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Adult Swim

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File:Adultswim-logo.jpg
Adult Swim logo.

Adult Swim (usually stylised [adult swim] on bumps) is the name for the adult-oriented television programming block on Cartoon Network, which premiered on September 2, 2001.

Originally a Sunday-only block (that also reran on Thursdays), Adult Swim now airs Saturday through Thursday nights at 11 PM (E/P) with an encore airing at 2 AM and then ending with an hour of old classics. The block, programmed by Williams Street Productions, the same group that created Toonami and Miguzi, plays American animated series and shorts geared towards adults and a wide variety of Japanese anime series and OVAs, all intended for mature audiences. The name comes from the name for hours designated at public swimming pools where only adults can swim in the pool.

Originally, all of the bumps shown in between shows featured footage of seniors swimming in public pools with a lifeguard shouting through a megaphone dubbed over. The current bumps feature black "cards" with white text on them, which discuss everything from news about the programming to personal staff opinions on unrelated subjects. On Thursdays, Adult Swim airs cards which have viewer mail and witty responses to the viewer mail.

Adult Swim officially split from CN on March 28 2005, thus becoming its own entity. It shares the same basic cable channel, running at different times of the day. This concept is not new. The "Nick" network originally started the idea back when it first split into three separate entities: Nick Jr, Nickelodeon, and Nick At Nite. As a result of this, Nielsen Media Research began classifying the Adult Swim programming from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM as a separate network from CN. This is the reason why uncut Dragon Ball Z airs at 10:30 PM, on Monday through Thursday right before Adult Swim.

Current Schedule

All times (and music) are Eastern. The programming block's encore begins at 2:00 AM. Premiere episodes in bold.

(As of July 31 2005)

Sunday

Monday-Wednesday

Thursday

Thursday primarily serves as an encore night for episodes that premiered the previous Saturday and Sunday.

Friday

Adult Swim does not air on Fridays because of Cartoon Network's Fridays block. However, TBS has a similar comedy block on Fridays known as Too Funny To Sleep, which often shows Family Guy, Futurama, The Oblongs and Mission Hill in no particular order.

Saturday

This schedule varies week-to-week, but is dominated by anime programs, and on rare occasions Saturday's usual schedule will be partially or fully pre-empted to allow Adult Swim to air movies or OVAs.

Shows: Past, Present, and Future

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Adult Swim

Adult Swim Comedy

Adult Swim Action

Single Episode Pilots and Specials

Movies Played on Adult Swim

Video on Demand

In mid-2004, Adult Swim launched a video on demand channel on various cable TV providers. The comedy section features several episodes from various Adult Swim original series, while the action section only features programs and movies licensed by Bandai Entertainment, some of which have never been broadcast on Adult Swim or CN. The anime series s-CRY-ed initially premiered on demand before debuting on the regular block in May 2005.

Adult Swim: Action

On February 23 2002, Adult Swim launched a Saturday block of action-themed anime called "Adult Swim: Action." The launch of it was driven by the popularity of Cowboy Bebop, which at the time was its most watched show. The original lineup included shows which already appeared on both Adult Swim and Toonami, including Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Tenchi Muyo, along with brand new shows like Yu Yu Hakusho, Pilot Candidate, and Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.

Adult Swim: Action still airs today, with shows including Inuyasha, FLCL, Paranoia Agent, and S-Cry-ed. However, the Saturday night block is not nearly as popular as the Sunday night comedy block. As of August, 2005, the 11 PM Futurama is easily the most-watched show on Saturdays; in fact, the 2 AM replay of Futurama gets more viewers than almost every show that airs from 11:30 PM - 2 AM.

Trivia

  • Despite lukewarm success in Japan, the series The Big O was given a second season due entirely to popularity in the U.S.A. and CN funding (although its creation and direction were still left to the Japanese creators). Currently, head writer Chiaki J. Konaka has shown interest in resolving the cliffhanger, but CN has opted out of more episodes in order to pursue new comedy shows by order of the head of Adult Swim's Comedy segments, Mike Lazzo, who threatened to quit if they renewed The Big O.
  • In recent years, Adult Swim has begun to use bumps (lead ins and outs for commercials) which are simply black screens with white text written on them, called cards. These cards have given viewers a sense of the personality of Adult Swim so that the following is not only to the shows, but to the block itself. Following the relaunch of their forums, Adult Swim began to post quotes from the boards on their cards, starting with the now infamous phrase "cuz anime is teh s uck." This idea became so popular, and brought so many users to the forums, that eventually Thursday nights were devoted to viewer cards, and their responses from Adult Swim.
  • The original opening montage to Adult Swim was taken from scenes featured in The Adventures of Pete & Pete, a mid-90s TV series on Nick, as was the late night program's original cursive logo.
  • The success of AS has inspired other cable networks, such as USA, Comedy Central, and TBS to begin late-night programming blocks of their own.
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