Can someone tell me the story of Adult Swim?

[Master Toon]

There's a lot of things in this life I can't understand and I try my hardest to make sense of them. Although I'm not always pondering life's little mysteries, they do tend to pop up here and there. At this moment, I'm a little confused about the story of how Adult Swim came to be. The weird thing is, I was there from day 1. Anyway, if it's not too much trouble, can someone tell the story of Adult Swim? What it was, what it became, and what it is today. And please don't leave out any details.

[Lightning Tiger]

I wondered the same thing long ago, and wikipedia told me the answer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_swim

[Creme]

Adult Swim used to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, with Saturday distinctly for anime and Sunday for comedy. then it was put on weeknights and Saturdays were dropped because the anime attracted teens, complaints and didn't get good ratings overall unlike the comedy series. Then it was extended from 3 hours a night to a second run. Then Saturdays were returned and made all anime again for a few months until that fell through, then they extended to 10-11pm on Sundays and for weeknights temporarily, then they went Friday nights. The purpose is "adult" cartoons, I suppose
and thats pretty much all in a nutshell.
I guess "Adult Swim" can be called a brand-name block that has been highly successful and well-received. They're like the Roman Empire of television :shrug:

I'm not sure if that answers your questions, but thats all I really know
And IIRC what existed before Adult Swim were programs like O Canada, The Bob Clampett Show, Space Ghost, The Tex Avery Show, and Cartoon Theatre on Saturdays (which played movies ranging from Baldo to An American Tail).

[Mugen]

Adult Swim used to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, with Saturday distinctly for anime and Sunday for comedy. then it was put on weeknights and Saturdays were dropped because the anime attracted teens, complaints and didn't get good ratings overall unlike the comedy series. Then it was extended from 3 hours a night to a second run. Then Saturdays were returned and made all anime again for a few months until that fell through, then they extended to 10-11pm on Sundays and for weeknights temporarily, then they went Friday nights. The purpose is "adult" cartoons, I suppose
and thats pretty much all in a nutshell.
I guess "Adult Swim" can be called a brand-name block that has been highly successful and well-received. They're like the Roman Empire of television :shrug:

I'm not sure if that answers your questions, but thats all I really know
And IIRC what existed before Adult Swim were programs like O Canada, The Bob Clampett Show, Space Ghost, The Tex Avery Show, The Bob and Cartoon Theatre on Saturdays.


Well, AS was originally on Sunday with an encore on Thursday.

[Master Toon]

I wondered the same thing long ago, and wikipedia told me the answer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_swim

Thanks, I usually don't trust Wikipedia but I guess they're right. I just wish I knew more about what happened.

Adult Swim used to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, with Saturday distinctly for anime and Sunday for comedy. then it was put on weeknights and Saturdays were dropped because the anime attracted teens, complaints and didn't get good ratings overall unlike the comedy series. Then it was extended from 3 hours a night to a second run. Then Saturdays were returned and made all anime again for a few months until that fell through, then they extended to 10-11pm on Sundays and for weeknights temporarily, then they went Friday nights. The purpose is "adult" cartoons, I suppose
and thats pretty much all in a nutshell.
I guess "Adult Swim" can be called a brand-name block that has been highly successful and well-received. They're like the Roman Empire of television :shrug:

I'm not sure if that answers your questions, but thats all I really know
And IIRC what existed before Adult Swim were programs like O Canada, The Bob Clampett Show, Space Ghost, The Tex Avery Show, and Cartoon Theatre on Saturdays (which played movies ranging from Baldo to An American Tail).

Where do people get this idea that Adult Swim started with Japanese cartoons? It was always comedy with 1, count it, 1 action show. And it was on 2 days a week, that's what made it special.

[Silverstar]

Adult Swim used to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, with Saturday distinctly for anime and Sunday for comedy. then it was put on weeknights and Saturdays were dropped because the anime attracted teens, complaints and didn't get good ratings overall unlike the comedy series. Then it was extended from 3 hours a night to a second run. Then Saturdays were returned and made all anime again for a few months until that fell through, then they extended to 10-11pm on Sundays and for weeknights temporarily, then they went Friday nights. The purpose is "adult" cartoons, I suppose
and thats pretty much all in a nutshell.

Actually, when [adult swim] started, it was on Sunday nights only, with an encore performance on Thursday nights, and it was all comedy except for 2 back-to-back episodes of Cowboy Bebop, which was originally the only action/anime show on the [as] lineup. Eventually CB proved so popular that [as] decided to add more action shows to the lineup, eventually choosing to designate an entire evening (Saturday) to the action shows.

