General Adult Swim Discussion

[ALchemist81]

In case you haven't heard, there's been some interesting new changes for late November and December on Adult Swim's on air schedule:

http://www.adultswim.com/schedule/onair.html

I thought we might be seeing Bleach movies 1 & 2 resurface during Christmas Eve or New Years Eve, but instead, we get a marathon of episodes both holidays. Does that mean they've lost the rights to them? Also, potentially wreaking havoc on that "safe" lineup for 12 am-6 am, the Saturday 10:30 pm Family Guy episodes now fall in the same continuum as weeknights with the exception of the new episode on Mondays. Sundays generally do too, though there are exceptions, such as the Star Wars marathon on December 18th. It's gonna be an interesting month that should produce interesting ratings, that is, if they even bother to cover them.

On that note, ratings for Adult Swim for November 14-20 have been added to TheVoiceOfTv.com by Son of the Bronx in an interesting new format:

http://thevoiceoftv.com/nielsen-tv-ratings/adult-swim-ratings-nov
ember-14-20-2011/

Bleach is the only anime show in the Top 50, checking in at #42 for 12 am (1469k). Durarara!! at 12:30 am (1139k) and FMA:B at 1 am (1016k) charted at #71 and #93 respectively. Kekkaishi (892k) and FLCL (847k) also did pretty respectably, placing #124 and #137, respectively. Adult Swim aired a total of 156 shows that week, and of the shows in the Bottom 10 (#147-#156), 7 are anime (Cowboy Bebop was #147), and all of the bottom 6 are: #151 Big O; #152 Bleach encore; #153 GITS; #154 Durarara!! encore; #155 InuYasha; #156 FMA:B encore.

However, on the bright side, the lowest rating for the week was a respectably high 551k overall. Not a bad Saturday, really.

[SwimMod_Luuv]

woohoo! this is the first month I think since we started cycling folders that they've actually had the new schedule up before the 1st!

it delights the OCD side of me that cares way too much about statistics and schedules. 

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Oh. My. Odin. THANK YOU AS. I get to see all the Bleach episodes I've missed due to not having a TV most of the time for the past few months! It's like I get 8 Bleach premiers in two weeks. This is the best. Also all the weeknight variation and stuff is going to be totally amazing. I am really excited about this!

My only reservation here is... Are they really putting Durarara!! on hold for two weeks right before its final episode airs? Or are there only 25 episodes plus an OVA or something?

[ALchemist81]

8 Bleach premieres in 2 weeks? Try 23. Or maybe this is a statement that a 3-peat is worth about a 3rd of a premiere. Not really sure what your logic is here, unless you mean that you've missed about 8 episodes. In that case, you'd be right.

I think the scheduling of the Bleach episodes is pretty good, but could be a litlte better. The 12 am "headliners" are the Karakurizer Arc (213-214) on Christmas and the wrap-up of the Arrancar Defense (225-226) Arc on New Years. But why did the Hueco Mundo II Arc (190-203) get slighted? And what of the Turn Back the Pendulum arc? I'd rather see that than "Boobie Buckets" and this current arc again, which by that time will be 6 episodes in.

A little bummed that they couldn't show the 3rd movie, but I have faith that they'll roll it sometime in early 2012...

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Dark_Lord_Khrima wrote:

My only reservation here is... Are they really putting Durarara!! on hold for two weeks right before its final episode airs? Or are there only 25 episodes plus an OVA or something?

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Episode 25 is actually the 2nd OVA, and the end of the series.  It will be interesting to see if its repeats are back in the 12:30 am timeslot on January 7th, or if it will be replaced by something brand-new and relegated to an earlier timeslot.  Maybe a new 12:30 anime will knock everything back 30 minutes, giving DRRR!! 1 am, FMA:B 1:30 am, and Kekkaishi 2 am, knocking FLCL off the schedule.  Then the encore slot would be 4 am Bleach, 4:30 am Mystery Show, 5 am Durarara!! and 5:30 am InuYasha.  But what if that new show WAS InuYasha: The Final Act?  Would classic IY be off the schedule in favor of the FMA:B encore?  The return of it at the end of the night on New Year's Eve suggests the contrary.  It will be interesting to see what they do, and also whether or not they go back to doubling-up and knock FLCL, Bebop, Big O, or GITS off the schedule.  None of those finish their runs before the Yuletide Bleach takeover.

