What went so damn wrong at Adult Swim?
What went so damn wrong at Adult Swim?
Levi Adams
Parker Martin
Charles Wright
I don't know what it's like anymore, but Adult Swim was extremely comfy to watch circa 2005 to 2012 (aka back when cable tv was actually still a thing and that I had access to).
You never knew what you were gonna get. Sometimes it was normie shows like Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad, King of the Hill. Sometimes it was absolute retarded shit like Saul of the Molemen or Assy McGee. Sometimes it was shockingly great like Moral Orel Season 3. Sometimes it was bizarre mindfuck shit like 12 Oz Mouse or Xavier Renegade Angel. Sometimes it was random cancelled network tv shows everyone else forget about like the animated Clerks or Mission Hill. Sometimes it was anime kinos like Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Sometimes it was some classic old school stuff like Space Ghost and Harvey Birdman and Aqua Teen HungerForce. Sometimes it was random Britcoms like The Office or The Mighty Boosh. Sometimes it was some indie artist's music videos or surreal late night infomercial parodies. Sometimes it was fucking Pee Wee's Playhouse or Gigantor or some random shit like that.
I miss the pleasing aesthetic of the bumps, the fucking J Dilla jazzy hop-hop beats, the snarky black and white messages, the viewer Q+A stuff, looking at the weekly ratings, seeing anime fans spazz out. It wasn't always great, but it was often very fun to watch and a very unique viewing experience in the last years of traditional television's relevance.
Nathan Bell
They realized they could shit out the cheapest shows imaginable and enough people would fall asleep watching reruns of Fox shows that they'd still pull in decent ad revenue.
Cameron Collins
They were able to stave off the cold death that awaited them by creating a show that was wildly popular and brought in a lot of money and attention, but it cost them their indie roots and soul.
Adam Diaz
>that sunday schedule
So weird seeing the anime and comedy stuff mixed together
But I guess at that point, ASA Saturdays didn't exist anymore right? Anime was just sporadically airing across Sundays and weeknights.
Jaxson Harris
Streaming ruined cable. There's no going back to scheduled programming now. On demand streaming is too popular, and now an entire generation of kids has grown up with the expectation for it.
It's not entirely streaming though. The telcos and networks also did their best to strangle creativity and squeeze customers for money. Their shameless rent seeking behavior drove people to alternatives. And once those alternatives started to thrive, they were able to outcompete cable in terms of content as well as service.
There's no saving cable, unfortunately. I agree Adult Swim was comfy, and I often feel nostalgic for the early 00s when I'd stay up late to watch it on my old CRT TV in my bedroom, with the volume real low and some dirty clothes blocking the crack under my door so nobody else would wake up.
I'd nod off watching Home Movies and Space Ghost, Brak Show, Sea Lab, etc.
David Edwards
They expanded their schedule too much
Got too reliant on FOX reruns for viewership
Live action shows were much cheaper to make that animated ones
Cable tv ratings started slipping as cord-cutting/other avenues of entertainment increased
Shifting "18-34" demographics brought in different tastes in comedy (aka from late Gen X/millennial to late millennial/zoomer)
Corporate buyouts over the years changing top-down directives
Being too successful gave them less room to experiment and take risks because they were dependent on advertiser money
Jason Green
There’s something so nostalgic about that period of Adult Swim.
Austin Wood
That schedule predates ASA. Adult Swim didn't used to separate anime from everything else. Cowboy Bebop aired on Sundays after the main suite of comedy shows was over.
Isaiah Stewart
>That schedule predates ASA. Adult Swim didn't used to separate anime from everything else.
Nah, there was definitely a Saturday night action block that pre-dated the later one.
I remember because the Thursday repeat block of Sunday's AS premieres had replaced Midnight Run but then that block got dropped so Midnight Run could return and in exchange, Adult Swim got a Saturday night action block.
I definitely remember AS being only Saturdays and Sundays for a while before they got Futurama and started doing just Sundays and weeknights (except fridays) instead.
