Pilots: for the longest time, a television show either lived or died at the hands of its pilot. A showcase of what a show is meant to be in the span of a single episode, television pilots are often a fickle means of getting greenlit for a full series. They’re essentially a proof-of-concept, one that may or may not equate to success when given a full television commitment. Sometimes television pilots are utterly amazing, sometimes they’re downright terrible. Either way, Adult Swim, a network notorious for being unconventional, decided to put a new spin on the idea of pitching a television pilot.
We now have the Adult Swim Pilots Night, an hour-long special meant to showcase a variety of potential shows Adult Swim is interested in making, with one unique quirk: the audience will decide what ultimately gets made into a series. It’s a way to directly gauge the popularity and interest of a potential show by throwing it straight to the viewers themselves. Should the event be successful, it’ll hopefully become a regular institution in the network’s programming lineup. But, why should you watch this special event?
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It’s Hosted By M. Night Shyamalan
Adult Swim
In an admittedly unexpected announcement, the event will be hosted by the “master of terror” himself, M. Night Shyamalan. For most, the famous director needs no introduction. If you need a refresher, he rocketed to stardom with his directorial debut, The Sixth Sense, before jumping in and out of critical favor with mixed film offerings since. Some would also say Shyamalan is notorious for inserting “twists” into a majority of his films, likely stemming from the shocking twist that made The Sixth Sense so popular to begin with.
While Shyamalan had little to say about the event in its respective video announcement, opting instead to promote his upcoming film Knock at the Cabin, he’ll likely be there to introduce each pilot and provide a transition between them. Compared to other notable directors, he’s not necessarily closely associated with Adult Swim or its collaborators, but you could argue that his varied filmography aligns with the same creative and artistic goals that Adult Swim actively promotes. It’ll be interesting to see what he could bring to the special outside his promotional involvement.
Four Interesting Pilots to Watch
The Adult Swim Pilots Special will air four pilots in succession, each one being the typical eleven-minute length associated with a majority of Adult Swim’s programming. In order, these pilots are: Oh My God, Yes!, Yenor, Macbeth with Dinosaurs, and Adult Swim Smalls Presents: Wet City. It should be noted that two pilots that were originally set to air, Hot Freaks and Bill and Jeannie, were removed from the schedule. Their time slots were replaced by Oh My God, Yes! and Macbeth with Dinosaurs.
Macbeth with Dinosaurs originally premiered as a web exclusive in 2021, only a month prior to the immensely popular Learning with Pibby short. Macbeth with Dinosaurs follows the adventures of a group of dinosaurs named after the characters of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, seemingly promising the same kind of surreal adult-oriented humor you’d expect from an Adult Swim series. It’s an incredibly fast-paced, high-energy cartoon co-created by Matt Foster and Dave W. Campbell. The two have a significant history with Adult Swim, having served on the production team for Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies. Foster was also a writer for one of Adult Swim’s unique live-action series, Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell. You can see the influence of these previous projects in Macbeth with Dinosaurs. After the special, you can watch Macbeth with Dinosaurs on Adult Swim’s official YouTube page in all of its nonsensical glory.
Conversely, Wet City is a short that Adult Swim had aired previously, taking a more subtle and atmospheric tone in comparison to Macbeth with Dinosaurs. Following the adventures of a man in a post-apocalyptic future, he scours the flooded remnants of Earth to find his lost “cybershark.” Co-creators Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey, along with the sole voice actor Sean Wing, previously collaborated for 2016’s Fired on Mars, a short that features a man who is, fittingly, fired from his job on Mars. Wet City is a part of the Adult Swim Smalls series, a collaborative series of short films and animations that can be watched for free on Adult Swim’s website or on HBO Max.
Oh My God, Yes! and Yenor are currently unavailable to view outside the upcoming event. The Adult Swim Pilots Night will mark their first official appearance in the public eye.
Help Determine Adult Swim’s Newest Show
The Adult Swim Pilots Night is a big deal for the late-night network. While Adult Swim isn’t necessarily struggling at the moment, there’s currently a dearth of original content, with the network’s last new show being Smiling Friends. The network has always relied more on syndicated Fox programs for ratings, but with the removal of syndicated programming looming underneath the cartoonish fist of Disney, Adult Swim needs to pick up the slack somewhere. Toonami shifting towards original horror anime is a good start.
It’ll be an opportunity for audiences to directly voice their opinions on what shows need to be made. Based on how explosive Smiling Friends’ popularity was from the moment its pilot aired, let’s hope a similar amount of enthusiasm can be showered on these upcoming pilots. A Twitter poll will be used to vote for the pilot that will be greenlit for a future show, though it’s possible we may see additional pilots greenlit sometime in the future.
The Adult Swim Pilots Night will air on February 1 at midnight EST.
