ListNook

SirRichardLove Apr 13, 2026 +639

I loved old school adult swim.

639

Coolman_Rosso Apr 13, 2026 +87

The decline of cable stings because Adult Swim's shtick wasn't just the shows it had, but its presentation, which is something streaming will never have. The simplistic black and white bumps (and before that the literal adults in the pool), the music they picked, their photography bumpers, everything. Hell their schedule bumps had an all time classic joke in "All times and music Eastern". I think MTV pioneered a lot of that, but by the time Adult Swim rolled around in earnest MTV was already a shell of its former self.

87

Lucosis Apr 13, 2026 +10

It really is a shame. I've been slowly ripping and amassing all of our tv shows and movies to build out pseudo-networks with the best commercials/bumpers/etc for the family to stream on plex and it's still a fraction of what we had (and now we have more and worse ads).

10

Buddy_Jutters Apr 14, 2026 +2

Hey how have you been doing this? I have been interested in doing this as well..including the commercials

2

Lucosis Apr 14, 2026 +3

https://ersatztv.org/ It will work with Plex or Jellyfin.

3

Buddy_Jutters Apr 14, 2026 +1

Brilliant thank you so much. Seriously been looking for something like this for years. How did you find old commercials?

1

Lucosis Apr 14, 2026 +3

For the most part just on YouTube. There are a lot of compilations that you can go in and split out, or if you know the specific ones you're looking for their fairly easy to find on there. I use Internet Download Manager to download the videos. At first look I thought IDM might be jank, but it's one of the first things I down load on a new computer now.

3

Buddy_Jutters Apr 14, 2026 +1

Fantastic. Thanks again.

1

ReactTVOfficial Apr 14, 2026 +2

If you are interested, I am the dev over at [React.tv](https://react.tv) which lets you do this except it uses digital media instead of local media.

2

Buddy_Jutters Apr 17, 2026 +2

Absolutely interested.

2

ReactTVOfficial Apr 17, 2026 +1

There's a feature called Blocks in the channel dashboard which lets you assign YouTube etc playlists to time s****. Then, choose another playlist as "filler" content (commercials). There is also a "clockwork" setting which changes the interval that media is played at, so you can have things running on the half hour with commercials in between. Once your block is finished you can add it to your schedule and it will carry over playback history between every time you add it to your schedule, or you can specify where to start every block item. I plan to make videos about these features soon but got a lot on my plate right now.

1

natedoggcata Apr 14, 2026 +1

When the original WWE Network streaming app launched in 2013 they had something that no other streaming network had that I wish caught on. A 24/7 livestream that was just like a TV Network complete with a full schedule that you could see what was coming up and bumpers just like TV. That was on top of the full library you could watch anytime you wanted. I thought that was the coolest thing ever and sometimes would just leave it on as background noise.

1

Somnambulist815 Apr 13, 2026 +237

Somewhere it seems tv will never be able to catch up to film is in the experimental genre. There's just too much regulation and demand for eyes on screen for there to ever have been that much space and leeway. Buuuuuuut if there was experimental tv, you were most likely to see it on very late night public access, or on Adult Swim. The freedom they had in the 2000s is unlike anything ive seen on tv before or since.

237

MattBoySlim Apr 13, 2026 +129

MTV in the early 90’s was similar with stuff like Liquid Television.

129

VanceFerguson Apr 13, 2026 +39

Wonder Showzen was like a fever dream. It's sort of answers the question of "what would Don't Hug Me I'm Scared look like if it was done by Americans, but with half the budget?"

39

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +25

Wonder Showzen would 100% have been on Adult Swim had it been created two years later. This was before higher ups at Turner allowed Adult Swim to do TV-MA programming or non-cartoon originals. The same people who did that went on to make “Xavier Renegade Angel”…

25

Somnambulist815 Apr 13, 2026 +55

True, I think Aeon Flux was doing things that would be considered transgressive and revolutionary even today

55

Abandon_Ambition Apr 13, 2026 +11

Sifl & Olly

11

StrangeEfficiency849 Apr 13, 2026 +3

Chester ❤️

3

OlympicFan2010 Apr 14, 2026 +3

ROCK

3

Sharticus123 Apr 14, 2026 +2

F*** was that an amazing show to watch baked out of one’s gourd.

2

NoEmu5969 Apr 13, 2026 +6

The Residents were the best influence on MTV.

6

Red10GTI Apr 14, 2026 +3

Oh my god! I loved Liquid Television did you ever watch the State? I’ve never laughed my ass off at any other sketch show like I did to The State.

3

MattBoySlim Apr 14, 2026 +1

Classic show. It’s always fun seeing how many of them are still working pretty consistently today.

