Chowder settled into its new home on Cartoon Network's "New Thursday Nights" with two episodes about leaving home and finding it again, so to speak. It's a hard life being a food geek -- real life keeps intruding. In "Sniffleball", our purple-and-lavender apprentice is enjoying a spirited conversation with his kitchen utensils when his mentor Mung Daal interrupts with the dreaded question: "When was the last time you went outside?"

Thus Chowder is dragged literally kicking and screaming into a sniffleball game. Now, it's difficult to pull off a good tantrum in any cartoon, yet somehow the young voice actor Nicky Jones and Clayton Morrow's fanciful storyboarding helped pull it off. The gags never stopped. From the moment Chowder's oversized glove is snapped on his head, we're treated to a silly romp around the bases that's part Charlie Brown (defense) and part Looney Tunes (offense).

As a casual baseball fan, I have to pronounce this a winner. Little details like the zinger ball (a sinker?) covered in goo ("hit the snot out of the ball!") satisfied my inner punster. The 1-2-3-you're-out slow pitch is one of the oldest gags in animation, yet it also surprised a laugh out of me. It's certainly a new take on the determined sports hero who can only hit that home run with the help of his friends.

Fans of Chowder can't blink, or they'll miss the wind-up and the pitch. The best episodes seem random at first. Then one realizes the show about getting out of the house has a claymation shout-out to Super Mario Bros., the original gaming time-sink. It's another one to re-watch!

The next episode, "Mung on the Rocks", rounds a different set of bases.

The second episode of Chowder in their new Thursday slot was another "grown-ups are funny" edition in the war between the sexes. "Mung on the Rocks" was originally slated for a date closer to Valentine's Day, and it doesn't do much to alleviate my ambivalence about the show's treatment of female characters. However, it's a much tighter plot and a more straightforward scenario when Mung forgets his 450th anniversary with his wife Truffles.

For one thing, Mung walks past the giant banner that says "Happy 450th Anniversary."

The cycle of fighting and making up is presented Chowder-style. The husband's accused of loving work more than the wife ("You can marry a kitchen?" cries Chowder.) There's the cajoling in the form of a thankfully brief mating dance. Mung's soon bunking with Chowder and explaining earnestly that "women have these things in their bodies called Expectations." Even Truffles' silent treatment comes with an actual chirping cricket.

Despite not understanding any of this, Chowder vows to help his miserable mentor. After a mishap with a river of fizzy juice, Mung proves that fish-sticks and stones may break bones, but words can make an old flame relent.

Once again the word-play and timing save this episode from a rote plot. The jump-cut from lying on cake and ham to eating cake and ham, the pickle joke, and that darn fish on Chowder's head were all too clever. (Young Truffles is a mind-bender, and in a good way.)

When it comes to Mung, I have to echo Truffles on this one -- "What am I going to do with you?" I was relieved the story didn't hinge on the man saving the helpless woman. The double entendres on the way to "home base" also seemed appropriate. Still, a quick review for younger kids wouldn't hurt.

(Want more?  Come chat about the show in our Forum!)