TV update

Drawn Together (Comedy Central, Wednesdays, 10:30 pm)
I really will watch nearly anything, as evidenced by my (barely) sitting through this really bad animated reality-show parody. The idea is kind of funny: A bunch of cartoon-character stereotypes (rip-offs of Superman, Pikachu, Betty Boop, Porky Pig, Josie of Pussycats fame, a Disney princess, SpongeBob SquarePants and some sort of video game character) shack up in a house reminiscent of The Real World. If the show focused more on parodying the typical antics of reality-show contestants (which it half-heartedly does to middling success) instead of engaging in lame, vulgar humor, it might be funny. Instead, we get the pig character, voiced by comedic genius Adam Carolla, defecating in various receptacles. This is the show's top running gag: Where will the pig shit next? Ugh.

LAX (NBC, Wednesdays, 8 pm)
As it's gotten to the point in the season where I realize I can't possibly keep watching all the shows I started with, I've given up on this one. I was sort of ready to do it anyway, since while I liked a lot of what they were doing, they weren't able to settle on a consistent tone or level of quality. But NBC's moving it Wednesdays opposite Lost, which is the best new show of the season, just sealed the deal. There's no way I'm going to go out of my way to tape a show I'm not that interested in in the first place. I didn't even watch the last episode in the old time slot, which tells you how dedicated I wasn't. Still, it'd be nice to see the show succeed, since it's better than most of the other crap out there, and network TV in general would be poorer without Heather Locklear on the air.

Life as We Know It (ABC, Thursdays, 9 pm)
I've also given up on this one, which I never really liked in the first place, but kept watching because I wanted to see if it would eventually justify the critical buzz. It hasn't. Just another bland, predictable teen drama, with mediocre acting and disappointingly pedestrian writing, especially since the creators are former Freaks & Geeks staffers. Even the appearance of former Freaks & Geeks star Samm Levine in the last episode couldn't save it. Really this season's biggest let-down as far as I'm concerned.

South Park (Comedy Central, Wednesdays, 10 pm)
A good start to the latest season, with a political soapbox episode that also manages to be pretty funny. The parody of P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" nonsense was totally spot-on, and the message about the over-emphasis on voting, while seen as irresponsible by some, was something I definitely agreed with. This show has been really hit-or-miss for a while now, but this one was a hit and bodes well for the latest batch of new episodes.