Even though Fox may have axed shows like Alcatraz and The Finder, they are at least going to be in the Seth MacFarlane business for a while longer. That’s right, the network has renewed Family Guy and American Dad for another season. Both will be getting 22 episode orders.

As for MacFarlane’s other show on Fox, The Cleveland Show, no word yet on if it will be getting another season, which would be its fifth. This is reportedly not because of the network’s lack of confidence in the show but rather because it already has quite a few episodes of it ready and the show is still in production.

The network is apparently waiting to see how next year’s schedule comes together before making a decision. Of course, that could just be a nice way of saying the show is going to be canceled but they just don’t want to tell anyone yet.

In other Fox animated news, The Simpsons already has a two-year renewal, Bob’s Burgers‘ third season pickup was announced in January, Allen Gregory has been canceled, and Napoleon Dynamite is still,as they say, “on the bubble.”

That’s okay, we’re just glad Family Guy is coming back. It’s a funny show that just seems to get better and better.

Before you flip your collective lids, the Family Guy creator isn’t taking on another live action venture into the residents of Bedrock. Instead, Macfarlane is working with Fox on a brand new animated series based on the modern Stone Age family.

While Macfarlane’s still fighting the PTC on whether or not his show should still be on the air, it looks like he’s getting the full support of Fox to work on a weekly animated Flintstones show. From THR:

Much will remain the same about the cartoon that aired in primetime on ABC from 1960-66, but the creator of Family Guy and The Cleveland Show says some updates will be necessary: “What’s the animal version of the iPod?” he said. “That’s the kind of thing we have to think about.”

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Starting with the cultural phenom that is The Simpsons in 1989, Fox has been the undisputed king of prime-time animation. They have given us King of the Hill, Futurama, Family Guy and American Dad, but they maintain a reputation of being corporate monsters who will kill any show that doesn’t meet their insane expectations. Even going as far as trying to murder two of those classic shows in their primes and snuffing out The Critic before it’s time.

So fans of the wonderful new show Bob’s Burgers have had the nagging fear in the back of their heads that Fox doesn’t quite get it. Well fear no more Bob’s Burger-philes (or is it Bob’s Burgonians?), Fox has renewed the show for a second season.

This is fantastic news because Bob’s Burgers is the best animated show currently running in the Animation Domination line-up on Sunday nights. Family Guy has lost it’s way, The Simpsons is solid, but has lost the spark that made it must watch TV in the 90′s, and the less said about The Cleveland Show the better. Only American Dad seems to be firing on all cylinders these days, and even that show doesn’t match the consistency Bob’s Burgers has shown in its short run thus far.

Until they gets off the Seth MacFarlane bandwagon, Bob’s Burgers is the last, best hope for Fox’s reign as prime-time animation king.

Back in 2004, fans were introduced for the first time to the animated world of Drawn Together. What started off as an animated spoof on subjects ranging from Josie and the Pussycats to Big Brother later turned into an out of control thrill ride of raunchiness and comedy, some of which would even make the writers on South Park blush.

Sadly, the vulgarity and hilarity wasn’t enough to sustain Comedy Central’s expectations, and the show was canceled in 2008. Luckily, the sales of the DVD and internet buzz kept the show alive just enough for the network to offer creators Matt Silverstein and Dan Jeser a direct-to-DVD feature, which hits shelves today.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Matt and Dave to discuss the fall of Drawn Together and what the sales on The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie could mean for the future of the franchise.

The Flickcast: Before we get started, I wanted to let you guys know how much we dug the DVD around The Flickcast office. It was exactly what we were looking for as fans of the series. We were in stitches.

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When you have shows like The Simpsons well into twenty years on television, a sixth season renewal for any show doesn’t seem so grand. However, I’m excited about American Dad coming back because it’s easily my favorite animated show on TV right now. You read that right, American Dad is the best in my opinion.

Fortunately, I’m not alone. American Dad “rates among the season’s top 10 shows with men 18-49 and adults 18-34″ and was recently nominated for outstanding animated program.  Well deserved I might add. This season six renewal, along with the second season pickup of The Cleveland Show, means creator Seth MacFarlane maintains his lock on Fox‘s Sunday night “animation domination” lineup.  Not bad for a guy who had his original series, Family Guy, canceled only to return after record-breaking DVD sales.

As to the reason why I prefer American Dad, it’s quite simple. The Simpsons has completely lost it’s edge in my opinion. For anyone who watched the last Halloween special you’ll know what I mean (boring!). Family Guy is still funny but like The Simpsons all too often builds off absurd circumstances which drives the characters and can get old really fast. Same goes for The Cleveland Show.

American Dad, on the other hand, affords the characters themselves the opportunity to get into, and out of, trouble on their own accord. In particular, Stan Smith’s unabated self-assurance and political ideology is spectacular to watch when it seems the world is out to prove him wrong. American Dad stands out because it lets the characters lead the story instead of  the story leading them. Not a lot of animated shows do that these days which makes American Dad so enjoyable.

Check out American Dad Sunday’s on Fox along with The Simpsons, Family Guy and The Cleveland Show.

Well, we all knew this day would come. When something pure and excellent in the world of animated comedy would eventually get tapped in an attempt to make more money and multiply. It happens with the best of things: Macaroni and Cheese becomes Spider-Man Shaped Mac and Cheese, iPhone brought on the Gphone, and Family Guy brought on American Dad (which isn’t all that bad) and now The Cleveland Show. One of these things are still great (looking at you, web-shaped macaroni), but sadly the rest come across as poor knockoffs, and truly miss the point, especially the spin-off about Peter Griffin’s affable-yet-slow neighbor, Cleveland Brown.

Mike Henry, who writes for Family Guy and voices Cleveland, is now leaving the show, and taking his voice with him. With Seth McFarlane as one of the hottest and highest paid TV writers in Hollywood today, Fox was easily talked into a second spin-off to the twice canceled series about a family from Rhode Island.

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