Halloween is a few weeks away. That means Halloween treats on our TV as well in the bag. Here’s some highlights:
The Simpsons
For starters, it wouldn’t be the season without a new episodes of The Simpsons
and their “Treehouse of Horror” series. This time it sports the
spanking big number of “XIX” and will contain the expected three shorts
plus more. While Fox hasn’t cut loose with the extra easter eggs,
here’s what’s what we do know is planned.
• “How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising” – Homer decides using the images
of dead celebrities makes some truly effective advertising. Then he
starts killing them off. No news as to who he offs, at least yet.
• “Untitled Robot Parody” - In an openly acknowledged stab at the
Transformers, giant robots land in Springfield and start wrecking the
town. After all, that’s what giant robots are really good at, anyway.
• “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” – Lisa and Milhouse take a hike to
the nearest pumpkin patch to decimate a part of the Peanuts mythos.
Thing is, the Great Pumpkin doesn’t think much of carving out the
insides of his kind and turning them into Jack O’Lanterns and pumpkin
pies and decides to settle the score. Hope the big guy doesn’t run into
the kite eating tree like it did in Robot Chicken.
UNTERFIST
Miss the Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy? Well, Max
Atoms has heard your warped howls of disgust and pain and has
responded, in his own twisted way of course. On October 12, we will
have a B& M marathon that will lead to the debut of Atoms’ new show, Unterfist: Halloween Bash.
This one-hour special features favorite secondary characters including
Irwin, Fred Fredburger, Jeff the Spider, General Skarr and Hoss
Delgado, joining forces to save trick-or-treaters from being eaten by
Halloween candy from the dark Underworld. For those who have read past
columns, Atoms did hint that Bill, Grim and Mandy should be making
cameo appearances.
Now maybe some new Courage The Cowardly Dog? Just asking,
but hey…there will be a Courage marathon on Sunday, October 19 from
Noon to 7:00 p.m. for all you fans of No Where.
Unterfist will air at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
PHINEAS & FERBENSTEIN
It may be perpetual summer vacation on this show, but that doesn’t mean
Phineas & Ferb can’t think up a thing or two to scare you. Yeah,
two. The double trouble starts with:
• "One Good Scare Ought to Do It!" – P&F figure the best way to rid
Isabella of her hiccups is to build a haunted house. Meanwhile Candace
gets the heebie jeebies shook out of her through the series truly
horrific bit of malicious malevolence, Jeremy’s little sister Suzy.
This one airs on Friday, October 3 at 8:30 p.m. eastern.
• "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein” – turns out mad scientists run
in the family. When P&F’s grandparents (Jane Carr & Malcolm
McDowell) pay a visit, they recount their ancestry includes one Dr.
Ferbenstein, who was rather handy with what he found at the graveyard.
At the same time, Dr. Doofenschmirtz tells how he also comes from a
long line of evil geniuses. This one airs on October 17, 8:30 p.m.
SNOTTY BOY WEEK
If there’s a reason to watch Back To The Barnyard, it’s to
see how them Otis and company contend with their personal nemesis, the
Snotty Kid. The bloated little monster keeps the Barnyard crew on their
hoofs, paws or whatever else they move on.
Nick is devoting a week towards the bloated boy from next door,
including a new episode on Friday, October 24 entitled “Some Like It
Snotty.” Each episode will air Monday through Friday, at 6:00 p.m.
eastern.
Don’t be surprised if there’s some Edgar & Ellen
episodes in the offering, too. More on those when they’re official.
What is definitely known is Nick is planning for the week of October 25
through Halloween to be called “Shocktober.” It will feature Halloween
themed programming October 25, from 9:00-11:00 a.m. and 8:00-10:00 pm;
October 26, 2:00-5:00 pm and 7:00 –10:00 pm, October 27-31 3:00 –5:00
pm, October 31 8:00-10:00 pm
SCOOBY-DOO
It wouldn’t be Halloween without something featuring Scooby and the
Mystery Gang. Cartoon Network will debut the recently released Direct
to DVD outing Scooby-Doo & The Goblin King this Sunday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m.
In this case, Shaggy and Scoob run afoul of a carnival wizard named the
Amazing Krudsky. Krudsky gets his hands on some real magic--yes…this is
almost a violation of the usual Scooby tenant of the monster being
fake—and it has major repercussions for not just the gang, but the
human and magic worlds as well.
KUNG FU PANDA 2 ANNOUNCED
Not to ignore a proper franchise when they see one, DreamWorks Animation announced there will be a second Kung Fu Panda
movie come 2011. It will feature the original cast and hopefully a lot
more high flying, butt kicking fantasy from this movie. Expect more on
the film shortly.
DISNEY ANNOUNCES CAR TOONS
In preparation for a second Cars film, Pixar is in the
process of producing five interstitial shorts featuring the character
Tow Mater. All the shorts will be produced by creator John Lasseter and
feature the voice of Larry The Cable Guy (Owen Wilson was off somewhere
crashing weddings).
Expect to see these shorts on the various Disney cable channels in the near future.
