General Adult Swim Discussion

[Sketchor]

Yeah giving The Big O a nice watchable slot for a rerun of season 1 would be nice.

It's all the same to me if InuYasha doesn't escape 5AM but I'd be more inclined to watch reruns of that than Kekkaishi.

[akihironihongo]

An hour of inuyasha??? This pleases me...

[Jeebus201]

That lineup shows how barebones what they have to work with is. 

I think that's why Kekkaishi annoyed me so.

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Yeah, a lot of the shows are very similar. Kekkaishi, Brotherhood, Big O, InuYasha, and Bleach all fall into the same category at least. Though that's not to say they don't have their differences. Then again, there's not much to air aside from generic Shonen (does fine), slow paced suspense (does OK), and story-based shows with very little action like Moribito (does awful). If they could find more shows like Bebop and GiTS that have a lot of action but aren't completely devoid of plot and character development I think that would be ideal, but it seems like there's kind of slim pickings as far as those are concerned.

[Sketchor]

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akihironihongo wrote:

An hour of inuyasha??? This pleases me...

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Well don't count on it, DLK and I were just kicking around ideas.

[rumbatubbies-ok]

The pickings aren't slim. I'm pretty sure AS can find an anime from the past 30 years that meet the requirements you listed, and/or satisfy mainstream audiences' tastes. There won't be any improvement until Williams Street becomes motivated to look for seinen titles to air on [as].

[akihironihongo]

Dang, oh well...

I'm pretty much fine with any anime that comes my way.

Well, I mean, any NEW anime.

For the most part, I can't watch one when it's in the middle of the series.

(Exceptions include Bleach, inuyasha, and, to a small extent, FMAB)

I just can't get into it until it starts a new rotation in the reruns.

[Jeebus201]

I'm going to point out G4 is going to air Ultraviolet Code 44, an anime based on the film, while odds are good Adult Swim, if they get anything this year, may air the kid-centric Rise of the Yokai clan.

Anyone wonder why I want it off the Swim?

[Sketchor]

Ultraviolet Code 44 on G4 wont last long at Midnight on Saturday against Bleach on AS. That's a shame though.

Come on man Tiger & Bunny at least has as good a chance as Nura and T&T would be great.

[Jeebus201]

Sure, just like how we were supposed to get Soul Eater or Kenichi and instead got...Kekkaishi.

Or instead of Gurren Lagann we got...Moribito.

Or instead of Gungrave we got...Paranoia Agent.

I could do this all day.

[Sketchor]

None of those are Viz shows.

I contest they should have hit Bandai up for Gurren and/or Gundam 00 instead of Geass and you know the situation with FUNi but Paranoia Agent is better than Gungrave anyway. If they got GG they probably wouldn't have kept it long anyway. We still got Champloo but they didn't hang on to it like FLCL, InuYasha and the Bandai staples.

Viz probably paid them to run Kekkaishi but likely don't have the money to do the same with Nura. Going by WS love of shows such a The Big O. They might even be willing to pay for Tiger & Bunny. I can dream dang it.

If you're right and they just get Nura then I might join your "perpetually infuriated by Adult Swim anime aquisitions" club. Keep a seat warm, I'm just about there. XD

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Wow, that's kind of a #### move, putting their anime premier up against AS's. I'm sure that will at least hurt Bleach a bit. Though it's pretty funny, since I'm also sure Bleach is by far the more popular anime, and G4 is going to be hurting a lot more than AS from this.

[rumbatubbies-ok]

I'd rather watch the Ultraviolet anime movie than Bleach. The original Ultraviolet movie was extremely terrible, not like "so-terrible-it's-funny", ala Samurai Cop, but much more terrible to the point where you want to gouge your eyes out. But any deviation from an otherwise stagnant schedule, is good.

[Jeebus201]

Yes, because getting a SLOW AS ALL HELL moving drama made sense instead of getting an action series from the same guy who made the successful Trigun anime.

And Nura seems the most likely at this point.  It's childish, safe, light on content, and BORING BORING BORING.

[Sketchor]

I contest that Paranoia Agent is still the better show and always will.

But I understand that it was not a wise pick up for Adult Swim's audience.

Besides if they had gotten Gungrave, it wouldn't have stuck around long anyway. Cause you don't exactly see Samurai Champloo on Adult Swim anymore now do you?