As the story goes, [as] was started when the guys at Williams Street (who were working for CN at the time) asked Ted Turner if they could receive money to make new shows, because they were tired of Cartoon Network being known as the Hanna-Barbera Reruns Channel. Turner said, "You've got access to the H-B vaults and a limited budget, get to it." This is what led to the creation of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which proved so popular that they decided to expand their horizons onto other more 'adult' shows, leading to the creation of [adult swim].

[Master Toon]

Actually, when [adult swim] started, it was on Sunday nights only, with an encore performance on Thursday nights, and it was all comedy except for 2 back-to-back episodes of Cowboy Bebop, which was originally the only action/anime show on the [as] lineup. Eventually CB proved so popular that [as] decided to add more action shows to the lineup, eventually choosing to designate an entire evening (Saturday) to the action shows.

Sundays and Thursdays... the old days... :crying:

As the story goes, [as] was started when the guys at Williams Street (who were working for CN at the time) asked Ted Turner if they could receive money to make new shows, because they were tired of Cartoon Network being known as the Hanna-Barbera Reruns Channel. Turner said, "You've got access to the H-B vaults and a limited budget, get to it." This is what led to the creation of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which proved so popular that they decided to expand their horizons onto other more 'adult' shows, leading to the creation of [adult swim].

If Williams Street ever ends their relationship with Turner Broadcasting, would they still be able to use old HB cartoons in their shows?

Another thing, I've heard something similar to that story during an interview with Mike Lazzo, but if Adult Swim eventually left Cartoon Network, then there was no point. It's like they jazzed up Cartoon Network, became popular, and became their own network, totally separate from Cartoon Network. Does anyone get what I mean? I can try to simplify it.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Ignore the current wikipedia article on AS. It made up some garbage about Adult Swim originally only airing anime, when they originally only aired Cowboy Bebop, which was admittedly an hour out of Adult Swim's three (I think? Maybe three and a half) hours. Man, the early lineup was really good. An hour of Home Movies. An hour or so of Williams Street Originals. An hour of Bebop. It's a pity they started it so shortly before 9/11. If they had started it a few months earlier, they probably would have aired Bebop mostly uncut.

Also did Adult Swim really take off anime TWICE? :confused: I thought they only took it off once, for SVES...

I really think it's time for a new AS look. I'm tired of the current one using the same superdeluxe and anime bumpers over and over. The cards are okay, but they're hardly packaging so much as just random rants or ratings.

[Ishtar]

Man does it take me back thinking about this. I remember how Space Ghost Coast To Coast used to be like the only Williams Street show for Adults that aired late at night. I actually recall watching Adult Swim the very 1st night it started, and my main reason at the time was to watch the Brak Show. I don't think Adult Swim Action on Saturdays even started till like early 2002, when Yu Yu Hakusho 1st started airing. I kinda agree with J'onn that maybe Adult Swim could use a new look, though. It's gone through quite a few, but it's current look has definitely been around the longest.

[Golgo13]

Ignore the current wikipedia article on AS. It made up some garbage about Adult Swim originally only airing anime, when they originally only aired Cowboy Bebop, which was admittedly an hour out of Adult Swim's three (I think? Maybe three and a half) hours. Man, the early lineup was really good. An hour of Home Movies. An hour or so of Williams Street Originals. An hour of Bebop. It's a pity they started it so shortly before 9/11. If they had started it a few months earlier, they probably would have aired Bebop mostly uncut.

They also ended up cutting Wild Horses because of the Columbia shuttle incident.

And actually, I remember it being about a half-hour of Home Movies, an hour and a half of AS originals (in random circulations), and then an hour of Bebop.

[Golgo13]

I don't think Adult Swim Action on Saturdays even started till like early 2002, when Yu Yu Hakusho 1st started airing. I kinda agree with J'onn that maybe Adult Swim could use a new look, though. It's gone through quite a few, but it's current look has definitely been around the longest.

They started airing anime in 2002. Interesting to note that the only shows that were TV-PG to 14 were Yu Yu Hakusho and Cowboy Bebop. The other shows (Pilot Candidate, Gundam 0083, Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo) were Toonami-edits.

[moldorm]

I just fixed the Wikipedia article. Surprised that no one caught that sooner.

[coconut_buyer]

A long time ago, Adult Swim's parents had sex and 9 months later Adult Swim was born.

