Easily the funniest thing I've seen all week

One of the joys about working where I do (and with layoffs constantly looming, there are less and less of them) is that I'm surrounded by a pretty good set of geeks who know what I like and send me cool things in the e-mail. The above image, apparently created by someone named Evan Shaner, was sent to me by the Telegraph's Web guru, Ryan Gilchrest, and as you can see it's pretty priceless in mashing up "Watchmen" with the "Peanuts" gang.

My favorite thing would have to be Snoopy as Rohrschach, but Charlie Brown makes a pretty darn funny Dr. Manhattan too. And Lucy's chaste version of the Silk Spectre costume is just perfect.

Beyond that goodness, here today it's about what's upcoming in TV, and whether or not there will be anything new or returning worth watching as the silly season kicks up next month. The short answer, of course, is I have no idea since I haven't seen any of these, but here are a few that have caught my eye, with their premiere dates.

Castle, ABC, March 9
Is a likable star enough of a reason to tune in? This series will put that to the test with Nathan Fillion (a k a Captain Mal and that woo-pitching doctor in "Waitress") in the title role as a crime novelist who, natch, solves actual crimes. Sounds nothing but tired, but Fillion's enough to get me to tune in to yet another Monday night show for at least a few episodes.

South Park, Comedy Central, March 11
What's to say about this one except that mssrs. Stone and Parker did some of their best work with two episodes in the most recent season, "Major Boobage" and "Over Logging." The Heavy Metal tribute in "Boobage" was just especially cool. It's pretty amazing that these guys are not only still on the air but also now at least a billion times funnier than "The Simpsons." Bring it on.

Kings, NBC, March 15
Along with "Deadwood" vet Ian McShane (or as one clever journalist called him the other day, Ian Swearsalot) in the lead role of the king, this show has a pretty clever premise going for it too. It takes the story of David, complete with Goliath and all, not only into the modern world but into some kind of parallel realm called Shiloh. It sounds entirely too crazy for TV, so I give it about a month, but I'll tune in for at least the two-hour premiere March 15 to see just what this madness looks like.

Parks and Recreation, April 9
If you're a regular viewer of "The Office" (and if you're not, why not?), you've seen so many promos for this show that you might already be sick of it more than a month before it even premieres. And, frankly, I can normally only take Amy Poehler in small doses (though she was great as that psycho R.A. in "Undeclared"), but here she's surrounded by very funny people in Rashida Jones and Aziz Ansari, and since this comes from the minds of "Office" creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, I'll at least have to give it a chance.

Sit Down, Shut Up, April 19

Definitely saving the best for last, I'm jazzed for this animated offering from "Arrested Development" mastermind Mitch Hurwitz, which will soon be entering Fox's Sunday night lineup (unfortunately to replace "King of the Hill," but that great show had a much longer run than I expected, so I suppose it's time to move on.) This oddity is based on a New Zealand (not Australian, as several commenters have told me) sitcom about high school teachers who are at least as self-absorbed and pretty much useless as their students. As you can see from the preview below, it also features several "Arrested Development" vets in the voice cast, so this should really be nothing but fun. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Saturday. Peace out.