Toaster's Ramblings... Adult Swim Top 10 Edition

Adult Swim has been around for over a decade and has provided countless hours of entertainment for stoners and sick-minded individuals like myself and Jonny Prophet. While much of Adult Swim’s programming has been reruns of defunct series (which led to the rebirths of both Family Guy and Futurama), borrowed shows from Fox or anime from the magical land of Japan, there have been many shows made just for the channel. (Yes, Adult Swim is technically a channel separate from Cartoon Network.) Of course these shows have been a crapshoot. Sometimes they are brilliantly demented. Other times they are crappy. Still other shows are just so terrible they hurt your brain. (Seriously, what the hell was with Xavier: Renegade Angel? Was it supposed to be funny? It wasn’t!) So I thought I would run down my top ten favorite Adult Swim original programs with an explanation about why I enjoy the show. Now please note that there are some shows I do (or did) like that didn’t make the list. These are just my favorites.

Haven’t Seen It Yet But Giddy With Excitement Over It Mention: Black Dynamite – The movie Black Dynamite is one of the funniest and most brilliant comedies I have ever seen. (If you’ve never seen it, go to Amazon now and buy it… just buy it. Trust me.) The animated series from Adult Swim features the same writers and creators of the movie, Black Dynamite himself is reprised by Michael Jai White and the villains are puppets. I can barely wait.  

Honorable Mention: Lucy: Daughter of the Devil – This was an odd little show from the creators of Home Movies, a black comedy about a cynical teen girl who just happens to be the Antichrist and her father the devil, voiced by H. John Benjamin, portrayed as a sort of casual evil being that never forgets to have a good time along the way. I personally thought the show was great, but unfortunately it was cancelled after only one season.

10. Stroker and Hoop – People either didn’t like this show or didn’t bother to give it the time of day. Personally I think they missed out. Stroker and Hoop was an irreverent spoof of the 70’s detective genre featuring a misogynistic egomaniac and his slightly more capable but blissfully naïve sidekick. Oh, and a talking car. The humor was quick and snappy while often pretty raunchy. One joke I especially loved was when Stroker and Hoop broke into the office of a shady CEO with “Mission Impossible” style harnesses. When the CEO returns to his office, Stroker and Hoop are seen hiding on the ceiling. The CEO casually sits down at his desk, picks up the phone and says “Yes, security? Two men are hiding on the ceiling in my office. I don’t know why they thought I wouldn’t see them.”  Sadly the show lasted only one season and has not even been released on DVD!

9. The Brak Show- One of the original Adult Swim shows that premiered in 2001, The Brak Show was a strange take on the American sitcom with wacky and often violent characters placed into cliché roles. While I loved former Space Ghost villains Brak, Zorak and robotic guardian and next door neighbor Thundercleese, it was Dad, voiced by none other than (comedic) Space Ghost voice actor George Lowe, who really stole the show. The Brak Show lost a little something when it changed the voice of Mom from a stereotypical 50’s mother to a British woman. This was the first of the original Adult Swim launch shows to get canned.

8. Frisky Dingo – The creators of the next show on the list followed it up with Frisky Dingo, a demented serial about Killface, a supervillain seeking respect and Awesome X, the oblivious moron of a superhero who tries to defeat him. It was insanely violent and filled with twisted humor and I loved every second of it. The show lost some steam when in the second season they tried to turn it into a documentary type program as Killface and Awesome X’s alter ego Xander Crews ran opposite each other for president of the United States (but I still loved it). Midway through the season it changed back to the old format, just in time to become bat-shit crazy. It was cancelled after that, though a spin-off called The X-tacles received two episodes, but that project was also abandoned. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the same creators are now helming the FX channel animated hit Archer and that show is every bit as hilarious as the group’s prior programs.