The schedule probably won't be updated again until December 15th or 16th at the earliest, December 22nd at the latest.  I guess there is the off-chance it could be updated on a day of the 26th through 28th, but why would anyone at [as] scheduling department actually work between Christmas and New Years??

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Yeah, I've seen some of the episodes already, I only missed eight weeks. I hope they do use this as an opportunity to mix the block up a bit and put another premier on the schedule because I think FLCL could probably use another break right about now.

[Sketchor]

Catching viewers up on Bleach is pretty decent of them. I guess this is their answer to the cries for more Bleach reruns. I don't figure they're any reason to be worried about them losing the rights to Bleach but who really knows at this point?

The Holiday schedule has all kinds of goodies in it. That's a nice change of pace.

Also nice to see a schedule update before the current month is over.

[Jeffchao228]

Well I am looking at the New ratings view of the "Only Total Viewership" for the week well this upcomming ratings report, is going to be ugly, here is the report in total to expect on Sunday Night when the ratings report kicks in,

FAMILY GUY -----------Sat 10:30PM-11:00PM - 1839
THE BOONDOCKS - Sat 11:00PM-11:30PM - 1740
THE BOONDOCKS - Sat 11:30PM-12:00AM - 1686
KING OF THE HILL - Sat 10:00PM-10:30PM - 1433
BLEACH --------------- Sat 12:00AM-12:30AM - 1329 (also not good, estmate mid-upper 300,000s)
KING OF THE HILL - Sat 9:30PM-10:00PM -- 1232
THE OBLONGS ------ Sat 9:00PM- 9:30PM -- 1227
DURARARA ----------- Sat 12:30AM- 1:00AM -- 919 (not very good news there, estmate upper 200,000s)
KEKKAISHI ------------ Sat 1:30AM- 2:00AM ---- 693 (May I say License to be revoked after this run? Low to Mid 200,000s)


In the end, it is not good news for the anime block Luuv, and likely Jeebu continues to win each battle with every drop of the total viewers.

[Sketchor]

Took me a moment to realize you were posting numbers from the next ratings report from Bronx so here's the link for anyone curious.

http://thevoiceoftv.com/nielsen-tv-ratings/adult-swim-ratings-nov
ember-21-27-2011/

Bleach's 18-34 ratings are probably still above 400,000 despite the lower total viewer ratings.

Durarara's been below a million total and still got 0.4 with 18-49 so I figure the 18-34 ratings are still above 300,000.

And it's nigh guarenteed that Durarara, Kekkaishi and FMA: Brotherhood beat The Oblongs and King of the Hill in the 9PM hour with 18-49 viewers due to being on later and not having prime time competition. The total viewers difference is mostly with viewers under 18 for those 9PM hour comedies.

The 18-49 viewership for the later anime makes up more of the total viewership so the low total viewer numbers aren't indication that they're not drawing enough 18+ viewers. But it is disheartening to see nothing but anime make up the bottom 7 and for the bottom to be lower than last week's. And all the more disappointing to see Bleach slip out of the top 50 for total viewers.

I guess Bronx figured this was a better method for posting just the total viewer ratings but it's too bad he's not posting the 18-49 anymore.

[Jeffchao228]

Well I am sure this issue could very well make Adult Swim decide to bring back the Repeat Block at 2 AM, seeing how it is hopeless that any viewership seems to have well died off, since FMA B unfortunately did not even make the 600,000 viewers list in total viewership.

[Jeffchao228]

That is because I figure that might upsetted Williams Street, but also finding out that our board keeps track of the ratings, something that might have angered Nielsen and well us having to argue over the ratings.

[ALchemist81]

Well, those are low numbers indeed but we can't exactly go by that completely, since it IS a holiday weekend. I'll bet Bleach will be back in the Top 50 and Durarara!! and FMA:B back in the Top 100 for this past weekend.

If he keeps up this format, it will be interesting to see how the Christmas Eve and New Years Eve Bleach marathons do...

Oh, and Sunday was also TEH SVCK according to Numbers Game part II.  I didn't get home in time for Part I, and I'm hyper so I'll catch the reair.

