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Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim went from being a niche programming block when it debuted in 2001 to arguably becoming bigger than the cable network that spawned it. When it was first revealed, the platform had only a handful of series to call its own, but it has since grown not just to take over the entirety of the channel’s late-night programming, but also its late afternoons. Starting later this month, not only is Adult Swim mixing things up on its programming for Checkered Past, it is bringing back one of its classic originals for a late-night slot that hasn’t appeared in five years.
To start, Adult Swim’s Checkered Past has confirmed that it is bringing back Cow & Chicken to replace The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy beginning on July 20th. This will mark the first time that the bizarre duo has been a part of the schedule since it made a comeback late last year. On top of this schedule change, Adult Swim proper will be making a shift to bring back a classic original for the first time in years, as Sealab 2021 will replace Frisky Dingo for the 4:30 AM Eastern spot beginning on the 20th as well. Both these changes prove that Cartoon Network is more than willing to bring classic series back to its airwaves.
Sealab 2021 & Chicken
Sealab 2021, for those who don’t know, is one of the earliest original series that Adult Swim produced following the block’s debut in 2001. What the animated series did was take the footage from Sealab 2020, a Hanna-Barbera production that premiered in the early 1970s, and added new dialogue and animations to create a mind-bending, hilarious tale. Garnering four seasons before ending in 2005, the animated show, unfortunately, found itself getting the axe on HBO Max like many other originals in recent years. Luckily, alongside the return to Adult Swim, the series in its entirety can be watched on the programming block’s website for free by clicking here.
Cow And Chicken, while a comedy series like Sealab 2021, didn’t have a history on Adult Swim. Instead, the 1997 series premiered on Cartoon Network as a part of the “Cartoon Cartoons” umbrella, which also included the likes of Dexter’s Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Powerpuff Girls, and Ed, Edd n Eddy, to name a few. Much like Sealab, the idiosyncratic siblings had four seasons before coming to an end, while also not receiving a sequel series. Luckily, the surreal series recently arrived on Tubi, the free streaming service that acquired quite a few different Cartoon Network originals to add to its library.
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