By Rae Licari
Let’s say you like cartoons — still. True, you’re all grown up and out on your own in college but you just can’t give up those animated programs.
But what to watch? South Park is getting kind of old, Invader Zim got yanked off the air and The Powerpuff Girls may be a little too cutesy for your taste.
Enter the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, a block of programming on Saturday and Sunday nights geared specifically toward an older audience. As the disclaimer that periodically runs ahead of the shows states, the shows are intended for those age 18 and up due to violence, language and content.
Saturday night’s programs begin at 10 p.m. and run in half-hour blocks until 1 a.m. The action-themed shows include Cowboy Bebop and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Sunday night’s programming is more comedy-oriented. Beginning at 9 p.m. and going until midnight, the cartoons run anywhere from 15 minutes to a half an hour.
Here’s a breakdown of the Sunday night shows:
Home Movies (running time: 30 minutes) – Brendon Small, third-grader and fledgling filmmaker, deals with friends, girls, his family and life in general by – how else? – making movies that reflect the themes in his real life. Art, in his case, truly imitates reality … or is it the other way around?
The Oblongs (running time: 30 minutes) – Talk about your dysfunctional family. The newest addition to the Adult Swim lineup shows this incredibly strange family in all its grotesque glory.
Baby Blues (running time: 30 minutes) – This one is basically an animated version of the popular comic strip of the same name. The show follows Darryl and Wanda through all the trials and tribulations of raising children.
The Brak Show (running time: 15 minutes) – This show is about … um, a kid named Brak, obviously. And it’s also about Brak’s family, friends and neighbors. Usually it also offers some sort of song sung by Brak.
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (running time: 15 minutes) – Ever wondered what would happen if Shaggy and Scooby got busted for drug possession or Fred Flintstone was charged with heading organized crime? Now you can follow trials like these and more with not-quite-competent attorney Harvey Birdman.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force (running time: 15 minutes) – They fight crime! They solve mysteries! They’re … a drink cup, a box of fries and a lump of meat. Together, Master Shake, Frylock and Meatwad have dealings with aliens, leprechauns and eight-foot rapping spiders. They try to sneak the occasional dip in their disgruntled neighbor Carl’s pool, too.
Sealab 2021 (running time: 15 minutes) – An experiment in underwater colonization in the not-so-distant future, Sealab is a compound run by a bunch of people who really don’t have a clue what’s going on. Oh, and it’s prone to frequent spontaneous combustion.
Mission Hill (running time: 30 minutes) – Andy French is your typical 20-something slacker. He and his teenaged overachiever brother Kevin frequently butt heads over differences in lifestyles – like spending grocery money on things like musical instruments instead of groceries.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (running time: 15 minutes) – Space Ghost runs the best 15-minute talk show in the universe. Period.
Weekly program listings and more information can be found at the Adult Swim Web site at adultswim.com.