Mostly because I distinctly remember taping InuYasha on saturdays and then when that first Saturday block ended it had switched to weeknights so I missed several eps and was pissed off.
Logan Watson
Noah Hernandez
It all started when they cancelled World Peace
Josiah Reyes
FUCK OFF YOU TOOL!
Ryder Young
I figure the zoomer market pushed AS to invest in streaming shows, since kids these days watch more YouTube than cable.
Nathan Stewart
The final nail in their coffin was losing out on World Peace
Ian Murphy
this. I liked Tim and Eric at the time (thought Tom Goes to the Mayor was better, however), but it gave wake to a bunch of very not funny, definitely not-cartoon shows. And some of the newer cartoons to me were not very funny. I stuck around for Aqua Teen, Robot Chicken (I know), Venture Bros, The Boondocks, Squidbillies, Metalocalypse, and some of the new action stuff like Blood+. But largely, wasn't interested in much else of the new content, especially the gimmicky shit like airing Pee Wee's Play House or whatever. Mostly it was me being like "Thank god they're airing a rerun of GITS and Champloo or Sealab and Home Movies rather than some awful new show"
When they lost Futurama, it all seemed to decline really quick, like Turner executives were throwing everything at the wall to replace it. Schedules were constantly moving around, tons of pilots came and went. All the new live action did nothing for me, more acquired network tv rejects (the fucking PJs) did nothing for me, the weird 80s parody British shows did nothing for me.
Around the time they picked up King of the Hill was the death knell for me. By that point they were on air for 10 hours a day 7 days a week, but it was largely reruns of FOX shows and the same Robot Chicken episodes night after night. Or always fucking Delocated and Children's Hospital and British show repeats. ATCN had been reduced to being 2 hours of Bleach premieres (just to burn off all the episodes they had bought because the block was tanking). You rarely saw any of the classics aired anymore (except for the Oblongs, which for some reason repeated the same episodes in an endless loop constantly).
I remember ~2010, I would tune in for the new episodes of Aqua Teen (final season with the original name - fucking hated it and turned me off the show for a few years), The Boondocks (thought it was decent, but not as good as the first two), and The Venture Bros. (still as strong as ever, imo). That was when I dipped out.
Blake Murphy
When they went daily instead of just Sunday and Thursday.
Blake Murphy
I think what people fail to remember is the impact that AS had on tv. A lot of early internet, pre-Youtube/social media kind of humor cross polinated between AS and the online realm. It was hugely influential in a lot of ways in terms of how it presented itself and its originals. Hell, the bumps too had an impact on hip-hop artists.
And even with acquired programming, it certainly propped up a lot of shows that otherwise may not have had the same impact on a whole generation of viewers. Family Guy and Futurama obviously are the most obvious examples, but those aren't the only ones...
Brayden Parker
FUCK OFF YOU TOOL!
Christian Kelly
Mike Lazzo and his polarizing taste. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it was shit, and depending on what mode he was in depended on the output of the network. He gave us some pretty good years for Adult Swim but he also acted like a fucking faggot in regards to some of the content that deserved better. Also [as] frankly worked better with anime mixed in. Now it's specifically only on Saturday nights at midnight for a couple hours and the choices blow because the guy running the Toonami block has the same shit going on as Mike Lazzo where personal preference rules.
We could have went back to something like this with the Fox shows being gone soon, but instead they just ordered a bunch of braindead content like Three Busy Debras and the worst of the "trippy ugly cartoon" genre.
Honestly I don't think Adult Swim could ever recapture its former atmosphere. Remember when ratings had their own bumpers?
Brandon Sullivan
Mike Lazzo circa 2006
David Gutierrez
Cringe.
Ryan Russell
The only things those have in common is Family Guy being involved and one is just an image.
Hudson Long
When people figured out that the internet existed. AS was basically what gave birth and voice to the weird surreal humor that dominates the internet right now. Once people found they can proliferate on the internet, they didn't flock (both as creators and as viewers) to AS anymore.