1

Red10GTI Apr 14, 2026 +1

I know right? ESP Thomas Lennon, he’s been in so much stuff. His part in Reno 911 should’ve got some kind of award! I’m happy to communicate with someone else that’s seen The State. I can never find anyone else who’s ever seen the show. I’m 41, but right around that time period, late night I loved watching MTV because the shows were so different.. Beavis and Butthead, liquid television, The State… oh do you remember The MAXX?

1

MattBoySlim Apr 14, 2026 +1

Yep! I'm about half a decade older but I also loved how weird late night MTV was. I remember loving The MAXX and when I went to find the comic it was based on...I realized that they literally just animated the panels from the comic and put it on TV. I thought that was a really cool idea, honestly. Speaking of Adult Swim and Liquid Television, there's a series called [Off The Air](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off_the_Air_\(TV_series\)) that was directly inspired by the creator's fond memories of watching Liquid Television. It definitely has the same vibe. [Lots of weird ass experimental animation, etc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuTZwod_EKI&list=PLQl8zBB7bPvLWfGCVicg_kVmSVTGml2y4)

1

Red10GTI Apr 14, 2026 +1

Aww cool I will check it out!

1

fightclub90210 Apr 14, 2026 +1

Liquid television was amazing.

1

Permanenceisall Apr 13, 2026 +44

It’s crazy to think that Xavier ever even aired and I remember at the time everyone absolutely *hating* it. I don’t think it ever scored higher than like a 4.0 on IMDB.

44

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +20

Xavier and 12 Oz Mouse are shows where I 100% didn’t get it at first and then did a 180 on.

20

Deadboy00 Apr 13, 2026 +20

My fav bump from the era: “12 oz mouse is 4 oz short of being a pound of solid gold”

20

Abramor Apr 13, 2026 +17

Xavier was really ahead of it's time and it's resurgence over the past decade proves it

17

criterionhaver Apr 13, 2026 +7

Same goes for basically all PFFR shows. Wonder Showzen, Xavier, The Heart She Holler, The Shivering Truth; all hugely under appreciated in their time.

7

royal_10_N-bombs Apr 13, 2026 +11

Delocated

11

EmptyBuildings Apr 13, 2026 +4

There's more to Life than Life.

4

mybumisontherail Apr 14, 2026 +1

I remember watching Xavier when it first aired, I thought I had some sort of aneurysm or had my food spiked because it felt like a fever dream. I hated it at first, and then I started liking it afterwards.

1

A_Harmless_Fly Apr 14, 2026 +1

I can't remember a single line from the show verbatim, but I'm pretty sure... I... can... do... a... Xavier impression pretty r--e--l--i--ably.

1

Permanenceisall Apr 14, 2026 +1

The second season is peak. The joke-per-minute count is so insane, and I feel like it was lightening in a bottle. Everyone always quotes “what doth life” but there are way better hits. “And I didn’t rest, nor did I kill. I shadowed her with all my might. Kept her in my sights like rights on whites. Biding my time, waiting to strike like a salvationating sniper of revival. Blanched in the venomous knowledge that you can’t un-cat a tastrophe before it becomes a crisis, anymore than you can heal a wound that isn’t there or save a life…that is…alive.”

1

Jaded_Hyena_3522 Apr 13, 2026 +26

If you read about the drama behind the infamous "infomercials" block (known mainly for Too Many Cooks) it sounds like it was still a struggle to get the experimental content made. AS had a good thing going at the time since they became the home of Family Guy and Futurama during the years when those shows were thrown off the air by Fox. They made their money off those shows in the front half of the block then struck a balance by airing the experimental stuff later. On top of that this was the last era of the pre-legal-weed stoner, when weed was still subcultural and you had to tune in after midnight to get your fix of stoner-friendly media like ATHF and Sealab 2021

26

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +15

People forget that they only aired like an hour of Futurama/Family Guy back in the day and then 2-4 hours of their other stuff. They gradually got more corporate over the 2010s as the block expanded. At some point, every weeknight just turned into an hour of King of the Hill, an hour of Bob’s Burgers, an hour of Cleveland Show, an hour of American Dad, an hour of Family Guy, then two Robot Chicken episodes, an Aqua Teen episode, an episode of either Metalocalypse or Squidbillies, and then the FOX block again. Any real weirdness generally confined to either the 4AM “DVR Theater” hour or Sat/Sun night. By the time “Too Many Cooks” came out, Rick and Morty was already blowing up and turning into their new cash cow. That plus the subsequent mergers were basically the death knell for [as] as we knew it. They’ve had a couple great shows in the last decade, but the channel itself is a shell of what it used to be and the vibes aren’t quite there anymore.