[Sketchor]

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Jeffchao228 wrote:
Well I am sure this issue could very well make Adult Swim decide to bring back the Repeat Block at 2 AM, seeing how it is hopeless that any viewership seems to have well died off, since FMA B unfortunately did not even make the 600,000 viewers list in total viewership.

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If they were worried about ratings on that night my first recommendation would be to encore Family Guy and The Boondocks at 2AM.

But we saw the bottom 3 shows on Saturday for a recent week and the bottom 2 on Sunday were actually lower than the bottom 2 on Saturday and 3rd to last got nearly 200,000 viewers 18-34. For a rerun of Ghost in the Shell that's pretty dang good. Back in 2008 200,000-250,000 was pretty average for anime in premieres. Now the premieres get 300,000-400,000+ with 18-34 and the reruns get between around 200,000 and 300,000 baring a few shows that sink below 200,000. For a Saturday night late night that's really good ratings.

They arguably could not do better with any of their original comedies in those later slots and FG and Boon encoring at 2AM wouldn't likely do more than 300,000. Which is still 100,000 more than some long standing anime reruns get but they might actually lower the ratings of the earlier airings of FG and Boon if they encored later at night. Much like on Sunday when 2AM Family Guy beats much of the block. If viewers had to option to watch the same episode of FG at 2AM as they do at 10:30, they're going to watch it at 2AM on Saturday overnights more likely than staying home to watch the 10:30 showing when there's a later aring to watch.

They're also willing to take slightly lower ratings to keep airing Bebop, GitS, FLCL and The Big O instead of encoring the comedy block.

I don't see anime losing more hours to comedy any time soon. Not while anime is holding it's own like it is currently.

[ALchemist81]

Hey, not too shabby!

SATURDAY 11/26/11

Boondocks [11:30] - 665,000
Boondocks [11 pm] - 616,000
Bleach [12 am] - 561,000

Impressive number from Bleach for a Holiday weekend. Glad to see a renewed sense of interest in the show's Zanpakuto Tales arc!

[ALchemist81]

I already mentioned that Sunday was TEH SVCK, but here's the proof, especially #3, hitting a low that we haven't seen since January:

SUNDAY 11/27/11

Family Guy [10:30 pm] - 821,000
Robot Chicken [11:30 pm] - 637,000
Family Guy [1:30 am] - 489,000

How bizarre: the 11 PM episode doesn't even appear!

Saturday boasted the 5th highest Top 3 of the year so far, while Sunday was cursed with the 3rd lowest.  Ouch!

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

Maybe they forgot to count the 11:00pm episode? Because those numbers, though still bad, wouldn't seem nearly as horrible if there was an 11:00pm episode up top that got 890,000 viewers or something.

[Sketchor]

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ALchemist81 wrote:

I already mentioned that Sunday was TEH SVCK, but here's the proof, especially #3, hitting a low that we haven't seen since January:

SUNDAY 11/27/11

Family Guy [10:30 pm] - 821,000
Robot Chicken [11:30 pm] - 637,000
Family Guy [1:30 am] - 489,000

How bizarre: the 11 PM episode doesn't even appear!

Saturday boasted the 5th highest Top 3 of the year so far, while Sunday was cursed with the 3rd lowest.  Ouch!

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Oh I know why they don't list the 11pm episode of Family Guy. It was the one-hour episode "And Then There Were Fewer" so they averaged the ratings for the hour. I imagine the 11pm half hour still did better than the 10:30pm despite being halfway through an episode. Starting it at 10:30pm probably dragged it down due to the time slot but for an hour average that's not awful.

And now for action!

Bleach at 12am on Saturday beat Family Guy at 1:30am on Sunday? Woah.

Good top 3 for Saturday. Family Guy probably didn't place in the top 3 and 10:30 due to holiday programming and sports.

It's actually entirely possible that Durarara's premiere beat most of Sunday's shows that week. While I'm sure DRR lost viewers from Bleach it was probably around 100,000k at most which would keep DRR in the mid 400,000s.

[ALchemist81]

The 1:30 am Sunday Family Guy was #105 for the week with 1021k overall viewers, while Duarara!! was #122 (919k), so it most likely didn't beat it with 18-34s either. The proportion of 18-34s that made up Bleach's overall audience [12 am] of 1329k was 42%; if the same proportion of Durarara!! [12:30 am] overall viewers was 18-34, that number would be 388k, 100k less than Sunday 1:30 am Family Guy.  Granted, a greater proportion of 18-34 viewers were probably watching, but that overall audience would have to have been 53% 18-34 for 490k of that demo to be watching. Gains of that magnitude have been witnessed between Bleach and Kekkaishi in the past, however, but still it seems a longshot that Durarara!! overtook Sunday's #3.

