It sounds like a really amazing opportunity for Nick W. The kind of opportunity I think you'd have to be a total dumbass to pass up. So I don't think anybody can blame him for jumping to Fox.
One of the things I always said about the block is that it would be impossible to copy, because so few people really seem to get the aesthetic, especially programmers and network execs seem particularly clueless about it. But in Nick, Fox has basically somebody who was almost sort of hand picked and trained in that very aesthetic at Adult Swim. So things just got interesting.
I think it's good news that Adult Swim might actually have to step up its game a bit. Not that it's not now, and has always been, not only a great block, but I think honestly the best overall block of entertainment on television.
I will say that, in the past, Adult Swim doesn't do well when it attempts to engage head to head in a direct manner. IE - they didn't do well when they tried to run anime opposite SyFy's anime block. They don't tend to do as well with comedy opposite SNL.
They do well as a pirate entity. That is, pulling their ship up to somebody else's block and looting that. Like on Thursday nights, capitalizing on NBC's Thursday lineup by running live action comedies after it. Hitting the after-Fox Sunday with more Fox shows, etc.
This might actually be good news for anime, oddly enough, as anime is a relatively inexpensive source of quality and edgy programming. Adult Swim has been going to that well less and less as the years have progressed. I think this type of competition may actually possibly drive them at least a tiny bit back in that direction. Especially Saturday, which - right now the mainstream comedies are sort of dying on Sat night. Then things pick up again for Boondocks and anime. But if Fox is running animated comedy in that slot, it might actually be a good idea to try some eye-popping adult action programming opposite that.
Or something else. Live action comedy maybe. Or even like a "best of" Conan. I still think it would be awesome to see Adult Swim run a sort of "best ep of the week" thing with Conan. TBS can spare it one night a week to help grow the audience certainly. And I think that would play in the Saturday slot possibly. or even earlier.
It's only an hour and a half slot. But AS started small too.
From what I've seen, attempts to duplicate the block's success have pretty much always failed. What will make this interesting is Nick. And Fox has a good track record development-wise anyway on FX. Archer could run on Fox pretty easily. I mean, that combination of former AS people and Fox shows that already run on AS, and Nick on top of it, might finally be the successful combination.
But if you look at everything from the Strip to SyFy's anime block, it pretty much starts out all hopeful, amibitious, and ultra-hyped, and then ends up falling on its face within a year or two.
The alchemy of mainstream, comedy, alternative/unique/niche stuff, action, anime, animation, etc is something that Adult Swim has down. Most of the larger networks aren't willing to play around with ratings, stunts, and schedules like AS does. Nor will they give shows the same sort of chance, but budget is a big part of that too.
The beauty of Adult Swim too is, they can run forever on a small budget. Other networks that want to copy it will often throw a lot of money out and then end up axing it largely because of the money that's at stake. And obviously there's a lot of money at stake at AS too, but the block has a fiscal discipline that's built into it. It's tough to find that combination of bizarre creative aesthetic and fiscal discipline. The two seem kind of almost mutually exclusive in a sense.
It shouldn't make financial sense to create unique and potentially alienating shows. But Adult Swim spins straw into gold every day in that regard in ways that no other network seems able to do.
But it'll be interesting. I can't help but think the Fox thing will putter out in a few years. But then again, it does sound kind of exciting, especially for Nick. And this Fox block has a larger shot at success than anything else so far I think.
L~!
AdultSwim.com is part of Turner Entertainment Digital which is part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network.
