5) Sugar And Toys
Fuse teased an adult animation block years ago, but it hasn’t come to fruition. Fortunately, Sugar And Toys got a bunch of new episodes this year and while the jury is still out as to whether or not we’re going to get anything additional, the show’s take no prisoners attitude is a breath of fresh air in a sea of adult animation too scared to go to some of the places this franchise goes.
4)Robot Chicken
Stoopid Buddy Stoodios had a busy 2020 of development deals and two original series premiering new episodes, Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken and Hulu’s Crossing Swords. Robot Chicken falls under the aforementioned franchises that are probably holding back some punches given the current state of comedy in the industry, but the franchise knows how to lean on what it does best and deliver week in and week out.
3)Cake
Season one of Cake was awful. The live-action/adult animation hybrid had no point and most of the content nobody cared about. Seasons two and three both premiered in 2020 and delivered oodles of promising additions to the network’s vaunted Archer franchise. Fans are already clamoring for new seasons of Dicktown and Psychotown, but the ball is firmly in the court of the network to come through. We don’t know if another season is coming, but if one animated series comes from this past year for a full season ride, then it will have been well worth it.
2)Crank Yankers
Comedy Central’s recent announcement of reboots with the likes of Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria, and Ren & Stimpy all getting a turn really started with the revival of Crank Yankers showcasing that the network has a slew of intellectual properties that are more than able to return and go crazy. Moreover, the revival showed that puppet comedy is a great business as further shown in Blark & Son’s return at the end of next month and Jeff Dunham’s special proving to be a big hit. I’m dying for a crossover with The Howard Stern Show, maybe the puppet gods can make it happen.
1)Spitting Image
Speaking of puppet series having revivals, Spitting Image proved once again it’s the god of sketch adult animation. The rebooted first season did not give a fuck who got offended, everyone got a piece of the action regardless of political affiliation, level of celebrity, or even the level of communicability. Some of the sequences are simply jaw dropping with a variety of puppet methods sprinkled throughout that should make hardcore fans of the art form flush while new fans won’t mind seeing the likes of Kanye West getting torched. Politics be damned, Spitting Image was, at times, the funniest show on television, regardless of format.