'The Boondocks' When: 11 tonight, Cartoon Network. Starring the voice of: Regina King.

The frequently controversial newspaper comic strip "The Boondocks" becomes an occasionally funny animated series tonight at 11 on Cartoon Network.

As in the comic, carried in the Post-Gazette, the TV series also follows the exploits of 10-year-old left wing revolutionary Huey (voice of Regina King) and his 8-year-old brother, Riley (also King), who live with their more traditional granddad, Robert Freeman (John Witherspoon), in predominantly white suburbia.

As part of the Adult Swim block of programming, "Boondocks" has the opportunity to be edgy and use the N-word unapologetically. I'm not convinced in the two episodes sent for review that "Boondocks" does anything particularly novel with the leeway it's given. The stories and themes may feel a little tired to readers of the comic and even those who don't follow it: African-Americans know the real score; whites are all wealthy and clueless.

One episode begins with Huey dreaming about causing a disturbance at an upscale garden party when he steps up to a microphone and scandalizes the white guests by declaring, "Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11."

The show does offer a clever twist when Huey's prophecy comes to pass, but he receives a different reaction than he expects.

But before that, Granddad scolds Huey and Riley to never tell white men the truth, suggesting they learn to lie like he does. He also reveals this nugget: "The new white man is refined. The new white man likes gourmet cheese. You give the meanest white man a piece of cheese and he turns into Mister Rogers."

"Boondocks" doesn't restrict its caustic wit to skewering white culture. As in the comic, some of the sharpest barbs are saved for African-Americans. When Granddad talks about being attacked by dogs and water from firehoses during the Civil Rights movement, Huey questions what Granddad really endured.

"It seems like a whole generation takes credit for what happened to a few people," Huey says.

Maybe it's just difficult to translate a comic strip so faithfully to TV. Comics like "Boondocks" are expected to provoke thought and a chuckle. TV shows, by their nature, have to evoke a stronger reaction or viewers will click away.

Even comic strip/series creator Aaron McGruder, 31, cautioned viewers not to expect the animated "Boondocks" to be the next "Family Guy" or "South Park."

"The element of race changes everything," McGruder said after a Cartoon Network press conference in Beverly Hills this summer. "We don't try to do ['Family Guy' creator] Seth MacFarlane, we don't try to do 'South Park.' We can't out-gross those guys and we don't try. Our edginess comes from a completely different place."

After trying to do the series for Fox, McGruder said he appreciates the comparative freedom he's getting from Cartoon Network, which allows him to write to make himself laugh first and foremost.

"It prevents a lot of second-guessing the marketplace, which is what we did at Fox. We had to. We didn't have a choice," he said. "We do have a choice here."

He thinks the majority of the white audience will understand the hip-hop references, but if there is some confusion, that's OK, too.

"I don't think it will hurt people from enjoying the show," McGruder said. "A lot of the young kids won't get the historical and political references. But that's always been the line the strip walks: It appeals to the very old and the very young at the same time."