HOWEVER, #122 Durarara!! did own 9 pm  Robot Chicken (#137), 9:15 pm Robot Chicken (#143), 9:30 pm ATHF (#145), 9:45 pm ATHF (#147), 12 am China, IL (#133), 12:30 am KOTH (#127), 1 am Heart, She Holler (#134), and 1:15 am Metalocalypse (#142), 2:30 am Robot Chicken (#125), and 2:45 am Squidbillies (#132).  Only the Top 3, 10 pm KOTH (#107), and 11:45 pm Squidbillies (#102) managed to beat it.

[Top_Gun]

Wow, good for Bleach. That's crazy high.

[comedyswimfan089]

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ALchemist81 wrote:

I already mentioned that Sunday was TEH SVCK, but here's the proof, especially #3, hitting a low that we haven't seen since January:

SUNDAY 11/27/11

Family Guy [10:30 pm] - 821,000
Robot Chicken [11:30 pm] - 637,000
Family Guy [1:30 am] - 489,000

How bizarre: the 11 PM episode doesn't even appear!

Saturday boasted the 5th highest Top 3 of the year so far, while Sunday was cursed with the 3rd lowest.  Ouch!

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It's been quite some time since we had a confirmation that people tune in Sundays to watch Seth and that's it.  Back when FamGuy only had one episode Sundays, we would see this frequently, with whatever original airing post-FG getting a fraction of what 11p FG got, but since they paired them up, the two FamGuys and the Chicken usually gobbled up the top 3.

I'd like to think that whomever tune into the Squids at 11:45p sticks around for the rest of the block.

[ALchemist81]

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Top_Gun wrote:
Wow, good for Bleach. That's crazy high.

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If you think that's good, then take a look at this!

http://thevoiceoftv.com/nielsen-tv-ratings/adult-swim-ratings-nov
ember-28-december-4-2011/

Yes, that's right.  Third on Saturday night in overall audience and #33 for the week.  It's pretty much guarandamteed to show up in the Top 3 for the 2nd week in a row! 

[comedyswimfan089]

The 9pm slot Sat/Sun continues to be a failure.
Just give it to CN.

RC/ATHF isn't working.

P.S. - Not that I want to be a downer, just remember that the link gives ratings for 2YOs and up. 18s-34s can always be a different story.

But... it should hit the #3 position, with Boondocks #2 and Family Guy #1.

[ALchemist81]

What's ironic is, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Sunday night 9 PM expansion actually come first before all the other nights of the week! Or am I thinking of the 10 PM expansion that preceded it beating its weeknight/Saturday counterparts?

Either way, you're absolutely right: it's an epic and abject failure, no matter if they bring out the big guns in their homegrown arsenal (RC/ATHF) or not. Is there some reason they can't show King of the Hill there like they do every other night? That seems to have worked pretty good, didn't it? Or maybe try Bleach reruns there?

On that note, the reason I say Bleach is pretty much guaranteed to be Top 3 with 18-34s when it was Top 3 overall is because the proportion of the overall viewers that are between 18 and 34 has been shown to increase as the night goes on.  Case in point: Bleach has been #4 or even #5 overall before and still made the Top 3, even placed first once!

[holkimcardie1]

It was the 10PM expansion. It went to 9 PM across the board back January this year.

[Dark_Lord_Khrima]

I think they don't show King of The Hill at 9pm on Sundays because Fox is showing their animated stuff already, and it's premiers. So they probably just assume people who like Fox shows would be watching Fox at that point.

[ALchemist81]

Which is why they should show anime then, like maybe 2x Bleach from episode 190, and/or original FMA! i mean, it's too risky to play that on Saturday night, right?

So I say in 2012, while Fox is showing new Family Guy and American Dad, give us Bleach or something. The built-in audience would be greater then what they're getting from showing the same ol' same ol'.

Or give the 11 PM slot on Saturday nights back to anime (starting with InuYasha: The Final Act, maybe) and run Boondocks on Sunday during the 9 PM hour. Can't lose with that!