Fox's cartoon funhouse returns

Fox’s cartoons return Sunday, so the fall season is officially here, so quit going outside and enjoying the fresh air and start watching Television again, dammit! The beleaguered network executives are depending on you!

“The Simpsons”

“I will not wait 20 years to make another movie,” Bart writes on the chalkboard during the opening title sequence as the 38th season of “The Simpsons” begins Sunday on Fox.

How does one write about “The Simpsons” anymore? For years, the conventional wisdom has been that it may be true that it’s no longer as brilliant as it once was but it’s still plenty entertaining, or perhaps we’re just taking it for granted (I opt for the former); whatever the case, if you’re channel-surfing and you come upon it and you watch, you’re hardly ever disappointed.

So, the plot: Mr. Burns takes Homer for a ride in his private jet; Homer gets depressed knowing he will never live as high on the hog (his “summer love,” per the title sequence) again. Flying “Commercial is for losers and terrorists,” he opines. “It’s the difference between Champagne and carbonated pee.”

The guest voices: Lionel Richie, onflight entertainment on Burns’ jet; Stephen Colbert as a charlatan life coach who tries to motivate Homer (and good luck with that).

“King of the Hill”

Fox keeps trying to kill “King of the Hill” (a couple of its cast members told me that it wasn’t coming back two seasons ago), but you can’t keep down a man as stoic and enduring as Hank Hill. After all these years, it’s still sort of impressive that one of primetime TV’s most quietly nuanced character studies is on a cartoon.

So anyhoo, as Hank’d say, Sunday finds Hank over the moon about the fact that Bobby’s showing an interest in football. He tries to encourage that interest by taking his son to a Texas Longhorns game, where he soon learns just how costly the toll of fandom really is.

I’m not sure I’ve really laughed out loud at an episode of “King of the Hill” in years, but its steady, laconic look at one ordinary Texan (if there is such a thing) trying to make sense of a world that is passing him by still seems fresh.

“Family Guy”

Here’s a thermonuclear detonation of sheer geek joy: “Family Guy’s” authorized parody of “Star Wars.” Featuring Stewie as Darth Vader, Chris as Luke, Lois as Princess Vader, Brian as Chewbacca and, playing well against type, Peter as Han Solo (blink and you’ll miss Meg), it’s an oddly affectionate affair by “Family Guy” standards, omitting (no doubt in deference to George Lucas) the sort of snarky, anarchic humor of the rest of the series. And there’s a loving attention to detail in the animation, as the sundry space cruisers are depicted with a fanboy obsession to accuracy.

Still, it has its funny moments. An imperial cruiser wafts through the cosmos with a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on its tail, light sabers also double as bug zappers and the elevator on the Death Star plays a Muzak version of the “Star Wars” theme.

It concludes with Chris and Peter arguing whether or not the fact that Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken” did its own “Star Wars” parody episode over the summer steals from “Family Guy’s” thunder. Peter dumps on “Robot Chicken,” dismissing it as barely meeting the requirements of a real TV show. The joke, of course, is that Chris is voiced by Seth Green, “Robot Chicken’s” creator.

- “The Simpsons:” 8 p.m. Sunday, Fox Channel 11.
- “King of the Hill:” 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Fox Channel 11.
- “Family Guy:” 9 p.m. Sunday, Fox – oh, you know.