Family Guy Returns to Adult Swim

[Mr. Idea Box]

I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/family-guy-adult-swim-marathon-schedule-1236232875/

Sure. Just add more fuel to the fire, why dont'cha?

[brianycpht]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/family-guy-adult-swim-marathon-schedule-1236232875/

Sure. Just add more fuel to the fire, why dont'cha?

As long as they have a limited number of episodes they can air per week, it should be oK. That was the only thing that kept it from dominating the schedule before 

If anything, this is them throwing in the towel on ever trying to do anything original before midnight. 

[Jman]

I’m genuinely surprised.  
 

Mostly because Family Guy has reached that syndication level of success, and is a centerpiece of Animation Domination on Hulu.  Adult Swim needs all the help it can get to be frank.

[Sketch]

I’m not surprised. Once Disney let CC have it non-exclusively it was a very real possibility for AS to get it back.

I think we know why Rewind is plowing through Goku vs Freeza and just dropped Naruto outright. The experimental phase is over.

Bow down to the Disney owned overlords as AS 5-11:30 becomes FXX Mini

5-7pm King of the Hill x 4

7-8:30 Bob’s Burgers x 3

8:30-10 American Dad x 3

10-11:30 Family Guy x 3

 

[[classic swim]]

FOX doesn’t even want the show anymore and has been intentionally undercutting it until they’ll eventually stop airing it permanently.

This took so long to happen that I don’t really give a shit either way, but it’d be at least cool if they became the home for new episode premieres.

[brianycpht]

55 minutes ago, [classic swim] said:

FOX doesn’t even want the show anymore and has been intentionally undercutting it until they’ll eventually stop airing it permanently.

This took so long to happen that I don’t really give a shit either way, but it’d be at least cool if they became the home for new episode premieres.

True. They want Universal Basic Guys and Krap to be the main show now 

[Jman]

2 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

True. They want Universal Basic Guys and Krap to be the main show now 

I know Seth has been needling them to cancel it for a while now (since he’s rich, he can have a conscience about not providing the Murdoch family programming).

[OwlChemist81]

3 hours ago, Sketch said:

I’m not surprised. Once Disney let CC have it non-exclusively it was a very real possibility for AS to get it back.

I think we know why Rewind is plowing through Goku vs Freeza and just dropped Naruto outright. The experimental phase is over.

Bow down to the Disney owned overlords as AS 5-11:30 becomes FXX Mini

5-7pm King of the Hill x 4

7-8:30 Bob’s Burgers x 3

8:30-10 American Dad x 3

10-11:30 Family Guy x 3

 

No word yet on whether AS is ending CP or TR...

https://bsky.app/profile/cnschedules.bsky.social/post/3lcfzz6vwec2q

Here we have another reason I an staying on X for the foreseeable future, despite it being little better than an online KKK rally...

[Toonamiguy321]

1 minute ago, OwlChemist81 said:

No word yet on whether AS is ending CP or TR...

https://bsky.app/profile/cnschedules.bsky.social/post/3lcfzz6vwec2q

We don’t need word, writing is on the wall. The only reason those two blocks exist is because KotH and Bob’s had to do the heavy lifting staring at 7pm. Now Peter is here to help. At the very least, Rewind is cooked since it costs money. 

[[classic swim]]

42 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

True. They want Universal Basic Guys and Krap to be the main show now 

I mean those shows are also 100% going to be canned soon, just a matter of when. The network would’ve done it minutes ago if everyone didn’t catch up on their shit.

FOX as an entertainment channel is like a mob front.

[brianycpht]

Just now, [classic swim] said:

I mean those shows are also 100% going to be canned soon, just a matter of when. The network would’ve done it minutes ago if everyone didn’t catch up on their shit.

FOX as an entertainment channel is like a mob front.

Krap is already renewed through like season 4 already unfortunately 

[OwlChemist81]

5 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

Krap is already renewed through like season 4 already unfortunately 

I kinda like Krapopolis.

[[classic swim]]

6 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

Krap is already renewed through like season 4 already unfortunately 

Another thing about the shittiter, unwatchabler shows on their channel lately is that they pump out as many episodes onto a time slot as conceivably possible.

