Adult Swim "Smiling Friends" Goes To Series

[thechase]

an animated take on self-help created by Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel. The pilot for Smiling Friends originally aired during Adult Swim’s 2019 April Fool’s Day stunt to massive fan reaction. On Adult Swim digital platforms, the pilot has generated 1.3M views and is the most watched episode on AdultSwim.com since its release.


In the show, Smiling Friends Inc. lends a helping hand to any city inhabitant who calls its hotline. No matter how absurd the situation, the company sends cynical Charlie and star employee Pim to save the day. Smiling Friends is a quarter-hour animated series that will premiere on Adult Swim later this year.



Cusack’s first show with Adult Swim, YOLO: Crystal Fantasy regularly won the half-hour across ad-supported cable among all adult demos. Additionally, it beat the key late-night competition by mostly double and triple digits among young adult demos. Hadel’s writing credits include YouTube’s Hellbenders.

deadline.com/2021/05/adult-swim-series-royal-crackers-smiling-friends-1234759884/

[eJm]

Hey look, a trailer!

[Welfare Willis]

I'm happy to see smiling friends get a chance because the depressed man in the pilot was voiced by Mike Stoklasa, one of the people behind RedLetterMedia.

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

Yep, This looks like an Adult Swim show.

[Scoops]

Holy shit, I’m so happy for this. Zach was always my favorite of the Newgrounds’ animators and the pilot felt like a love letter to that style of humor, for better and worse.

Now, for the love of God, Zach, see this for the blessing that it is and don’t do anything stupid.

[4TheGlory]

After the disaster that was Hell Benders its great to see Zach finally get his shot on adult swim

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Show premiered last night.

As did its entire season apparently as Adult Swim aired all seven episodes of season 1

[Scoops]

The first episode was just okay, definitely not as good as the pilot.

[Facetious]

I love that Zach included all his dumb humor in this. The frog episode was a bit weak, but I liked the Shrimp one

[Deleted]

I this is genuinely one of the few Adult Swim shows I legitimately like. It has stupid humor and is adult in content, but it's the kind of humor I like since I like Zach's nonsense on OneyPlays and am familiar with his type of format.

Not every episode is great; I believe "Enchanted Forest" is way too cute with the meta humor by having a Frodo expy that's literally ripped off from the Rankin-Bass Hobbit movie as well as Pim becoming Gollum, but I think "Who Brutally Murdered Simon P. Salty?" and "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" are highlight episodes out of those that anyone hasn't truly watched. My favorite of the batch, however, is "Shrimp's Odyssey".

[Deleted]

Also, a list of guest stars from the first season that I pulled up, not including Chris, Lyle, or Tomar.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW]*Jane Badler as Host in "Mr. Frog"
*Chills as the man ordering coffee in "Shrimp's Odyssey"
*Jim Knobeloch as Host in "A Silly Halloween Special"
*"Scary" Perry Caravello as Simon S. Salty in "Who Brutally Murdered Simon S. Salty?"
*Harry Partridge (a Newgrounds alumni) as Crazy Cup and Grease in "Who Brutally Murdered Simon S. Salty?" (He's also credited in "Shrimp's Odyssey" and "Frowning Friends")
*Gilbert Gottfried as God in "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back"
*Mike Stoklasa and James Rolfe as the men screaming in the fantasy sequence in "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back"

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

SMORMU!!!

[eJm]

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

[Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast]

Feb 9, 2022 12:08:10 GMT -5 eJm said:

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

It's also now on HBOMax

[Facetious]

Feb 9, 2022 12:08:10 GMT -5 eJm said:

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

Zach said that the entire season 1 budget was that of a single episode of Family Guy. I hope that adult swim increases the budget like crazy.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2022 12:08:10 GMT -5 eJm said:

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

Hopefully they'll get more episodes and a chance at character building.

This is excellent news, and a sign that they have a lot of confidence in this series.

Feb 9, 2022 12:58:26 GMT -5 Facetious said:

Feb 9, 2022 12:08:10 GMT -5 eJm said:

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

Zach said that the entire season 1 budget was that of a single episode of Family Guy. I hope that adult swim increases the budget like crazy.

It may sound like hyperbole, but a lot of Family Guy's content seems to come from rights management (getting clearance from IPs or music they use for random jokes) and useless CGI bullshit, while the rest of the animation is crap.  Meanwhile, the crew of Smiling Friends have had experience making stuff on a small budget from their freelance days. I can believe it.

[Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie]

Feb 9, 2022 12:58:26 GMT -5 Facetious said:

Feb 9, 2022 12:08:10 GMT -5 eJm said:

Show’s been renewed for a Season Two. No confirmed date for it yet.

Zach said that the entire season 1 budget was that of a single episode of Family Guy. I hope that adult swim increases the budget like crazy.

so it would cover like TWO episodes of family guy?


only up to ep6 but this is really great stuff, funny and sad, poignant and terrifying and wacked out of it's little mind!

already so many different story styles out of "make people smile"

oh almost forgot

hellooo

[Scoops]

I've watched the entire season like three times on HBO Max. It's really good and I can't wait for season 2.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

To give a bit more insight, the show demolished the demos and did STRONG numbers for almost an entire hour, even after more episodes were shadow dropped

Adult Swim has not had an original blow up like this since Rick and Morty, I have a feeling it's gonna get much more than a season 2.