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Adult Swim
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Adult Swim is an adult-oriented cable television network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network in the United States and broadcasting in countries such as Australia and Japan. The network features animated shows, including original programming, syndicated shows, and Japanese anime, generally with minimal or no editing for content. The shows are geared toward a 17+ audience, in contrast to the child and pre-teen daytime programming on Cartoon Network.
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Encyclopedia
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented cable television network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network in the United States and broadcasting in countries such as Australia and Japan. The network features animated shows, including original programming, syndicated shows, and Japanese anime, generally with minimal or no editing for content. The shows are geared toward a 17+ audience, in contrast to the child and pre-teen daytime programming on Cartoon Network. The shows and commercial breaks are usually interrupted by "bumps", or moments where short jokes or Internet fan feedback (in which negative feedback is sometimes responded to in a sarcastic manner) are broadcast in simple white letters over a black screen.
History
Adult Swim began as a "spin-off" of Cartoon Network, premiering on September 2, 2001 with the airing of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. The name is derived from public swimming pools often having designated times when children are restricted from using the facilities in favor of adults. These times are often referred to as "adult swim". The slogans and early transitions appear to be derived from an episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete. The first anime broadcast on Adult Swim was Cowboy Bebop. On March 28, 2005, Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting, split Adult Swim from Cartoon Network so Nielsen Media Research could treat it as a separate channel for ratings purposes.Other early shows included, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Brak Show and a revival of The WB's Mission Hill for 7 more episodes until the show was canceled again with five more written episodes that were half done.
Originally a Sunday-only block with reruns on Thursdays, Adult Swim now airs nightly, from 10:00PM-6:00AM EST.
The network is programmed by Williams Street Studios, a division of Turner Broadcast Network, who have created Toonami and Miguzi; they play American animated series and shorts geared towards adults. They also play a wide variety of Japanese anime series, OVAs, and movies.
Promotions for Adult Swim are targeted towards the college age and those in their twenties and thirties, constituting the majority of their viewers. According to a September 1, 2004 article in Promo magazine, representatives travel to 30 universities across the U.S. to promote the Adult Swim lineup, including handing out posters for students' dorm rooms.
On August 1, 2008, Adult Swim aired a special "old school lineup" night that went back to the original swimming pool motif and aired episodes of original hits such as Home Movies, The Brak Show, Sealab, Space Ghost, and Cowboy Bebop.
Starting August 22, 2008, due to great fan reception of their original old school night, Adult Swim decided to make every Friday "Old School" night, complete with all the old favorites like Sealab 2021; Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law; and Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and the old swimming pool bumps.
On September 13, 2008, Adult Swim decided to change their traditional anime Saturday/Sunday night, and replace most of the anime with original Williams Street shows. They moved the longest running anime Bleach to the front of the block, replaced newer Shin Chan episodes with Fullmetal Alchemist reruns following the airing of Bleach, and pushed the two newest anime shows, Code Geass and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit all the way to 5am. But due to poor Saturday/Sunday night ratings, they brought back anime on Sunday (with Williams Street shows shown from 11pm-1am on Saturday/Sunday). Shin Chan returned to the schedule, but with reruns instead.
On October 20, 2008; Adult Swim's "bug" was modified to show their website address in their logo, however it was reverted back to its previous setting a week later. The "[adultswim.com]" bug is still seen on shows airing on the Adult Swim Video website.
The week of November 9, 2008, a bump announced that as of December 28, 2008, Adult Swim would begin its broadcasting on all nights at 10:00PM, with King Of The Hill shown during the first hour every weeknight. In addition, on December 29 through 31, back-to-back episodes of The PJs aired in the 10:00PM spot. The programmers began three days in advance of the original date, which was to have been January 1, 2009.
Stylistic history
Originally, all of the bumpers shown in between shows featured footage of senior citizens swimming in public pools, eating, exercising, and doing other pool-related activities, with audio of a lifeguard shouting "all kids out of the pool" through a megaphone. The logo was the words "ADULT SWIM" in all capital letters, shown after a freeze frame of the footage. The shows were announced by a computer generated voice on Saturdays.
When the Saturday night block started in 2002, it featured clips from the various anime programs displayed on the block. The original theme music for Adult Swim, titled "D-Code," was a remix of "Mambo Gallego" done by the Melbourne musician Dust Devil, originally played by Latin jazz musician Tito Puente, Sr.
On January 12, 2003, the senior citizens were replaced by animated safety manuals featuring Adult Swim characters. The logo changed to the words "adult swim" in red and a black circle with a yellow penumbra.
The current bumper cards debuted on May 25, 2003 and feature black intertitle "cards" in white Helvetica Neue bold condensed type. The cards discuss everything from programming news to personal staff opinions on unrelated subjects. In addition, the bumpers for the action shows include tilt-shift miniature and other abstract photos of Japan, often accompanied by clips of various Yesterday's New Quintet songs. The most recent bumper cards have been photographs of places, usually something to do with roads or road signs, in and around Atlanta, with the "[adult swim]" caption somewhere therein. Also, some of the bumps pay tribute to a recent death, in which there is no music or sound effects, but only a fade in, showing the person's name, along with the year of his/her birth and the year of his/her death, followed by a fade out. Most recent tributes include Skip Caray, Bernie Mac, and Isaac Hayes.
