It may be hard for younger readers to believe, but there was once a time where Adult Swim – the “mature” programming block on Cartoon Network – only aired on Thursdays with exclusively original programming. Due to popularity, a Sunday block was added as well. In January 2003, with the acquisition of Futurama, Adult Swim began airing on TV Sunday through Thursday each week.
It was a blessing to have been there to see the debut of Adult Swim; the result of what getting funny, like-minded people in a room with nothing but the license to Hanna-Barbera properties and cheap animation software. This article is dedicated to those early days of Adult Swim when it was still a novelty and a big risk. There were six shows that debuted with the launch of Adult Swim and here they are, ranked.
6. The Brak Show
Williams Street Productions
A spin-off from Space Ghost Coast to Coast – which we will get to in a bit – The Brak Show, fittingly, starred Brak – voiced by Andy Merrill – a dimwitted alien who was known for his silly quips and occasionally breaking into song on Cartoon Planet. Zorak – played by the late C. Martin Croker – who was the mantis-like bandleader in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, appears as Brak’s best friend (though he’s not a particularly good one). As for original characters, Brak’s parents have prominent roles. Brak’s mother is the same species of alien as Brak, though his father is a Hispanic human man. In true Adult Swim fashion, this is never explained. Their neighbor, a giant robot named Thundercleese, also made regular appearances.
While Brak’s antics were welcome and enjoyable on the other shows where he appeared, it became grating when he was made the center of attention. Likewise, the writing was not as clever as on other Adult Swim shows. Given that episodes were only 11 minutes long, I often found myself watching if it was aired between two other shows I enjoyed, but I never found myself racing to my TV to watch it like I would if there was a new Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Others seemingly felt the same. The Brak Show was the first of the original Adult Swim shows to be canceled, which the characters announced themselves during Adult Swim’s New Years Eve Bash on December 31, 2003.
5. Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Williams Street Productions
Adult Swim owes a great deal of its success to Cartoon Network having the rights to use Hanna-Barbera characters. It is how Space Ghost Coast to Coast came to be, and that success was revisited on multiple Adult Swim shows including Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. Just as SGC2C took a 1960s superhero and made him a talk show host, Harvey Birdman took a 1960s superhero and made him a lawyer.
One aspect of Harvey Birdman that stood out was the voice cast. Today, Stephen Colbert hosts The Late Show. However, by 2001, his work on The Dana Carvey Show and The Daily Show only earned him the job of voicing of Phil Ken Sebben – firm co-founder – and Myron Reducto – who was quick to point his shrink ray at anyone and everyone when court was in session. The character Harvey Birdman was played by Gary Cole who you may know as Bill Lumbergh from Office Space.
Other Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters made regular appearances as well, often as clients. For example, George Jetson from The Jetsons appeared on a particularly memorable episode when he traveled “from the future in 2002” (it was 2004 when the episode aired) to sue the previous generation for causing global warming.
Unlike most of the other Adult Swim shows to debut with the programming block, Harvey Birdman episodes generally had an overarching plot with continuity. While this did make it more accessible, it also stood out amongst shows where seemingly anything could happen. Still, Harvey Birdman was successful and a video game based on the show was released in 2008 – after it had already ended its run.
4. Sealab 2021
Williams Street Productions
Yet another instance of Adult Swim – or, more accurately, Williams Street Productions – taking a Hanna-Barbera property and flipping it on its head. Sealab 2020 was a short-lived 1972 series about a group of scientists who live and work in a laboratory at the bottom of the ocean. Sealab 2021 had the same premise and characters, but the plots were over-the-top. On one episode, Dr. Quinn repeatedly travels back in time to stop the lab from blowing up while Stormy recruits past versions of himself to form a dodgeball team.
It goes without saying that the characters were given exaggerated personalities. For example, Stormy Waters was now a complete idiot, Sparks was a sociopath and Debbie was extremely promiscuous. However, the standout character was easily Captain Murphy, voiced by Harry Goz. Despite being in charge of the entire lab, Captain Murphy was fully incompetent. In one episode, he spends several months trapped under a vending machine, though he trains a scorpion to open cans of soda for him so he can stay nourished.
The demise of Sealab 2021 is unfortunately more tragic than with other shows. Harry Goz died from cancer on September 6, 2003. Captain Murphy was replaced with Captain Shanks, played by Harry Goz’s son, Michael. While the show continued for a while, it just never had the same magic as it did with Harry Goz. The show ended with a whimper in 2005. Hilariously, it ends by promising a sneak preview of the next season after a commercial break, but no preview is ever shown.
3. Home Movies
Soup2Nuts and Burns & Burns Productions
Home Movies is the sole original Adult Swim program not produced by Williams Street. In fact, Home Movies is technically an acquired property as it debuted in 1999 on the UPN network and was quickly canceled. Cartoon Network offered it new life on a then-upcoming Adult Swim block and the rest is history.
