Only a movie as big as Avatar could bring Adult Swim's Space Ghost out of retirement after five years. Tune into Adult Swim on Sunday night, December 13 at midnight to watch Space Ghost's interview with Zoë Saldana, who plays the lead female character, Neytiri. Maybe if enough fans boost the ratings, Adult Swim will greenlight new Space Ghost episodes! Who cares about Avatar? More Space Ghost: That's my Christmas wish.
Picture courtesy of Adult Swim.

ABC will premiere its first TV special produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios tonight titled Prep and Landing. The half-hour holiday special tells the story of the elite unit of elves who prepare homes for their Christmas Eve visit from Santa Claus (think tiny green Navy Seals). Dave Foley (News Radio), Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) and Derek Richardson (Men in Trees) provide voices for the starring elves. Because the executive producer is John Lasseter, of always successful Pixar, I'm really looking forward to watching it tonight. Tune in to ABC at 8:30 p.m.
Picture courtesy of Disney.

When I read Entertainment Weekly, I look forward to the Hot List and its accompanying photo slash illustration of some celebrity. You know, where they take a photo of the celebrity's head and then draw an illustration around it that matches whatever their blurb is about. Tonight brings an entire cartoon using that concept, but with actors who are not celebrities. Even better, the creator produced the whole thing from his basement. The look of the cartoon is pretty primitive, but so is South Park, which is hilarious. I'm thinking this will be lame, but I'm reserving judgement for a couple of episodes. Watch Outer Space Astronauts tonight on Syfy at 9:30 p.m.
Picture courtesy of Syfy.

We are not only at the end of 2009, but also at the end of a decade. The Y2K bug turned out to be much ado about nothing, but in the world of animated TV, there were big events to track. Here's a rundown of the most news-worthy TV cartoon happenings of this decade.
Picture courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

Christmas is coming early this year when Adult Swim and RockStar Games come together to deliver free music downloads to fans. Starting Dec. 7, you can go online to AdultSwim.com to download a free collection of music, with artists like Shawty Lo and Young Jeezy. (Who? Feeling so old.)
Picture courtesy of Adult Swim.

Legendary R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire has teamed up with Cleveland Brown to record a new holiday song called "Get Your Hump On This Christmas." The song, as well as the music video that features animated versions of the band's members, is currently available for purchase on iTunes and will be available as a free download exclusively on iTunes for one week beginning December 8. Just in time for caroling!
Picture courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

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In January 1990 television history was made as households across the country were introduced to a one-of-a-kind family whose outrageous antics and wild behavior made them an institution of primetime television and a pop culture staple over the next two-plus decades. Fans can celebrates this historic milestone when The Simpsons Season 20 Blu-ray and DVD collection arrives January 12, 2010 marking the show's first time ever in high-definition. Even better, Matt Groening has added his own special touch by drawing all-new menus. Highly collectible packaging will also include a character layout of Springfield's most favorite characters (a fun challenge to name them all). The Simpsons Season 20 includes a total of 21 episodes, and features "The Twentieth Anniversary Special Sneak Peak" by Academy Award nominee Morgan Spurlock. Pre-order date is December 16.

Fox and Aniboom, a virtual animation studio, have announced that Jay Malone, creator of animated short Santa Intervention, is the grand prize-winner in this year's FOX-Aniboom Holiday Animation Challenge. Malone, of Los Angeles, CA, will receive cash prizes totaling $15,000 and a development deal thanks to his winning short about Santa checking into an overeater's clinic. See videos of the finalists and other submissions. Congratulations, Jay!

No re-runs for Fox during November sweeps! Animation Domination is all new tonight, including Family Guy. Brian tries to convince everyone that the life of a dog should have the same value as a human one in the "Dog Gone" episode. Watch it tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox.
Picture courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

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And they're off! Black Friday polarizes folks as much as Sarah Palin. One group camps out Thursday night at Best Buy, and the other sleeps until afternoon, purposely oblivious to the retail chaos outside. 2009 gave animated TV fans lots of choices for DVDs. But which one to choose? Browse this list of the best animated TV DVDs for 2009 to find a gift for someone special, or just for yourself. (I won't tell!)
Photo courtesy of Pricegrabber.com.