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This issue also features Amid Amidi's interview with The PJs' supervising director, 17-year Vinton Studios veteran Mark Gustafson, best known for creating the Mr. Resistor shorts and directing the multiple-award winning Nissan commercial, Toys.

It's hard to imagine The PJs, a harmless slice-of-life cartoon series about black people could work in our overly-sensitive and sheltered times where anything and everything is deemed offensive by people with too much time on their hands. The PJs, which stands for the Projects (a common term for low-rent housing in the inner-city), takes us to a world that most Americans can't imagine exists. Yet the show's appeal goes beyond targeting a single demographic for one simple reason: at its core, The PJs is about people pulling together in the best and worst of times, and helping each other out.

Comedian-turned-actor Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop, The Nutty Professor) is the mastermind behind this endeavor, along with co-creators and executive producers Larry Wilmore and Steve Tompkins, both former In Living Color writers. While I question the sanctity of having eight executive producers on any show, everything seems to have turned out okay this time around. Leading the cast is the crusty yet good-natured superintendent, Thurgood Stubbs (voiced by Eddie Murphy), who constantly patches up the falling-apart Hilton Jacobs projects. His days are spent surrounded by a menagerie of odd yet appealing people including the senior Mrs. Avery who'd rather see Thurgood dead, Haiti Lady who performs voodoo curses on anything (and anybody), his brother-in-law Jimmy Ho - a Korean who'd rather be black, Smokey the neighborhood druggie and Thurgood's drinking buddy, Sanchez, who speaks with the aid of a voice box. Rounding out the neighborhood is the wide-eyed innocence of youngsters Calvin and Juicy along with Thurgood's voice of reason, his wife Muriel. What this animated show accomplishes is something that most others can't - creating strong and relatable characters with true personalities. There's great interplay between the residents and one can feel the relationships between the characters evolve, making them feel more alive than typical TV cartoon fare. The stories are as simple as getting a new door for the building, or trying to give the "proud" and financially-deprived Mrs. Avery a little food, but as in many classic comedies like The Honeymooners and Everybody Loves Raymond, the stories are merely jumping off points for great character-driven situations. In the hands of less-adept storytellers, the characters on this show could have merely been stereotypical figures played for cheap laughs, but The PJs clearly transcends that line and strives for greater significance.