You may remember that back in the earlier part of this decade, Spike TV resurrected Ren & Stimpy. Basically they gave creator John K. free reign, and he delivered 10 adult-themed episodes. The emphasis was clearly on the visuals; the sole purpose of the stories were to add some semblance of structure to each animated sequence—but the animation was superb.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is pretty much the same thing.

The animation is top-notch and heavily derived from John K.’s style. And, like John K.’s cartoons, it’s filled with innumerable little details and delightful visual gags while at the same time maintaining a sense of spontaneity and chaos.

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This week on The Flickcast your favorite trio celebrates a milestone episode 25 and discusses a whole bunch of new topics including the Emmy Awards, Neil Patrick Harris’ hosting performance and Dick Cook stepping down from Disney. They also take on topics such as Christopher Nolan’s plans for a Dark Knight sequel, Johnny Depp’s future as Jack Sparrow and the future of the Pirate’s franchise, the Kirby family lawsuit, the season premiere of Heroes and a whole lot more.

Also, the team makes another set of great picks this week including Christina’s favorite CW show Gossip Girl, Matt’s pick of the web series The Legend of Neil and Chris’ pick of The Big Bang Theory, his favorite show involving four geeky physicists, the hot girl across the hall, Star Trek, robot wars and Comic-Con.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Thanks for listening.

Tonight marks a big night for ABC as the pilots for three new shows are on the menu. Between Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick, we can tell you which one we here at The Flickcast are most excited about.

Eastwick is essentially a episodic reboot of the John Updike novel, but better known as the 1987 film starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Cher about a coven of witches that unknowingly summon The Devil to their small town and individually become seduced by him.

Same premise here, but instead we get Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price (Lipstick Jungle), and Jamie Ray Newman (Eureka) with newcomer Paul Gross (Due South) as the three witches and The Devil, a.k.a. Darryl Van Horne. Overall, the show looks to be a fresh mix of both Desperate Housewives and Charmed.

Check out two brand new clips from tonight’s series premiere. In the first clip, Darryl tries his good looks and slick tongue on Roxie (Romijn) in order to get her into his bed. In the second, the three sisters meet Darryl together for the first time, and it proves to be interesting. Catch the premiere episode on ABC tonight at 10pm/9pm Central.

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Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s movie machine keeps humming along as another of her novels has been grabbed by producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz. The trio, fresh from adapting Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to the big screen, reportedly used their own funds to acquire Meyer’s The Host, her first adult novel. In addition, the producers have tapped Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, The Truman Show) to pen the script and direct.

In case you’re only familiar with Meyer’s Twilight novels, The Host follows a similar pattern and is a bittersweet love story set in a near future Earth which has been assimilated by an alien species of benevolent parasites. These creatures call themselves “Souls.” One such soul, the Wanderer, is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth.

According to the report, Meyer had, in the past, refused all offers to bring The Host to the big screen. But apparently, these producers came to the table with the right combination of deal and vision for the project which finally made her agree. Having never read The Host, nor any of the Twilight novels, all I can say is this must be good news for those of you who have. Judging from fan’s reaction to those books and films, I have little doubt The Host will meet with similar success — especially if the film somehow features Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Summit releases the second adaptation of Meyers’ vampire series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, on Nov. 20.

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Shaun of the Dead, Observe and Report, Castle: The Complete First Season and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles — which we are reviewing for next Tuesday’s DVD Review.

Check them out.

Movies

Battle for Terra ~ David Cross, Danny Glover Mark Hamill (DVD)

Clive Barker’s Book of Blood ~ Sophie Ward, Jonas Armstrong (DVD)

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ~ Matthew McConaughey (DVD)

Gojira ~ Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kochi (Blu-ray)

Observe and Report ~ Seth Rogen (DVD and Blu-ray)

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Sony’s been on our radar a lot recently here at The Flickcast- first with the release of the Playstation 3 Slim and recently with the upcoming PSPGo. Now, G4 brings to our attention a document posted by MCV, stating that the entire Playstation 2 game catalog will soon be available for purchase on the Playstation Network.

The move is no surprise, as the PS3 Slim doesn’t have PS2 backwards compatibility. Making the catalog available would certainly silence some gamer complaints, and maybe even boost PS3 and PS3 Slim sales. However, this change may be frustrating to gamers who have held onto their PS2 games, and might not want to repurchase them. It also could cause a drop in sales on boxed PS2 titles, which are still sold in stores.

We’re sure to find out all the details during the Tokyo Game Show, especially when Sony delivers their keynote speech this Thursday. For now, we’ll keep this on the rumor pile.

According to the official Google Blog, a long-awaited feature for Google Sync on iPhone and Windows Mobile has arrived. I’m talking, of course, about Push email. According Google, they “believe that our customers should be able to access their information on the mobile device of their choice, using the applications of their choice. That’s why we’re excited today to announce support for push mail on iPhone and Windows Mobile devices.”

According to the search giant, using Google Sync “you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone. Having an over-the-air, always-on connection means that your inbox is up to date, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.” This new feature “works with your phone’s native email application so there’s no additional software needed.” But that’s not all.