Cameron Turner
It lost its aesthetic and fun bumpers. I cringe every time I see one of those "haha our audience is sooo high right now" CGI bumpers.
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
David Reed
Post old screencaps of Adult Swim, Yas Forums.
Hunter Williams
you all have the utmost plebeian taste.
you disgust me.
Dominic Murphy
Toonami and Adult Swim were as successful as they were because of the lack of access many had to anime at the time. Not to mention TV was still really big at the time. They've been putting more content on Youtube and their own website so at least they're trying to adapt.
Brody Reyes
They should bring back specialized IDs during breaks. The closest they have to anything like that is when they're referencing some twitter thing that's referencing one of their shows like the Rick painting with the mouth not filled in or the "my daughter likes meatwad" "can she do this yet" "eeeuueuuru" one.
Liam Ortiz
The only time I watched adult swim was around
and it was always in my friend's basement while we were pretty stoned. good times
Liam Williams
Owen Diaz
I remember when anime was on weeknights too. Used to stay up until like 2 AM? 3 AM? watching Bebop, FMA, GitS, whatever else they had going on. Comedy early in the night, anime later in the night. It was nice. Or at least nostalgic to think about.
Elijah Carter
The literally only good thing to come out of this show is Check It Out with Dr. Steve Brule and that’s more a testament to how phenomenal an actor John C Reily is.
Ian Garcia
Don't forget Lupin-sensei.
Jaxon Morris
They got rid of their old message boards.
Kevin Brooks
I realized yesterday that Lupin part 2 is on Hulu. I know it's not the most faithful dub, but I love it anyway.
Easton Lewis
>Futurama
>Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law
>Sealab: 2021
>Aqua Teen Hunger Force
>Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
>The Oblongs
Justin King
It was a different time. Now they do diversity hires.
Ayden Richardson
Hunter Sanders
Adrian Perry
Compare Adult Swim Action to current Toonami and it's not even a contest to what's better. The worst part is current Toonami is run by a guy who hates most of the field he's involved in. Why run an anime block if you're going to censor every little boob.
Nathan Lewis
Cooper Ortiz
He's a shitposter with nothing to add, ignore him
Caleb Torres
Where did you get these?
Julian Garcia
From an older thread. Those schedules, with their handwritten notes and scribbles, used to be posted online on the AS website back in the day. I used to enjoy checking and seeing what was coming in future months.
Isaac Martinez
this, minus Steve Bruel they've never been funny
Lucas Anderson
Nothing you just grew up
Joseph Adams
I see, thanks for sharing, they're interesting. I looked through the archives at the others. It's nice that they were preserved. Doesn't look like 2004 or 2005 are anywhere unless I overlooked them.
Adam Ross
Fuck pc
Anthony Morales
Liberals took over
Charles Ortiz
Too much live action, the people who run the place look like they all take acid all day and make up “funny” ideas. AS used to be great. TOONAMI and AS need a callback to the old days.
Ian Brown
They both don't like the idea of airing old material except for rare instances, like Space Ghost or Bebop.
Jonathan Young
There's also a nice collection of historical schedules on reddit.
/r/adultswim/comments/9o60rr/adult_swim_schedules_from_20012012_in_one_post/
Gabriel Thompson
>They both don't like the idea of airing old material except for rare instances, like Space Ghost or Bebop.
Which is why they are failing. SG and Bebop SHOULD be played. Also Samurai Champloo and fuck it Inuyasha. Bring back home movies as well. These newer shows suck.
Sebastian Gomez
It was a better time
Sebastian Gray
This right here but people will never admit it.
Caleb Rogers
There's an obvious change in atmosphere and execution of the network between its start and current forms, so obviously it makes sense that people could see it as something went wrong. Have an open mind, guys.
Jaxson Rogers
PEE-WEE?!
Thomas Clark
>Dilla
youtube.com
I was crusin' through some Donuts last night but this song was what got me hooked simply because of the bumpers.
Rewatched GitS SAC over the past two weeks just recently too.
These are some Major feels.
Joseph Smith
This.