15

Jaded_Hyena_3522 Apr 14, 2026 +2

Yeah I know that exact transition you're talking about. I think it started when Fox saw their cancelled shows succeeding on AS and put Family Guy back into production. That turned AS into a bona-fide moneymaker and the consumer-friendly side of the equation overtook the actual weird side.

2

BadgemanBrown Apr 14, 2026 +1

I think you’re generally right, but it took several years to really manifest (AS got FOX shows in ‘03, FG revival announced in ‘04 and began in spring ‘05 — Adult Swim becomes very popular and stays super weird all throughout ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, and ‘08) Issue #1 is there was a huge Turner exec shakeup in 2007 after the Aqua Teen bomb scare debacle, which started changed the way both Adult Swim & Cartoon Network were run. Issue #2 is, yeah, sometime around 2005 and 2006, they became hugely profitable. Ratings were off the chart for both FOX shows and originals like Robot Chicken and Boondocks, as well as Aqua Teen and Metalocalypse. The more attention they attracted, the more execs felt inclined to meddle and milk the cash cow (especially as daytime Cartoon Network was starting to lose viewers). Issue #3 at the start of 2008, Adult Swim lost their anchor show Futurama - syndication rights went to Comedy Central after CC offered way more money. They tried to fill that gap with originals like Venture Bros or the Boondocks and old staples like Mission Hill and The Oblongs (even acquiring the short-lived Clerks show). But ratings plateaued. So in 2009 they end up picking up dirt-c**** rights to “King of the Hill” (which was at the end of its run) to lead off the block instead. And like Futurama/Family Guy, it finds a second life of younger fans on AS. That final part I think convinced execs they should just make the schedule more standardized, keep adding FOX shows rather than airing originals in the pre-midnight timeslots, and expand backwards into the evening hours to get more “conventional” viewers.

1

wholelattapuddin Apr 14, 2026 +9

ATHF is my favorite, and my husband and I still quote Sealab all the time.

9

Darcsen Apr 14, 2026 +3

I'll always remember "There go my nipples again!"

3

wholelattapuddin Apr 14, 2026 +3

We love "Im helping! Im helping! Bizarro, Im helping!" We say it all the time when someone is definitely NOT helping.

3

Landlord-Allmighty Apr 13, 2026 +5

Fart Copter was genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

5

ABrandNewNameAppears Apr 13, 2026 +5

Too many cooks, too many cooks…

5

BenitoBruv Apr 14, 2026 +7

One of the funniest shows I've ever seen was on local public access!! When I was little kid in the late 90s there was a group of middle schoolers/high schoolers that decided to buy public access times and perform like crappy, WWE style wrestling on a trampoline. It was just kids beating the c*** out of each with story lines that made no sense. It became this crazy phenomenon that everyone in town would watch. Every week there were watch parties in my neighborhood and watching that show was one of my favorite parts of childhood.

7

bretshitmanshart Apr 14, 2026 +2

https://youtu.be/FaN-edgLXTo?si=PHU5YZNf-aZQ2MrG Was it this league?

2

AKAkorm Apr 13, 2026 +3

People have just gone to sites like YouTube and the like for that. There are short films that are like the old Adult Swim infomercials you could find and riffs of older shows like what this thread is about too.

3

69ognatstango96 Apr 14, 2026 +3

It happening today on Twitch if you know where to look. There’s a handful of streamers essentially recreating Public Access, UHF late nights, and Adult Swim style content and it’s just fantastic.

3

guyute2588 Apr 13, 2026 -2

Seek out more films

-2

AwhHellYeah Apr 13, 2026 +13

We need a dodgeball canon time machine to go back to

13

LieutenantWeinberg Apr 13, 2026 +10

My absolute favorite episode of Sealab.

10

dudeitsmeee Apr 13, 2026 +4

It was the SPIN magazine of late night cable TV. Total taste-maker

4

Vexithan Apr 13, 2026 +3

I discovered Adult Swim at a really formative time in my life and I’m eternally grateful for it. Seeing what was out there and coming from a tiny podunk town was great. I didn’t get to travel much so it was a view into the weird and strange and beautiful.

3

IvyGold Apr 14, 2026 +3

I would one day love to hear from somebody who actually saw Too Many Cooks as it aired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGrOK8oZG8

3

DRF19 Apr 14, 2026 +1

That ad that went “HOTHOTHOTHOT” with the black and white footage of the lady dancing

1

Red10GTI Apr 14, 2026 +1

A f****** men brother. I loved me Tim and Eric, Tom goes to the Mayor, Aqua Teen, king of the hill. Squidbillies. That was my fav lineup… family guy In there somewhere too but I kinda think that show has gone Simpsons route… it doesn’t do much for me anymore. Still a good show but I guess I must of grown out of it… yet these other shows I thought were god damn hilarious.

1

Kichard Apr 15, 2026 +1

Tim & Eric shaped who I am today.

