Adult Swim: 20 Years Later
As part of this discussion, be sure to read the following.
To those that know me, and know me online, it is likely that you know that I grew up in LA and have had many interests, including a love for anime and an interest in computer animation. I also loved the ‘80s movies of yesteryear, as well as all of the television cartoons of the ‘80s. I did not, however, grow up watching Adult Swim that early ‘80s era of animation. While I was a fan of the early animation, I was not particularly interested in the later ‘90s and early 2000s Adult Swim. I was only interested in watching it in rare instances, like on occasion during my college years. I can be found on the internet using the ‘Adult Swim Forums’ community as a place to say something online, but that is because I was a fan, rather than a viewer. I did not like watching that many late-1980’s/early-1990’s animation shows on television. I would have liked to watch more of the ‘80’s cartoons, but the ‘90’s animation was not as exciting as the old Japanese animation. It was like I grew up watching commercials for a brand new car… not that you could tell by looking into the car’s engine.
Since that is the case with just about every major television and/or movie product that I’ve ever been a part of, I am going to focus on this point right away. Adult Swim is the next major television or movie that could be replicated, because the current TV channel is slowly succumbing to the onslaught of late-decade animation shows, in particular. Some of these shows are still airing, just not on Cartoon Network or Adult Swim, but many are. Adult Swim does seem to have a following that will not want to lose and, like the first-ever animated feature series on Adult Swim, has been in the works for over two years and will go up on Adult Swim sometime around this summer.
Adult Swim: 20 Years Later
A few highlights from my interview with executive producer Chris Reiner, which aired this past July at the National Cartoonists Society’s annual convention in Anaheim, California and also included an interesting Q&A with co-producer/showrunner/writer/star Stephen Moyer, who told me that his favorite memories of the show are when it was just him and one other person in the studio writing and re-writing his story for various segments, often including the introduction of new people and concepts.
And of course it is a special place for him and the rest of the group of writers and producers working on the show, as the show has now been honored a number of times, most recently at the 2008 and 1999 awards ceremonies, in which it ended up winning the “Best Cartoon Show” award.
If you are a fan, do yourself a favor and visit the links above. Now you must know what the show is about.
We are currently in “the beginning of the end” phase of the show’s life. The shows first episode aired in September 2000 and ended with “The Devil” being killed out of hand by the government. The rest of the series went by so fast (more than three episodes a day in its early days) that everyone had little sleep and very few breaks.
It was also a time of transition, of going from the studio to the cable channel to television to becoming a part of Adult Swim. There was a lot of turmoil, in terms of everything that was going on in TV at the time, and so far as I remember, everyone was pretty much on the same page as far as their approach and philosophies.
I think there was, for instance, a group that was very much focused on the story and writing of the show. And I think a lot of the writers and producers, too, were pretty much on the same page. It was pretty much about the same thing, which was just going off some of the characters and making sure that we were building on their strengths.
But now we’re kind of on our way out of that. The show is getting older, but it’s still doing very well. It’s the same people, with a different set of characters. The shows are starting to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Why Adult Swim?
The idea for this series of podcasts was born two weeks ago in the form of a Facebook post. During that period of time, I’ll admit to thinking, “No, wait a second … this can’t be true.
I’ve been reading, watching and listening to the likes of The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and, while they cover adult comics, they don’t exactly do self-publishing.
I’m not saying I’ve never had a hard time convincing my friends that I wanted to be a cartoonist, or that I don’t have all the confidence of someone who worked their way up the ranks of a publishing company. But I’ve never been one of those people — the kind that says, “Fuck it, I’ll get a press pass and put out my first comic.
What I’m saying is that I’ve never tried to make it as big as I want, and I don’t really want it to be the way it’s become.
In the span of less than two months, I’ve picked up self-published comics, and all I’ve ever done was to set up a website about comics. No, I don’t make money. I’m a self-publisher.
To the contrary, I’m a bit of a self-admitted nerd and a bit of a fan of classic movies and video games. I’ve always said that I want to be an adult film star.
I’ve created things that many fans are aware of (like the Adult Swim site) and I’ve made a few friends on social media. But none of that experience has given me any confidence or any sort of identity. I’m still waiting for someone to make the leap from reader to creator.
If there’s one piece of advice I can give someone who wants to be the next Kevin Smith, it is to just keep on doing what you’re doing.
Celebrating the Stranger Ad Break Bumps of Adult Swim.
This article is a continuation of an article that was published in the “Cupcake Connoisseurs” section, which was featured on p. 21, right after the article titled “Adult Swim Cuts Its Adult Time Capsule” was published. The “Adult Swim Cuts Its Adult Time Capsule” article (p. 21) was a bit longer, so I’m posting both articles here.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ll be covering the “adult time capsule” phenomenon in the “Adult Swim Cuts Its Adult Time Capsule” article this week. Since this “Adult Swim Time Capsule” was from 1995-1997, it is somewhat harder to find the episode in question. So, my apologies to those of you who have been looking for it, but I can’t help you.
So after the past few weeks, I’ve decided to take some time out to make my own list of the adult time capsule episodes that I’ve found so far. I’ll be going through these episodes and noting exactly what I’ve found which would be considered a “time capsule,” regardless of its age. The point is, this way, we can easily find the “time capsule” episodes, as well as those that may be from earlier in time, if such exist.
Below is a list of what I have found so far in “adult time capsule” episodes.
These episodes have been released on YouTube, so you can easily access them. Also, as mentioned in the prior part of this post, I found many episodes in VHS, so it would be a good idea to go through the site of the source video, rather than making your own, if it isn’t available on YouTube.
The first episode from this list was “The Hanoi Hilton,” which aired on December 18, 1987.
Tips of the Day in Programming
There’s a ton of advice out there about how to be a better programmer. Programming is a craft you’ve been learning for years, and you’ve probably picked up a few tips along the way.
The real power of great programming comes from being well versed in the basics: that’s why you’ve picked up at least one book about Python for learning the language and the fundamentals. These fundamentals can take you far and be a critical part of your toolkit long after your coding skills have faded in importance. It’s especially easy to pick up code written in one of those books if you know the basics of how to use the language and how to manipulate arrays and lists and dictionaries and so on and so forth. But a great programmers also have a strong foundation in Python and the other fundamentals of coding—a foundation that they apply at every level of the code they write.
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Spread the loveAs part of this discussion, be sure to read the following. To those that know me, and know me online, it is likely that you know that I grew up in LA and have had many interests, including a love for anime and an interest in computer animation. I also loved the ‘80s…