long (pictured) who will play one of Donna's children, a rebellious teen named Roberta.

I suppose the success of this show will depend on the execution of it. It has to be similar enough to Family Guy to not alienate those fans but different enough to spark an interest. Cleveland Brown never struck me as a character who could carry his own show but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

Along with running three shows on Fox (Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show), Seth McFarlane is also getting into online content development. Even worse, he's doing it for a Fox competitor.

McFarlane will be developing fifty two-minute animated vignettes for Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy which will be distributed via Google's AdSense network (a competitor for Fox's Myspace).

The article goes into the corporate issues behind this strange move and asks a few good questions: why didn't Fox get a first-look offer at this idea? If they did, why did they pass on it? It seems inexpensive enough to produce and given the popularity of the creator, it seems a no-brainer.

Finally, a new teaser for the much anticipated Family Guy spin-off, The Cleveland Show. Actually, "anticipated" is probably a strong word since American Dad has already destroyed my faith in Seth MacFarlane's ability to produce another hit. Frankly, I don't see how The Cleveland Show could possibly be worse than American Dad.

"New" probably isn't the right word either since the following video looks like something that most likely aired during last month's upfronts. But hey - I hadn't seen it yet, so it's new to me. Complaining aside, I'm pumped for this show and the preview doesn't disappoint. The idea of Cleveland packing his bags and heading south to marry a woman he hasn't seen since high school is hilarious to me. Bears and British folks as neighbors? This could work. Video and full description from FOX after the jump.

It looks like someone took the effort to create a Flash player with embedded videos of many of the upcoming new fall shows. Included are clips from Dollhouse, Fringe, Life on Mars, The Eleventh Hour, Scrubs, The Cleveland Show, The Goode Family (pictured right) as well as several others. I only had a chance to look at some of them. The previews aren't of all the new shows available in the fall (NBC only has one preview), but it's still quite a few. Which ones are missing?

Embedded videos after the jump

FOX announced its plans for the 2008-2009 season today. Here are the highlights:

Returning: The Moment of Truth, So You Think You Can Dance, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, American Idol, America's Most Wanted, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Bones, Cops, Don't Forget the Lyrics!, Hell's Kitchen, House, King of the Hill, Kitchen Nightmares, MADtv, The Moment of Truth, Prison Break, Talkshow with Spike Feresten, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 'Til Death

Out: Back To You, Canterbury's Law, K-Ville, Nashville, New Amsterdam, Next Great American Band, Return of Jezebel James, Unhitched

New: Sit Down, Shut Up; The Cleveland Show; Dollhouse (Midseason); Fringe; Do Not Disturb (formerly The Inn); Secret Millionaire (Midseason)

Schedule and detailed descriptions of the new shows after the jump.

From the "Things that make you go, hmmmm?" department... Just let this one roll around in your noggin for a bit. According to reports, after 2 1/2 years of negotiations, Mr. MacFarlane has a new deal with 20th Century Fox TV that could be worth more than $100 million. The deal will keep him with the studio through 2012. To put it in some perspective, J.J. Abrams signed a five year feature/TV deal with Paramount and Warner Bros that was valued at $60 million.

Now, I don't mean to slight Seth or his accomplishments, but doesn't that strike you as just a bit odd? I mean, I'm a fan of his work. I've never missed an episode of Family Guy or American Dad. Hell, I sat through The War At Home to catch his guest spot. Still, I also follow ratings rather closely, and while Family Guy is certainly a success, I wouldn't have expected it to garner him highest paid status. Maybe The Cleveland Show is just that much better than any of us are giving it credit for.