Cartoon Series

If Howard Rosenberg is such a fan of adult, offbeat humor (re his Feb. 23 rave about "The Simpsons" cartoon series) he should try reading his own newspaper. Compared to what passes for TV comedy these days, the show is indeed a standout. But compared to the dozen or so brilliant cartoons and comic strips that appear in The Times, "The Simpsons" seems pale. "Calvin and Hobbs," "Mr. Boffo," "Sally Forth," "Cathy," "The Neighborhood," "Bent Offerings," "Ziggy," "Mother Goose and Grimm" and "Herman," plus the venerable "Peanuts," "Doonesbury" and "The Far Side," consistently provide more intelligence, sophistication, psychological and cultural insight, off-the-wall perspectives and flat-out hip hilarity.

Gun violence in schools isn't your typical Saturday-morning cartoon series topic, but as it turns out, "Static Shock," the WB animated action series about a 14-year-old with "electromagnetic" powers, isn't your typical Saturday-morning cartoon series. This younger-skewing version of the Milestone/DC Comics property stars an African American superhero, and combines cartoon action with substantial teen-centric stories about such issues as racism and homelessness.

A beloved icon of pop culture will join the Saturday morning TV 'toon lineup this week: an animated series for ABC based on the MGM film "The Wizard of Oz." How do you repackage a classic without offending fans, and at the same time attract young viewers avid for the high-tech antics of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"? Very carefully, say its creators at DIC Enterprises Inc. "The Wizard of Oz" debuts Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42.

Bob Arbogast, 81, a comedy writer and radio personality for several Los Angeles stations in the 1960s, died Saturday of cancer at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, according to his family. Arbogast, who was residing in Mariposa, Calif., was the father of longtime USC football announcer Pete Arbogast. Born in Bellingham, Wash., on April 1, 1927, he attended Marshall High School in Los Angeles and served in the Navy at the end of World War II. After his discharge, he attended L.A. City College and the University of Arizona and did some radio work in Tucson.

I am the daughter of Jay Ward, the managing director of Jay Ward Productions Inc., the executive producer of the theatrical "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" but, most important here, the spokeswoman for the entire Ward family. We went to express our extreme unhappiness about Patrick Goldstein's article "The Misadventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Other Tales from Remake Hell" (July 11). Goldstein states he doesn't know whom the movie was made for, that it didn't have any attitude and that it lacked nostalgic appeal to baby boomers.

"Class of 3000" is a smart, amiable, colorful new cartoon series from and starring musician-actor Andre "3000" Benjamin, best known as half of the eclectic hip-hop outfit OutKast. Benjamin and co-creator Tom Lynch (of the Nickelodeon classic "The Secret World of Alex Mack" and more recently the young-adult series "South of Nowhere" and the 'tween comedy "Romeo!"

The eerie films of the Czech artist Jan Svankmajer, airing tonight on "Alive From Off Center" (KCET Channel 28 at 11), are utterly unlike the cartoon series that American audiences associate with the word animation . There are no talking mice, no slapstick comedy, no sticks of dynamite and no merchandise characters.

Blame it on the breakneck deadlines, the need for merchandising tie-ins or the combination of shrinking advertising revenues and rising production costs: The producers of Saturday-morning cartoons have apparently identified their mission as "to boldly go where everyone has gone before." Nearly all the season's new programs (which began rolling out last week and continue today) are based on or adapted from something else.

The Guinness Book of World Records is setting a record of its own in 2005 -- it's turning 50 years old. And the special-anniversary edition of the book features records set in every category imaginable, including the arts and media. Though some of the records there are familiar -- yes, "The Matrix Reloaded" set the mark for highest box-office gross on an opening day ($42.5 million) -- tucked into the list are numerous lesser-known feats and facts: Most prolific producer: D.