Animation Domination High-Def (also called Animation Domination HD, Fox ADHD, and ADHD) was a late-night programming block broadcast by
Fox. Originally premiering on July 21, 2013 as a
spin-off of ''
Animation Domination
Animation Domination (also called AniDom, Fox AD, and AD) is an American animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are d ...
'', the block originally focused on new, original
adult animation
Adult animation is an animation used for films and television series that is catered specifically to general interests and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adolescents and young adults, as opposed to children or all-ages audiences. Ralph ...
series—similarly in style to
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
. The ninety-minute block and its content were primarily produced by Friends Night, a television animation studio headed by Adult Swim alumni
Nick Weidenfeld
Nicholas Rabb Weidenfeld (born September 26, 1979) is an American television producer and executive who led program development for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Fox's Animation Domination High-Def programming blocks. He won producing Emmy A ...
, Hend Baghdady, and creative director
Ben Jones (who also created ''
The Problem Solverz'' for
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
)—including its programs, along with interstitials (
ADHD Shorts) and other content featured during its programming.
In April 2014, it was reported that Fox planned to discontinue the ADHD block on television that June, citing an inability to reach the correct demographics among viewers; however, ADHD's digital outlets, which feature additional content such as online shorts, continued to operate until March 5, 2016. The block's last airings on Fox consisted only of reruns.
History
2013
On January 8, 2013, Fox announced that it would launch a spin-off adult animation block – similar in format to Adult Swim – called Animation Domination High-Def. The block (alternately known as ADHD) ran Saturday late nights, originally airing for 90 minutes from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. local time in most markets – later reduced to 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on September 7, 2013 with the 12:00 a.m. half-hour being given back to its owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to carry other programming – with some affiliates delaying the block by 30 minutes to an hour to run late evening newscasts. Overruns of
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
broadcasts caused further delays on many evenings.
Animation Domination High-Def was created to fill the first-run programming hole in Fox's Saturday late night schedule left by the 2010 cancellations of ''
The Wanda Sykes Show
''The Wanda Sykes Show'' is an American talk show hosted by comedian Wanda Sykes on Fox that debuted on November 7, 2009. Comedian Keith Robinson co-starred as Sykes' sidekick.
The series was announced in March 2009 by Kevin Reilly. The sho ...
'' (a short-lived satirical talk show that replaced ''
MADtv
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...
'' the year prior) and ''
Talkshow with Spike Feresten
''Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' is an American late-night talk show television program on Fox starring Spike Feresten that aired from September 16, 2006, to May 16, 2009. It was the longest-running late night talk show in Fox's history, with t ...
'', with the 90-minute block being filled thereafter by reruns of the network's primetime series.
Fox Entertainment Group
The Fox Entertainment Group (FEG) was an American entertainment company specialized in film studio, filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were dispersed to va ...
's president at the time,
Kevin Reilly, announced the block would feature alternative programming, highlighting short films and extended film trailers in between the episodes.
Nick Weidenfeld
Nicholas Rabb Weidenfeld (born September 26, 1979) is an American television producer and executive who led program development for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and Fox's Animation Domination High-Def programming blocks. He won producing Emmy A ...
, former development head at Adult Swim, was tapped to oversee the block. The block uses various animated
bumpers that were produced each week (in comparison to Adult Swim) with a new "Week In Review" piece that aired each Saturday.
Weidenfeld stated in an interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' that Animation Domination High-Def would celebrate "the paramount importance of youth and love and friendship and hanging out and being awesome – not ironically awesome, just awesome." His intent was for the block to offer viewers new content with a significant lack of cynicism, which he believed contrasts his former employer (
Williams Street
Williams Street Productions, LLC, formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Bros. ...
, programmer of Adult Swim), which he stated is "not an optimistic channel."
Despite this, Weidenfeld allowed Cartoon Network/Adult Swim owner
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...
to purchase commercial time during the premiere night of ADHD (one ad aired at 11:30 p.m. with a Talking Heads reference stating that Adult Swim was first in the format, and the last ad aired at midnight congratulating the crew before the start of a rerun of ''
The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', and the second television ...
'').
Weidenfeld responded: "We love Adult Swim and we’re happy to receive both their attention and their ad dollars!" Fox executives were not made aware of the local ad buys, which was done without their knowledge.
All content within the block – the animation for the programs themselves, bumpers and interstitial short films (some of which feature parodies of different characters) – were produced by Friends Night Studios at its offices on
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Along with the short seasons offered for production approval (six to twelve episodes a year) and Fox's ownership of all content in the process, this setup was designed to reduce total costs and significantly shorten the turnaround time for most shows.
[ In addition to the Fox lineup, ADHD's programming is also available for streaming on a dedicated website (FOXADHD.com) and ]mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
as well as through Hulu
Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...
. All of the programs in the lineup were generally shown without commercial interruption, and with few exceptions, aired without editing. The ''High School USA!'' episode "Best Friends Forever" was released briefly on Hulu and not broadcast on Fox due to content issues with the network's standards and practices
In the United States, Standards and Practices (also referred to as Broadcast Standards and Practices or BS&P for short) is the name traditionally given to the department at a television network which is responsible for the moral, ethical, and le ...
department.
2014
On April 17, 2014, ''Broadcasting & Cable
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...
'' reported that Fox would discontinue Animation Domination High-Def after the June 28, 2014 broadcast of the block, citing an inability to reach the correct demographics during its Saturday late night timeslot—particularly as a result of overrunning college football games. Through the digital platform, Fox planned to reposition ADHD as an "incubator" for new series that could premiere on its Sunday primetime lineup—with plans for Friends Night to produce two half-hour series to debut in June 2015.
The block itself continued to air on some Fox stations until March 5, 2016, albeit consisting solely of reruns of programs from ADHD and Fox's Sunday lineup. A series created by Ben Jones, entitled '' Stone Quackers'', premiered on FXX on October 27 as part of a special preview.
2015: Shift to FXX
In 2015, Fox began to shift the original series it had produced through ADHD to its cable networks. On December 17, 2014, it was announced that they would encompass a new late-night block on FXX beginning on January 22, 2015, also branded as ''Animation Domination'', with new episodes of ''Axe Cop'', ''Lucas Bros. Moving Co'' and ''Stone Quackers'' joined by reruns of other ADHD series and shorts. To promote the new block, previews of the two series were aired at midnight ET on January 1, 2015 as a lead-out for a marathon of ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', while new episodes of the two series aired following the premiere of the sixth season of '' Archer'' on FX on January 8, 2015.
FX Networks
FX Networks, LLC, commonly known as FX Networks, is an American media company built around FX, FXX, and FX Movie Channel, plus their associated production company, FX Productions, and is a subsidiary of Disney General Entertainment Content, ...
' Chuck Saftler viewed the additions as a complement to their existing animated series, explaining that "based on the successful launch of ''The Simpsons'' on FXX, this is the perfect time to expand our animation offerings and make FXX the after hours destination for animated shorts and series." Reruns of these new episodes can still potentially air on Fox. The FXX adaptation of this block includes an "Everything That Happened This Week" recap that appears in between the first two shows. That recap was discontinued in 2016.
Programming
Series
Fox ADHD has a range of collections of series that have a compilation of shorts. Some come from these, while others don't and run originally. Each of which continues on relating to the media, such as:
• Scientifically Accurate
• Songs You Didn't Know Had Lyrics
• The Adventures Of OG Sherlock Kush
• Pug Lord
References
External links
*
{{Fox Animation
2010s American late-night television series
Television programming blocks in the United States
Fox Broadcasting Company
2013 introductions
Fox Broadcasting Company late-night programming