Television’s next Golden Age?
Adult animation’s narrative and aesthetics are changing as streamers and networks expand offerings
LOS ANGELES — “M.O.D.O.K.” executive producer Jordan Blum describes the upcoming stop-motion series as “a midlife crisis story about a supervillain.”
Co-created with Patton Oswalt, the show follows the Marvel villain as he struggles with his responsibilities as a husband and father as well as his declining career as the head of an evil organization.
The 2021 Hulu show is just one title in the growing list of adult animated shows headed to a television near you, as more streaming platforms and networks expand their offerings in the genre.
Amazon Prime Video has its own superhero show slated for a 2021 premiere. Created by Robert Kirkman, “Invincible” is an adaptation of his comic book series co-created with Cory Walker. Unlike “M.O.D.O.K.,” “Invincible” is a traditionally animated, hourlong drama.
Of course, adult animation is not limited to superhero fare. There are shows with sci-fi and fantasy elements. There are even musicals. But it’s the ever-popular animated sitcom that really helped launch the genre.
Although it was not the first animated show to air in prime time, “The Simpsons” has long been credited as the show that changed adult animation.
Originally conceived by creator Matt Groening for a series of shorts that ran during “The Tracey Ullman Show,” “The Simpsons” debuted as a stand-alone half-hour series in 1989 and has since become the longest-running American scripted prime-time television show. The animated sitcom’s 32nd season kicked off in September.
From “The Simpsons” to “Bob’s Burgers,” 20th Century Fox Television is known for the animated comedies it produces for Fox, which in the early years was one of the few networks — and the only one of the broadcast networks — to stake a significant claim in adult animation. But more recently, 20th Television has produced “Solar Opposites” for Hulu, “Central Park” for Apple TV+ and “The Prince” for HBO Max.
The proliferation of streaming services has been one key catalyst for the recent boom in adult animation. If the initial post-“Simpsons” rise of the genre was fueled by cable networks like MTV and Comedy Central and shows like “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Daria” and “South Park” — as well as the birth of Adult Swim — streamers have shaped what followed twice over: first as platforms for network animated series, and then by creating original animation of their own.
Therecent arrival of direct-to-consumer streamers such as Disney+, HBO-Max and Apple TV+ in an already crowded market has made the competition for subscribers fiercer than ever.
A number of companies have pushed to develop more adult animated originals in the last few years, guided at least in part by the viewing habits of their existing subscribers.
Netflix was the first to make its mark, with acclaimed shows such as “BoJack Horseman” (2014), “Big Mouth” (2017) and the Adult Swim-bound “Tuca & Bertie” (2019) helping to kick off the latest wave of adult animation.
But as the streaming home of shows such as “Family Guy,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “King of the Hill,” Hulu boasts the largest library of adult animated TV shows among all the platforms. The streamer debuted its first originals in this space this year, launching both “Solar Opposites” and “Crossing Swords.”
“We know that we have a very sizable audience that is just wild for these shows,” said Craig Erwich, Hulu’s senior vice president of originals. “Not only do a lot of people watch it, they watch a lot of it.”
Albert Cheng, Amazon Studios’ chief operating officer and co-head of TV, also sees adult-animation programming as an important part of serving its customers.
“Adult animation is really important to meet the needs of our younger viewers,” said Cheng. “It’s a category of creative content on our service that really appeals to the younger millennials that are Prime (Video) subscribers.”
“It feels like a renaissance,” said Vernon Sanders, Amazon’s co-head of TV. “The degree of ambition and variety and types of animation personally gets me excited. I just think the sky’s the limit.”
It’s not just streaming services: Adult animation has also been growing its footprint in traditional linear television.
Fox’s Animation Domination programming block has introduced new titles. Syfy hosts its own block of adult-animation programming that has expanded to include originals. Comedy Central has ordered a number of new revivals and spinoffs of past hits. Adult Swim remains an audience favorite for its unique and expansive offerings.
The growth signals that more and more people — including those in decision-making positions within the industry — are acknowledging the appeal of animated shows.
“Back when I was first doing this, it used to be that half of an animated pitch was explaining why it absolutely had to be an animated show,” said Mike McMahon, one of the creators of “Solar Opposites.” “Now, you don’t have to do that as much.
People have a much broader understanding of animation in general, (so) you don’t have to just go to the places where there are like five animated shows already living.”
In this sense, streaming has not only shaped the business of animation on TV, but also its narrative structure and aesthetics.
Animated shows have historically featured a self-contained story in each episode. On linear television, this made shows more accessible to viewers who might not tune in regularly — a concern that’s been lessened in recent years by the growth of streaming and associated habits like binge-watching.
“The difference (in) doing a streaming show is it’s a different way of thinking about animation,” said Andrew Goldberg, co-creator and executive producer of “Big Mouth.” “You’re really making 10 episodes at once that are meant to be watched in a row, which is cool and different. And the ability to serialize relationships is really exciting and is one of the ways that we find even more emotional stories, because we track the relationships across different episodes.”
The entertainment industry on the whole has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but animation was quick to pivot to remote work to keep shows in production.
But because animation has a longer lead time than other scripted and especially unscripted series, many new shows had already been in production long before the public health crisis.
But McMahon hopes that people will remember the value of animation and its ability to remain in production even during these hard times so the medium can continue to grow even after the current situation.
“I think that we are just scratching the surface of what we’ll be seeing in the next couple years because a lot of people that weren’t working in animation are suddenly thinking in animated terms,” said McMahon. “I also think that we are redefining how to make TV right now.”