In a television age where reality shows and crime rule and old shows from 25-30 years ago are reliving their past through anniversary shows or updated adventures (Look! Columbo's on!), I'm surprised the FOX network has brought back something from my childhood and very much fake.

An updated animated version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will come to the Saturday morning lineup. You will not believe how much time I spent on the Nintendo playing the video game or even the time and money spent on watching its 3 films and the cartoons. (Yes, they made 3 films, but the live action films didn't compare to the cartoon. Things really hit bottom when they had Vanilla Ice in the second one.)

The producers promise that this new version will be rougher and tougher, something that moves far away from the antics provided from the old cartoon. Even their fighting call is being changed from Cowabunga! to the tame "It's time to raise shell." Wasn't comedy one of its drawing points? Its ability to make all kinds of situations silly? (Yes, I know it's already silly that 4 turtles and a rat can beat up virtually anyone.) Once you focus on the fighting, you turn into a kids' show that takes itself too seriously, something the Power Rangers suffered from where they'd fight, fail, regroup, fight, win, and then have a big laugh at the end for no apparent reason. (How many Power Rangers series are there? Seriously. Every time I flip past the ABC Family Channel or FOX, there's a different kind of Power Rangers on, whether its the first one, or in space, or at the grocery store, or whatever. The worst was when it spawned terrible copycat series such as those Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills.) So, as long as they strike the right balance, these new Ninja Turtles might become just as successful. Then again, are Saturday morning cartoons just as popular as they were in the past?