10 Forgotten Animated Shows From Adult Swim & Comedy Central

6 min readSep 2, 2020

Both Comedy Central and Adult Swim provide a great hub for idiosyncratic adult animated series. Through the years many shows have come and gone. Some have stayed for several years while others ended after a season, and some of the creators have gone on to see greater success in television while others have since found success elsewhere.

Some of these nostalgic shows may transport viewers back into their college dorms or trigger a vague memory of watching half-awake in bed in the wee hours of the morning. Here are ten forgotten animated comedies from Adult Swim and Comedy Central.

10. TripTank

This trippy sketch comedy made its debut on Comedy Central in 2014 and featured the voices of Tom Kenny, John DiMaggio, Zach Galifianakis, Larry David, and many others.

It featured unique animation that differed from sketch to sketch, organized together by one sketch called “TripTank Reception” where callers would either complain about the show or praise it. While it was canceled after just two seasons in 2016, its legacy lived on for another year when one of the recurring sketches “Jeff & Some Aliens” was converted into a spinoff.

9. Moral Orel

Moral Orel is a stop motion animated dramedy that came out of Adult Swim back in 2005. Fans of the show have likened it to South Park, another popular and (originally) stop-motion animated series that often critiques and lampoons religious fundamentalism amongst other socio-political topics.

Moral Orel mainly focuses its mockery on Christianity and Orel’s ridiculous devotion to it. Perhaps as a symbolic creative decision, Orel and his dad Clay Puppington are literally made of clay puppets. Moral Orel lasted until 2008, but a special episode aired in November of 2012.

8. Freakshow

This one-season wonder was the brainchild of H. John Benjamin and David Cross. They also star as one of the main characters of the show: two conjoined twin brothers Benny and Tuck who, along with other members of the freak show, work for the U.S. Government to fight crime when they aren’t performing.

With only seven total episodes on Comedy Central, it didn’t run for long, but with its distinctive characters and uncut humor, Freakshow certainly has earned a place amongst H. John Benjamin and David Cross’ comedic projects.

7. Metalocalypse

Whether you’re a fan of the genre of music or not, chances are you would appreciate the unique humor in Metalocalypse. This animated series created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha enjoyed moderate success on Adult Swim and lasted from 2006 to 2013 before it was canceled.

The deadpan scowling faces of Nathan Explosion, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles, William Murderface, and Toki Wartooth are difficult not to laugh at as they enjoy unparalleled success and popularity from their band Dethklok and the chaotic situations they constantly find themselves in. While the series did end with an hour-long special, the creators also tried to give fans a proper season finale “The Army of the Doomstar — The Final Chapter” in 2015 but unfortunately, Adult Swim turned it down.

6. Moonbeam City

This highly stylized, brightly neon-colored animated series comes from Comedy Central and was created by Scott Gairdner. Meant to parody the buddy cop shows popular in the 1980s, Rob Lowe stars as the main character, Dazzle Novak, an impulsive and unchartered P.D. detective.

Along with Elizabeth Banks’ character Pizzaz Miller and Will Forte’s Rad Cunningham (Dazzle’s rival), the Moonbeam City Police Department causes more debauchery than it resolves. Moonbeam City aired from 2015 to 2016, lasting just one season, but had a unique visual style that many fans still remember today.

5. China, Il

Another show with an interesting style of animation, China, Il was originally a web series from Brad Neely before airing on Adult Swim from 2008 to 2015 as a complete series. Neely worked on the show with only eight writers and voices three out of the five main characters.

The show centers around five uncaring and indifferent professors at a college in the fictional town of China, Illinois. Because of the professor’s often reckless behavior and lack of passion for teaching, the College of China is considered one of the worst schools in America, and the characters rejoice in this fact. China, Il enjoyed positive critical reviews before its end in 2015.

4. Kid Notorious

Producer Robert Evans starred as a fictionalized version of himself in this surreal and absurdist animated sitcom series from Comedy Central. Kid Notorious 2003 show only aired two months but left a lasting impression for some due to its bizarre nature.

Along with Robert Evans, guitarist Slash also voices as himself. He plays Evan’s friend and neighbor. Evans has a secret agent, James Bond attitude that keeps him cool and collected in the crazy situations he often finds himself in. This series was directed by Pete Michels, who also worked on Family Guy and Rick and Morty.

3. Superjail!

Superjail!, a series from Adult Swim,marries psychedelic visuals with depictions of extreme violence taking place behind the walls of a mystical jail from another dimension. A zany warden leads this large cast of strange characters who work within the jail and interact with the jail’s villains and prisoners.

Sometimes throughout the show, things would escalate into complete chaos, death, and destruction before the episode abruptly ended, only for everything to be back to normal in the next episode. This series was created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick, and Ben Gruber and ran from 2007 to 2014.

2. Ugly Americans

An alternate version of New York City is home to thousands of monsters in Ugly Americans. This animated series from Comedy Central was centered on the main character Mark Lilly, a human man working as a social worker, chief operating officer for robot rehabilitation, and social services coordinator who helps immigrants settle in New York.

He and his zombie roommate Randall and half-demon succubus girlfriend Callie navigate this dangerous version of New York City together. The show lasted from 2010 to 2012 and had a total of thirty-one episodes over the course of two seasons.

1. Home Movies

Home Movies was Brendon Small’s earlier creation before he started working on Metalocalypse along with Loren Bouchard, who would go on to create Bob’s Burgers. It lasted only five episodes on UPN before it was canceled; Adult Swim would then pick up the series and it would run from 2004 to 2008.

The premise follows a young aspiring filmmaker named Brendon who deals with frequent family drama. The earlier episodes of Home Movies had a unique Squigglevision animation style, used lots of improvisation, and eventually developed a cult following despite initial low ratings.

NEXT: 10 Forgotten Adult Swim Shows That Need To Make A Comeback

Originally published at https://screenrant.com on September 2, 2020.