Bring 'em in, Adult Swim. Lock and load, Archer. To the Big Wheels, South Park! FOX is looking to elbow its way into late-night Nielsen Ratings with their own animated comedies.
Yesterday FOX announced the network has created a new unit to develop and produce an ambitious slate of original animated shorts and series to run both on-air and online. The late-night programming block will air Saturdays from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET on FOX and will feature four new animated series per season starting in January 2013.
To run this new unit, FOX has inked an exclusive deal with Nick Weidenfeld, former head of program development for Adult Swim and executive producer of Childrens Hospital and The Boondocks. The network has also tapped producer Hend Baghdady (Warren The Ape, The Andy Milonakis Show) as the executive in charge of production for the new division.
The digital channel will feature 50 original short-form pieces per year, online windows of FOX animated shows and user-adapted content. It will create a unique opportunity for fans and up-and-coming talent to engage with professional FOX-curated content, which they could possibly turn into their own series. FOX will also use its expertise and cross-promotional power to nurture these new assets through this pipeline.
Really, I can't believe it took this long for one of the networks not only to copy the original formula for Adult Swim, but also steal the executives who created it. The good news for cartoon fans is perhaps we'll have more to choose from in the wee hours.
Picture courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
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