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Discover the art of Louie Zong, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

The Beat chats with Pat McHale, creator of the Cartoon Network miniseries "Over The Garden Wall" and writer of the 4-issue limited series at BOOM.

Discover the art of McKenna Harris, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

"Regular Show: The Movie" will debut on digital platforms and DVD before it airs on Cartoon Network.

The DVD can be pre-ordered on Amazon for just $9.99.

Press rooms at Comic Con are both great fun and sometimes a bit of a tease in that you get face time with some of your favorite television creators, but it’s in such a short burst, you have to really make the most of it.

This afternoon, I joined a group of other members of the Press Corps for a set of roundtable interviews with the creators behind the Back to the Future/Doctor Who/Twilight Zone parody series Rick & Morty: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland (who had a drink in hand that I was hoping was scotch, but was instead apple juice, I learned), and Ryan Ridley.

Harmon, who developed the show with Roiland, first addressed a question regarding the fact that the first two episodes of the new season, the first of which is set to debut on July 26th, had leaked out onto torrent sites a month early:

It was a mixed blessing, Justin and I were worried about the first episode frankly, because it was very complicated. So the silver lining of the leak…is that it was sort of like a soft roll-out. And the other part of the mixed blessing is that people would want your show that bad, that your trucks are being hijacked on their way to the city. It’s good marketing, I guess.

Though Roiland was quick to point out that the episode was also still unfinished.

Roiland: There’s still little animation mistakes and things I’m fixing.

Harmon: We have to add all the d*cks.

Roiland: Right, and the version that leaked had no d*cks, and the final version is supposed to be somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty d*cks. *laughter* But I was shocked by how many people loved that episode.

Given some the content that makes it onto the screen from the series, and there’s quite a few examples that I’m blushing to even describe, I was curious about what sort of network restrictions they might face and if there was anything that was just too raunchy to make it on the air.

Roiland: Very little (motioning to Harmon), didn’t you post to Instagram some of the edits they asked for?

Harmon: Yeah, I always think S&P memos are hilarious.

Roiland: “Remove Worm Jerry’s butthole”

Me: “Anus”

Harmon: Right! It’s just so funny to see a list and go…”Jesus Christ!” (laughter)

Roiland: But usually we get to do what we want, aside from notes that go “censor the use of f*ck here”, it’s all the ones where we go: “yeah, we knew that”.

After a discussion of events that occur in the leaked episode (that frankly, didn’t make much sense out of context to me, but good job to my fellow journos who admitted they watched a torrented episode to the creators), Roiland teased one tid-bit that there’s a really great moment coming where we meet an alternate reality step-dad for Morty named Paul Fleischmann, a character who Ridley (who is Jewish) described as a “highly anti-semitic selling out of my people”.

Before time ran out, the team addressed how the popularity of the show affected the development of the second season:

Roiland: Going into season two, we realized the stakes were raised and were blown away by how well received season one was. We wanted to keep the bar high. I think that kind of stuff swimming around in the back of your head can make stuff harder.

Harmon: I think, well-received or not, the part that’s difficult is doing a second season of a show that’s out there. You can’t put a mirror in front of a parakeet without changing the entire environment of the cage.

Roiland: Yeah, there’s also a number of sweater threads and things we purposefully left open…

Ridley: Lots of debates about “should we do more Mr. Meeseeks episodes? Or let’s bring back Evil Mortie!”…

Harmon: You’ll realize that you’ll never regain that initial joy (of the first season).

Additional details we learned are that Mr. Meeseeks (that great blue character that I love doing an impression of) will indeed be making a cameo next season and there will be another television episode in the vein of “Rixty Minutes”, though it will not have quite as clean an “A” and “B” plot as that initial entry. Roiland calls it very “balls to the wall”. The team also revealed that Beth, Morty’s mother, will finally go on an adventure and we’ll also meet one of Rick’s ex-lovers.

During the panel that followed afterward, the same trio mentioned that this upcoming season will also introduce Morty’s Uncle Steve as well as a new creature that resembles a banana wearing a top hat that is referred to as “Mr. Poopy Butthole”.

Rick and Morty, folks! It’s great!

Five Cartoon Network shows have earned season renewals.

Major network creators like Rebecca Sugar and Ben Bocquelet will participate and teach children how to create cartoons.

Time Warner is relaunching its archival animation showcase Boomerang with original content -- and commercials.

For the past number of years that I’ve attended SDCC, the fine folks at Cartoon Network and their brand Adult Swim have put on some rather enjoyable programming for the show. Most notably, I’ve greatly enjoyed the Children’s Hospital panels that were held in previous years, and the 2015 iteration of their lineup looks to be a good deal of fun with back-to-back panels for series like Regular Show, Uncle Grandpa, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe along with some screening opportunities.

One million years Dungeon!!

FRIDAY, JULY 10

Cartoon Network presents a back-to-back Fandemonium Panel Extravaganza featuring Regular Show & Uncle Grandpa followed by Adventure Time & Steven Universe. Both panels are hosted by Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live) the voice of Panda on Cartoon Network’s upcoming animated series We Bare Bears.

CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS: REGULAR SHOW & UNCLE GRANDPA

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Hilton Bayfront – Indigo Ballroom

You love us!  You really love us!  But guess what….we love you too!!!  Cartoon Network has the best fans in the world, which is why we’re hosting the most FAN-tastic, FAN-centric, FAN…uhhh…MAZING panels SDCC has ever seen!  Join cast and crew of hit shows Regular Show and Uncle Grandpa as we celebrate YOU with major announcements, first looks, contests, and special appearances.  The panel features Regular Showsuperstars JG Quintel (Creator, Voice of Mordecai), William Salyers (Voice of Rigby), Sean Szeles (Supervising Producer), and Sam Marin (Voice of Benson, Pops, Muscle Man), alongside Uncle Grandpa mega-talents Pete Browngardt (Creator, Voice of Uncle Grandpa), Eric Bauza (Voice of Bellybag), and Kevin Michael Richardson (Voice of Mr. Gus). 

CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS: ADVENTURE TIME & STEVEN UNIVERSE

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Hilton Bayfront – Indigo Ballroom

Comic Con is the ultimate destination for amazing fans in Finn hats and crystal gem bellybuttons, which is why Cartoon Network is celebrating YOU in a one-of-a-kind Fandemonium celebration!  We’ve got BIG NEWS you’ll want to hear first, behind-the-scenes access, and special musical performances by the cast and crew from hit shows Adventure Time and Steven Universe!  The panel features Adventure Time legends of OooJeremy Shada (Voice of Finn), John DiMaggio (Voice of Jake), Olivia Olson (Voice of Marceline), and Adam Muto (Co-Executive Producer), alongside Steven Universe gems Rebecca Sugar (Creator), Zach Callison (Voice of Steven), Estelle (Voice of Garnet), and Ian Jones-Quartey(Supervising Director).

 

CARTOON NETWORK SCREENINGS

THURSDAY, JULY 9

 

CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS: ADVENTURE TIME ROYAL BALL

8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Room 7AB

It’s the 2^nd annual Adventure Time Royal Ball!  Last year Cartoon Network filled a ballroom with the most righteous of warriors and the fairest in all the Land of Ooo, and this year we are returning with more fan-favorites, another first-look Adventure Time episode, and a very special world premiere screening of the newest Cartoon Network hit series We Bare Bears!  Don’t forget to dress up in your most inspired outfit for the royal procession and your chance to win righteous prizes! Now come one, come all (until we reach capacity!) for a night of mathematical magic!

FRIDAY, JULY 10

CARTOON NETWORK PRESENTS: CLARENCE & FRIENDS PAJAMA PARTY

8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Room 7AB

Clarence throws the best parties and you’re invited!  We ran out of pizza poppers, but we’re making up for it with Spencer Rothbell (Head of Story and Voice of Clarence), awesome episodes of your favorite Cartoon Network shows and super cool pwizes!  But hey, hey, guess what, there’s more!  Clarence invited his new friends Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear, and they’re going to show an episode of their brand new show, We Bare Bears, for everyone to see for the very first time!  HOW COOL IS THAT?!  So put on your favorite pajamas and maaayyyybe you’ll get a swing at our myyystewy piñata!

CARTOON NETWORK SIGNINGS

FRIDAY, JULY 10

 

2:00 p.m.               Regular Show, Uncle Grandpa & Clarence

                                Autograph Alley (AA04)

                                                                                               

4:00 p.m.               Adventure Time & Steven Universe

                                Autograph Alley (AA04)

 

SATURDAY, JULY 11

 

1:00 p.m.               We Bare Bears

                                Cartoon Network Booth #3735

Three fame-chasing, selfie-loving bears are coming to Cartoon Network.

Beginning in 2016 internationally, Cartoon Network's rewinds the alien-powered kid hero for a new generation.

The National Cartoonists Society has recognized the Irish animated feature and the Cartoon Network mini-series for outstanding achievement in animation.

The creator of "Adventure Time" and other artists created a special episode of "Uncle Grandpa."

– My favorite discovery from the 2014 television season has to be Cartoon Network’s Rick and Morty, which takes the character relationship of Doc and Marty (more or less) from Back to the Future and transplants them into Doctor Who style adventures with some the sharpest humor I’ve seen in an animated program since Archer first hit the air. The series, created by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland, has had its first season available on Blu-ray for awhile now. If you can handle some cruder, gross-out moments, I highly recommend it.

This week, Cartoon Network announced that Rick and Morty will return on Sunday, July 26th. Additionally, Roiland and Harmon guest-wrote the couch gag for the upcoming season finale of The Simpsons, which you can watch below:

– Speaking of The Simpsons, yesterday saw the news that Harry Shearer, the longtime voice of characters like Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and many other members of the show’s rich world, would be parting ways with the series. According to some reports, there’s still a chance that Shearer may come to terms with the show’s producers, but the roles are expected to be recast at this point.

I haven’t watched The Simpsons in years, but I’m hoping this paves the way for a Spinal Tap reunion.

– From the set of Captain America: Civil War, via JustJared, here’s the first image of Crossbones’ costume:

– Seth Rogen tweeted out the first on-set image from AMC’s Preacher last night, which sees Dominic Cooper’s Jesse Custer talking with Ian Colletti’s Arseface:

– According to Collider, the sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes now has a title: War of the Planet of the Apes. It’s a bit of a mouth-full, but I guess no one would go see a movie called “Monkey Fight”, which I was lobbying pretty hard for.

– Lastly, there’s a pretty great True Detective Season 2 teaser out now via HBO. I may be more excited about this premiere than any other show this year, even the Mad Men finale!

Cops, carnies, and a Cretaceous Caligula are coming to your screens.

Hundreds of hours' worth of animation is newly available to stream online.

Slide down Jake's slippery fur coat at Cartoon Network's new waterpark in Asia.

Clarence is headed back to the 1920s.

What power-ups will Steven Universe bust-out of his trusty cheeseburger backpack?

C.H. Greenblatt, creator of the animated series "Chowder," is back with a new series, "Harvey Beaks," that premieres this Sunday on Nickelodeon.

"Don’t spend any money, but be more encouraging of risk," says Adult Swim honcho Mike Lazzo.

Scholastic will close the Boston-based animation studio as part of a restructuring effort.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup don't look a day over five, but they turn 20 years old today.

"Powerpuff Girls" is being rebooted by "Adventure Time" art director Nick Jennings.