[Ace Goodheart]

Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast may have obviously been the precursor to Adult Swim COMEDY, but as far as Adult Swim Action goes I feel that it's roots are not only entrenched in Toonami (which in turn is the latest heir to the Cartoon Network "Action block" franchise that began with "Super Adventures") but in an "experiment" that Turner held throughout the early 1990's on all of it's networks (TBS, TNT) and which made a stop on Cartoon Network throughout 1995. This "experiment" in it's CN incarnation was known as "Night of the Vampire Robots" or the "1995 Summer Anime Festival". Let me fill you in on it along with a promo for the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_x7l_7O8Pg

This is a Cartoon Network promo for "Night of the Vampire Robots", an ultra-obscure movie marathon that also happened to be the first time Cartoon Network aired anime movies, years before "Toonami In-Flight Movies"!

"Night of the Vampire Robots" was a late-night, anime movie marathon that aired on Cartoon Network during the overnight hours of January 29, 1995. On that night, CN aired "Robot Carnival", "Vampire Hunter D" and "Twilight of the Cockroaches" (all dubbed and at the time owned by the long-defunct "Streamline Pictures") from Midnight to 6AM on what is today's Adult Swim "Action Saturdays" timeslot. It was the second-ever instance of anime on Cartoon Network (the first being the premiere of "G-Force: Guardians of Space" earlier that month on January 2, 1995) and a precursor to "Toonami Midnight Run", "Adult Swim Action" and late-night anime on CN overall.

All 3 of the aforementioned movies had previously been aired on other Turner networks (TBS, TNT) in similar late-night fashion throughout the early 1990's. Turner's broadcast prints of these movies were infamously remembered for having been heavily edited for mature content, violence and nudity on top of the standard time cuts. "Vampire Hunter D" in particular suffered the brunt of the editing and cuts, having been the most mature of the three movies. It's been said that the editing done by Turner's censors left "Vampire Hunter D" fragmented and almost incomprehensible, later being infamously dubbed as the "TBS cut" of VHD.

This early anime "experiment" was repeated a handful of times on CN throughout the rest of 1995, most notably again on July, 1995 as the "1995 Summer Anime Festival" with the same three movies and in late-primetime/overnight timeslots. It's been speculated that the purpose of these events was to "test the waters" for anime on the network, late-night or otherwise. Some promos for Cartoon Network aired during 1995 even touted it as having "the latest in Japanimation", but that didn't turn out to be the case at the time. If the waters were indeed being tested for anime on CN, then we've certainly come to reap the rewards from these experiments with "Toonami", it's late-night "Toonami Midnight Run" incarnation and most importantly "Adult Swim Action". All of this thanks, to "Night of the Vampire Robots".

The More You Know. *NBC jingle*

[Beat]

It remains difficult to pinpoint, but the two shows directly responsible for Adult Swim's existence seem to be Space Ghost Coast to Coast and the uncut version of Gundam Wing. These two were the ones that proved a somewhat adult audience existed willing to watch Cartoon Network.

[Ace Goodheart]

But what about the likes of "Vampire Hunter D", "Robot Carnival" and the still-obscure "Twilight of the Cockroaches"? Despite being cut down to varied extents (remember, this was the early '90's and no one outside of Sci-Fi was regularly airing anime) those movies were far from Ghibli fare or even weekday afternoon/Toonami anime fare. Most if not all of these movies had previously been aired on Sci-Fi, but Sci-Fi was always a different beast from Cartoon Network, especially back in 1995 when it was the "Hanna-Barbera re-run channel".

These three words were completely unlike anything CN had aired and still are up until recently with late-night shows like "Trinity Blood" and "Death Note". And those three movies were re-run quite often on what is now AS's territory throughout 1995, sometimes after "Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast" which marked the first instance of late night comedy/action on CN. :)

I'm hoping someone out there recorded those promos and broadcast versions of those movies, it'd be a real treat to see them. This obscure experiment really needs to be acknowledged more.

[GaryPotter]

Guys, don't forget that the studio that later became Williams Street was originally call Ghost Planet Industries because the only things they produced where SGC2C and Cartoon Planet. And I wouldn't say SGC2C was "adult" though it certainly was more mature.

[Ace Goodheart]

Kind of true, at least the earlier seasons that is. In it's early days SGC2C was aired as early as 9PM at times.