1

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +330

During this stunt, they briefly changed the network’s on-screen to “[crappy 80s live action show network]” in response to a snarky fan comment on their message boards. (Fans online were absolutely incensed at the time as this was well before any live action programming on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim). AS took the prank even further by putting out a phony press release, amplified by the AV Club, stating that the network would be reviving the show for 40 episodes due to “overwhelmingly positive response” from their fanbase. Of course, shortly after they did start airing “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” in earnest - which aired as the lead-in program alongside Futurama the rest of the year. Also, random 80s Saturday morning cartoons in the dead of night. You could see “Neon Genesis Evangelion” back-to-back with “Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos”. Why? Because why not.

330

Daddy-Likes Apr 13, 2026 +117

Space Ghost Coast to Coast with live action interviews started running in ‘94 on Cartoon Network. Things were getting weird long before this stunt.

117

rezfier Apr 13, 2026 +53

I remember one episode was just the voice actors and writing team reading through the script in a conference room. At the time I was annoyed but looking back thats f****** hilarious

53

BoKnowsTheKonamiCode Apr 13, 2026 +49

Wasn't there an episode that was just space ghost following an ant for like 10 minutes? They knew how to stretch a gag to its limits. Found it: https://www.listnook.com/r/television/s/yvke0ex16i

49

ymcameron Apr 13, 2026 +33

There was also the power outage episode of Sealab 2021 that’s just a static image the whole time. Or the “Uh-oh!” Episode that’s just the same gag like four times and gets longer every time it happens. Adult Swim still does experimental stuff, but the early shows were on another level.

33

BILLCLINTONMASK Apr 13, 2026 +10

It wasn't on Adult Swim but Wondershowzen did something similar with their episode "Patience." Halfway through the episode, they begin playing first half of the episode in reverse

10

eldroch Apr 13, 2026 +9

"*chhkk* we've got uh-oh, over"

9

ExoMonk Apr 13, 2026 +8

I have so much respect and admiration for what is likely an entire team of people and a voice actor to plan, write, animate and act that entire sequence of useless content for a bit. There was no half-assing happening in that clip. That is whole-assing at its finest!

8

CLEcmm Apr 14, 2026 +3

Of course Conan was part of it. Haha

3

gate_of_steiner85 Apr 13, 2026 +3

I remember there was one episode where it was just a guy narrating the episode and another dude doing sketch drawings of the scenes. It was weird and I hated it as a kid, but looking back it was kinda cool.

3

Surullian Apr 13, 2026 +14

Ahh Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The show that gave us: "But You're supposed to be in jail!" "Yeah, and you're supposed to be dumpster-diving for ham scraps, you 6-piece chicken McNobody!"

14

rezfier Apr 13, 2026 +3

"I've got a doodle in my noodle and it's name is Minkey Boodle"

3

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +16

Obviously, SGC2C is the precursor to all the later Williams Street/Adult Swim stuff. It also wasn’t quite live action in the way that “Saved” or forthcoming shows like “Tim and Eric Awesome Show” were. (or late 2000s CN fare, for that matter). The other difference was that Adult Swim in the mid 2000s was a big deal, watched by millions, and also had a huge budget to make all that weirdness happen on a much larger scale.

16

Chandy1313 Apr 14, 2026 +4

Man, spac ghost coast to coast was great. I’d watch it late night with my dad and brother. I learned from that show we all shared the same dumb sense of humor

4

eddmario Apr 14, 2026 +2

Me and my brother used to watch this with my dad all the time when we were kids, and I can confirm this is true

2

jacobpellegren Apr 13, 2026 +78

Man, I love these weirdos.

78

ymcameron Apr 13, 2026 +46

You’d think by now Adult Swim fans would realize that pretty much everything the network does is a bit or gag, but a certain and very vocal percentage have somehow missed the joke every time for 30 years.

46

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +42

The amount of anime fans who were convinced Adult Swim genuinely hated anime at the time… because they would run snarky bumps to rile up the fans (and then doubled down the more it happened). Like they were running anime every night of the week. The dude who started Toonami was on their staff (and in charge of the amazing music department). Adult Swim is THE reason most non-weebs in America got exposed to Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Inuyasha, Death Note, Paranoia Agent, Big O, Lupin the 3rd, Detective Conan - even Attack on Titan during the Toonami revival in the early 10s. They never hated anime.