Where as the shows with a vague sense of notoriety and purpose have to have 20-21 episodes sprinkled around in such a sloggish way so it can last an entire football season or whatever.

[Sketch]

12 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

No word yet on whether AS is ending CP or TR...

https://bsky.app/profile/cnschedules.bsky.social/post/3lcfzz6vwec2q

Here we have another reason I an staying on X for the foreseeable future, despite it being little better than an online KKK rally...

I would certainly prefer they not run more FOX shows 5-7pm but if they can do it the only thing that would stop them is a desire to keep CKP and/or Toonami Rewind around but ad dollars speak louder and they know Hank and Bob will do better in those hours than old CN shows, Sailor Moon, DBZ and Naruto.

Rewind costs some money so it's more likely to leave than CKP especially when it looks like Sailor Moon might be the only life blood and getting other shows for the block will be a pain and also cost more money. Even if they can get Sailor Moon R, then what? Keep the same shows going once a week to diminishing returns? It doesn't seem very sustainable and if they just want to keep airing Sailor Moon they can do so on Saturday.

But the oops all Kai schedule for December certainly feels more like they're winding down the Rewind. CKP to its credit is doing some neat things for the holidays though that could also be it's last gasp before going off the air.

The Family Guy 3 day marathon runs from 7pm-5am, of course they're still airing something at 5am, probably Bob's Burgers and whose to say they aren't also airing Bob's Burgers before 7pm those days along with King of the Hill? They just can't air Family Guy before 7pm due to content restrictions.

There is a plausible way CKP and Rewind retain some necessity and that's if AS got the 4pm hour soon and with Family Guy back its entirely possible they will do it in 2025. Then Toonami can be back in it's original time slot of 4pm-6pm maybe but the last thing I want to see if for CN to lose another hour to Adult Swim.

[OwlChemist81]

Family Guy led-in to DBZ Kai back in 2015 to record ratings. Now 10 years later on 1/3/2025 we might get it the other way around if Rewind does indeed continue into 2025.

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

Watch this be as uneventful as the Futurama return.

[PokeNirvash]

I dunno, a three-day "welcome back" marathon postponing all but three hours of programming per night is pretty fucking eventful if you ask me.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

Watch this be as uneventful as the Futurama return.

No chance it will flop like that. Futurama has just kind of fallen off the wagon as far as rerun power goes. And this was not helped by the excessive use of the CC episodes and the movie episodes and their rerun cycle. Family Guy isn’t gonna have that problem. 
 

Family Guy is a ratings juggernaut, and it will be even stronger if AS gets the newer seasons they couldn’t air back in 2021.

[Sketch]

I do wonder how much this can lift Adult Swim’s 200k average. When it left the loss AS had was pretty similar to the boost FXX got but it will still be on FXX and Comedy Central which will surely diminish its impact even if people still prefer to watch it on AS.

At the very least, airing it 10-11:30 and shifting American Dad and Bob’s Burgers earlier should improve the prime time average while Family Guy lifts 11:30-1 and probably late late night with the encore. But the question is, how much? It could surprise us by how greatly or minimally the total day average increases.

[brianycpht]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

I do wonder how much this can lift Adult Swim’s 200k average. When it left the loss AS had was pretty similar to the boost FXX got but it will still be on FXX and Comedy Central which will surely diminish its impact even if people still prefer to watch it on AS.

At the very least, airing it 10-11:30 and shifting American Dad and Bob’s Burgers earlier should improve the prime time average while Family Guy lifts 11:30-1 and probably late late night with the encore. But the question is, how much? It could surprise us by how greatly or minimally the total day average increases.

What’s crazy is that there are numerous people I’ve spoken with in casual conversation about this who didn’t know the show left the network in the first place

[Sketch]

3 hours ago, brianycpht said:

What’s crazy is that there are numerous people I’ve spoken with in casual conversation about this who didn’t know the show left the network in the first place

I can completely believe that.

Anyway, I took a look at how well Family Guy does on Comedy Central. It has reruns in the 200k range, some higher but not reaching 300k. It will probably do better on AS but even 300k seems unlikely. Big Bang Theory on TBS see’s less than 300k these days but still tops the rerun chart.