If you only want to sync your email but not calendars, Google Sync can do that. It allows you to sync just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three. Google Sync for iPhone and Windows is free to all Google Apps customers. If you’re already using Google Sync for contacts and calendar, push mail is automatically enabled. iPhone and Windows Mobile users can set up Google Sync in a few easy steps directly from their phones, and those already syncing Calendar and Contacts can simply enable Mail sync on their phones.

Google Sync is also available for people with personal Gmail and Google Calendar accounts. So, its not just for business customers — which is a good thing. Now to configure this on my iPhone and hope it doesn’t break anything. Should be interesting.

For previous installments of Dave’s Weekly Comic Book Recommendations, go here.

Slim pickings yet again this week. From DC Comics, we have the entire Blackest Night Tales from the Corps for $7.99, and the final issue of the exceptionally wonderful Wednesday Comics.

From Marvel we have the third issue of the exceptionally fun Immortal Weapons, and the first issue of Spider-Woman #1 comes out. If you haven’t been watching the “motion comic,” via the iTunes download, then get the series in this more traditional format. Its a lot better. Especially with the former Daredevil team Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev at the helm.

From last week, the softcover of Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel’s The Alcoholic came out from Vertigo. For those of you who caught the new HBO series Bored to Death and are interested in Jason Schwartzman’s character’s work in graphic novel form, you ought to pick that up.

And well, to be honest, there isn’t anything else that interests me this week so that’s about it. As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

Much like it will when the actual zombie apocalypse comes, the internet was abound with zombie discussion as Left 4 Dead had a dashboard update for users who logged in to the game today. Many were expecting to see the new “Crash Course” campaign but instead were treated to a revised Heads Up Display for the Infected during versus mode. Though some speculate that the update might also offer some of the code foundation for when “Crash Course” does go live.

The main noticeable change is the Infected HUD. Now, during matches, infected players can see the recharge meter for their teammate’s special attacks. While this seems like a minor change, it will end up adding a huge degree of strategy and planning to the often chaotic Infected teams. Without knowing their teammate’s standing, many players will often go full steam ahead repeatedly instead of specifically planning out attacks. This change can lead to a much more coordinated effort, increasing the challenge of completing levels for the Survivors.

More interesting to note though is the groundwork seemingly laid out for the addition of 10 new achievements added to the XBox 360 version. As reported by Kotaku, the game’s in-game achievements list now says a player has whatever number of achievements they have gained out of 60 instead of the original 50, though these ten new achievements are not listed anywhere in the menu.

Strangely though, XBox.com and the XBox 360 Dashboard still list a player’s current achievements out of 50. As a result, Valve message boards have been flooded with speculation as to what this means, or if it was just a mistake in the coding.

Stay tuned to the Flickcast for more Left 4 Dead, “Crash Course” and Left 4 Dead 2 news as it becomes available.

This week we’re bringing you lots of new interviews with some of the people behind the scenes of the new DC Animated DVD Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Yesterday, we talked to screenwriter Stan Berkowitz on both adapting Jeph Loeb’s original story and possible plans for cameos in the film.

Today, we bring you an interview of a different ilk. Introducing Michael Goguen, who some may know by name, but most know by style. MIchael has been working in as a character developer and producer for animated series for nearly 20 years. He had worked on the original Batman: The Animated Series, as producing The Spectacular Spider-Man and another DC animated DVD in Justice League: New Frontier.

Michael was able to speak with us on animating Ed McGuinness’ art style (which is already quite animated) into something slightly darker and more coherent to the adaptation. Check out the interview after the jump, and keep it here for more Superman/Batman: Public Enemies interviews all week in preparation for it’s September 29th release!

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Its pretty rare these days that I watch a TV show for the first time and instantly like it. Usually, a show takes time to grow on me or, in many cases, doesn’t and I end up moving on to something else. Like most people, my time is valuable and I only have so much, so I want to spend time where it counts watching shows of quality. Much to my happiness, The Big Bang Theory is a show I instantly liked and have been a devoted watcher of from day one.

The setup may seem rather familiar to anyone who’s watched a sitcom in the last twenty years. Sheldon and Leonard (Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons) two nerdy, comic book loving physicists live together in an apartment while they work at a nearby university. Their perfect world of video games, trips to the comic book store and Chinese food nights is thrown into chaos when the gorgeous Penny (Kaley Cuoco) moves in across the hall.

Leonard, of course, is instantly smitten and begins to develop a friendship with the new neighbor that he hopes will eventually lead to more — much to the chagrin of his somewhat eccentric roommate Sheldon who, above all, values his routine and especially his particular seat on the sofa.

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The A-Team cast continues to grow with the addition of Patrick Wilson who will play a CIA operative in the new film. Wilson joins the star lineup of Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley and Jessica Biel.  If you don’t recognize Wilson’s name you’ll probably remember him best for his role as Night Owl II in Watchmen.

Wilson delivered a great performance as the second Night Owl. Not only did he convey a sense of mundane self-deprecation but in complete contrast brought some serious action scenes to the film as well. All that and he still found the time for a pretty good love scene with Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman). That range of acting should help Wilson craft a worth ally, or adversary, for The A-Team.

The A-Team rides into theaters June 11, 2010.