Thursday, May 07, 2015

Adult Swim Retooling

The trades tell us:

Adult Swim intends to launch two new series and a handful of limited-run specials while bringing back fan-favorite programs including “Rick and Morty,” “Childrens Hospital” and “The Jack and Triumph Show”. ...

New programming includes:

“TV Sucks” – A quarter-hour animated sketch show created by Brad Neely featuring one-off shorts and songs. ...

“Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Friendship is Magic” – DC Comics heroes are once again put through the satirical wringer of the Robot Chicken crew. ...

Although Adult Swim is part of the Time-Warner/Turner empire, the top kick for the late-night block likes edgy and inexpensive animation, which often translates into underpaid artists working with lousy health benefits and log hours and no union contract. As one of them recently related:

"I've worked in this part of the business for years. And each year I hope it will be get better, and each year it doesn't. And I'm tired of waiting for it to improve, because I don't think it will if we don't take some action." ...

A few Adult Swim crews working under contract. A few others have organized. But when the business model is "edgy" on a shoe-string, there apparently isn't a lot of room for good wages for a lot of the creative staff. Funny how that happens.

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