FishCenter Live
| FishCenter Live | |
|---|---|
| The words "fish" and "center" in capital letters surrounding a picture of a blue fish enclosed in a circle, all of which is on a blue background | |
| Genre | Comedy Talk show |
| Presented by |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 319 (as of January 2016[update]) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 11 minutes (television) |
| Production company | Williams Street |
| Original release | |
| Network | AdultSwim.com (online) Adult Swim (television) |
| Release | September 22, 2014 – present |
FishCenter Live (also shortened to FishCenter) is an American talk show hosted by Dave Bonawits, Andrew Choe, Matt Harrigan, and Max Simonet. It premiered on the official website of Adult Swim in September 2014; it started airing on the network proper in February 2015.
Summary and production
FishCenter Live is presented as a call-in talk show narrating over footage of tropical fish swimming around in a fish tank.[1] The fish are ranked according to their points, which are awarded when the fish complete a number of challenges.[2] These challenges include floating over coins that are superimposed on the video feed. The show is hosted by Dave Bonawits, Andrew Choe, Matt Harrigan,[a] and Max Simonet, employees of Adult Swim, from the network's digital department room. An original incarnation of the show involved a straight video feed of the fish tank, without narration. Commentary and a phone number for call-in segments were later added. Initially, callers were mostly other Adult Swim employees; when the competition portion was added, the hosts saw an increase of outside callers.[4]
Animal cast
| Name | Species | Tank |
|---|---|---|
| Greenbird | Bird wrasse | Main tank |
| Th'Lump | White-spotted puffer | Junior league tank |
| Hamburger | Zebra moray | Main tank |
| Mimosa | Queen coris | Main tank |
| Jeremy Legg | Cuban hogfish | Junior league tank |
| Slider | Sailfin tang | Junior league tank |
| Lupin the Third | Foxface rabbitfish | Junior league tank |
| Styletoy | Flame Angelfish | Main tank |
| TopXanderCupper | Pinktail Triggerfish | Main tank |
| Ale | Squirrelfish | Main tank |
Former cast
| Name | Species | Reason for departure |
|---|---|---|
| Dottie | Clown triggerfish | Death (February 19, 2016) |
| Long Donovan | Yellow-brown wrasse | Death (August 26, 2016) |
| Mammoth | Harlequin tuskfish | Death (September 6, 2016) |
| Ronside | Majestic angelfish | Death (September 21, 2016) |
| Sir Squirt | Lagoon triggerfish | Death (October 3, 2016) |
| "Yo Hal Look At That Tang" Tang | Sohal surgeonfish | Removed from tank due to size and aggression |
| Ol' Blue | King angelfish | Removed from tank due to size and aggression |
Broadcast and reception
What is our version of a sports show? What is our version of a relationship Q&A show? You can test these things out, just as we did with FishCenter, in an office with a couple microphones.
—Mike Lazzo, Adult Swim executive[4]
FishCenter Live was originally released in September 2014 on Adult Swim's official website.[5] The show came about when staff decided to film the tropical fish swimming around their aquarium as an idea for developing content for the website's online streaming channels. New episodes are presented on weekdays. The show was added to the network proper in February 2015, broadcast at 4 a.m. These airings are condensed versions of the live version, consisting of 11-minute highlights from each day.[4][b]
In the first week of its televised broadcast, the show garnered 2.6 million viewers in total.[4] In a press release, the network ranked the program first place across all targeted demographics in its time slot during the second week of March 2015.[6] The network observed some of these viewers as confused Twitter users, wondering if the show was a prank. After these airings, live viewership rose from 120 to 5,000. The success led to the creation of a separate live stream dedicated to the network's Toonami block.[4]
Critical reception has been positive. Eric Lindvall of The A.V. Club called FishCenter "the latest weird thing" to come from the network "in a streak of really weird things", describing it as a "wonderful, web-based world of piscine sports".[2]
The robot character TOM of Adult Swim's Saturday night Toonami block has been stated to be a fan of the show.
Explanatory notes
- ^ Harrigan, a creative director at the network, was first hired at Turner Broadcasting System in 1994. The Wall Street Journal observed this relationship as a rule of management to not "get hung up on hierarchy and protocol" at the studio.[3]
- ^ These broadcast versions have also been uploaded to the network's YouTube channel.[2]
References
- ^ Lindvall, Eric (February 11, 2015). "Discover the Wonderful, Web-Based World of Piscine Sports with Adult Swim's FishCenter Live". The A.V. Club. Onion Inc. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- For "tropical", see: Jurgensen, John (March 12, 2015). "Adult Swim: How to Run a Creative Hothouse". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c Lindvall, Eric (February 11, 2015). "Discover the Wonderful, Web-Based World of Piscine Sports with Adult Swim's FishCenter Live". The A.V. Club. Onion Inc. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ^ Jurgensen, John (March 12, 2015). "Shop Rules at Adult Swim". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Jurgensen, John (March 12, 2015). "Adult Swim: How to Run a Creative Hothouse". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ^ Jurgensen, John (March 12, 2015). "Adult Swim: How to Run a Creative Hothouse". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- For "September", see: Jurgensen, John (March 12, 2015). "Shop Rules at Adult Swim". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
- ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 10, 2015). "Monthly Ratings Notes for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT & NBA TV: Rizzoli & Isles, Cougar Town, NBA Basketball & More". TV by the Numbers. Tribune Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on March 14, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
Further reading
- Kopcow, Chris (May 29, 2015). "Adult Swim's FishCenter: A Beginner's Guide". Splitsider. The Awl. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015.
- "Populist: Items of interest this week". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. May 29, 2015. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015.
- Franks, Nico (March 25, 2015). "Adult Swim floats new app". C21 Media. C21 Media Limited. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015.