42

MrScottyBear Apr 13, 2026 +17

I still remember them airing the wrong Episode of The Big O. It was supposed to be the finale, but they played an episode earlier in the season instead. Next week, it starts up with the wrong episode again just to f*** with us. It was hilarious. Hell, if I remember right, Adultswim/cartoon network helped fund season 2 of The Big O. Those weirdos loved anime. https://youtu.be/kfSlV5kTvtU?si=lpiE6vRsBgpV2X9h

17

KuromanKuro Apr 13, 2026 +17

I’d completely forgotten that. That was such an epic move on their part. I felt like adult swim had such personality and no oversight at the time and I loved it. That and the stunt where they promised to show the aqua teen movie in its entirety months in advance of its premiere, just to play the first two minutes and then shrink it into the corner of the screen to play during the normal schedule even over commercials.

17

Velthome Apr 13, 2026 +5

Funniest shit ever was for April Fools one year they added fart noises to an episode of GitS and FMA.

5

BlindPaintByNumbers Apr 13, 2026 +3

I think I remember them releasing a full new episode of Rick and Morty waaay out of season on April's Fools day too.

3

Coolman_Rosso Apr 13, 2026 +4

It's not just the bumps, but Sealab had a few jokes about anime viewers too.

4

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +3

They roasted Adult Swim viewers in general and made fun of the b&w bump style.

3

QueezyF Apr 14, 2026 +2

Perfect Hair Forever as well

2

gwxtreize Apr 13, 2026 +8

You know the one that got me? Metalocalypse fax-in campaign to make a final season / movie (this was not that long ago, you know how difficult it was to find a working fax machine!?!). Had a 24 hour stream going of a fax machine just dumping fax after fax into a recycle bin. And it was just a loop with background stock "office noises" playing. Then again, the guy in charge, at the time, hated Metalocalypse so he could have just been giving a giant middle finger to the fans.

8

just_a_juanita Apr 13, 2026 +3

S-somebody hated Metalocalypse? Well, pobody's nerfect, I guess.

3

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +7

Supposedly Mike Lazzo, the head honcho at Adult Swim, was over the show. Mostly over some sort of personal beef that developed with Brendon Small apparently. That’s the reason why it didn’t get a proper ending at the time. But he also was the one who greenlit it in the first place. The whole fax thing was just the AS staff trolling… I’d wager a lot of people who worked there really dug the show.

7

just_a_juanita Apr 13, 2026 +2

He liked Venture Bros and I think it ran for as long as it did in large part because of him, if I recall correctly. Had no idea he was over Metalocalypse. I'm so conflicted rn and don't know what to think of him. I love both shows so much. I don't know if I want to fly a hatredcopter into his face or send him a dented can of noodle soup...

2

Belgand Apr 13, 2026 +3

Meanwhile if you grew up during the '80s and were a college student/early 20-something at the time, you didn't need to ask why. It's like asking why kids love the taste of Apple Jacks even though it doesn't taste like apples.

3

SlimmyShammy Apr 13, 2026 +66

The trifecta of Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang in the early 2000s might be the apotheosis of television for me. So much love and care and craft put into making the personalities of the channels clear and distinct. Plus having all time great output of shows helped too

66

bubba1834 Apr 13, 2026 +13

Boomerang was the shit

13

Talentagentfriend Apr 14, 2026 +3

For me that stuff was on constantly. And Nickelodeon/Comedy Central were only a few channels away.

3

tequilasauer Apr 13, 2026 +173

This era of Adult Swim was so punk rock. Everything they did was so against the grain and off beat. They were just on the cutting edge of like this developing kind of humor that would define the next couple decades. The only other thing you could compare it to in TV from my time would be like TRL-era MTV.

173

egnards Apr 13, 2026 +100

Shoutout to when they aired the entirety of the ATHF movie, promoted the hell out of it ahead of the theatrical release. . .And just put it as like a 1inch silent run in the corner of the screen during other programming.

100

atclubsilencio Apr 13, 2026 +24

My sister was so pissed about that.

24

foxguy2021 Apr 13, 2026 +17

I heard that if you changed the audio to Spanish you actually got the entire films audio but in Spanish.

17

AlexNovember Apr 13, 2026 +14

I’ve heard that if you were able to tune into the simultaneous audio stream you could hear it too

14

wholelattapuddin Apr 14, 2026 +1

I loved it when they put up light brights that had the mooninites on them, all over Atlanta. People called them in and several got investigated by the Atlanta PD bomb squad.

1

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +40

Their whole vibe was just so different. The bumps/branding, the music, the fan interaction, the programming, of course. They also were refreshingly non-NYC and Hollywood - so much of their staff and talent were people from Atlanta/the south. Back before Adult Swim was just 5 hours of Seth McFarlane shows every night. Their schedule used to be incredibly varied despite their lesser runtime (they didn’t even air on Fridays). Family Guy didn’t even air on Saturdays back then. You had weeknight anime and weird British comedies and surreal infomercial parodies - and then the original series: everything from Xavier Renegade Angel to Home Movies. You literally never knew what you were going to see on a given night. The April Fools were legendary. They 100% helped bring “The Room” to a wider, less online audience with their April Fools screening (2008 or 2009?). They collaborated with MF Doom on multiple occasions (including for an Adult Swim-themed album). They aired episodes of “Family Guy” that FOX banned or censored. They pioneered online TV streaming as early as 2005 (running a commercial free, 6 hour stream on their website on Fridays because AS didn’t air that night) and even premiered shows two days before they aired on regular TV.