7. Sealab 2021 – The aforementioned group created this show as another launch program for Adult Swim in 2001. It is a demented take on the Hanna Barbera show Sealab 2020 from 1972.  The first three seasons were golden. The humor was snappy, twisted and genius; the characters meshed brilliantly in various archetypes such as the insane Captain Murphy, the idiotic Stormy Waters, the intellectual Dr. Quinn and Latino strongman Marco (voiced by Erik Estrada!).  The first three seasons were Sealab at its best… until Harry Goz, the voice of Captain Murphy, passed away. Then the show started to rapidly decline. It still had its moments, but it is because of those later episodes that Sealab 2021 is ranked #7 on my list and not much, much higher.

6. Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast – The show that literally started it all. Without SGC2C, there would be no Adult Swim. Back in the 90’s, an odd little 15 minute show appeared late at night where 60’s superhero Space Ghost had become a talk show host with former villains Zorak as the band leader and Moltar as the producer. What followed was brilliant insanity unlike anything I had ever seen. George Lowe (who I had mentioned before… very cool guy by the way. I met him at a comic con along with C. Martin Croker, the voice of Zorak and Moltar… also a really cool guy) voiced new life into the old Space Ghost character by turning him into a pathetic ego-driven has-been desperate for fame and recognition. Space Ghost would insult or ignore his guests, sometimes exploding them with his “Destructo Ray.” The humor was bizarre (Space Ghost had a shark named “Old Kentucky Blue” lying on the floor of the set for an episode), the interviews were incoherent (Apparently Bjork is his wife and Tricky lives on their couch) or abrasive (Conan O’Brien explaining to Space Ghost that he must be dead because he is a ghost) and I loved every minute of it. The show was brought back to Adult Swim for a while before they cancelled it again using a bump with a tombstone and the words “Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast” engraved on it. When asked what he thought of this George Lowe said “What a bunch of assholes! I work for assholes; you can quote me on that!” And I have George… I have.

5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Aqua Unit Patrol Squad – The only original Adult Swim premiere show left and also the only one to have a theatrical film release, Aqua Teen Hunger Force (now called Aqua Unit Patrol Squad to apparently mix things up) has endured over a decade with a slew of gross or inappropriate humor, extreme violence, irreverent plots and a total lack of continuity. (Carl has died how many times now? Hell, every character has died at some point.) It was the most creative of Adult Swim’s original line-up being comprised of entirely new characters rather than twisted versions of old Hanna Barbera properties. (Just for note, ATHF is actually a spin-off of Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast… but only Meatwad still resembles his original character appearance.) As such, the show has come up with some of the most insane and ridiculous villains ever, such as the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past, “The Mooninites” Ignignokt and Err, and MC Pee Pants. My favorite character is Carl, their ill-tempered, fat, balding Jersey neighbor who could never let go of his rocking 80’s past and who ends up a victim to various schemes and circumstances. The show is a demented take on suburban life filled with aliens, monsters and various other twisted characters, not to mention great guest star voices from the likes of Zakk Wylde, Glenn Danzig, Bruce Campbell, Tina Fey, Isaac Hayes, Patton Oswalt, H. John Benjamin and David Cross as well as themes songs performed by Schooly D (ATHF) and Joshua Homme (AUPS). One thing I will give ATHF or AUPS is that after a decade and over 100 episodes, the show is just as good as it ever was… that is if you liked it to begin with.

4. Metalocalypse – After the second life granted by Adult Swim to Home Movies came to an end, Brendon Small decided to create a cartoon completely different and unlike anything ever done before. Imagine instead of Jem and the Holograms, the cartoon had been about their evil rivals The Misfits and that that band was the biggest band in the world commanding legions of rabid fans; Also imagine that the Misfits are comprised of idiots who are only good at one thing… making the most brutal metal ever. Take all that and you’d almost have Metalocalypse. I love this show on so many levels. The characters are great, every one of them bringing something different to the table and being surprisingly developed in the process. Their world is a twisted image of our own where the fans are so devoted they’ve bought into the death metal image to the point of committing atrocities to get the approval of their idols. Above all else, the humor on the show is wicked; a blend of dark comedy, disemboweling violent slapstick and witty dialogue all the while making subtle commentaries on aspects of our culture and what happens when people are viewed as gods. Plus the music, written and performed by Small, is pretty awesome. On top of that, Small has literally taken the show on the road by putting together a back-up band and playing Dethklok concerts to an animated backdrop full of videos and original character segments. I have gone to one such show and I can honestly say it was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen in my life; very impressive all around.

