AdultSwim-related stories
Posted Nov 5th 2009 10:02AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: TV on DVD, Adult Swim, Reality-Free
The new
Adult Swim In A Box is an embarrassment of riches - six boxed sets for six different shows and a bonus disc featuring five unreleased pilots -- more than 20 hours on 12 DVDs. I was especially happy to get season two of
Sealab 2021, which I have never been able to catch regularly, and season one of
Metalocalypse, which I have always enjoyed.
Getting season two of
Robot Chicken, volume one of
Moral Orel, volume two of
Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and volume three of
Space Ghost Coast to Coast just seemed like a bonus. Well worth the suggested retail price of $69.98 for Adult Swim fans who haven't already purchased any of the included sets.
The pilots are a mixed bag, but mostly good.
The Best of Totally for Teens is a live action parody of a moralistic teen variety show hosted by thirtysomethings trying to be hip. It's a promising premise, one that should maybe be revisited, but the pilot is a bit of a mess. It hits topics ripe for satire in the format like teen insecurity, drugs, and sex, and has the right look for Adult Swim.
Continue reading Review: Adult Swim in a Box
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 8:35AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Animation, Adult Swim, Episode Reviews
(S04E03) I swear to you, dear reader, that I do my best to stay somewhat objective when reviewing
The Venture Bros. It's tough, though, when the writers keep knocking them out of the park like this. We're only a few episodes in, but I'm already enjoying things more than I did with season three, and it's not just because this episode had mind-blowing prog rock and UPS guys with the Shining.
Continue reading Review: The Venture Bros. - Perchance to Dean
Posted Oct 26th 2009 12:08PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Animation, Adult Swim, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E02) First things first. If you are not a connoisseur of '90s superhero cartoons or a huge nerd that has been closely following
Venture Bros. news all the way through production, you may have missed out on the full "Handsome Ransom" experience. That is not to say the unaware couldn't have a good time, but things were made ten times funnier if a viewer knew that the not-so-pure Captain Sunshine was voiced by Kevin Conroy, aka Batman.
Continue reading Review: The Venture Bros. - Handsome Ransom
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 9:32AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Web, Adult Swim, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Two very unique comedies will get a time slot on an equally unique cable network.
Conan O'Brien's "Conaco" production company and actor Rob Corrdry both scored spots on Adult Swim for two new live-action sitcoms.
O'Brien's company won a spot for Eagleheart, a show about a fading TV star who wins a chance for glory once more on a production in Texas, but constantly clashes with the low-level TV exec in charge of the show.
Corrdry's medical drama spoof web series
Childrens' Hospital will also go to Adult Swim. The channel will show re-edited versions of the episodes that aired on TheWB.com as well as produce new ones. Corrdry originally pitched the show to
Comedy Central, but negotiations broke down with the network, probably because the show didn't have enough bimbo strippers and shirtless fat guys to fill their quota (cough,
Secret Girlfriend, cough).
Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:37PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E01) Is it going too far calling
Venture Bros. the
Lost of animated shows? Because, especially when one compares it to other programs in the [adult swim] line-up, it definitely is. While shows like
Robot Chicken are custom-tailored for short attention spans (which isn't necessarily a bad thing),
VB does a beautiful job of rewarding the loyal who take time to learn and love the show.
You know how else it's also kind of like
Lost? It's really damn confusing sometimes. It wasn't until the very end of the premiere, when bits of my brain were coming out my ears, that I finally managed to put most of the story together in my head, though I knew I would have to watch it at least once to more to seriously understand. I see what you did there, Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick. Real sneaky.
Continue reading Review: The Venture Bros. - Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel (season premiere)
Posted Sep 13th 2009 11:03AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, Animation, Adult Swim
In case you have not heard already, the fourth season of
Venture Bros. arrives on [adult swim] at midnight on October 18 (meaning the night of the 18th, technically the morning of the 19th). Mark your calendars.
This news has already been floating around for a while, thanks to sites like the
Mantis-Eye Experiment, but things have been confirmed by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer during their panel at DragonCon. Some footage of this has finally been released by AdultSwim.com, so you can stop crawling around YouTube for people's crappy cell phone recordings.
Continue reading Venture Bros. premieres October 18
Posted Sep 12th 2009 10:14AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
It was mentioned a few months ago that some of the folks behind
Robot Chicken (including Seth Green)
are making a new Adult Swim series called
Titan Maximum, which is basically a
Voltron parody. I didn't realize when I first heard of this project that there was also a little
Thunderbirds in the mix as well. And quite probably some
Team America: World Police.
It's too early to tell, but based on the preview, the show certainly looks funny. Unlike
Robot Chicken, this show will likely have things like plots and regular characters (the nerd kid from
Robot Chicken doesn't count). In that sense, it's more a parody in the vein of
The Venture Brothers.
Continue reading We got your Titan Maximum right here
Posted Aug 20th 2009 10:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Video, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Adult Swim has put a three and a half minute promotional video for
The Venture Bros. Season 4 on their site. To save you folks a click, I've embedded it here at the end of the article.
The intro goes immediately into silliness, noting various significances of the number four, most of which are completely ludicrous. In the preview, Hank is sporting a different haircut, and I have no idea what's happening with Dean. He seems to be bonding with his father, among other strange misfortunes.
Brock is only in a quick clip with a shaven head without a clue as to what's happened to him since he quit his bodyguard position. The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend only appear in a brief segment, as well. It's weird to see 21 without his henchman outfit.
