Naruto" not exactly a household name in your household? Have you checked with your teen-age sons? When you ask, be prepared to see the look that says, "Do we even live on the same planet? "˜Naruto.' Monumental Manga. Duh." "Naruto" has exceptionally strong teen-boy appeal, partly because it exemplifies all the best attributes of manga and anime, and partly because it shows Everyboy's struggle to earn respect from his family and community. Adolescent ninja Naruto Uzumaki has tried to prove himself worthy of the title "Holage," strongest and bravest of all ninjas, in more than fifty print volumes and 220 episodes on satellite network Animax. In Japan, "Naruto" in manga form has sold more than 100 million copies. In the United States, "Naruto" Volume Eleven won the 2006 "Quill Award." Critics and teen boys consistently praise "Naruto's" fine balance of comedy and battle scenes. If you have fallen woefully behind on your viewing of "Narutu: Shippuden," the definitive "Naruto" anthology, you will find comfort in the fact that Viz released it on DVD in September, 2009, and Disney XD continues regularly airing old episodes.

Drawn in retro-sixties comic book style, rendered irreverent and ironic by exceptionally good writing from "Simpsons" renegade Devin Clark, "Ugly Americans" TV show made its debut on Comedy Central during March, 2010. Matt Oberg lends his vocal stylings to the main character, Mark Lilly, harried social worker at the "Department of Integration," the all-purpose welfare agency for the citizens of a parallel-universe New York liberally populated with demons, zombies, wizards, monsters, and other chimerical creatures. Up-and-coming comedienne Natasha Leggero, one of Chelsea Handler's coterie, gives voice and life to Callie Maggotbone, Mark's immediate supervisor and sometimes lover. Callie claims distinction as the succubus daughter of the Devil and a human mother; not surprisingly, she is prone to extreme mood swings. Newcomer to the big-bad city, Mark, an intrepid optimist and wanna-be do-gooder, remains barbarously untutored in the ways of his city's multi-species immigrants, and his mistakes naturally multiply into comic misadventures. Hardly Saturday-morning kiddie fare, "Ugly Americans" deals as directly and explicitly with characters' bizarre sexual proclivities as with their sociopathy.

This is another animated comedy sit com on MTV and one that's really funny! A bunch of kids go through some fun situations each week and the voices of most characters are so familiar! Mondo Brando is a transplanted New Jersey guy who comes to Playa Del Toro in sunny Southern California with his mother who is a single outspoken woman who's ready to soak up a bit of that sun on the beach. Mondo learns to become part of the scene as he attends school and gets friendly with the locals. Mondo becomes friends with Woodie, a home boy who knows the ways of Playa Del Toro and shows Mondo around, introducing him to the off the wall characters that go to their school and play on the beach. Mondo Brando (voiced by Josh Gad from Love and Other Drugs, Bored to Death), his mom Babs is voiced by Debi Mazar (Entourage, Jonas), Woodie's voice is done by Adam Brody (Cop Out, The O.C.). And some of the odd ball characters include Turk, voiced by Jake Busey (Sons of Tucson, The Mentalist), and Wadska who is voiced by Tony Hale (Human Target, Justified).

Either the CIA is just not that cool and relevant anymore, or Seth Macfarlane and associates are still mining the mother lode of 1970s humour as they develop episodes of "American Dad!" for Sunday nights on Fox. Television historians claim animated series have replaced sit-coms as television's principal source of informed social commentary; and "The Simpsons" have replaced "All in the Family" as the nation's premier satire, the weekly litmus test of American values and expectations. "American Dad!" shows little sign of aspiring to that lofty standing. Most episodes set the standard simply at "amusing." CIA agent and uber-patriot Stan Smith, the "American Dad!" anchors a predictably diverse, dysfunctional just-beyond-the-beltway family. Francine, his wife, appears to atone for her wild youth by remaining vacant, mostly boring in contemporary life. Hayley, Stan's college-aged radical daughter, naturally acts-out all the standard forms of late adolescent rebellion and family insurgency. And Steve, not surprisingly, enters puberty eager to live-up to Dad's expectations but congenitally incapable of coming even close. Holding its own in Fox's Sunday night animated line-up, "American Dad!" has improved in its several seasons on the air. Translation: "American Dad!" has evolved from "mediocre" to "not bad" as it has outgrown its abject dependence on cliches and stereotypes, freshened its subject matter and treatment, and drawn sharper edges on its characters. Still, the premises for "American Dad!" showed promise in 1973; in the new millennium, they seem a little tired.

A spin-off from Fox's monster hit "Family Guy," "The Cleveland Show" easily could inspire serious questions about whether or not three middle-aged white men ought to attempt writing comedy about African-Americans. Somehow, though, Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry, and Richard Appel have attracted a devoted multi-racial, multi-cultural audience for Cleveland and his family by making their points gently and with genuine humor. Consistent with his approach to "Family Guy," MacFarlane reserves most of his animus for middle-aged white suburban guys a lot like himself. Cleveland and his family have moved back to his home town, Stoolbend, Virginia, where he lives with Junior, his high school crush, and her two children. The majority of Cleveland's funniest lines derive more from his cluelessness than his color, and the majority of the ethnic humor derives from the creators' brilliant satire of racial attitudes among unenlightened southern white people. Among MacFarlane's only-slightly-exaggerated redneck characters, Lester does the majority of the comic work, languishing on his Confederate flag folding chair and cleaning his beloved guns. In general, the racial humor remains tame if not always politically correct, and "The Cleveland Show" gets the vast majority of its big laughs from allusions to pop culture.

"King of the Hill" is a popular American animated sitcom that aired on Fox from 1997 to 2010. It centers around the Hill family, who reside in the fictional city of Arlen, Texas. The show follows the daily lives of Hank, Peggy, Bobby, and their friends and neighbors.