The Venture Bros.

What’s the Story?

In parody cartoon THE VENTURE BROS., which is part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, the titular brothers, Hank and Dean Venture (voiced by Christopher McCulloch and Michael Sinterniklaas, respectively), are a pair of bumbling, naive teenagers whose father, Dr. Venture (James Urbaniak), is a world-renowned super-scientist. Actually, he's the son of a world-renowned super-scientist, constantly cowering in his late father's shadow and trying to live up to the Venture name -- the more he fails, the more he retreats into a fog of prescription painkillers and booze. Brock Samson (Patrick Warburton) is a shadowy figure, a former government agent gone seriously homicidal, who has sworn to protect the boys at all costs. The Ventures' primary nemesis is The Monarch (McCulloch again), a megalomaniac intent on taking over the world while wearing a butterfly costume, who is assisted by Dr. Girlfriend (Doc Hammer), who has the body of a supermodel and the voice of a Bronx wrestler.

Is It Any Good?

For a certain segment of the population, there's simply no funnier cartoon on television than The Venture Bros. The jokes are fast and furious, the tone is very mature, and the animation recalls a bygone era when people actually cared about the look of cartoons. That said, with its edgy content and mature tone, this isn't one for the kids.

Early episodes were self-contained genre parodies, since the cartoon was initially seen as a short-lived effort. But as the series progressed and it started to look like there was long-term potential, some continuity began to creep in. Plot lines developed that required attention and, strangely, a sense of caring.