TCA 2017 Animated Winners And Losers: Report Cards For Adult Swim, FOX/FX, and Mike Judge’s New Gig

With the 2017 edition of the TCA’s in the rear mirror, it’s time to look back and see which television networks is taking animation seriously, and which are not. Our report below.

Winners

Despite not having Adult Swim really no show the hell out of the weekend, Turner Broadcasting still had a solid animated outing highlighted more specifically about their pickup of an FX produced pilot featuring Louis C.K. and Albert Brooks tentatively called The Cops. This comes after having a busy year with animated pick ups for Turner broadcasting that includes Final Space and Tarantula, all set to join up with the critically-acclaimed American Dad! 

Unfortunately, as we mentioned before, Adult Swim was a big no-show in terms of any new announcements, instead touting the return of Samurai Jack sometime later this year which we heard about last year.  We also didn’t get any updates on the development of TruTV’s Greenhouse, but the announcement for development was late last year so it’s possible the network hasn’t made up their minds on it just yet.

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One of the most anticipated new series of the year, Imaginary Mary starring Jenna Elfman and Rachel Dratch, is starting to heat up in terms of marketing even in the face of FOX losing interest in their own live-action/animated series Son of Zorn. A new trailer was released with a bunch of new stills with a premiere date and time that also includes a sneak peek airing.

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Losing Jerry Seinfeld be damned, Crackle came packing with SuperMansion season two which officially got a start date, a new cast member, and a new trailer. It would’ve been nice to have gotten an update on the VR deal, but as long as we don’t get a bunch of episodes that are simply ploys for product placement, we’ll be ok.

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Following the premiere of Jeff & Some Aliens, I wasn’t expecting a whole bunch on the animated front and then HELLO!!! The Gorburger Show gets picked up for a Spring premiere. The series that sees TJ Miller get inside of a huge monster puppet should be just the thing we need to keep us watching for a while.

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Even

YAY!!! Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill is returning with a brand-new series! But, the premise for it has been a popular one over the last year or so with every network seeming to have their own”animated tales as told by celebrities“ series. Fortunately, it’s on Cinemax, the same network made famous by “almost” porn, so maybe these animated tales will be a bit more extreme. But, I really don’t want to see a half-naked Toby Keith in any of these animated re-creations.

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Losers

The premium network is continuing to showcase a disinterest in promoting animated series and it shows with how they are handling the return of Animals. In the same weekend that saw multiple premiere dates for animated TV shows in April like Imaginary Mary (4th) and Archer (5th), HBO has yet to figure out when specifically the return of Animals is happening. Other then a random press release that noted a March premiere, not a lot is known and, quite frankly, I watch a LOT of HBO, and the network flip flops back and forth for “2017 Programming” sizzle reels, showing one WITH Animals and another promo with no signs. Hopefully, this isn’t the start of a rough road for the young franchise because Animals is quite good. Oh yea and the network lost The Gorburger Show to Comedy Central.

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FOX/FX

Other than the Archer premiere date, these two networks were by far the most depressing on the animated front. FOX made no mention of Son of Zorn’s renewal chances or any development of new animated programming and the way John Landgraf spoke of the status of FXX’s push into animation sounded like a eulogy for a celebrity funeral. The talk of the potential return of some Animation Domination Hi-Def franchises sounds cool, but until I see hard proof, I’m not buying.