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Adult Swim

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File:Adultswim-logo.jpg
Adult Swim logo

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

It was originally a Sunday-only block (that also reran on Thursdays), but now 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.

Current Schedule

All times (and music, as they joke) are Eastern. The programming block's encore begins at 2:00 AM.

(As of July 4th, 2005)

Sunday

Monday-Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Adult Swim does not air on Fridays. However, TBS has a similar comedy block on Fridays known as Too Funny To Sleep.

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 television 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 Cartoon Network. The anime series s-CRY-ed initially premiered on demand before debuting on the regular block in March 2005.

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 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.

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