[[classic swim]]

Jesus Christ, TV is so dead.

[Jman]

38 minutes ago, [classic swim] said:

Jesus Christ, TV is so dead.

Except sports.  And even that’s beginning the migration to streaming.

[brianycpht]

15 hours ago, [classic swim] said:

Jesus Christ, TV is so dead.

It didn’t have to be, but rising cable costs in addition to companies trying to put all their good stuff on streaming in attempts to be the next Netflix ruined everything 

If they came out with more skinny bundle cable packages like Sling, you’d have a lot more people willing to sign up 

[[classic swim]]

It’s just night and day how automated everything is now compared to the first 5 years of AS alone.

There used to be individuality with the channels and now it’s all the sloggiest blank slate. It’s like Idiocracy or some satire showing you how soulless cable is, only Ai excels that. 

Commericals have always been terrible, but now every organism exists to be an ad and it couldn’t be any more void of human life.

[KageRageX]

On 12/4/2024 at 3:35 AM, Sketch said:

There is a plausible way CKP and Rewind retain some necessity and that's if AS got the 4pm hour soon and with Family Guy back its entirely possible they will do it in 2025. Then Toonami can be back in it's original time slot of 4pm-6pm maybe but the last thing I want to see if for CN to lose another hour to Adult Swim.

Don't you DARE manifest that.

 

On 12/6/2024 at 10:07 AM, brianycpht said:

It didn’t have to be, but rising cable costs in addition to companies trying to put all their good stuff on streaming in attempts to be the next Netflix ruined everything 

If they came out with more skinny bundle cable packages like Sling, you’d have a lot more people willing to sign up 

On 12/6/2024 at 10:52 AM, [classic swim] said:

It’s just night and day how automated everything is now compared to the first 5 years of AS alone.

There used to be individuality with the channels and now it’s all the sloggiest blank slate. It’s like Idiocracy or some satire showing you how soulless cable is, only Ai excels that. 

Commericals have always been terrible, but now every organism exists to be an ad and it couldn’t be any more void of human life.

This.

[Toonamiguy321]

In a better than expected result, Checkered Past will only be losing one hour to start, rather than being cut entirely. 
 

Do they think Rewind worth keeping around at 1 hour? Tune in Friday night to find out. 

[[classic swim]]

Checkered’s probably being axed around March-May at the soonest if they’re eager to get rid of it.

I guess a little over a year of that block silently existing isn’t so bad. Lazzo would’ve never allowed it to happen.

[Sketch]

I didn’t anticipate them merely shortening CKP or Rewind to an hour. That’s certainly a way to keep them around but still make room for earlier FOX.

Rewind feels like more of an all or nothing situation to me but given they haven’t been able to secure a 4th show and Naruto looks to be dead weight, they might want to shrink to an hour for just Sailor Moon and DBZ Kai. Seems increasingly less likely that they will buy more Sailor Moon eps though so either they rerun what they have or Rewind carries on as DBZ Kai power hour till they see fit to sunset Rewind.

If they do pull Rewind in January then they might let CKP have Fridays back for the 5pm hour and IMO CKP should be on at 5pm on Saturdays as well. Conversely I could also see DBZ Kai becoming the weekday buffer show before KOTH branded as Toonami Rewind or not.

Maybe they’ll even run Sailor Moon reruns on weekdays in the 5pm hour if they can rerun those 46 episodes at least once each (exactly 1 ep did rerun so far). I don’t expect Naruto to stick around if Rewind doesn’t remain an 2 hour block but they could toss it onto Saturday Toonami to get their money’s worth out of the contract or just cut their losses.

What I’d like to see is MAWS reruns at 5pm maybe paired with DBZ Kai. Having Young Justice or a DCAU show would be preferable but that requires WBD to act friendly for once so far chance.

At any rate, I think they will ease into deciding what to do with the 5pm hour. Try a few things then inevitably head for the Hill’s.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

At any rate, I think they will ease into deciding what to do with the 5pm hour. Try a few things then inevitably head for the Hill’s.