No to Nura

Yes to Tiger & Bunny

That's how I'm roll'n

[ALchemist81]

To make matters even worse, there are NO replays!

Not even sandwiched between the VERY SAME TWO movies the next day!

If I can record both at 11 PM Saturday 2/19, I will (I think I did something like this for Hell Girl on IFC and Naruto Shippuden on DXD in 2010), but this is BS! G4 has completely lost it...

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

DVRs should let you record two things, so long as you aren't watching anything on a third channel while that's going on. At least mine does, and given how they work it'd make sense for most to.

[ramo200]

While there was no sign of what the Season 3 premiere episode ratings for Delocated were, at least we know the ratings for this past Thursday's episode, "Skins".

It scored a 1.4 rating (0.6 in the 18-49 demo bracket) at its 12am time slot. I would say that's pretty darn good because it just about equals around the ratings average of what a Childrens Hospital episode would score. Plus it didn't hurt that it was a funny episode to boot. Let's keep up the Delocated ratings!

[Jeebus201]

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ramo200 wrote:

While there was no sign of what the Season 3 premiere episode ratings for Delocated were, at least we know the ratings for this past Thursday's episode, "Skins".

It scored a 1.4 rating (0.6 in the 18-49 demo bracket) at its 12am time slot. I would say that's pretty darn good because it just about equals around the ratings average of what a Childrens Hospital episode would score. Plus it didn't hurt that it was a funny episode to boot. Let's keep up the Delocated ratings!

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And this is why Adult Swim has live action.

[Sketchor]

And here's the ratings so many have been curious about, though it's only the total viewer and H/H ratings not the 18-49.

http://thevoiceoftv.com/nielsen-tv-ratings/adult-swim-ratings-jan
uary-30-february-5-2012/

Star Wars: The Clone Wars did a lot better than you might expect and I doubt it did that well because of kids. It actually did really well in the encore block so if they're looking for a PG show to replace InuYasha reruns with at some point at 5:30AM they might be wise to try Clone Wars in that slot.

We don't need to see the 18-34 or 18-49 ratings to know how this turned out. Badly for anime and it also proves that with more popular shows the 9PM hour on Saturday can do decently.

January 28th

9:00 PM - God the Devil and Bob - 671,000

Rank #144

9:30 PM - King of the Hill - 806,000

Rank #129

10:00 PM - King of the Hill - 1,048,000

Rank #88

10:30 PM - Family Guy - 1,504,000

Rank #36

11:00 PM - The Boondocks - 1,246,000

Rank #63

11:30 PM - The Boondocks - 1,258,000

Rank #60

12:00 AM - Bleach - 1,081,000

Rank #84

12:30 AM - FMA: Brotherhood - 889,000

Rank #114

1:00 AM - Durarara - 721,000

Rank #140

1:30 AM - Kekkaishi - 745,000

Rank #137

2:00 AM - Fooly Cooly - 648,000

Rank #145

2:30 AM - Cowboy Bebop - 517,000

Rank #147

3:00 AM - The Big O - 423,000

Rank #150

3:30 AM - Ghost in the Shell - 432,000

Rank #149

4:00 AM - Bleach - 454,000

Rank #148

4:30 AM - FMA: Brotherhood - 372,000

Rank #153

5:00 AM - Durarara - 373,000

Rank #152

5:30 AM - InuYasha - 398,000

Rank #151

February 4th

9:00 PM - Robot Chicken Star Wars I - 916,000

Rank #116

9:30 PM - Robot Chicken Star Wars II - 1,070,000

Rank #89

10:00 PM - Family Guy: It's a Trap - 1,806,000

Rank #21

11:00 PM - Robot Chicken Star Wars III - 1,631,000

Rank #28

12:00 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 1,174,000

Rank #69

12:30 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 1,007,000

Rank #99

1:00 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 938,000

Rank #110

1:30 AM - Robot Chicken Star Wars I - 924,000

Rank #112

2:00 AM - Robot Chicken Star Wars II - 873,000

Rank #119

2:30 AM - Family Guy: It's a Trap - 1,292,000 (at 2:30AM on a Saturday holy freak'n crap man)

Rank #50

3:30 AM - Robot Chicken Star Wars III - 1,238,000 (very impressive as well)

Rank #56

4:30 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 1,111,000 (clearly benefiting from it's lead-ins)

Rank #82

5:00 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 995,000 (at 5AM that's amazing)

Rank #103

5:30 AM - Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 1,007,000 (and even more amazing it tied with the 12:30AM airing?)

