Sorry for the last minute notice, but our friend Joseph Games (Chogrin) says a full-length preview episode of Adventure Time will air TONIGHT (Thursday, March 11th) at 8:30pm Eastern (5:30pm Pacific) on Cartoon Network.

With so little originality in TV animation these days, I’m really rooting for this series to catch on. It’s not “Spumco” or the cookie cutter standard we’ve come to expect from CN, Nick or Disney. Pen’s got a fresh new take that TV cartoons desperately need. His art style it isn’t everyone’s “cup of tea”, but I love it - and we need more artists and creators like him.

The show’s official premiere will be on Monday, April 5th. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, visit Pen Ward’s website, read the production blog, watch the original pilot and check out the cool tribute art by The Autumn Society.

Michael Sporn has posted an amazing article about Harvey Kurtzman’s animated work for Sesame Street. There’s a lot of rare artwork in the piece alongside info on how he collaborated with Phil Kimmelman and Associates to make the cartoons.

In particular what stood out to me is this unbelievable page of animation drawings by Dante Barbetta. Loose, free and funny animation—it’s what shows like Chowder can only dream of being.

Here’s the finished piece:

I don’t know much about the new Pink Panther and Pals series - which premieres this Sunday March 7th on Cartoon Network at 7:30am Eastern (4:30am Pacific) - except I like the redesigns of the Ant and the Aardvark. The new show features three six-minute cartoons - two featuring a “teenage Pink Panther” and one Ant and Aardvark short in the middle. 26 episodes were produced by MGM Animation. There’s no animation online, but here’s a bunch of still images to tide you over till Sunday.

(Thanks, Bob Spang)

The Ricky Gervais Show, produced by Wild Brain LA, premieres tonight on HBO. If you’ve seen it, share your thoughts on the show. For those without cable, the complete first episode can be viewed on the HBO website (not available in all countries).

Last month I told you about Debra J. Solomon’s remarkable one-woman hand drawn independent animation special, Getting Over Him in 8 Songs or Less. Tomorrow night, on Valentine’s Day, the film will receive it’s television premiere on HBO2 at 7:30pm Eastern/4:30pm Pacific.

This is a beautiful, funny and poignant film - and a rarity for HBO or any U.S. broadcaster to produce. Highly recommended - set the TiVo.

Head on over to Facebook to view a 12-minute unaired 2007 Nickelodeon pilot created by Chris Reccardi and Lynne Naylor. The Modifyers is a sixties spy spoof with incredibly beautiful design in every shot. Gorgeous eye candy - and funny too. Direction and Music score by Chris Reccardi.

Mary Blair, Richard Scarry, Fyodor Khitruk’s Winnie the Pooh, and anime-styled cuteness are all mashed together in this colorful trailer for Mouk, an upcoming TV series produced by French studio Millimages. It’s based on illustrator Marc Boutavant’s book Around the World with Mouk. Sixty-two eleven-minute episodes and thirty one-minute shorts for web/mobile are currently in production.

(Thanks, Philippe Bercovici)

Cartoon Network may be trying to attract teens through live-action, but never fear - they haven’t left animation completely behind. Apparently in an effort to sponsor the worst animation in the world, they’ve greenlit a new sci-fi cartoon show being made by an Italian company called Mondo TV (the lovely people behind Titanic: The Animated Movie). It’s called Virus Attack and it’s about five teens who fight alien viruses who turn out to literally be aliens. It’s coming to Italy in December 2010, just in time for the holidays, before coming to Cartoon Network USA sometime in 2011. Here’s a sneak peek:

(Thanks, Liam)