3. Robot Chicken – This is what happens when movie stars get bored and play with toys. Seth Green, Matt Senreich and Breckin Meyer have put together a stop-motion animated program that is pure comedy gold. With constant jabs at pop culture mixed with violence, twisted dark humor and bloody slapstick, Robot Chicken is a marvel of wit mixed with massive comedic timing. Not to mention that Seth Green has made a ton of friends in the industry over the years and has gotten some amazing guest voices on Robot Chicken including: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seth McFarlane, Burt Reynolds, Hulk Hogan, John Hamm, Ludacris, Emma Stone and pretty much everyone from That 70’s Show. (Believe me; the list of celebrity voices is HUGE!) What Jonny Prophet and I love about Robot Chicken is their masterful ability to deliver a joke based on a specific premise… and then get out. Rather than dwell of a single joke for 5 or 10 minutes (or in SNL’s case more like 15-20 minutes), Robot Chicken can take what would be an annoying run-on joke almost anywhere else (I am excluding Family Guy on this) and make it work. Take the “Humping Robot” for instance. It is a great one-joke premise that we get for all of 10 seconds and then on to the next thing. Any longer and that joke would be worn out.  Plus, the show never really gets old because it’s like a strange variety show with claymation and action figures that is never the same thing twice. God bless you, Robot Chicken, may your seasons be many.

2. Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law – Another one of the original Adult Swim line-up, for a long time Harvey Birdman really didn’t get its due despite being absolutely genius and having rapid fire jokes throughout. The show went on hiatus for a while, but then came back with a fury. I think part of Harvey Birdman’s resurgence was in part due to the rising popularity of Stephen Colbert, who voiced Harvey’s boss Phil Ken Sebben and fan favorite villain Reducto. The humor of the show reminds me of a cross between The Marx Brothers and Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a mixture of fast paced jokes, constant site gags and witty dialogue that at times seemed almost improvisational. Like Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast before it, Harvey Birdman relied heavily on the universes of Hanna Barbera’s various cartoons including funny ones like Scooby Doo, the Jetsons and the Flintstones to “adventure” ones like Jonny Quest and Mightorr and even including the DC Comics Superfriends characters (mostly the original creations like Apache Chief and Black Vulcan). And just when I had thought the show had reached its height of comic greatness, we would get the Sebben and Sebben training video or the “classic” Birdman episode (redubbed with the modern voice actors). The quality of the show remained consistent all throughout and when Harvey Birdman ended, it did so on its own terms in the best way I could really imagine.

1. The Venture Brothers – This as my number one choice is almost a no-brainer. I mean, any other selection as number one would just be a cheap ploy to “shake things up.” The Venture Brothers hit the ground running as a twisted version of Jonny Quest that just licked a whole sheet of acid. The humor is epic, their world is massive and the characters are amazing. Just consider how awesome characters like Brock Samson, The Monarch, Henchman #21, Hunter Gathers and Dr. Killinger (Jonny Prophet’s favorite) are. The show manages to evolve with every season, never clinging to any status quo and managing to come out better for it at every turn. The plotlines and story arcs are the likes of any legendary comic book run, but never sacrifices action for comedy or comedy for action, it’s a seamless blend! One of the most genius aspects of The Venture Brothers is its post modern vision of the once promising science fiction world of the 1960’s where Jonny Quest originated; the crushing failures of the space age combined with the infectious malaise of our desensitized and infotainment saturated culture have culminated into a warped reality of supervillain unions, super-scientists struggling to get by and a general cynicism toward what were yesterday’s technological dreams. Whether the creators intended to or not, they have created something more than a mere cartoon parody.  They have created a genre bending show that is all at once comedy, action, adventure and science fiction woven into a tapestry of deep back-stories, amazing characters and bitingly hilarious commentary on pop culture and our society.