Rank #99

To be fair the previous week was not a particularly good one for anime but nothing after 2AM pulls in 1 million viewers on most Saturdays

How heavily was this Star Wars night advertised? Because if it wasn't advertised much if at all then these ratings are even more amazing.

Interesting that 1:30 and 2AM Robot Chicken didn't do better. Based on that I think we can determine the optimal time for drawing in viewers who went out to drink or party is closer to 3AM and those Family Guy and Robot Chicken ratings from 2:30AM until 4:30AM cannot be denied.

I know none of the anime viewers want to lose more hours to comedy but if they are actually concerned about improving their Saturday ratings these ratings show that comedy is the best way to do it. Which was what I've been saying for a while now. If action lost more time to comedy the encore coming back would be the first logical step and these ratings only further proove that.

But it's also saying it's not much good to start that encore until around 2AM or even later as opposed to encores beginning at 1:30 like the other nights of the week. I don't think there's any value in encoring comedies other than Family Guy and The Boondocks though but just doing that much is sure to raise the nights average by a wide margin.

Maybe they're just not that concerned about ratings after 2AM on a Saturday though. Anime fans better hope that's the case.

[Jeebus201]

And this just proves everything I've been saying. 

Clone Wars has one advantage over the other kids shows.  The Star Wars name.  Despite Lucas' best efforts, the name still commands enormous respect and interest.  I mean crap, my dad watches Clone Wars (and Thundercats) but wouldn't go near the animu.  

[ALchemist81]

This was a neat case study, but by jettisoning the anime classics and same-night encores to 2 AM and later, it pretty much is the bottom of the ladder; where can they go from here but out? And if what someone else was saying about advertizing rates on weekends being MUCH lower than weekdays, it makes sense to use Saturday to show cheaper commercials and show those shows that won't bring home the bacon, while keeping one "anchor" show like Family Guy earlier in the night to make sure everything doesn't go completely to hell.

However, this did show that by encoring comedy, the ratings improve, so if the advertizing rates aren't any higher on Fridays or Sundays, it might make sense to split the anime into 2 different nights:

How exactly this would be accomplished, I really don't know...

SATURDAY
9 PM - God, The Devil, and Bob
9:30 PM - KOTH x2
10:30 PM - Family Guy
11 PM - Boondocks
11:30 PM - Boondocks or NEW Black Dynamite
12 AM - NEW Bleach
12:30 AM - FMA:B
1 AM - DRRR!!
1:30 AM - Kekkaishi
2 AM - Famlily Guy Encore
2:30 AM - Boondocks Encore
3 AM - Boondocks/Black Dynamite Encore
3:30 AM - Bleach Encore
4 AM - Big O
4:30 AM - Cowboy Bebop
5 AM - GITS
5:30 AM - InuYasha

Of course, if they did that, there's no room for any new anime. That would also be bad. But then again, perhaps the Clone Wars ratings proved it's not the encores so much as what precedes them. They also might prove ending the block with Clone Wars at 5:30 AM on Weeknights is actually better for ratings on Weeknights, which also might give them a reason to try an early-morning action block after DVR theater:

MON-FRI
4:30 AM - Bleach (from the beginning)
5 AM - FMA/FMA:B (from the beginning)
5:30 AM - Clone Wars

[Sketchor]

Well for one thing they could wait to try this until Kekkaishi finishes it's second run.

But it could work basically how you suggested but I'd actually put the Bleach encore later since it's more than anything else just buffer for people who missed the first airing.

And I think they could actually get better results by having the comedy encore a bit later into the night.

And they should probably get a stronger show for 10PM and maybe move King of the Hill back to 9PM-10PM if it has to air at all.

For 10PM before Family Guy try out Metalocalypse or Robot Chicken (preferably Metal because RC is on enough). Maybe try Birdman since it didn't get 9:30 on Sunday. I'd first suggest Venture again but we saw how well that turned out... badly.

