Op-Ed: How HBO MAX’s Original Series Push Mirrors Adult Swim’s 20 Years Ago

Tomorrow, the El Rey Network is expected to shut down. The network wanted to be a home for original Latinx-influenced adult animation, but without any distribution help, seldom anything original launched. Certainly, a cautionary tale for a time in which all of the TV networks were less focused on what Netflix was doing, and instead, attempting to diversity with channels dedicated specifically to Latinx audiences not realizing that the increase in original Spanish content happening online was really the future, not broadcast or cable television. Before they knew it, Netflix would annihilate the cable TV, movie rental, and movie going businesses and gain a stranglehold on the streaming industry that other players are still trying to chase.

Between 4:00 am and 5:00 am on December 21, and December 30, 2000 (while Space Ghost Coast to Coast was on hiatus), several new Williams Street series made unannounced “stealth” premieres. Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and The Brak Show all premiered unannounced; the official schedules listed the shows as “Special Programming”. The success of these sneak previews have seen the network do this a lot even to this day. Regardless it worked, and the likes of Robot Chicken, Rick and Morty, and countless other franchises followed since and have become household names.

Then 2020 happened. In a year that saw more people stay at home as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, everyone and their mother either launched or announced plans to launch a new streaming service. HBO MAX, after months of promise, would launch with little fanfare. With nothing more than acquired catalogs of animation, fans of adult animation were underwhelmed with the streamer’s first year offerings in the space leaving just Close Enough as the sole original series that would later get renewed. The catalog of Adult Swim acquisitions would soon follow, the promise of original anime went out the window with the recent sell-off of Crunchyroll to Funimation, but the likes of Rooster Teeth could be a conduit to adult animation fans who do not want just comedy programming.

Having said all this, I think 2021 will be to HBO MAX what 2001 was to Adult Swim. The streamer has a lot of strong intellectual properties to look forward to with plenty of more being rumored (like a Spawn reboot). Right away, The Prince looks like it’s going to have a lot of the similar bite that early Family Guy had. Ironic, as Gary Janetti was part of the Family Guy writer’s room when the show was rebooted thanks to a newfound success on Adult Swim. Another Adult Swim acquisition, The Boondocks revival. Originally slated to get a sneak preview earlier this year, the series is expected to return in 2021 right on time for the effects of COVID-19 to subside leaving the door wide open for a renewed interest in the Black Lives Matter movement. Other upstarts like 10-Year-Old Tom, Santa, Inc, and others show the streamer is serious about the adult animation industry, a subset that has inspired WarnerMedia to shell out $500,000,000 for the South Park library. Like Adult Swim nabbing off-network rights for Futurama, Family Guy, and other defunct franchises 20 years ago, having a familiar brand like South Park, which was former streamer Hulu’s biggest watch at one time, is a big deal as it helps garner new fans for WarnerMedia original IP like Final Space which is expected to join the streaming service with it’s first two seasons sometime in 2021.

One thing HBO MAX needs to do is get out of it’s own way. Putting subjective warnings on content now deemed too “controversial” and then removing episodes completely is a great way to piss off the majority of Americans that don’t give a shit about what PC Culture activists think isn’t suitable today. It’s false advertising to those who were promised “every episode of South Park” and could erode subscriber support after awhile and even see an unintended increase of people buying and holding on to DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Do I think HBO MAX gets anywhere close to Netflix’s 200 million subscribers? Not yet, but some ground will be gain. I love the idea of WarnerMedia making all of their 2021 film slate available on HBO MAX the day they release in theaters for no extra charge. I also think Rooster Teeth can be a serviceable replacement for Crunchyroll in getting a pipeline of programming that should appeal to gamer audiences that subscribe to the service via game consoles, a vertical that Netflix covets. But, adult animation is a big deal for streaming services as evidenced by the uptick in orders elsewhere, and HBO MAX has a lot to look forward to in the year ahead and beyond. Twenty years from now, we may remember this next year as being an important one.