On August 1, 2008, Adult Swim had a special feature titled "Old School Fridays", where they went back to the original swimming pool motif and the original lineup of Home Movies, The Brak Show, Sealab 2021, Space Ghost: Coast To Coast, and Cowboy Bebop, even going as far as, in the instances of Home Movies, Space Ghost, and Cowboy Bebop showing the episodes that appeared on their debut. At this time, the logo was reverted to the original one. However, it did not last very long.
In 2009, King of the Hill was aired with unique bumpers mentioning fictional Arlen, Texas companies e.g. "King of the Hill....brought to you by Alamo Beer" and "King of the Hill....brought to you by Strickland Propane". This is meant as a response to syndicated airings of King of the Hill on other networks that have sponsorship bumpers during King of the Hill by actual companies. These real sponsorship bumpers are also shown by Adult Swim, but less frequently.
Adult Swim Video
AdultSwim.com launched a web-based video distribution service, the "Friday Night Fix", on September 16, 2005, as a way for fans to view programming when the programming block did not air. It was originally available only on Fridays during the hours that Adult Swim normally aired on the other weeknights. On March 27, 2006, Adult Swim changed "Friday Night Fix" into the "A
Ratings
Adult Swim has repeatedly set and broken viewership records for ad-supported basic cable channels, ranked #1 for delivery of adults 18-34, adults 18-24, men 18-34, and men 18-24. According to Nielsen Media Research, Adult Swim set new viewership records among men over 18 in 2005, 2006, and 2007. As of August, 2008, Adult Swim continues to be one of the most visited standard cable channel for adults 18 - 34. It should also be noted that according to AS own website message boards, ratings have dropped dramatically over a period of time as well. Some have stated on these message broads that it could be due to the lack of Anime on the block.
Ad campaign bomb scare
Turner Broadcasting issued an apology for an ad campaign causing a series of bomb scares throughout Boston on January 31, 2007. A statement emailed to The Boston Globe from Turner Broadcasting said:
"The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim's animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."
On January 31, Boston and Massachusetts State Police were dispatched to various places in Boston after reports of suspicious packages were sighted. On February 1, 2007, Boston authorities arrested two men involved with the incident. Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts, and Sean Stevens, 28, were facing charges of placing a hoax device to incite panic, as well as one count of disorderly conduct, according to .
On February 5, Turner Broadcasting and marketer announced that they will pay two million dollars in amends: one million to the city of Boston, and one million in goodwill funds. Four days later, on February 9, Jim Samples, then-general manager and executive vice president of Cartoon Network, resigned.
Programming
Merchandise and media offerings
Video games
Adult Swim partnered with Midway Games in 2005 to begin development on video games based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, soon to come, The Brak Show, and Sealab 2021. The game based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am, was released on November 5, 2007 for PlayStation 2. The game is a golf game with fighting and racing levels. A video game based on Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law has been released by Capcom for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii.
Various third-party, Macromedia Flash-based games are also available for free play on the Adult Swim website.
Music
Adult Swim has a partnership with independent music label Stones Throw Records. Many of Adult Swim's bumpers and packaging have used music from artists such as Madlib, Oh No, J Dilla, and Psyche Origami. In 2006, both Stones Throw and Adult Swim created a co-production album entitled Chrome Children.
Various electronic music is also often borrowed from artists on the label Warp Records, such as Boards of Canada, Chris Clark, Jackson and his Computer Band, and Flying Lotus. Additionally, from the Normrex label in New York is featured music of artist Machinedrum.
In mid-2003, when the block first switched to its now 5 year standing text-bump format, the bumps would often be accompanied by the instrumental music of producers like Fat Jon and J Dilla.
The network was also part of an earlier studio LP with DANGERDOOM, a musical collaboration between music producer Danger Mouse and rapper MF DOOM, entitled The Mouse and the Mask.
In February 2007, Adult Swim and Definitive Jux released a free, online EP entitled Definitive Swim. In 2006, Adult Swim and Chocolate Industries released Chocolate Swim as a free online download. In May of the same year, Adult Swim featured a similarly-styled release called Warm & Scratchy, focusing on indie rock bands from varying labels and sub-genres.
In April 2008, Adult Swim and Ghostly International released an indie electronic album Ghostly Swim, featuring artist from the label such as Matthew Dear and Dabrye.
In June 2008, Adult Swim began running commercials sponsored by Sonic for the free downloadable album, World Wide Renewal Program. The album features hip hop by artists like Hollywood Holt, Kovas, and the Cool Kids, among others; and some experimental beat tracks without vocals. In October 2008, Adult Swim took the album offline. In the same month, Adult Swim released African Swim to coincide with Ubisoft's release of Far Cry 2.
In February 2009, Adult Swim announced it will be releasing a free download of the new EP titled "I Never Knew You" from rapper Cage Kennylz in the next two months.
