Adult Swim
Adult Swim 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 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 comedy 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 old people 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 Cartoon Network on March 28th, 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 Cartoon Network. Look for changes in the way the format is run.
Current schedule
All times (and music, as they joke) are Eastern. The programming block's encore begins at 2:00 AM.
===Sunday=== (As of June 5,2005)
- 11:00 PM - Family Guy
- 11:30 PM - Family Guy
- 12:00 AM - Robot Chicken
- 12:15 AM - Tom Goes To The Mayor
- 12:00 AM - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- 12:45 AM - Sealab 2021
- 1:00 AM - Venture Brothers
- 1:30 AM - Home Movies
- 5:00 AM - Lupin III
- 5:30 AM - Case Closed
Monday-Wednesday
- 11 PM - Futurama
- 11:30 PM - Family Guy
- 12 AM - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- 12:15 AM - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- 12:30 AM - InuYasha
- 1 AM - Full Metal Alchemist
- 1:30 AM - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- 5 AM - Lupin the 3rd
- 5:30 AM - Case Closed
Thursday
- 11 PM - American Dad!
- 11:30 PM - Family Guy
- 12 AM - Robot Chicken
- 12:15 AM - Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
- 12:30 AM - Samurai Champloo
- 1 AM - Fullmetal Alchemist
- 1:30 AM - 'The Venture Brothers
- 5 AM - Lupin the 3rd
- 5:30 AM - Case Closed
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.
- 11 PM - InuYasha
- 11:30 PM - Samurai Champloo
- 12 AM - Paranoia Agent
- 12:30 AM- S-cry-ed
- 1 AM- FLCL
- 1:30 AM- Trigun
- 5 AM - Lupin the 3rd
- 5:30 AM - Case Closed
Shows: past, present, and future
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Adult Swim
- American Dad! (2005) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000-2005) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Baby Blues (2001) [TV-PG]
- Big O (2003) [TV-PG] (Originally broadcast edited on Toonami)
- Blue Gender (2003) [TV-14]
- The Bob Clampett Show
- The Boondocks (2005)
- The Brak Show (2001-2003) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Case Closed (known as Detective Conan in other countries) (2004) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Cowboy Bebop (2001) [TV-14]
- Family Guy (2003-2005) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Fullmetal Alchemist (2004-2005) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Futurama (2003)[TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- FLCL (2003) [TV-14]
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2004-2005) [TV-14]
- Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (2005) [TV-14]
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2001-2005) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Home Movies (2001-2004) [TV-PG]
- InuYasha (2002-2005) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Kikaider (2003) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Lupin III (2003) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- Mission Hill (2001) [TV-14]
- Mobile Suit Gundam (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally broadcast on Toonami)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally broadcast on Toonami)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally intended for broadcast on Toonami)
- The Oblongs (2002) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Outlaw Star (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally broadcast on Toonami)
- Paranoia Agent (2005) [TV-14]
- Perfect Hair Forever (2005)
- Pilot Candidate (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally intended for broadcast on Toonami)
- The Popeye Show (2005)
- Reign : The Conqueror (2003) [TV-14]
- Robot Chicken (2005)
- The Ripping Friends (2003) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Samurai Champloo (2005) [TV-14]
- S-cry-ed (2005) [TV-PG]
- Sealab 2021 (2000-2005) [TV-14]
- Space Ghost: Coast to Coast ([1996] 2001-2004) [TV-PG]
- Squidbillies (2005)
- Stroker and Hoop (2005)
- Super Milk Chan (2004-2005) [TV-14]
- Tenchi Muyo! (2002) [TV-Y7] (Originally broadcast on Toonami)
- Tom Goes to the Mayor (2004-2005) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Trigun (2003) [TV-14]/[TV-PG]
- The Venture Bros. (2004-2005) [TV-14]
- Witch Hunter Robin (2004) [TV-PG]
- Wolf's Rain (2004) [TV-PG]/[TV-14]
- Yu Yu Hakusho (2002-2003) [TV-PG]/[TV-14] (Moved to Toonami in early 2003)
Single episode pilots and specials
Movies played on Adult Swim
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (2003)
- The Animatrix (2004)
- Read or Die (2004) (3 episode OVA. Was played in a movie fashion.)
- Metropolis (2005)
- Inuyasha: The Love That Transcends Time (2005) (also known as Inuyasha: Affections Touching Across Time)
Trivia
Despite lukewarm success in Japan, the series Big O was given a second season due entirely to popularity in the U.S.A. and Cartoon Network 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 Cartoon Network 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 Big O.
In recent years, Adult Swim has begun to use bumps (lead ins and outs for commercialls) 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, [AS] began to post quotes from the boards on their cards, starting with the now imfamous phrase "cuz anime is teh s uck." This idea became so popular, and brought so many users to the forums, that eventually thurday nights were devoted to veiwer cards, and their responses from adult swim.