The Baltormore Sun has a good article about the state of cartoons that make the jump to the small screen. The synopsis:
It’s not so much an animation explosion as it is a continuing accretion of cartoons ? like a growth of colorful kudzu. And much if not most of it is very good indeed, more reliably inventive, witty, lively and fun than what the makers of live-action television offer. Perhaps it’s because cartoons are imagined from the ground up and because they’re increasingly made by people who actively, even nerdishly love the form and know its history ? and at a time when Flash and other computer animation technologies make it possible to affordably realize sophisticated visual ideas, and at the same time have encouraged a kind of DIY/indie/punk aesthetic that Cartoon Network in particular has embraced.