Home Movies stars Brendon Small as an 8-year-old character of the same name. Brendon makes movies with his friends Jason and Melissa while being raised in a single-parent household by his mother, Paula. The three kids play soccer, under the poor leadership of Coach McGuirk. H. Jon Benjamin, now best known for his role as Bob on Bob’s Burgers, voices both Jason and Coach McGuirk. In fact, Home Movies was created by Loren Bouchard, who went on to create Bob’s Burgers. There are many other similarities between the shows. The Home Movies characters Walter and Perry have been considered the blueprint for Ollie and Andy on Bob’s Burgers.
Home Movies is the only show on the list that is a full half hour (22 minutes without commercials). It is also the least chaotic and often the most serious. For example, when Brendon’s estranged father (voiced by Louis CK) returns in the second season, Brendon is not welcoming of his new fiancée. Furthermore, Coach McGuirk becomes jealous of their relationship, having seen himself as a mentor to Brendon up to that point.
On that note, it is the relationships between the characters that make Home Movies so touching. There are no nuclear families on the show. Everybody seems to find their emotional needs met through the community of people in their lives. Just as Coach McGuirk is a father-figure to Brendon, Paula is a mother-figure to Melissa. Melissa and Brendon have a parental role in Jason’s life. There is something truly beautiful in the support these characters provide to one another, even if they do so unintentionally or begrudgingly. Honestly, I appreciate Home Movies even more now as an adult than I did when it first aired.
2. Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Williams Street Productions
The O.G.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast debuted in 1994, long before Adult Swim existed, and became a blueprint for what original programming on Cartoon Network could accomplish. Airing at 11pm, it was discovered – in my case at least – by dads who were flipping through the channels and saw a character from their childhood. As mentioned earlier, Cartoon Network got the rights to use Hanna-Barbera characters and properties so they re-imagined 1960s superhero Space Ghost as a late-night talk show host.
Despite being characterized as an idiot by the late George Lowe’s brilliant voiceover, Space Ghost somehow forced his enemies Zorak and Moltar into working on his late night show, with the former serving as bandleader and the latter as producer. Each episode features interviews with real celebrities, appearing “live” via satellite where they are generally asked important questions like “can you hear this sound that I’m making?”
The sheer number of popular celebrities who appeared on SGC2C over its 14-year run, half of which was in the Adult Swim lineup, is staggering: Hanson, Busta Rhymes, Weird Al, Jim Carrey, Hulk Hogan, Jon Stewart and Willie Nelson, just to name a few. With the celebrity endorsements and the general lack of continuity, it challenged what a cartoon could be. Its success allowed for Williams Street Productions (then Ghost Planet Industries) to grow and create Adult Swim. Its formula also paved the way for The Eric Andre Show much later.
Oh, and it has the most badass intro sequence in television history:
1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Williams Street Productions
Aqua Teen Hunger Force earns the top spot for a number of reasons. It is arguably the most iconic show in the entire history of Adult Swim. It is the longest-running with over 140 episodes. It is the only show from the original lineup to receive a feature-length film. It also has plenty of memorable quotes, some of which still exist in my personal lexicon. “It don’t matter. None of this matters.”
The show stars Dana Snyder as Master Shake – an arrogant, self-centered milkshake, Carey Means as Frylock – a hyper-intelligent, floating box of French fries, and Dave Willis as both Meatwad – a developmentally deficient wad of meat – and Carl, their terminally-single, middle-aged, human neighbor who is often inconvenienced, harmed or outright killed by whatever creature is bothering the Aqua Teens that week.
Technically ATHF was a spinoff of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In an episode “Baffler Meal,” aliens based on fast food items wreak havoc on the set, but they were so annoying the episode never aired. Instead, those fast food aliens were redesigned and given their own action-comedy series, light on the action. No action at all, really.
What is amusing about Aqua Teen Hunger Force is that the title and intro sequence would have you believe there will be intense action, yet the plot of most episodes takes place in either the Aqua Teen house or Carl’s house. Rather than fighting crime, plots have included finding an emotionally needy mummy in the crawl space, Meatwad gaining psychic powers from drinking spoiled milk and Plutonian aliens using a portal to steal cable. Everything is so asinine and the stakes generally don’t extend beyond the four main characters or their villain of the week.
Did I get my rankings right? When did you discover Adult Swim and what was your favorite show? Let me know in the comments.
Featured image photo credit: Williams Street Productions
See also: Classic South Park Episodes that are Even More Relevant Today
Home Movies should be #1, but all of these shows definitely had their special appeal. Home Movies has some serious heart and character development and that’s why I put it number 1. It is one of my favorite shows of all time.
I also really enjoyed Home Movies. However, the only thing I would change about Adam’s ranking is swapping Space Ghost with Home Movies to put the latter in second place instead of third. But that’s just my personal preference.