Animation Domination Battle Royale - 09/25/11

 I have a love/hate relationship with Sunday's. I love not going into work but I also hate that Sunday night dread of having to go into work the next Morning.


One of the things that helps me get through that unpleasantness of work is Fox's Animation Domination. It's a joyous 2 hours of primetime cartoon shenanigans. My PVR has been getting quite a workout with all of the season premiers and new shows but I was most looking forward to these premiers this week. This week we get the big 4 of The Simpsons, Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and American Dad! Sadly no Bob's Burgers until mid-season and Allen Gregory starts at the end of October.

Let's take a look at who had the better episode this week.

The Simpsons - "The Falcon and the D'OHman"
At the end of last season, Simpsons producers decided to let the audience decide whether or not to have Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel in a relationship. Fans could go on-line to vote this summer to decide the fate of the couple. Those fans of "Nedna" would be happy to find out that the producers are going to keep them together. Not much else was revealed in the episode about the couple but it will be interesting to see what this mean's for future storylines.

The thing that I enjoyed about this week's episode was that they stuck with one storyline. Typically in the newer episodes they'll have two or three storylines and try to tie them together at the end. In Sunday's episode Homer becomes friends with a new security guard at the power plant only for him to turn out to be a former secret agent who is trying to remember who he is. The funniest part was the animated Taiwanese re-enactment of a robbery at Moe's. Overall it was a decent episode (really good for a newer episode) with some good laughs. I probably would've enjoyed it more had the ending been a bit stronger.

Episode Score - B


Cleveland Show - "BFF's"
We get a cross-over episode this week as Peter Griffin decides to stop by Stool Bend only he doesn't call Cleveland. Cleveland is obviously upset and decides to visit Quahog to confront him about it and finds out that Peter didn't really consider him a friend and that he was only a "neighbour and drinking buddy." This leads Cleveland to re-evaluate his adult friendships and goes on a camping trip with Ric Flair to learn all about being good friends. Of course things go bad and Peter ends up saving their lives in the end. The stuff with Flair is really funny especially when the guys wear Flair wigs.

The other storyline was actually the highlite of the episode. Rallo is invited to his two year daycare reunion and while there him and Donna find out that the other kids are more developed than him. Donna ends up entering him in a Quiz Bowl competition where Rallo has a hard time answering questions that don't revolve around "boobies and weiners". Some of the best episodes involve Rallo having to act like an adult and this one is funny when he realizes that he hasn't done anything with his life in the last two years.

Episode Score - B


Family Guy - "Lottery Fever"
Similar to The Simpsons we get one main storyline in tonight's episode. In the classic sitcom formula the Griffins win the lottery. This leads to some great moments with Peter blowing money on things that he bought at the "Nonsence Store". He buys a solid gold suit, get's a penis butler, and in the funniest part decides to be like Scrooge McDuck and dive into a vault of gold coins.

Naturally Peter blows all the families money and has to get help from Joe and Quagmire after he had leant them money earlier. In typical Peter fashion he ends up shooting Joe in the eye with a BB gun. Overall, I thought this was a strong episode to start off the season with. Last season was mixed but tonight's episode was great. The show tends to work the best when Peter is being more ridiculous than usual.

Episode Score - A-


American Dad! - "Hot Water"
Let me start off by saying that normally American Dad is my favorite of all the Animation Domination shows. Even during the first two postings that I did on Animation Domination (here and here) I mentioned how it was the funniest show of that week. So I was kind of disappointed with last night's season premiere.

In a homage to Little Shop of Horrors, Stan ends up buying a used hot tub from the 70's. The hot tub ends up taking over his life and drives him away from his family and job. Cee Lo Green provides the voice of  the hot tub and the episode featured quite a few musical numbers. Maybe it's because I hate musicals but I didn't find tonight's episode to be that funny. There was some amusing parts that involve Principal Lewis and a musical number featuring a ripped Steve and Roger but overall I was really disappointed. According to an article on AOL.tv the episode was originally thought to be the series finale which explains the ending.  They get points for originality but overall it wasn't that funny of an episode.

Episode Rating - C-