Apr 28, 2014

Fox discontinues late-night animation slot ADHD

A still from the ADHD series "Lucas Bros. Moving Co."

Fox's attempt at late-night animation did not go as expected. The network will end its Saturday late-night animation slot, "Animation Domination High-Def" (ADHD), in June, less than a year after its inception. The show was originally created as a replacement for the canceled sketch comedy show "MADtv."

ADHD was the brainchild of former Cartoon Network executive Nick Weidenfeld, who aimed to develop an Adult Swim-style block "with the best of animation." Friends Night, the studio Weidenfeld launched to create ADHD, will continue to produce content for Fox. The network has already ordered two half-hour series from Friends Night, which will air in primetime. The names and premiere dates for these projects have not yet been announced. Weidenfeld will also continue to produce ADHD content for digital platforms like Hulu and Xbox.

Here is Weidenfeld's official statement about the cancellation, as provided to the A.V. Club:

"We are really excited. We were created to air our show on Sunday nights. And in less than a year, we made that happen! With Saturday nights gone, we can feature more diverse talent and develop a variety of shows. We got the best of both worlds. We have the big league field of Sunday nights and can operate like a free studio. It's fantastic."

So what interest does Fox have in keeping this low-priced division, which produces inferior productions to anything the network currently airs in primetime, alive? One of the main incentives is that "Friends Night" can produce content at a much lower cost than Fox's other primetime series, such as "The Simpsons," "Bob's Burgers," and various shows produced by Seth MacFarlane. The Animation Guild, the Los Angeles cartoonists' union, raises interesting questions about this situation and what it means for artists working at the studio in the future.