This Season's Venture Bros.

Once again, I could not sleep and, once again, [adult swim] took me in like the wayward stepson I am. So here I am at 3-some-odd in the AM, watching a Venture Bros. rerun and then some good old Frisky Dingo, when it occurred to me that I basically missed both seasons of these shows! Was it just me?

I saw a single article related to the season finale of Venture Brothers and though it was positive, it was the only one I saw! I saw nothing relating to Frisky Dingo and am not even sure if it is coming back! I hope it does because when it rocked, it ROCKED. When you see an episode of Sealab 2021 against basically any episode of Frisky Dingo, there is just no comparison; Frisky Dingo blows Sealab right out of the water - literally. And yet, neither show managed to generate so much as a slight buzz online - at least not one I noticed.

I love both shows and hope they both continue on for many, many seasons, but I have to wonder if most everyone else lost the [adult swim] vibe there for the last year or so. The programming really hit the shitter and stayed there a while. I think a whole lot of the audience - myself included - moved on to other late-night fare and it is hard to get back in the [as] swing.

Publick and 70/30 should jump all over Ted Turner; the programming snafu seems to have hit their little projects quite hard.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Don't Forget: New Venture Bros Tonight!

Don't forget: the premiere of the third season of Venture Bros. starts in just a few! Of course I'll let you know what I think of it, though I don't know if it will be tonight. This dial-up is simply... impossible.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Insomnia and the Red Eye

I once read or heard somewhere that almost all adult Americans have at least one or two nights a week where they have problems falling and staying asleep. I don't know if this is true or not - I tend to distrust literally anything the pharmaceutical companies say, as well as anything the government says, all commercials, people with bad hair, and especially people with really good hair - but it does seem plausible. Pretty much everyone I've ever known has said they suffer this same problem.

Well, tonight is one of those nights for me, so I thought I'd get up and check out Red Eye. Now, I used to stay up specifically to watch Red Eye, but they had a run of duds a couple weeks back and I started watching movies instead, and I just haven't gotten back into the Red Eye habit (now that sounds just plain wrong). But I did see Patrick Warburton on there last week promoting Underdog and absolutely no one mentioned Venture Brothers! I had a note of that and never got to it, so I figured I would mention it.

Tonight, they had Johnny V. from Scott Baio is 45 and Single. I think that guy might be fun to hang out with for all of maybe five minutes. I saw the episode where he got mud all over Baio and, like Baio said, 'This guy will do anything for a laugh,' and after a certain age, that's just unacceptable behavior. Well, maybe not "unacceptable," but just plain... you know, it gets old. Still, he doesn't seem like a bad guy at all - seems like it would be a fun five minutes, at least.

I even took some of my pain medication even though my neck isn't really hurting. Oddly, I am more awake now than before I took it! I have to try and get some kind of sleep, no matter how spotty.

[Adult Swim] 2007 Schedule Announced

[adult swim] has had a pretty darned good year, so far. They set a new basic cable record in January, released Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Movie Film For Theaters, which has so far netted around $5 million (and only cost $1 million to make), and have recently announced a slew of new and returning shows for the 2007 Fall season.

Notably, Lucy: Daughter of the Devil will finally hit the airwaves. If you missed the pilot episode, which has already aired, you didn't miss much. From creator Loren Bouchard (Home Movies), the animation was cute, but the story went absolutely nowhere. Hopefully it's been retooled a bit since the premiere. Tim & Eric's Awesome Show returns, along with Saul of the Mole Men - why, in either case, I just don't know.

Luckily, Venture Bros. returns with new episodes, along with Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Metalocalypse. Venture Bros. returns to the schedule with repeats tonight. Hopefully, ATHF won't suck as hard as it did this season, but I'm not holding my breath because I don't want to be disappointed (keep your expectations low, I say). In fact, ATHF has already been confirmed for the 2008 season, as well. Frisky Dingo returns and Harvey Birdman's last season will premiere.

Lastly, [as] is finally going to be on 7 days a week, taking over the Friday night time period from its parent station, Cartoon Network.

Venture Bros. and the Back Nine

I've never worked in TV, so I only have the books I've read and the stuff I've seen in various shows and online to go by, but I heard somewhere that any show that is picked for a season is actually 13 episodes. Only if the show is a hit does the network extend the contract for "the back nine," making it a full 22 episodes for the year.

Venture Brothers has not been on 22 weeks, but tonight was the season finale. I am trying to think... it could have been on for thirteen weeks, but it seems much shorter. I don't feel like looking it up because I am on dial-up and those sites take forever to load. It's on [Adult Swim] Sundays at 10:30/9:30 PM, CST.

If you haven't seen Venture Brothers, you are seriously missing out. It's a high-concept superhero/comedy cartoon in a 30-minute format. The characters, situations, and relationships are twisted versions of those found in comic books and family-friendly adventure cartoons, like Johnny Quest. The adventures are generally in chronological order, so there is a definite history with which it often plays fast and loose. It is very true to its source, which makes you appreciate how sharp and funny it really is -- it doesn't go for the cheap laughs.

And I don't understand why [Adult Swim] doesn't push for more episodes. I know they complained about having to pay a lot for royalties on the song used in the season premere -- some dance hit I've heard before, which sounds a bit like... every dance hit I've ever heard -- and I know Patrick Warburton's probably not cheap either, but this is one of the best things they have on there! 

They let Aqua Teen hang for a year or so (though they claim to have made a movie, and the only new episode I've seen in the past couple of years was a a two-parter with deleted movie scenes, which came on back in the summer) -- new episode next week, though; they lost Futurama to Comedy Central; they've become overrun with poorly-made, barely edited shows like 12 Oz. Mouse...

The best thing on Sunday night TV aside from Venture Bros. is IFC's The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman and The Business, which air back-to-back at 10:00 PM, CST. I think they both only ran for maybe 6 episodes, but... I mean, it's IFC.