Yea, this feels like a cautious test run for how Bob and Hank do in those hours. If by some bizarro reason those shows flop up there, if they kill Checkered Past entirely, it’s kinda hard to un-kill it. But if they do fine, they can retire the block by the spring. 
 

The Rewind plan will be interesting. A one hour block doesn’t even feel like it’s worth the effort, even if they put it on a DBZ autopilot. But I suppose if they don’t want the fanbase to bitch that they killed it, that’s the best route forward. Then in a few months actually cancel it and blame the decline in viewership. 

[Jman]

5 hours ago, [classic swim] said:

Checkered’s probably being axed around March-May at the soonest if they’re eager to get rid of it.

I guess a little over a year of that block silently existing isn’t so bad. Lazzo would’ve never allowed it to happen.

Lazzo was all about "Fuck nostalgia, fuck the past, full speed ahead".  It was one of his peccadillos with the block along with "Bring the funny or ELSE."

[PokeNirvash]

Man, if that was his be-all end-all, then no wonder everybody on the ASMB claimed he hated anime.

[Sketch]

14 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Yea, this feels like a cautious test run for how Bob and Hank do in those hours. If by some bizarro reason those shows flop up there, if they kill Checkered Past entirely, it’s kinda hard to un-kill it. But if they do fine, they can retire the block by the spring. 
 

The Rewind plan will be interesting. A one hour block doesn’t even feel like it’s worth the effort, even if they put it on a DBZ autopilot. But I suppose if they don’t want the fanbase to bitch that they killed it, that’s the best route forward. Then in a few months actually cancel it and blame the decline in viewership. 

If it's just DBZ Kai they can even justify it because the bumps will already have been made for Saturday Toonami. If it's just DBZ Kai and Sailor Moon then they can get by with rotating the same bumps they have been using and never even need to tap Steve to record something much less produce new TOM and Sara footage. The only additional cost then is securing more Sailor Moon for now which they certainly don't have to do unless they really want to but it will be a pretty negligible expense all things considered.

You're right about them being cautious with phasing out Checkered Past because its troublesome to un-kill something later.

[Toonamiguy321]

6 hours ago, Sketch said:

If it's just DBZ Kai they can even justify it because the bumps will already have been made for Saturday Toonami. If it's just DBZ Kai and Sailor Moon then they can get by with rotating the same bumps they have been using and never even need to tap Steve to record something much less produce new TOM and Sara footage. The only additional cost then is securing more Sailor Moon for now which they certainly don't have to do unless they really want to but it will be a pretty negligible expense all things considered.

You're right about them being cautious with phasing out Checkered Past because its troublesome to un-kill something later.

I feel like if they do commit to cutting Rewind down to an hour, they won’t bother licensing anything else since they have pretty much already committed to cancelling the block later in the year. The block is already losing viewers due to the Kai marathons, once they announce a 50% reduction panic and acceptance will set in quick. Right now a lot of people are sticking with Rewind because they think Kai is running holiday marathons and the block will come back swinging in January. When that doesn’t happen, even more people will give up. 
 

And I don’t know, Sailor Moon is still one of the most popular anime franchises out there. I have a hard time believing that license is a negligible cost. If the old nostalgiabait garbage was that cheap, Saturday would have been filled to the brim with it years ago. But they have always had an aversion to the old stuff, and we have heard from Demarco in the past that just because a show is old doesn’t mean the price goes down. 

[Blatch]

On 12/10/2024 at 4:48 AM, Toonamiguy321 said:

The Rewind plan will be interesting. A one hour block doesn’t even feel like it’s worth the effort, even if they put it on a DBZ autopilot. But I suppose if they don’t want the fanbase to bitch that they killed it, that’s the best route forward. Then in a few months actually cancel it and blame the decline in viewership. 

Actually, it looks like there's no plan:

[Toonamiguy321]

3 minutes ago, Blatch said:

Actually, it looks like there's no plan:

I consider outright cancelling it to be a plan. 
 

Now, as long as Saturday doesn’t becoming a dumping ground for those old shows no one was watching, we are looking good. Let the Kai license lapse and get that shit off of Saturdays and let’s have a good 2025. 
 

Now the question, will TOM give us a bang?

