I think I'm gonna need some more time to process the season 3 finale of The Venture Bros., but for right now I can't help but feel a bit let down. I think that's because Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer haven't yet figured out what they really want their show to be.  Do they want it to be an homage/parody of the action/adventure genre, or do they want to fully invest in their own universe and mythology? All signs pointed to the latter ... Read on, Daddy-O

No more flashbacks, no more character sketching, and no more filling in questionably important bits of history - the season finale of The Venture Bros. is all about moving forward.  All the buildup and all the backstory is done, so I hope you were paying attention. Actually, if you think about it almost all of this season's back end has really been the finale, since most of the episodes have picked up right where previous ones left off.  So in that sense, everything ... Read on, Daddy-O

Setup episodes can be very tricky to pull off.  They've got to provide enough information to set the stage for what is to come, and yet be entertaining in and of themselves.  Too much information and the story becomes cluttered, and not very fun to watch.  But make things too subtle, and the episode can seem like a one-off at best, a throwaway at worst.  So how does "ORB", an obvious setup episode, fare? Pretty well, thankfully.   The mystery kicks off in the ... Read on, Daddy-O

At some point before season four of The Venture Bros. gets underway, I'm going to run a countdown of the top 10 episodes from the first three.  And right now I can't think of any reason why "The Lepidopterists" won't be on that list.  With a few exceptions, I've been thoroughly entertained by all of this season's episodes, but this one had me laughing out loud as much as when I discovered the show sometime around the beginning of season one.  And ... Read on, Daddy-O

Ever been on a blind date that you knew was a disaster right from the start, yet you felt obligated to see it through to the bitter end?  Such seems to be the recurring fate of the Monarch, forced to endure a supremely lame archenemy pairing at the beginning of "Tears of a Sea Cow" (working title "Murder O'Clock").  But soon the misery is over, and he turns his attention back to his true hate...Dr. Venture. After quickly (and permanently) dispatching his newest ... Read on, Daddy-O

Well that was...f&@*ed up.  It seems poor Doc Venture is once again left to clean up one of his father's messes.  And speaking of Jonas Venture, the shine sure has come off his apple this season, eh? The action this week returns to Venture Industries - deep below Venture Industries, in fact (just how friggin' big is this place anyway?).  Rusty and Brock drop through the floor of the compound and find themselves trapped in different areas of what's revealed to be a ... Read on, Daddy-O

This is shaping up to be a banner year for Batman.  The Dark Knight comes out next week, and I can't see any way it won't kick ass.  So to whet the appetite of the hardcore Bat-fan, this week marks the release of Batman: Gotham Knight, a direct-to-DVD animated adventure. But rather than being just another animated Bat-film, Gotham Knight is actually an anthology of six short films, all presented with different styles of animation.  Those six short films, and my take on ... Read on, Daddy-O

Ahhh, now that's the stuff! What's not to love about "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman"?  There was plenty of action, mystery, and top-notch jokes.  Oh yeah, and my prayers about seeing more Hank and Dean were answered tenfold.  This was vintage Venture Bros. my friends. Save for a few brief (but extremely relevant) flashbacks into Dr. Venture's life, this was a completely self-contained episode; the first one of the season.  In it we find Rusty in the Amazon, where he has stolen a native ... Read on, Daddy-O

I'll cop to not being a huge Pixar believer.  I've seen Toy Story, The Incredibles, and a few of their other features, but for some reason they've always left me a little cold.  Oh sure, they are marvels of computer animation technology, but I have always preferred the old school style.  It's hard for me to get emotionally invested in movies that look more like extended video game cut scenes. But I have to say that watching WALL-E got me about as close ... Read on, Daddy-O

Oh happy day! After what seems like years of waiting (1 year, 7 months, 17 days actually - but who's counting?), The Venture Bros. will finally return to [adult swim] on June 1st! But as the last month-plus of waiting ticks slowly by, I can at least amuse myself with the recently released teaser trailer for season 3. According to Jackson Publick himself, this trailer only draws from 3 1/2 episodes of the season, but man does it bode well for ... Read on, Daddy-O