'Robot Chicken' 20th Anniversary Special Set To Air This Summer
It’s a birthday party! Where the bites aren’t headed for cake and pizza, but the corporate overlords
Robot Chicken hasn’t aired a new episode in almost three years, but it’s coming back for a party. An anniversary/corporate takedown party. It was announced on February 20, on the show’s 20th anniversary, that a special for the occasion has been produced for it and will air this summer on its Adult Swim home.
One might notice, if ever looking up the Seth Green and Mathew Senreich-co-created and starring series, that the most recent season finished airing on April 11, 2022, just three days after the official formation of Warner Bros. Discovery. And as seen by the writeoffs and jokes already found on Rick and Morty, let alone everywhere else, an understandably not very popular one. The timing meant Robot Chicken itself it didn’t quite have the time to mine anything from having new corporate parents for its own series. That’s where The Robot Chicken Self-Discovery Special comes in, targeting new sibling networks like Discovery, Food Network and TLC, as it “follows the hapless Robot Chicken Nerd as he seeks self-discovery America’s way: going on reality shows! Will he find a 90 Day Fiancé – or end up Shark Week chum?”
Adult Swim Stocks Sundays With 'Oh My God…Yes!' Premiere, 'YOLO' Season 3
It has felt like quite a long time since a cable network has devoted its nighttime slots to more than two premieres on any given night in a week. The only thing that might’ve come close was Nickelodeon’s AfterToons last year, but well that’s afternoons. However,
After the show’s February 20, 2005 premiere, it would earn 23 Emmy nominations leading to six wins, and being part of the likely final class of Outstanding Short Form Animated Program, since so many 11-minute (or less) format shows fell away to the Children & Family Emmys purview, what was left wasn’t enough to carry on, so they got absorbed into general Outstanding Animated Program. “20 years ago, we set out to make the kind of funny and unexpected show that we’d want to watch. And somehow, we’re still here, making sketch comedy with toys and making each other laugh,” Green and Seinreich said. “As always, the fans are the true wind beneath our wings, and this new special is going to soar really high. And then maybe from that height, poop on your head. But we all know that’s good luck, so consider this payback for your support.”
“Robot Chicken has been pushing the boundaries of comedy and animation for 20 years, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate this milestone with our incredible fans,” said Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen. “From the very first stop-motion sketch to the upcoming special, the show’s relentless creativity and sharp satire continue to set it apart. This new special is packed with the kind of wild, irreverent fun that only Robot Chicken can deliver.”
Some might be asking “why is it back now with only a special?” Back in September 2024, Green was interviewed on the Comic Book School podcast hosted by Mike Fasolo, where he revealed that the days of 20 episode seasons, or any length seasons, look to be over. Where the Self-Discovery Special will hopefully be the first of several specials at an unknown rate.
Nickelodeon Orders 'Avatar: Seven Havens', First Series From Avatar Studios
It’s a very happy anniversary for Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise. On the eve of its 20th anniversary, the network has announced that the franchise’s third full-length animated series, Avatar: Seven Havens, has not only been greenlit but is currently in production.
Sources: Deadline, Bubbleblabber