[Sketch]

To all the people that said the month of DBZ Kai was "normal" scheduling for the holidays and told me I was jumping to conclusions... They sure fooled you into thinking everything was fine. I'm not sure how because the warning signs were pretty bright and glaring.

I'm not happy to be right but I saw it coming and I am basically past the mourning period.

I'm only sad about Sailor Moon. Naruto had it's time and DBZ Kai is unfortunately sticking around till the contract expires.

Absolutely no surprise that the moment the fat man returned, Rewind wasn't worth the cost anymore.

[Toonamiguy321]

20 minutes ago, Sketch said:

To all the people that said the month of DBZ Kai was "normal" scheduling for the holidays and told me I was jumping to conclusions... They sure fooled you into thinking everything was fine. I'm not sure how because the warning signs were pretty bright and glaring.

I am enjoying myself basking in their tears. I’ll never understand why the Toonami audience specifically is so incapable of even the slightest bit of critical thinking. Even now, I have still seen a few fringe posts of people saying not to worry and that Rewind will be back at full power the following week. They just haven’t secured Sailor Moon R yet, trust the plan. 
 

While the Rewind team never cared to hide schedule updates, the Saturday team does, so I doubt we will get a peek of anything tomorrow night except for maybe a timeslot confirmation, since if we lose or gain time, it will be reflected in the blank schedule. 

[Mr. Idea Box]

At this point, I'm just expecting more King of the Hill at 5 PM by April. There's no way they're giving Fridays back to Checkered Past and cutting an hour at the same time otherwise.

[Sketch]

If they can just run KOTH at 5pm they'll do it. They'll keep the buffer for now and see how it goes but KOTH is all but certain to do better than Checkered Past.

[Toonamiguy321]

27 minutes ago, Mr. Idea Box said:

At this point, I'm just expecting more King of the Hill at 5 PM by April. There's no way they're giving Fridays back to Checkered Past and cutting an hour at the same time otherwise.

I expect this as well. Checkered Past gets a phase out period because it’s free to operate. Rewind was not extended that courtesy as it would cost money and be a harder pill to swallow after the block seemingly dodged the new years cuts. 
 

Here’s a January 4th schedule that I came up with in the shower and greatly fear

12 - Daima or MHA S7

12:30 - Mashle

1 - One Piece

1:30 - Blue Exorcist

2 - Sailor Moon (S1 ep 1)

2:30 - DBZ Kai

3 - Naruto (S1 ep 1)

A sickening amount of reruns and long runners leaving very little flexibility to the schedule for the entire year. But very in line with how they have operated in the past to pinch pennies that will never be used to the block’s benefit. 

[Sketch]

Both better and worse than my expectation where Blue Exorcist stays ahead of One Piece and Naruto doesn't have to start over once a week.

But a more positive expectation is both Daima and MHA in January, everything shifts down and the block runs till 4am with 4 premieres and 4 reruns.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Sketch said:

Both better and worse than my expectation where Blue Exorcist stays ahead of One Piece and Naruto doesn't have to start over once a week.

But a more positive expectation is both Daima and MHA in January, everything shifts down and the block runs till 4am with 4 premieres and 4 reruns.

The BE thing is a toss up. It’s clearly killing the OP ratings, but they also are doing the weekly promos and pretending it’s not a rerun so that might persist into the new year. Also, I did put down Naruto for stating over. 
 

Id be genuinely shocked if they manage to nail down Daima and MHA at same time. Even more so since Lazarus just dropped another key visual, further cementing my expectations of a Feb-March premier. That would drop MHA down to 1a for half its run, something I don’t expect them to want to do. 

Toonami does not need to add more time just to be half reruns. I recall not long ago I was treated as insane and unreasonable for expecting them to pay money for anything beyond 2am. Now it’s openly suggested they pay money for 4am reruns which is downright silly. 
 

The only reason I even float this schedule as a possibility is because there should have been a Saturday schedule update today. However, if there was, and Sailor Moon or Naruto moved into the rerun section, that’s an unintentional confirmation that Rewind is dead, something they seem to not want to admit till the last possible moment. 
 