Continue reading The Venture Bros. Season four promo
Posted Aug 18th 2009 9:07PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, Cable/Satellite, Animation, Adult Swim
It seems that all of television is slowly losing its identity. The History Channel doesn't cover history. TV Land clogs their airwaves with run-of-the-mill reality shows. Comedy Central gives Carlos Mencia his own show.
It must be hard to draw in the kind of ratings the average television executive expects (average=viewers who are willing to commit mass suicide if they miss a rerun of
Chico and the Man) when you're anchored to one theme or genre. But it's not impossible.
One network that seems very close to giving up entirely is the Cartoon Network. According to the
Los Angeles Times,
CN's new lineup of live-action, reality-based programming is tanking in the ratings and
rumors are swirling that the CN may drop the "C" in its name. Does the head of
Radio Shack now work for the Cartoon Network?
Continue reading Will Cartoon Network become "The Network"?
Posted Aug 6th 2009 10:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Animation, Music and Variety, Adult Swim, Reality-Free
Dethklok, the animated heavy metal band heading up Adult Swim's
Metalocalypse,is going live action and heading out on a 34-city North American tour.
Grammy Award-winning band Mastodon hits the road with Dethklok. Surprisingly enough, Mastodon is a small chamber orchestra specializing in the work of Debussy.
Actually, no. It's not. Mastodon is a big, loud, heavy metal act ready to rival Dethklok in the blown-out amp count when the tour kicks off on October 2 in Portland, Ore. You can get tickets online
here.
Continue reading Metalocalypse's Dethklok hits 34-city North American tour
Posted Jul 27th 2009 5:00PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Watching the first three seasons of
The Mighty Boosh on DVD, a long list of comparisons to other shows come to mind, none of which quite capture the wild inventiveness and humor of the
Boosh.
The format of the first season, where hosts Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) introduce the action, is a bit like
Mr. Show. But Noir and Moon are characters, nothing like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. The ever-smiling Noir and Moon, who is never as in control as he thinks he is, are more like Laurel and Hardy. If Laurel and Hardy were King of the Mods and a Jazz Maverick, respectively. And the intro segment only applies to season one.
The meat of the show revolves around the same characters in the same setting, although it's different for each season (a zoo the first season, an apartment the second, and a shop the third). It's not a sketch show, not really a sitcom. The characters also burst into song, as in
Flight of the Conchords, but the songs are even more random and trippy. Which makes it more like
The Monkees, but infinitely more original and cool. There is also a collection of weird costumed creatures, which are reminiscent of
HR Puffnstuff painted by Peter Max and constructed from materials left over from the
Laugh-In set.
Continue reading The Mighty Boosh, seasons 1-3 on DVD
Posted Jul 26th 2009 6:21PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Animation, Adult Swim, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
The Venture Brothers have all the trappings of a major, cross-media animated comedy phenomena -- except the popularity and notoriety that comes with it.
Written on the same brilliant scale as
The Simpsons or
South Park and drenched in hip pop culture references,
Venture Brothers remains a show with a devoted cult following that stays just off the mass media's radar. And series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer aren't sure why.
"We didn't even get nominated for an Annie (animation) Award," Hammer told me. "Never mind an Emmy. We thought we could at least get an Annie. We can't explain it. You probably have a better idea of why that is than we do."
Continue reading Venture Brothers creators accept cult following - Comic-Con Report
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 10:25PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Animation, Adult Swim, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
If you asked around to most experts and fans attending Comic-Con International what the biggest event was today, they'd probably pick the 3 p.m. panel featuring James Cameron and his first public showing of footage from
Avatar.
But Seth Green was scheduled opposite
Avatar to discuss
Robot Chicken, the new
Titan Maximum and whatever else his fans could throw at him.
Sure the crowds were massive for Cameron, but it was also a maxed-out Meeting Room 6A for Green and the Adult Swim shows as fans lined up down the hall, down another hall and, eventually, outside the upper level of the convention center.
Continue reading Seth Green's Robot Chicken panel takes on Avatar - Comic-Con Report
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 5:19PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Animation, Adult Swim, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
Considering that Dethklok is the biggest and most important band in the universe, my question is why it's taken so long for a
Metalocalypse comic book series to get off the ground. Originally, it was just the
Dethklok vs. The Goon one-shot from Dark Horse Comics. That came about because
The Goon creator Eric Powell is a huge fan of the show.
From there, though, Dark Horse got with series co-creator Brendon Small and have developed a full publishing program around the
Metalocalypse brand. They even got artists and writers from the show to collaborate with the Dark Horse team on whatever's going to come down the pipe.
Continue reading The Dethklok empire expanding into a Metalocalypse comic series
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 11:00AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, better known to BBC and Adult Swim viewers as Howard Moon and Vince Noir of
The Mighty Boosh, hit New York's Bowery Ballroom Tuesday to celebrate the release of the first three seasons of the show on DVD.
The pair will be doing shows in the states until July 29, including Friday at the "Mighty Boosh Bash" at 4th and B in San Diego (they'll also be at Comic Con 2009), a guest spot on
Chelsea Lately Monday, and a MySpace Secret Show at the Roxy in L.A. on Tuesday.
The show is fairly new to Adult Swim, having debuted there in March, but judging from a couple of YouTube videos from the New York show, they seem to have developed a fanbase to fill the Bowery without much notice. We have some catching up to do Stateside, and the DVDs should help (stay tuned for my review of the three discs here). And since the Boosh was a stages show before it was a series, any of you lucky enough to be around for one of their stops will get to see a bit of the show's history.
Continue reading The Mighty Boosh come to America
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