The Venture Bros.

Original Air Date: 2003-Present

Network: Cartoon Network

Yet another instant classic from the people at Adult Swim, The Venture Bros. takes the well-worn tropes of Jonny Quest and its ilk and adapts them for the snarkier audiences of today. The brothers of the title are the dimwitted Hank and Dean Venture, who thanks to their sketchy hyper-intelligent scientist dad find themselves in all manner of adventures. Along to protect the boys from Dr. Venture's enemies, and from themselves sometimes, is the muscled secret-agent/bodyguard Brock Samson. Full of pop-culture references and off-color humor, the show operates as a sort of postmodern take on the Jonny Quests of yesteryear: The Venture Bros.' revered creators, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, have said that the show is all about failure -- which may or may not be yet another joke from the pair. But looking at the misadventures of Hank and Dean and the rest, this take on things sort of fits, doesn't it?