Animated hit 'Star Wars- Clone Wars' series returns to Cartoon Network

Stand by for more episodes of "Star Wars: Clone Wars" on Cartoon Network.

A hit last year, it's back with five new chapters airing 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, to set the stage for the upcoming theatrical release "Star Wars: Episode III (Revenge of the Sith)."

The series, which continues the saga in animated form where the live-action feature "Star Wars: Episode II" left off, takes place during the Clone Wars, an epic civil war pitting the old Republic against the vast Separatist movement led by forces of evil.

Look out! A group of Jedi Knights is being decimated by a seemingly indestructible new enemy, the daunting General Grievous. Yoda proposes that Anakin be promoted from Obi-Wan's apprentice to the level of Jedi knight to help lead the Republic's fight against the uprising.

Will good win out? These 12-minute chapters tell the tale.

Other shows to look out for:

* Throughout history, human imagination has conjured myths about dragons. Now Animal Planet is combining legend, theory and scientific fact with CGI animation and special effects to bring dragons to life in "Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real." Airing 7 p.m. Sunday, this 90-minute program imagines how dragons would have evolved into different species through the ages, and how each dragon species would have exhibited physical traits and behavior geared to its environment. Here dragons find a mate, raise their young, protect their turf and struggle to survive human encroachment, just as animals have done since the beginning. Immediately following the program, narrated by Patrick Stewart, a half-hour special, "Dragons: Magic Behind the Scenes," gives viewers an inside look at how "A Fantasy Made Real" was made real.

* Always philosophical, the Peanuts gang gets downright eggs-istential in "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," airing 7 p.m. Friday on ABC. This holiday special finds Charlie Brown, Sally, Lucy and Marcie getting ready for Easter with their misguided attempts to prepare eggs for coloring (turns out, putting them in the waffle iron doesn't work any better than making soup out of them). No problem. "You don't need to go to all this trouble," Linus insists. "The Easter Beagle does all that." The funny thing is, he's right.

* Three decades later, the bald head is the same. But curiously, the Greek police lieutenant Theo Kojak is now a black man as "Kojak" returns in an original USA series starring Ving Rhames in the role Telly Savalas made famous from 1973 to '78. The updated version of this classic cop drama, which also stars Chazz Palminteri as Kojak's boss and Roselyn Sanchez as a New York assistant district attorney, premieres as a two-hour movie 8 p.m. Friday. Beginning April 3, "Kojak" will continue with one-hour episodes for eight weeks.

* Another echo of a beloved, long-ago series (but not really): "Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie" will air on "The Wonderful World of Disney" as a six-hour limited series. But ABC declares it is "in no way based on the television show of the 1970s," but instead draws directly from the autobiographical books written by Wilder. In a two-hour premiere 7 p.m. March 26, the first episode chronicles Charles Ingalls' decision to uproot his wife, two young daughters and faithful dog from their Wisconsin home to claim a new parcel of land on the Kansas prairie -- a perilous journey away. Cameron Bancroft stars as Charles Ingalls, with Erin Cottrell as wife Caroline, Danielle Ryan Chuchran as Mary, and Kyle Chavarria as Laura.