Video on demand
In mid-2004, Adult Swim launched a video on demand channel on cable TV providers. The comedy section features several episodes from various Adult Swim original series, while the action section shows anime series and movies licensed by Bandai Entertainment, Geneon Entertainment, and Viz Media, some of which never broadcasted. The anime series s-CRY-ed initially premiered on demand before debuting on the regular block in May 2005.
Select series, including Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Venture Brothers, are also available for purchase on iTunes. Furthermore, as of November 22, 2006, some Adult Swim shows can be bought and accessed from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.
Podcast
Adult Swim offered a video podcast on Apple's iTunes from March 21, 2006, to September 19, 2006. The podcasts featured behind-the-scenes segments of shows and exclusive content; such as an interview with Saved by the Bells Dennis Haskins and a look at Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha's Metalocalypse. The podcast reached number two in iTunes' ranking of most downloaded podcasts.
International
Adult Swim has been actively expanding its reach across the world since 2005. New Zealand, Australia, and Latin America air the block on the Cartoon Network, just like in the United States. However, some international Cartoon Networks do not desire Adult Swim to air on their 24-hour children's network; and the block is licensed to other networks or Television stations instead, such as Ofcom in the United Kingdom, where regulation issues arise. Some networks enter into an agreement giving the rights to the entire block, including branding and all owned programming, whereas others such as Teletoon in Canada sign a first-right-of-refusal deal and do not choose to use the branding.
Adult Swim blocks outside of the United States are not obligated to remain identical in scheduling to the U.S. equivalent. They are permitted to acquire other programs for the block, and even create their own original programming; a move recently exercised by Adult Swim UK.
A common occurrence throughout the world is that of Adult Swim's popular program, The Boondocks, getting separated from the rest of the programming, ending up on another network. While it is an Adult Swim original, Sony Pictures Television owns and operates the show and distribution must be dealt through them instead of Turner Broadcasting. For example, Sony's Animax owns the broadcasting rights to the show throughout Asia.
Australia and New Zealand
In Australia and New Zealand, Adult Swim was broadcast on Cartoon Network from 2002 until December 31, 2007. The block is no longer seen on Cartoon Network, but it came back with two shows, including a premiere, Robot Chicken and Harvey Birdman, on The Comedy Channel in March 2008, with Aqua Teen Hunger Force joining the block on July 1. Other shows (Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, etc.) have yet to come back, but are being considered for return. The block is now seen on The Comedy Channel.
Some series that aired on Adult Swim have been released to Region 4 DVD by Madman Entertainment, including shows that have never been shown on Australian television before, such as Metalocalypse, Moral Orel, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Frisky Dingo. The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters has also been quietly released to DVD.
United Kingdom and Ireland
Launched on July 7, 2006, the UK network Bravo used to air an Adult Swim block nightly, generally starting at midnight each night. The UK's Bravo channel is owned by Virgin Media Television, although in other parts of the world Adult Swim is a block on Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network. Shows that were previously a part of the UK's Adult Swim block are Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Venture Bros., Moral Orel, and Metalocalypse, Non-Williams Street shows on the block include Stripperella and Kid Notorious. The first "action" series was the anime Afro Samurai, which aired on May 4, 2007 alongside a new UK animated show Modern Toss. On July 7, 2008, Adult Swim ceased to broadcast on Bravo, and its future remains uncertain.
The UK Adult Swim website, like its American counterpart, offers free access to full episodes of shows including Squidbillies, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Minoriteam, Stroker and Hoop, Moral Orel, 12 oz. Mouse, Perfect Hair Forever, Metalocalypse, and Frisky Dingo. Unlike Adult Swim on Bravo UK, the website service is owned by Time Warner. Adult Swim programming can also be ordered through various "on demand" and mobile TV services.
Revolver Entertainment recently began distributing original Adult Swim series on DVD in the UK and Ireland.
Canada
Although Canada does not air Adult Swim, Teletoon's English-language service in Canada has a teen/adult-oriented block called "Teletoon Detour" that airs programming similar to Adult Swim every night. Adult Swim programs that aired on the Detour include 12 oz. Mouse, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, Futurama, Harvey Birdman, American Dad!, Metalocalypse, Robot Chicken, Squidbillies, Stroker and Hoop, The Boondocks, The Venture Bros., Home Movies, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is the only Adult Swim original not to air on Teletoon in Canada, and instead airs on The Comedy Network, owned by CTVglobemedia. Since July 2007, seven of the fourteen Adult Swim programs airing on The Detour were canceled and replaced by Canadian-produced adult cartoon shows.
Teletoon's French-language service in Canada also has an adult-oriented block called "Le Détour sur Télétoon" that airs shows like The Boondocks, Family Guy, Home Movies, American Dad!, and Futurama. Similarly, YTV airs some anime originally broadcast on Adult Swim in its "Bionix" block.
External links
- – Official website
- – Official UK Adult Swim website
- – Official Australian Adult Swim website
- – Official website of Adult Swim Latin America
- – Website for the German Adult Swim block on Sat.1 Comedy
- Official website for UK Adult Swim DVD releases
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