TVSquad

Neil Patrick Harris is the It Boy of television right now. He can really do no wrong, whether it's on How I Met Your Mother or hosting the Emmys, he's come a long way since Doogie Howser, M.D.

Tonight he plays a villain, the Music Meister, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Cartoon Network, 7:30). He even gets to sing, and the song is actually catchy.

I'm sure some of you would like to forget about the campy '60s Batman TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward as corny comic book crime fighters. Me? I love it.

I grew up watching reruns of the show, and its goofy blend of cartoon-y action, aw-shucks charm and over-the-top acting still makes me smile. Cartoon Network's great Batman: The Brave and the Bold is heavily influenced by the '60s series, and some episodes even feature unabashed references to the old show.

I wrote about my love for Cartoon Network's Batman: The Brave and the Bold last November. To reiterate: This is a show that all Batfans should be watching. It's goofy and fun, and it mines the DC Comics mythology to deliver some great stories featuring ol' Bats teaming up and trading barbs with the likes of Plastic Man, Green Arrow and more. I recommend DVR-ing the show and watching it late on Friday nights. It might cheer you up after Battlestar Galactica.

Now here's another reason to watch: Former Squadder and Enterprise ensign turned Interweb Superman Wil Wheaton will guest star in the next episode, "Fall of the Blue Beetle," which airs this Friday, Jan 23. Wheaton plays Ted Kord aka the Silver Age Blue Beetle.

Click through for a great clip from the ep, featuring Blue Beetle (who seems to be quite the tech geek) and Batman talking shop and knocking out bad guys.

Talking apes! Alien leeches! Laser-shooting blob people! You'll never catch The Dark Knight rubbing elbows with such kooky company on the big screen. To see that, you'll have to tune into Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the new animated series on Cartoon Network.

Two episodes in and I'm loving this lighter, zanier take on ol' Bats' crime fighting adventures. It reminds me a lot of ABC Family's The Middleman, which itself was somewhat inspired by the campy 60s Batman TV Show.

Unlike Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and the darker Batman cartoons we've seen before, which I also love, Brave and The Bold takes place in that colorful comic book world where anything (did I mention the talking apes?) can happen. There's no Commissioner Gordon, no Gotham City and no Robin (not yet, anyway). Instead, Batman is paired up with a new DC hero every week, and he does his thing in bizarre locales like "Dinosaur Island" or outer space.