As for after 12AM

12:00 AM - Bleach

12:30 AM - FMA: Brotherhood

01:00 AM - Durarara

01:30 AM - Kekkaishi

02:00 AM - The Big O Season 1

02:30 AM - Cowboy Bebop

03:00 AM - Family Guy

03:30 AM - The Boondocks

04:00 AM - The Boondocks

04:30 AM - Ghost in the Shell (yeah I know i'm giving it the shaft but I want Big O season 1 (if it airs) to be in a watchable slot since it's very fresh at this point)

05:00 AM - Bleach Encore

05:30 AM - InuYasha

But if they get something new and Bleach is still in premieres something will have to be rotated out. Probably Kekkaishi if it's contract ends and one of the classics.

Not really losing much more than encores for DRR and FMA:B that way. You catch the incoming viewers at 3AM with their favorite comedy easing back into the remaining action reruns. Bebop airing right before Family Guy should show an upswing from the drop off after Bleach.

One reason why I'm suggesting Metal and RC for 10PM is in case they felt inclined to do a full 2 hour comedy break that would at least make the transition to and from action not as jarring as going from any action show into Family Guy.

So if they get something new and also have that 2 hour comedy break they could do something like this

10:00 PM - Metaloclaypse

10:30 PM - Family Guy

11:00 PM - The Boondocks

11:30 PM - The Boondocks / Black Dynamite

12:00 AM - Bleach

12:30 AM - New Anime

01:00 AM - Anime Rerun

01:30 AM - Anime Rerun

02:00 AM - Metalocalypse

02:30 AM - Family Guy

03:00 AM - The Boondocks

03:30 AM - The Boondocks / Black Dynamite

04:00 AM - Anime Rerun

04:30 AM - Bleach Encore

05:00 AM - New Anime Encore

05:30 AM - InuYasha

And I'm not ruling out the possiblity that if their ratings sink FMA:B or Durarara might end up later in the night. DRR probably being the more likely of the two to get the shaft first.

But you know what? I don't think they're going to be so quick to dump the classic anime or the currently running ones from Saturday in favor of comedy encores despite these ratings. Because we already knew a comedy encore would do better and they seem to have no intention of bringing that back.

[Jeebus201]

You're doing it again. You keep expecting the block to go hopping merrily along, despite this latest proof it's not up to snuff.

Williams Street's patience for the action block cannot be infinite. I mean, their big bad action block, which you claim earns it keep, was utterly thrashed by reruns of comedy and Clone Wars, a show that's on for all audiences at much earlier times.

You can't keep this up. You can't slap whatever POS kids show Viz is farting out between their terribad online release of an extremely limited selection of Shounen Jump (Hey Viz, get an iPad/Android app and make the translations less than a week delay vs 3 like any band of misfit amateurs can do and we'll talk subscription) and expect good ratings, particularly now that we're seeing other shows do way better. Something has to give.

[Sketchor]

Now now be fair.

This was a Star Wars theme night which would make for even bigger ratings than if the schedule was just normally non-Star Wars eps of Robot Chicken and Family Guy followed by 3 episodes of The Clone Wars. That wouldn't keep getting ratings that good if it was the regular schedule, especially The Clone Wars reruns.

Also The Clone Wars doesn't get many reruns these days. If you don't buy the DVD/BD sets you're pretty boned for trying to catch up. So people probably appreciated the opportunity to rewatch those 3 episodes which I don't believe had been seen on CN in at least a year or more. That might show even more potential value for a Clone Wars rerun slot on Adult Swim it may as well be at 5:30AM going by the ratings it got in that slot this time.

Bleach certainly earns it's keep. Up until seeing these ratings I was relatively convinced the others did as well but it's become apparent that they could double their post 2AM ratings with a comedy encore and very well could get better ratings by making it another full night of comedy.

We don't know how long WS' patience is for ASA. They're not exactly pressured into doing better on Saturday due to such low level competition most weeks. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep on the shows they like but everything has a breaking point. Anime's audience has grown but comedies audience dwarf's it.

But really what would dumping ASA accomplish? AS already has plenty of hours to air the shows you like so why is it so awful that they don't aim 6 of them your way? If they're content with the lower ratings then I say, let them be content.

You may some day indeed get your all comedy Saturday but let the anime viewers enjoy the block while it still remains. Is that so much to ask?