40

PrincessPause Apr 13, 2026 +13

DANGERDOOM's adult swim album is sooooo f****** good. And hilarious. I still listen to Space Ho's on a regular basis

13

Coolman_Rosso Apr 13, 2026 +6

Also worth noting that they actually made a series called "Tight Bros", which starred MC Chris and MF DOOM as two brothers in the seminary who sneak out at night to go to nightclubs. If the name sounds familiar, that's because it was announced in 2008 as a show about "two guido brothers who try to live like Entourage but have no money". However it kept getting kicked down the schedule (first to late 2009, then mid 2010, then early 2011, then nothing). Footage of the reworked version was shown at an Adult Swim block party (can't recall which year) but the show never came out. MC Chris said in a Q&A that at least 10 episodes were finished, but the show "didn't work out"

6

Tasty-Traffic-680 Apr 14, 2026 +1

I was disappointed That Crook'd Sipp didn't get fleshed out for more than a pilot. I've been trying to find the song "die c****** die" that plays at the end for years https://youtu.be/1E0SaMAz6Q8?si=sx7QcSkHq52jf8qB Then it pivoted to Freaknik and it just wasn't my cup of tea. Music was too discordant and I can't stand auto tune.

1

hyperforms9988 Apr 13, 2026 +4

Not everything they did landed, but you could at least appreciate that they took risks. The Heart She Holler shit that they were doing wasn't my cup of tea, but name me another station that would try stuff like that. Slight jumpscare at 0:18 for an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BjKYYlnR1Y

4

Trifuser Apr 14, 2026 +1

"You literally never knew what you were going to see on a given night." Unless your family would buy the tv guide which showed episode names along side the show.

1

tsv1138 Apr 13, 2026 +15

The late 90's were kind of the wild west on cable tv. New Year's Eve day, 1999, VH1 played Prince's "1999" all day, like 4 times in a row then like Matt Pinfield would read some music news ending with "and coming up next... more Prince." and play it for the rest of the hour, then a commercial for Sprite or something then back to 1999 by Prince. Also does anyone remember the "Hey you OUTA THE POOL!" or the "no eating in the pool! What is that pimento cheese? what are you eating.... No eating in the pool!" bumpers that Adult Swim would run and then like Home Movies or Dr. Katz or Mission Hill or Cowboy Bebop would come on.

15

Rocktopod Apr 13, 2026 +8

Earlier MTV when they showed niche cartoons would be a better comparison. Aeon Flux, The Head, The Maxx, Beavis and Butthead, Daria... I guess Daria may have been on at the same time as TRL but the rest were a lot earlier iirc.

8

tequilasauer Apr 13, 2026 +6

I was less talking about it as an animation block and more as a movement that people felt apart of. Appointment television. Nobody was rushing to the couch on a specific night to see Liquid Television or The Head. TRL's audience was tuning in because they felt like they were in this club. A movement. TRL, Adult Swim, Must See TV, TGIF, SNICK, maybe like the HBO Sunday night block, etc.

6

taelor Apr 14, 2026 +2

Liquid TV

2

B_Boudreaux Apr 13, 2026 +6

Adult swim really was amazing back in the day and it’s basically a cash grab now. They need to go back to doing their old shit.

6

Evil_Stromboli Apr 13, 2026 +30

Around this time they also aired Pee Wees Playhouse. However, I did not know this. I had a habit of falling asleep to AS, only to wake up some morning at 4am to Pee Wee screaming about the secret word of the day. I thought the last 18 or so years of my life had been a dream and I was back to 1987. I had over slept while my dad was getting ready for work and now we were going to be late dropping me off for school. It took days for that existential crisis to wear off.

30

CinaminLips Apr 13, 2026 +7

Damn, that happens to me when I take a really awesome nap and wake up and it's dark out.

7

Underwater_Karma Apr 13, 2026 +25

19 years ago Adult Swim aired the entire Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie two weeks before it premiered in theaters. It was aired as postage stamp sized picture-in-picture video on top of the regular programming block shows. Adult Swim used to be weird and fun.

25

AffectionateKey7126 Apr 13, 2026 +15

I don't know why, but one of the ad promos that always stuck with me was when Bob Odenkirk was interviewing the guy who voiced Master Shake and an audience member goes "uh... why didn't you guys try harder?" and Master Shake guy goes "uh we did" and it cuts to the next commercial. I thought it was hilarious.

