Let it be known that my son knows a good thing when he sees it. He's 14 now, but between the ages of six and 10, he was obsessed with Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, a Cartoon Network show that just earned an Emmy. Character designer Ben Balistreri won in the juried award category for individual achievement in animation for the "Mondo Coco" episode.

I would see the show in passing and think, what the heck is this? It just looked so weird, and the animation is practically primitive compared to today's CG standards. But the concept is somewhat more complicated.

In the Foster's universe, imaginary friends become physical beings the instant a child imagines them. An Imaginary Friend is completely real and can be seen, heard, and felt by all under most circumstances. The only problem is that children outgrow them, and they're left to fend for themselves.

That's where Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends comes in. Founded by the elderly Madame Foster, it provides a foster home for abandoned Friends. According to the episode "Emancipation Complication," there are 2,038 Friends currently residing in the Home, and they're all quite creative and fluid, sort of like our imaginations. The house motto is: "Where good ideas are not forgotten," and the stories revolve around 8-year-old Mac and his Imaginary Friend, Bloo.

This isn't your average cartoon, where a simple mystery is solved or superheroes save the world from yet another legion of doom. Much thought goes into Foster's, which is why I decided it was good viewing fare for my impressionable son.

Even the episode titles are ingenious, such as "The Trouble With Scribbles," "The Big Lablooski," "My So-Called Wife," and "Room With a Feud." There's usually a message, but not the preachy, in-your-face kind. More subtle, something kids are more likely to absorb. Foster's has been on the air for six seasons since 2004, and I hope it continues for a good long while, even though my son has moved on to Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender, shows which also feature complicated characters and storylines.

Also taking home an Emmy is Teresa Drilling, key animator for CBS' Creature Comforts episode entitled "Self Image, Winging It, Art."

Juried awards are selected in categories in which there are no nominees, and winners are selected by a blue-ribbon panel of experts. Categories may have more than one winner or no winners at all.

This year's Emmy Awards will air September 21 on ABC.