[Zeonic Freak]

Adult Swim used to be on Saturdays and Sundays only, with Saturday distinctly for anime and Sunday for comedy. then it was put on weeknights and Saturdays were dropped because the anime attracted teens, complaints and didn't get good ratings overall unlike the comedy series. Then it was extended from 3 hours a night to a second run. Then Saturdays were returned and made all anime again for a few months until that fell through, then they extended to 10-11pm on Sundays and for weeknights temporarily, then they went Friday nights. The purpose is "adult" cartoons, I suppose
and thats pretty much all in a nutshell.
I guess "Adult Swim" can be called a brand-name block that has been highly successful and well-received. They're like the Roman Empire of television :shrug:

I'm not sure if that answers your questions, but thats all I really know
And IIRC what existed before Adult Swim were programs like O Canada, The Bob Clampett Show, Space Ghost, The Tex Avery Show, and Cartoon Theatre on Saturdays (which played movies ranging from Baldo to An American Tail).

Gah, those were the good ol days for sure:crying:

I remember the waiting a week for the new Gundam 0083 OVA then talk about them in school that monday, and the couple of movies they aired like Chars Counterattack (which i still have when it first came here in the states).

And i do remember the late night showing before AS, specially Space Ghost CTC.

They did have the anime or i guess last week repeats on Thursday nights, which is where i watched Cowboy Bebop for the first time when i would tape Gundam 0080.

Fond fond memories. Now look at it:sad:...

[Kitschensyngk]

An Abridged History of [adult swim]:

1994:
Space Ghost Coast to Coast

2001:
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
The Brak Show
Cowboy Bebop
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Home Movies
Sealab 2021

2002:
Baby Blues
Gundam 0080
Gundam 0083
InuYasha
Mission Hill
Mobile Suit Gundam
The Oblongs
Outlaw Star (Toonami edit)
Pilot Candidate
The Ripping Friends
Tenchi Muyo! (Toonami edit)
Yu Yu Hakusho

2003:
Big O
Blue Gender
Family Guy
FLCL
Futurama
Kikaider
Lupin III
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
Reign: The Conqueror
Trigun

2004:
The Animatrix
Case Closed
Fullmetal Alchemist
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Read or Die
Super Milk-chan
Tom Goes to the Mayor
The Venture Bros.
Witch Hunter Robin
Wolf's Rain

2005:
12 oz. Mouse
American Dad
The Boondocks
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Escaflowne (movie)
Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Through the Looking Glass
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Paranoia Agent
Perfect Hair Forever
Robot Chicken
Samurai Champloo
sCRYed
Squidbillies
Stroker & Hoop

2006:
Bleach
Crayon Shin-chan
Eureka Seven
Frisky Dingo
InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island
Metalocalypse
Minoriteam
Moral Orel
Pee-wee's Playhouse
Trinity Blood

2007:
A**y McGee
Blood+
Death Note
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil
Saul of the Mole Men
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Xavier: Renegade Angel

[Zeonic Freak]

An Abridged History of [adult swim]:

1994:
Space Ghost Coast to Coast

2001:
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
The Brak Show
Cowboy Bebop
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Home Movies
Sealab 2021

2002:
Baby Blues
Gundam 0080
Gundam 0083
InuYasha
Mission Hill
Mobile Suit Gundam
The Oblongs
Outlaw Star (Toonami edit)
Pilot Candidate
The Ripping Friends
Tenchi Muyo! (Toonami edit)
Yu Yu Hakusho

2003:
Big O
Blue Gender
Family Guy
FLCL
Futurama
Kikaider
Lupin III
Reign: The Conqueror
Trigun

2004:The Animatrix
Case Closed
Fullmetal Alchemist
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Read or Die
Super Milk-chan
Tom Goes to the Mayor
The Venture Bros.
Witch Hunter Robin
Wolf's Rain

2005:
12 oz. Mouse
American Dad
The Boondocks
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Escaflowne (movie)
Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time
Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Through the Looking Glass
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Paranoia Agent
Perfect Hair Forever
Robot Chicken
Samurai Champloo
sCRYed
Squidbillies
Stroker & Hoop

2006:
Bleach
Crayon Shin-chan
Eureka Seven
Frisky Dingo
InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island
Metalocalypse
Minoriteam
Moral Orel
Pee-wee's Playhouse
Trinity Blood

2007:
A**y McGee
Blood+
Death Note
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil
Saul of the Mole Men
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Xavier: Renegade Angel

Forgot to add Chars Counterattack.

I dont remember knowing the Cowboy Bebop movie was on AS. Im sure i knew it was, but was like "why should i watch it, i have it on DVD".

Wait, Escaflowne aired too? Man, where have i been...

[Kitschensyngk]

Forgot to add Chars Counterattack.

Fixed.