How 20th Century FOX & Fox Broadcasting Invented The Adult Animation Industry For Television

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There are parallels with most music scenes and adult animation on television. For example, I’m a heavy metal music fan, but I recognize the industry’s forefathers as it relates to musical influences from Blues, Jazz, and eventually punk, hip-hop, and even pop music all having a stake in the heavy metal industry. Likewise, the adult animation industry, is going through one of it’s many phases today…quite possibly a golden era when we look back on it, with TV networks like Adult Swim and Comedy Central having held strong with titles like Rick and Morty, South Park, and countless others and the increasing foothold that streaming services are taking with Apple, Hulu, Netflix, and others all jumping in with original series of their own, we’re in a growth spurt right now that’s not only maturing with introductions of subgenres like anime, horror, and action, but also giving us Emmy-quality stalwarts like BoJack Horseman and F is for Family. 

All that said…we need to pay special tribute to the dynamic tag team of 20th Century FOX/Fox Broadcasting Company. As of today, the two now have two completely separate parent companies with 20th Century FOX being purchased by Disney and Fox Broadcasting Company staying with the newly branded FOX Corporation which now comprises of such entities for sports, news, and a slew of affiliates. For Twentieth Century FOX, the move takes their plethora of franchises like X-Men, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and others over to the Disney side of the tracks. As it stands now, we’re told it will be mostly business as usual. Any changes would probably be more so on the administrative side (i.e. PR, etc) who may or may not be part of Disney’s future. In terms of content, Disney gets a bunch of billion dollar franchises. The reason why they are billion dollar franchises is because FOX Broadcasting Company helped make them so. 20th FOX brought the bacon, FOX sold it to millions of adoring fans for decades.

Sure, there have been some misfires on the once crowned “Animation Domination” lineup. For every winner like King of the Hill or The Simpsons, the network has had quite a few misfires with the likes of Sit Down, Shut Up, Napoleon Dynamite, Allen Gregory, and an entire companion lineup that was completely botched from the beginning thanks to bad marketing, Animation Domination Hi-Def. However, even in FOX’s failures, 20th Century FOX has found some major success. We got four seasons of The Cleveland Show, for all intents and purposes, a re-painted Family Guy. However, the show has seen numerous syndication deals on Adult Swim, TBS, and now Comedy Central, to go along with all of the international syndication deals that have also come to pass. Cancelled franchises like King of the Hill and Futurama, are still in a lot of network’s regular rotation, finding new fans, and being the subjects of countless Reddit threads begging for revivals.

In terms of creative, The Simpsons is by far the most influential television show in the history of broadcast. Countless producers and writers like Dan Harmon, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, and others have noted the show as huge influences and all have since been guest stars/writers as a result. The franchise is a religion in international territories like Australia, Canada, and the UK, and despite changes in technology and viewing habits, the Emmy-winning The Simpsons is routinely clipped, shared, streamed, and watched as much as anything else that’s available. Social trends, clothing with premium brands, countless video games, The Simpsons produced the map that most animation franchises follow when it’s time to get into licensing agreements and is often seen in the same light as say Mickey Mouse as it pertains to a goal most producers have when they get into this business.

Because of Family Guy, we have Seth MacFarlane. Seth has since given us Ted, American Dad, The Orville, and countless other endeavors that have had far-reaching success. The show itself has given us industry heavyweights like Seth Green, Mila Kunis, and recent Emmy winner Alex Borstein, and like The Simpsons, TONS of merchandise inspired by the series ranging from video games, books, and numerous TV channel lineups on Adult Swim, TBS, and various local affiliates. Characters like “Stewie” are just as synonymous with television lore as the X-Files or The Sopranos, and can just as easily be subject to social fervor as anybody else.

And what about the runt of the litter? Bob’s Burgers. I call it the runt, because this show has had to work harder than anything else to get to where it is. Fans definitely recall full episodes of other franchises like King of the Hill and The Cleveland Show being lopped off because of NFL or NASCAR overruns much to our chagrin, and Bob’s Burgers has had to endear that in the earliest part of the show’s now multiple Emmy-winning run. More importantly, the show is testament to the fact that 20th FOX still knows how to pick winners for it’s one-time cousin Fox Broadcasting, as the series has gone on for multiple seasons and has helped turn Loren Bouchard into a big-time producer who is highly sought after by pretty much every big name in the industry. Adult Swim had Loren for YEARS and did nothing with him. FOX had him for one show and turned him into a giant. By the way, remember it was a FOX producer that asked for a viral Christmas card video that would eventually give us South Park. 

Make no mistake, if it wasn’t for the tag-team of FOX Broadcasting and 20th Century FOX, I’m not sure adult animation is where it is today. The network has given us programming that has inspired legions of producers, writers, fans, of all ethnic backgrounds, creeds, and social status to give it a go at a now thriving industry and we’re seeing results not just here, but certainly abroad. I can tell you first hand I get numerous emails from aspiring producers pitching me their shows with taglines like “It’s The Simpsons meets…” or “King of the Hill in space!” and a bunch of these kids are still in high school or college.

The future is bright for adult animation. FOX broadcasting will still be a home for a bunch of originals that will inspire fans for years to come. But had it not been for Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century FOX, it would’ve never got here.