Is it time for Adult Swim to change?

[Daxdiv]

Apparently, 20th Television started commissioning a fourth season before Fox ordered it, after the show became a hit on [as]. If Fox didn't express interest in bringing the show back, it could have very well gone to [as] instead, which would have been very interesting to see.

I thought that was a pretty interesting factoid. Imagine how Family Guy with Adult Swim's S&P would have been instead of dealing with Fox's S&P. Considering how during the earlier years of the revival, AS had a bunch of jokes that were considered more... I want to say... cruder than what Fox would allow.

And that's a classy bumper. I was honestly surprised that it happened, as between the lack of fanfare from [as] prior to these last airings and their lack of acknowledgment of the block's 20th anniversary makes me think that they don't like celebrating or recognizing this stuff.

Still surprised that Adult Swim went out of it's way to acknowledge it as well, especially by making an animated bumper rather than it's traditional black & white bumpers. But then again, I'm pretty sure AS owes a bit of it's success to Family Guy & vice versa.

[Daikun]

They've let their rights to Bebop lapse before, back in the fall of 2013, and didn't renew them until a few months later in the Spring of 2014, and unlike the FOX shows they could conceivably get the rights to Bebop back in the future if they really want to, so I suppose they didn't feel like losing it again needed to be acknowledged.

Yep, and now it's back on their website.

...and I guess Netflix is getting it, too?

[Daikun]

Futurama returns December 27.

[Avaitor]

Well then.

I wonder if Disney doesn't see the commercial potential in these show if their production is over, and have no problem with giving [as] the broadcast rights.

[Daxdiv]

I guess so. I mean, since The Simpsons, Family Guy & Bob's Burger are still in production while KotH & Futurama have ended production many years ago, they do see them as used goods & might as well get some money out of licensing it to other networks. Though I do find it interest. Though I do wonder how desperate Adult Swim is to get these shows back.

[LumRanmaYasha]

FXX only plays KOTH and Futurama in the daytime so I guess Disney doesn't see sharing them with [as] as giving them competition considering they have Simpsons and FG. But there have been active rumblings about KOTH getting a revival and there's always talk about Futurama coming back as well, so who knows, [as] might be trying to invest in any potential revivals of the shows as well to eventually produce episodes of them that they'll have perpetual rights to a la the TBS-produced episodes of American Dad! Even if they don't end up having a hand in any revivals, I'm sure the ad revenue from these shows will be a relief to [as] after losing FG, since these 10 to 20-year-old FOX show reruns still somehow draw more of an audience than most of their original programming sans R&M do.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I've been thinking about this for a while this week, especially with all the discourse of how much cancellations are on the rise with TV again because streaming services expect every show to do as well as Stranger Things or get the axe, but how exactly did AS even afford to air and produce all those live-action shows like Delocated, NTSF:SD:SUV::, Eagleheart, etc for multiple seasons? Because I looked at the casts for some of these shows, and they have actual celebrities like Rob Riggle, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly in lead roles. And I don't know who watched these shows at late night. I'm sure there was somebody, but late-night blocks filled with premiere series and all-star casts aren't commonplace for a reason. I guess AS could justify the costs with the money they made from Family Guy reruns, but I doubt the reruns made them enough to justify all those shows, or else Fox or Disney would have noticed and pulled the rights to all the Fox cartoons.

How well does Adult Swim even do financially compared to every other after-midnight block? Because I know every other channel is content to air either reruns or some paid programming about oxygen therapy or Camp Lejeune instead of waste it on new shows. And now that Rick and Morty is in fight-or-flight mode, I wonder if that'll shake up AS' future or not.

[Daikun]

how exactly did AS even afford to air and produce all those live-action shows like Delocated, NTSF:SD:SUV::, Eagleheart, etc for multiple seasons? Because I looked at the casts for some of these shows, and they have actual celebrities like Rob Riggle, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly in lead roles.

These shows were made during the Time Warner (post-AOL) era, when the conglomerate was in a better financial state than AT&T or Discovery. AS also saved millions of dollars a year by trashing their old swimming pool branding and switching to the B&W bumpers they're known for today.

[Avaitor]

So now [as] is taking 7 PM. Based on a tweet from their account, expect more KOTH at that time.

[Daxdiv]

On 1 hand, I'm interested in seeing what else they're gonna air as a buffer between adult swim and regular Cartoon Network, though it is probably gonna be KOTH at 7. That & also the fact that I was under the impression that they're gonna lose Bob's Burgers soon-ish. I also wonder when the holiday season comes around if Adult Swim will lose the 7 PM hour or not & if that will be the new normal.

Though there is that part of me that does wonder what's gonna happen to CN proper. What new shows are we even getting on CN?

[Avaitor]

I saw someone speculate that Disney may be more willing to license their shows back to [as], so not only may Bob's Burgers contract be renewed, but they could regain the rights to Family Guy. But I think that depends on what would make Disney more money, the ad revenue those shows bring to Freeform and FXX, or syndication rights from Warner.

Whether or not that happens, KOTH and Futurama are tame enough to fit during 7-9, but one idea I still think deserves a shot is using that part of the night as a CN throwback. They tried Adventure Time for 8pm a while ago, but that was probably a little too recent for the demo. I'm thinking Dexter's Lab and Eds, or even further back and timeless like Looney Tunes.

[Daikun]

I'm thinking Dexter's Lab and Eds, or even further back and timeless like Looney Tunes.

I'd love to see AS experiment with Boomerang-type programming again. I liked when the 5AM hour actually meant something, and now that they're moving even earlier in the evening and they're even airing original shows that were meant for CN, it would be nice to have some transitional shows between the two networks. (Seriously, why is Unicorn airing at midnight and not this fancy new hour they got?)

But alas, we all know they're just gonna fill it with more KOTH.

[Daikun]

(Seriously, why is Unicorn airing at midnight and not this fancy new hour they got?)

Well... Guess they ARE airing it at 7PM.
It's only on Fridays, though--the day AFTER it premieres--so they're using the hour to rerun the show instead of premiere it.

https://twitter.com/CNschedules/status/1648853987754401801

But alas, we all know they're just gonna fill it with more KOTH.

Even worse, they're gonna air TWO HOURS of KOTH.
Dear Williams Street: This is overkill. We don't need this much Hank Hill every night.

[Daxdiv]

They honestly couldn't give 1 of those hours to Futurama at the very least?

[Avaitor]

They honestly couldn't give 1 of those hours to Futurama at the very least?

Looks like they are later in the month. I love both shows, I think a lot of the audience still does, but if this is what they're using 7:00 for, they really don't need it.

Although one thing that I think is cool is that before their Friday repeats of Unicorn, CN will air Adventure Time and Steven Universe. At least for the first week.