If you read my reviews of Moral Orel, you know I've been a fan since the first episode. It's often misunderstood as being nothing more than an eleven-minute joke at the expense of Christians, but its real target is not Christians or Christianity, it's how people will twist and contort their religion until it jives with their own selfish needs. The stop-animated residents of Moralton aren't seeking any kind of Divine Truth, they just want a religion of convenience.

Granted, Moral Orel can sometimes be quite vicious in its satire, but that's comedy. Aside from knock-knock jokes and preschool riddles, it's rare that comedy, and especially satire, doesn't offend on some level. Another "truth" about comedy is that you shouldn't analyze it too closely. The more you tear into it to see what makes it work, the more the magic seeps out of it.

Animation Magazine has an article about an upcoming two-minute sequence in NBC's My Name is Earl. In it, one of the characters has an accident and sees everything in stop-motion vision. All the characters from Earl will appear as clay animation puppets (actually, they're made of silicone, not clay, but you get the idea). The two-minute sequence also includes an appearance by Christian Slater. The puppets were created by Rob Ronning, who has also created characters for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, The PJs, Robot Chicken and Moral Oral. Cool!

The episode airs Thursday, November 16th. It's part of a night of 'Super-Sized' shows, including a longer version of The Office and 30 Rock.

[Via TV Tattle]

It's been a long wait, and almost a month since we saw a new episode, but the final episode of Moral Orel (actually the second episode, but let's not argue semantics) is finally going to hit the airwaves on July 30 at 12:15 a.m., if this schedule is telling the truth. The episode is titled "God's Chef" and the plot revolves around a plan hatched by Orel to masturbate but still get into heaven. I'm already piecing together what that might entail in my twisted brain, but I'm sure whatever Dino and the crew have come up with is far more hilarious than anything I could have imagined.

(S01E09)

Dad: You need to start behaving like more of an adult around here.

Orel: But dad, I'm only twelve.

Dad: That's no excuse. Why your own personal hero, Jesus, was very mature at your age.

Orel: He was?

Dad: Of course. At twelve he was already busy proving the Jews wrong.

Orel: It's only track, not church.

 

Dad: Only track? Young man, track is very important for your future. What happens when you grow up and need to sprint thirty meters to the unemployment office?

Orel: I never thought about it that way.

Dad: Kids your age seldom do. It's called "stupidity" and it's a very natural thing.

Someone remind me to send Dino Stamatopoulos a fruit basket for creating one of the most hilarious animated shows I've ever seen in my life. Much like Mr. Show, which Stamatopoulos also worked on, an episode of Moral Orel will probably require a few viewings to fully appreciate it.