Adult Swim - History

History

Adult Swim grew out of Cartoon Network's previous attempts at airing content appropriate for teenagers and young adults who might be watching the channel after 11pm. The network began experimenting with its late-night programming by airing anthology shows like ToonHeads and Late Night Black and White, which both boasted uncensored classic cartoon shorts. Space Ghost Coast to Coast, one of Cartoon Network's first forays into original programming, was created in 1994 specifically for late-night audiences. The series was created by Ghost Planet Industries, which eventually became Williams Street Studios, the eventual producers and programmers of Adult Swim.

In early mornings of December 2000 (while Space Ghost Coast to Coast was on hiatus), several new Williams Street series made unannounced "stealth" premieres. Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Brak Show all premiered unannounced; the official schedules listed the shows as "Special Programming".

Adult Swim officially premiered on September 2, 2001 with the airing of the "Director's Cut" episode of Home Movies, an episode that was shelved before airing on its original network, UPN; in further years, it would become increasingly common for Adult Swim to "finish out" airing episodes of shows that never finished airing on its original network (e.g., the Family Guy episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" and the rest of the first season of Mission Hill). The block initially aired on Sunday nights, with a repeat of the same block on Thursday nights. The name comes from a phrase used by public swimming pools to label designated times when children are restricted from using the facilities in favor of adults - "Adult Swim". 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. Adult Swim operates similarly to Nick at Nite, as that channel also shares channel space with another cable channel (in their case, Nickelodeon) and is treated as a separate service for ratings purposes by Nielsen Media Research.

The network is programmed by Williams Street Studios, a division of Turner Broadcast Network, which also created Toonami and Miguzi. It plays 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.

Adult Swim had a direct and important role in the revival of three popular animated series, Family Guy, Futurama, and The Oblongs. Family Guy premiered in reruns on Adult Swim on April 20, 2003, and immediately became the block's top-rated programming, dominating late night viewing in its time period vs. cable and broadcast competition and boosting viewership by 239 percent. On March 29, 2004, less than one year later, Fox announced it would be renewing Family Guy for a fourth season and reviving it from cancellation. Shortly after the announcement, Jim Samples, executive vice president of Cartoon Network, commented, "Bringing Family Guy to the Adult Swim lineup last April really helped turn the block into a cultural phenomenon with young adults."

Futurama was also revived in 2007 for Comedy Central for similar reasons: impressive viewership in syndication as well as high DVD sales. Adult Swim obtained Futurama's exclusive cable syndication rights in March 2002 for a reported ten million dollars, and the series first aired on the network in January 2002. In 2006, Twentieth Television struck a deal to produce four direct-to-video animated features based on Futurama, and, in 2009, the series was revived in normal half-hour installments beginning in 2010 on Comedy Central. In a 2006 interview, Futurama creator Matt Groening explained "There's a long, regal history of misunderstood TV shows, and to Fox's credit, the studio looked at the ratings on the Cartoon Network and how the show does overseas, and saw that there was more money to be made."

Angus Oblong, creator of The Oblongs, said new episodes of the series will return to Adult Swim. Adult Swim stated on July 4, 2010 that they asked studios to produce new episodes and "some said yes, some said no".

The first anime broadcast on Adult Swim was Cowboy Bebop, which aired on Sunday September 2, 2001, Adult Swim's launch date, at 10/9c.

On December 27, 2010, Adult Swim's sign-on time was moved an hour earlier, to 9:00 ET/6:00 PT, extending the networks daily schedule to a total of 9 hours.