15

EvilDarkCow Apr 13, 2026 +20

God damn, Adult Swim from the start up to about the mid-2010s was a f****** goldmine. I'd stay up late and watch it as a kid when visiting my cousins, and that turned into staying up all night with it on a regular basis in my teens. I admit I didn't always understand what was going on, but I had fun. And AS was my first exposure to anime beyond Dragonball, Pokemon, or Naruto. It's hard to describe, but nothing else even comes close. It's since become almost sterile. I just looked at the schedule: Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, American Dad, Rick and Morty, Smiling Friends, repeat. Does Toonami even still exist anymore?

20

GroverEyeveen Apr 13, 2026 +6

Toonami airs late saturday nights but still on

6

biofrost Apr 13, 2026 +3

Toonami is still around (and great i might add)and has existed longer than the original run on cartoon network at this point

3

Dry_Spring4108 Apr 13, 2026 +1

To be fair, CN has aired more hours of Toonami. (Not sure why your comment is being downvoted).

1

biofrost Apr 13, 2026 +1

For sure, going from weekdays to only saturday night will do that but still interesting to know in terms of years its been part of my life more as an adult than a kid

1

taelor Apr 14, 2026 +1

Don’t lump bob burger in with the rest of those.

1

EvilDarkCow Apr 14, 2026 +2

It's a good show, but it's not Adult Swim to me. KOTH and FG have been there forever in the earlier hours, before it would go off the rails with the more absurd and surreal stuff. It just seems like Adult Swim is 80% Fox reruns now. Let it be known, I was kind of a loner as a teen (hell, I still am), and one of those memories I'll always cherish, is coming up with some extra cash every Saturday night to throw some balls at the bowling alley a couple blocks from where I lived at the time, grabbing some snacks and a couple Monsters, and watching anime on Adult Swim until the sun started coming back up. Man, you don't know what you got, huh?

2

daves_not__here Apr 13, 2026 +13

Was that the episode Jesse was addicted to caffeine or something silly?

13

NoradianCrum Apr 13, 2026 +8

Remember when Dexter's parents went nuts without their java fix? Jessie had one latte and lost her mind on a whole different level.

8

Sweetwill62 Apr 13, 2026 +3

You....drank the coffee?

3

simiomalo Apr 14, 2026 +3

It was supposed to be meth in the original script, but the NBC network execs balked.

3

questron64 Apr 18, 2026 +1

She wasn't going to be smoking meth or anything, but taking amphetamines in pill form. They used to be very common, I remember straight up commercials for amphetamines airing. They replaced it with NoDoz caffeine pills.

1

ThisIs911 Apr 13, 2026 +11

These scared the c*** out of me when I was younger. They would advertise between shows how they're going to broadcast Saved By The Bell in the coming weeks and it freaked me out. They'd especially play the "I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited" scene in the deep voice slow mo tone multiple times. I forced myself to watch when it broadcasted to get over my fear and it actually turned out to be a heartwarming episode till the bumpers played again.

11

Porthos1984 Apr 13, 2026 +10

Adult swim in the beginning was completely unhinged. Anything and everything was greenlit

10

TheSpatulaOfLove Apr 13, 2026 +2

I wish it stayed that way. O

2

ChicagoAuPair Apr 13, 2026 +10

I miss when Gen X was still weird and countercultural as f***.

10

mofo683 Apr 13, 2026 +7

This is one of the most random things that has ever made me question the passage of time. I remember seeing this bumper when it aired, have not seen a clip of it since, and it feels so goddamned recent in my brain without a hint of nostalgia. 2 f****** decades...

7

PolicyCommercial6392 Apr 13, 2026 +6

this era of adult swim is so missed

6

PyroKid883 Apr 14, 2026 +5

I remember when the aqua teen movie came out in theaters and adult swim said they were going to play it on TV and then it played in a tiny 1 inch box in the corner at double speed while other shows aired.

5

Devilofchaos108070 Apr 13, 2026 +5

That’s f****** crazy

5

klsi832 Apr 13, 2026 +3

I remembering watching it at the time while IMing an AOL girl. I was twenty-seven

3

Devilofchaos108070 Apr 13, 2026 +1

I was stationed overseas during this time so I missed out These are some freaky videos

1

Own_Trust_4408 Apr 13, 2026 +4

All kids out of the pool…

4

ManOfTheCosmos Apr 13, 2026 +5

Just wanted to say that the series finale of aquateen was literally the best series finale ever

5

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +4

The fakeout and real finale a few days later premiering unannounced is one of the last great AS pranks.

4

MathBusters Apr 13, 2026 +3

I remember them doing a bumper later showing the ratings for a night the showed Saved by the Bell, and that it was the number 1 show they aired that night. Always wondered if those numbers were real or a joke.

