You watch The Cleveland Show premiere last night? IGN is saying that future episodes are funnier, and I hope so ‘cuz I was pretty underwhelmed. I’m not alone. What’d you think?

The original Comedy Central South Park pilot is currently available for viewing over at SouthParkStudios.com. It’s not the original South Park film, which was The Spirit of Christmas – Jesus vs. Frosty, which you can see below. It’s the first half-hour show, Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, which premiered on Comedy Central in 1997. As you can see in this inset image, this episode was the only all-construction-paper produced for Comedy Central, and it’s only going to be on the site for 30 days. Also, check out the gallery of images from the production.

(notice Cartman is named “Kenny” in this one)

The second short was Jesus vs. Santa:

Check out this strange and violent trailer/pitch for an animated series by the name of Cat Shit One. It was directed by Kazuya Sasahara, and it’s based on the manga property Motofumi Kobayashi (released in the USA as Apocalypse Meow). The series is due out in 2010.

Ka-ching Cartoons and Pedri Animation have released a pilot for their new stop-motion series George and Paul. The prechool series is set in a world where everything is made from wooden blocks, and the two wooden pals create things, have fun and seek creative solutions to obstacles in their way. Aside from the 2-minute pilot below, you can also see full-animatics (storyboards in motion) on the official website.

Max et La Pogne (Max and the Hand), is a new stop-motion TV series pilot out of France. It’s your typical skate-punk, metal kid who has a hand for a friend story. The actors speak in French, and if you don’t, it shouldn’t be terribly hard to follow along. It was directed by Alex & Niko, produced by Un Monde Meilleur, and animated by Stéphane Viola. Post production at Sabotage.

A simple, yet imaginative production layout opens this new French series trailer. You’ll just have to watch to understand what I’m talking about. Lisa was created by Rémy Collignon, Bertrand Piocelle and Marco Nguyen, who worked out of Paris-based La Station Animation.

Check out this title sequence for a pilot episode of an animated series concept created by Pete Candeland for Cartoon Network. The series, titled, The Amazing Adventures of Kid Cole & Klay, was never produced, but this title sequence Stephen Coedel directed hints at much possibility.

Additional artwork: Kevin Dart. Character animation: Lionel Marchand.

Bonus materials include the animatic, and the color board.