Animation & Cartoons

The central character in the Netflix animated comedy series BoJack Horseman is a former sitcom star struggling with depression and alcohol addiction — who also happens to be a horse. Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg likens his series to that other show about a talking horse, Mister Ed.

MacFarlane is best known for creating the animated TV shows Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show. But he's also a singer whose new album features songs from the Great American Songbook.

For the first time, the complete adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends are available on DVD. TV critic David Bianculli says even 50 years later, the humor in the original episodes still "hits it out of the park."

If you've watched cartoons in the past few decades, you probably know Billy West's voice: He's played Philip J. Fry and Zapp Brannigan on Futurama, plus Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in Space Jam (and more). West explains how he comes up with his voices -- and demonstrates a few of his favorites.

The bawdy, crudely animated sitcom South Park is about to celebrate its 200th episode. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone go behind the scenes of some of their favorite episodes and explain how they come up with the weekly parodies.

The British comedian's latest project is an animated series on HBO, developed from his wildly successful podcast, The Ricky Gervais Show. He talks to David Bianculli about the new show -- and explains what it was like to create the award-winning sitcom The Office.

In the Japanese anime series Death Note, high school student Light Yagami is in possession of a super-powered notebook that allows him to kill anyone, simply by writing down the victim's name. Critic-at-large John Powers offers a commentary.

Nancy Cartwright's work is widely heard and well loved, but not many people know it's her. She's the voice of Bart Simpson on TV's The Simpsons — and in the long-awaited feature film that hits theaters this week.

Al Jean knows Marge, Homer, Bart and the gang better than almost anyone. He's executive producer and writer for The Simpsons, and he's been with the show since it began. The new Simpsons movie, he's been heard to say, is about "what happens when a man doesn't listen to his wife."

Before The Simpsons, Jean worked on TV's A.L.F. and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

Critic-at-large John Powers tells us about the Japanese TV animated series Paranoia Agent by Satoshi Kon. It's now out on DVD.

Former standup comic Tom Kenny is the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, the star of his own animated series on Nickelodeon. SquarePants lives under the sea in the city of Bikini Bottom where he works as a fry cook at a greasy spoon called the Krusty Krab. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie opens nationwide Nov. 19.

Mike Lazzo is senior vice president for the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim –- a three-hour block of cartoons targeted to adults. It includes original and acquired animation. Lazzo co-created the network’s first original series in 1995, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Another Adult Swim series is Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, which borrows Hanna Barbera cartoon characters from the '60s, including the obscure Birdman, a masked crusader with wings who defends cartoon characters like Fred Flintstone and Scooby Doo.

Earlier this year The Simpsons celebrated its 300th episode, making it the longest-running animated series on TV.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews two prime-time cartoon series now on DVD: the complete first season of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends, and the third season of The Simpsons.

Composer Alf Clausen, the man behind the music of The Simpsons. This interview first aired May 14, 1997.

Bianculli reviews Clone High, a new animated series on MTV.

Mike Judge, the creator of, and voice behind, MTVs phenomena Beavis and Butthead. His current creation is the Fox series King of the Hill, where he provides the voice for main character, Hank. Hes also the writer, director and producer of the cult movie Office Space. A self-taught animator with a physics degree, Kraft talks about animation and comedy. King of the Hill is an Emmy nominated series nearing its 100th episode next week.

Robert Smigel (SMY-gull) is a writer and creator of animated comic episodes for Saturday Night Live, including “X-Presidents” and “The Ambiguously Gay Duo.” His newest effort is the new Comedy Central series “TV Funhouse,” described as a broken kid’s show for adults. The Funhouse combines real animals, puppet animals, short films and animation (Wednesday nights at 10:30). Smigel has also written a new comic book based on the X-presidents filmed shorts (called “X-Presidents”/Villard Books).

Creator and executive producer of “The Powerpuff Girls” the hit cartoon series on the Cartoon Network, Craig McCracken. The show follows the adventures of three super-powered superheros, the cute but tough sisters Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. There’s also a new CD of music inspired by the girls, “The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes and Villains” (Rhino. The cartoon airs on Wednesday nights 8 PM (PT/ET) and Fridays at 9 PM.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new NBC animation show, "God, The Devil, and Bob" featuring the voice of James Garner.