I really want to be wrong on this prediction, because it just sucks turbo ass. If it was up to me, I think January should be used as a reset, especially now that’s it’s confirmed there will be no more Rewind eating up the budget. 
 

12 - Daima or MHA S7

12:30 - Mashle

1:00 - Blue Exorcist (swapping to S2 when canon content ends)

1:30 - another premier 

2:00 - One Piece

2:30 - the one and only rerun

New year, new budget, new shows. None of this side crap siphoning funds. 

[PokeNirvash]

9 hours ago, Blatch said:

Actually, it looks like there's no plan:

And as predicted, the copium levels on r/toonami are high.

[Jman]

2025 is going to be a very, VERY interesting year for Toonami and arguably Adult Swim as a whole, especially if Zaslav goes forward with his plan to divest the networks from WarnerMedia.

[brianycpht]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

2025 is going to be a very, VERY interesting year for Toonami and arguably Adult Swim as a whole, especially if Zaslav goes forward with his plan to divest the networks from WarnerMedia.

If they continue to have problems getting shows in a timely manner, (i mean I like Demon Slayer, but year old Demon Slayer is not interesting to people), and there isn’t a healthy slate of originals coming- I wouldn’t be sad if the block wound down 

 

[Toonamiguy321]

5 hours ago, brianycpht said:

If they continue to have problems getting shows in a timely manner, (i mean I like Demon Slayer, but year old Demon Slayer is not interesting to people), and there isn’t a healthy slate of originals coming- I wouldn’t be sad if the block wound down 

 

I don’t mind the delays on getting shows, my concern is them actually getting shows. Take the current schedule for example, it is way too light in quality, acquired content that the block has not aired before. That is not sustainable. Earlier in the year though when we had 5 premiers and 3 of them were decent? That’s good enough for me in 2024. 
 

Most “toonamicore” shows are things I would never watch on my own regardless, so when the block gets them, they still feel new. Mashle is the first show in a very long time that I have watched prior to its Toonami run, purely due to thinking Aniplex shows were off the table for good. Thankfully I only watched S1, so going forward it’s all new to me again. 
 

There are not many new to Toonami show options that I would thumbs down. Even bad shows can be fun to watch. My single factor I usually cite for a bad show choice is if it’s really boring. Block is on way too late for shows that are a grind to finish a single episode of. 

[Sketch]

Saturday schedule is out. No Rewind in sight of course. Family Guy is on Saturdays too but slightly earlier than the 10-11:30 time it's expected to have on weeknights so it benefits Toonami even less, huzzah...
 

I guess we'll see if Family Guy is also on 9:30-11 on Sundays and Saturday isn't just the odd man out where it inexplicably airs earlier. Either way, we really don't need an hour of Rick before Toonami and frankly I wish Family Guy was directly before Toonami but I'd compromise with 1 Rick before Toonami. Just seems a bit questionable to not keep the Family Guy airing window consistent with weeknights.

[Toonamiguy321]

5 hours ago, Sketch said:

Saturday schedule is out. No Rewind in sight of course. Family Guy is on Saturdays too but slightly earlier than the 10-11:30 time it's expected to have on weeknights so it benefits Toonami even less, huzzah...
 

I guess we'll see if Family Guy is also on 9:30-11 on Sundays and Saturday isn't just the odd man out where it inexplicably airs earlier. Either way, we really don't need an hour of Rick before Toonami and frankly I wish Family Guy was directly before Toonami but I'd compromise with 1 Rick before Toonami. Just seems a bit questionable to not keep the Family Guy airing window consistent with weeknights.

The rest of Saturday just populated, the missing Toonami chunk still comes out to 7 slots. So maybe not an IFG marathon? It’s not unheard of for late night Saturday schedules to change after posting though. 
 

If it’s not a marathon though, the only thing that makes sense is a 3 episode Daima premier. Episode one would probably be a 45 minute slot. But it’s unthinkable that Crunchyroll would agree to that, even with pressure from Toei. 

[Sketch]

And that makes at least two weeks of the one hour Checkered Past block (still Dexter and Courage).

 

Sunday didn't have encore airings of Family Guy late at night so it might only be airing in prime time now.

How long will people sniff the "Toonami Rewind will be back" copium?