'Pibby' Creator Shares Disappointing Update Regarding Its Adult Swim Future
Disappointing yes, but not totally unexpected
Two years ago today, Adult Swim uploaded the short “Come and Learn with Pibby!”. It gained wide acclaim with the online community and accrued what is currently at 33 million views. People begged for the network to pick it up to a full series. Unfortunately, as evidenced by two years passing, creator Dodge Greenley shared exactly where things are on that front, and it ain’t great.
He posted to Instagram with art of battle-damaged Pibby "I have sad news to share. I'm sorry to say that Pibby has still not been greenlit, and it doesn't look like it will happen in the near future. Making a show is a long, difficult process, and you can never say never, but for now, it looks like Pibby most likely wont become a show. I'm sorry to all the fans. Thank you for all your support. I also want to give a special thank you to some of the amazing people who've helped me and fought along side me. Thank you, Asalle Tanha, Nick Jennings, Chad Quandt, and Lindsay Kerns.”
“Come and Learn with Pibby!” saw an educational cartoon character named Pibby, her buddy Bun-Bun and her ragtag group traverse a multiverse of original, Cartoon Network, and Hanna-Barbera characters to escape and eventually fight back against a dark, glitchy static monster with the ability to infect and control characters it touches. While the position the project is in makes sense after two years, avid Adult Swim viewers and followers of the business know that it hasn’t quite been two years of silence.
On April 1, 2022, Adult Swim’s April Fool's Day prank sent Pibby and Bun-Bun through several of the ensuing shows and even promos, infecting some along the way, starting with the Rick and Morty episode “Total Rickall”, and including the "Wink Martindale; Sarah Burns" episode of The Eric Andre Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force “Muscles”, Smiling Friends "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back”, a Birdgirl episode and ending with Joe Pera Talks With You “Joe Pera Reads You The Church Announcements”. We last saw Pibby trudging through Joe Pera's snowy neighborhood in search of Bun-Bun. A week after the stunt, Warner Bros. and Discovery merged and became Warner Bros. Discovery. While the new ownership administration has been tumultuous due to extreme measures that affected Adult Swim series like Tigtone, Lazor Wulf, Shenmue: The Animation, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and Fena: Pirate Princess, this was far more expected, business as usual as they don't have the attachment or interest the previous bosses did. They don't recognize what they have in front of them. Anything from previous administrations is expendable and things can be left behind. While the stall isn't great and likely is permanent, we're glad we got to see it at all.
Too bad for this. It's a very unique premise.