3

BadgemanBrown Apr 13, 2026 +2

Probably real. I’m sure a lot of curious AS fans tuned in to see what would happen + random channel surfers clicking onto it. The genius part is that it probably didn’t cost them any money to air as sister station TBS already had the syndication rights for years (also why syndicated AS shows like Family Guy and Futurama - and less frequently Mission Hill, Oblongs, Baby Blues - would pop up on TBS, in between staples like Fresh Prince, Seinfeld, Friends and Atlanta Braves games).

2

give_me_your_body Apr 13, 2026 +3

Adult Swim loves to turn a good acid trip into a strange one

3

DeviousDenial Apr 13, 2026 +1

The strange acid trips are the good ones😵‍💫

1

UStoJapan Apr 13, 2026 +9

Dammit, I spit out some coffee seeing the “I’m so excited” segment. 🤣

9

MrScottyBear Apr 13, 2026 +2

I still hear "I'M SO EXCITED! I'M SO EXCITED! I'M SO *SOBBING*"

2

biophazer242 Apr 13, 2026 +2

iiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaredddddddddddd

2

Alex_Outgrabe Apr 13, 2026 +2

Oh my god I remember this. But I legit thought something was wrong with the channel.

2

BillMurraysTesticle Apr 13, 2026 +2

Adult Swim was amazing. Y'all remember Too Many Cooks? What a trip that was.

2

Outside-Dress594 Apr 14, 2026 +2

I read vaporware and was confused af

2

FrianBunns Apr 14, 2026 +2

Adultswim used to be great!! What a wonderful ride through the night.

2

tishy19 Apr 14, 2026 +2

I miss when the world used to be fun-weird, not sad-weird like today.

2

karny90 Apr 14, 2026 +2

Adult swim was the greatest thing on television. Unfortunately, as someone else mentioned, it did not translate well to streaming because their charm wasn’t just their content, but the presentation. But man, what a time. It was almost like a “secret” channel because it was the Cartoon Network channel, but would morph into this surreal wonderland of imagination and depravity at night.

2

Dogbuysvan Apr 14, 2026 +2

I never really got over how they treated Martin Croker and Andy Merrill.

2

[deleted] Apr 13, 2026 +3

[removed]

3

klsi832 Apr 13, 2026 +1

I was twenty-seven!

1

llamanatee Apr 13, 2026 +2

Bumps are a big part of what I miss about old TV.

2

YoureGonnaHearMeRoar Apr 13, 2026 +1

Anywhere you can watch the whole thing?

1

GoramReaver Apr 13, 2026 +1

This is what the Predator saw when he watched Tv

1

Makabajones Apr 13, 2026 +1

I remember this, why tho?

1

punkboy15 Apr 13, 2026 +1

[https://racertrash.com/](https://racertrash.com/)

1

accountforcatsonly Apr 13, 2026 +1

Nothing like the anime episode with the farts, unforgettable

1

malac0da13 Apr 14, 2026 +1

Shit remember the acid trips they had done for the extra hour when daylight savings end?

1

Skate4dwire Apr 14, 2026 +1

More it this to heal the world

1

adognameddanzig Apr 14, 2026 +1

I remember this. I didn't know what the heck was going on.

1

Historyp91 Apr 14, 2026 +1

Ah those were the days.

1

grs86 Apr 14, 2026 +1

Mid 2000s adult swim was something truly special.

1

O_PLUTO_O Apr 14, 2026 +1

I miss when they would get the rights to some ad like a fast food chain and keep the audio but do their own fucked up animations and make a completely different commercial. They must have had some funny contracts they got chains to sign if they had rights to completely change them as they wanted

1

dilly989 Apr 14, 2026 +1

I remember back in 2009 I got stoned and fell asleep with the tv on. Woke up in the middle of the night to AS playing The Room for April Fools Day. I was so incredibly confused. They did it a for a few years after that too, but going in blind was such a surreal experience.

1

Frostymagnum Apr 14, 2026 +1

We used to be a country. Look at what we used to be

1

TurbulentAd4088 Apr 14, 2026 +1

This is very on brand. I remember when the Aqua teen movie came out in theaters, they put out an add campaign saying "We'll show the whole thing on adult swim on saturday". And they did. It was postage stamp sized and without sound, in the corner of their regular shows, but it was the whole movie.

1

Darius_Rubinx Apr 13, 2026 +1

That looks like a much better version of Saved by the Bell than any episode I had to watch... But nothing can top "Too Many Cooks". [Too Many Cooks | Adult Swim](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGrOK8oZG8)

1

20 years ago, Adult Swim aired “Saved By the Bell” for two weeks as a gag - complete with absolutely terrifying proto-vaporwave bumps for the show

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