Generic adult animated series

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A terrible adult animated series (or, at least season 8-onwards)...

..vs. a good adult animated series.

Generic adult animated series is a common theme for adult animated series these days. With the rising popularity of Family Guy, more creators and networks wanted to cash in on its success, only to make a corny show that would either be milked for eternity or be canceled in less than one or few seasons.

Bad Examples of Adult Animation

1. Family Guy (season 8 onwards) (most infamous example)
2. The Simpsons (seasons 11-31)
3. South Park (most notably season 20)
4. Brickleberry
5. Paradise PD
6. Farzar
7. The Red Ape Family
8. Our Cartoon President
9. Hoops
10. Fairfax
11. SuperMansion
12. Chozen
13. Good Vibes
14. Full English
15. The Prince
16. Chicago Party Aunt
17. JJ Villard's Fairy Tales
18. The Nutshack
19. Bless the Harts
20. Bordertown
21. The Cleveland Show (season 1)
22. Santa Inc. (another infamous example)
23. Biatches
24. Fugget About It
25. Mr. Pickles
26. Fairview
27. Crash Canyon
28. Legends of Chamberlain Heights
29. Allen Gregory
30. HouseBroken
31. Glenn Martin, DDS
32. High Guardian Spice
33. Full English
34. Super Drags
35. La Familia del Barrio
36. High School USA!
37. King Star King
38. Lil' Bush
39. Ren & Stimpy (2024)
40. Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" (Once again, another infamous examples)
41. Cans Without Labels
42. Mother Up!
43. Pacific Heat
44. Confessions from the Hart
45. Teenage Euthanasia
46. Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
47. Father of the Pride
48. Tripping the Rift
49. Kevin Spencer
50. Pupa
51. Berserk (2016)
52. Magical Girl Site
53. Magical Girl Friendship Squad
54. SMOSH Babies
55. The Slim Shady Show
56. Zombie College
57. Producing Parker
58. Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World
59. The Jellies!
60. The Brothers Grunt
61. Life's a Zoo
62. Popzilla
63. Bounty Hunters
64. Stressed Eric
65. Napoleon Dynamite (TV show)
66. Masters of the Universe: Revelation
67. The Goode Family
68. The Harper House
69. Mr. Birchum
70. Krapopolis
71. Birdgirl
72. Idhun
73. Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Animated Series
74. The Pole
75. Stone Quackers
76. Gary the Rat
77. Sit Down Shut Up
78. Good Times (2024)
79. Velma (yet another infamous example)
80. Clone High (season 2)
81. Big Mouth
82. Captain Fall
83. Da Möb
84. The New Norm Show
85. Sausage Party: Foodtopia
86. Rick and Morty: The Anime
87. Universal Basic Guys

Good Examples of Adult Animation

1. Final Space
2. Undergrads
3. Inside Job
4. Tear Along the Dotted Line
5. Tuca & Bertie
6. Clone High (except season 2)
7. Mission Hill
8. Robot Chicken
9. Moral Orel
10. The Boondocks
11. BoJack Horseman
12. Undone
13. Agent Elvis
14. Sealab 2021
15. Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
16. Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
17. The Brak Show
18. Archer
19. ':3-South
20. The Venture Bros
21. Family Guy (seasons 1-7)
22. The Simpsons (seasons 1-10, 32-present)
23. Solar Opposites
24. Love Death + Robots
25. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
26. Invincible
27. Trese
28. What If...?
29. Star Wars Visions
30. Bob's Burgers
31. South Park
32. The Midnight Gospel
33. Disenchantment
34. Futurama
35. Star Trek: Lower Decks
36. Close Enough
37. Ugly Americans
38. Metalocalypse
39. Smiling Friends
40. The Boys Presents: Diabolical
41. The Legend of Vox Machina
42. DOTA: Dragon's Blood
43. Blood of Zeus
44. F Is for Family
45. Arcane
46. Ten-Year-Old Tom
47. Central Park
48. The Great North
49. Duncanville
50. Harley Quinn
51. Primal
52. Twilight of the Gods
53. Beavis and Butt-Head
54. Daria
55. American Dad!
56. Castlevania
57. Moonbeam City
58. Lobo
59. Spy Groove
60. King of the Hill
61. Happy Tree Friends
62. Hazbin Hotel
63. Helluva Boss
64. Todd McFarlane's Spawn
65. The Critic
66. Gen:LOCK (season 1)
67. Camp Camp
68. Squidbillies
69. Samurai Jack
70. Elfen Lied
71. M.K. 22
72. Roger and his Humans (Roger et ses Humains)
73. Epic Time Leap (L'Epopée Temporelle)
74. City
75. 3-South
76. Silex and the City
77. Flipped
78. Bob and Margaret
79. Human City
80. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
81. The PJs
82. Celebrity Deathmatch
83. Downtown
84. Kid Notorious
85. Murder Drones
86. Grimsburg
87. Drawn Together
88. Duckman
89. The Head
90. Everybody Still Hates Chris
91. My Adventures With Superman
92. Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake
93. Unicorn Warriors Eternal

Why This Theme Sucks

1. The problem is that ever since The Simpsons and South Park became popular more and more competitors tried to copy the same formula with different premises. Cops, camper managers, the workers of Christmas, and even the royal family of the United Kingdom and Trump's cabinet are examples of this.
   • In fact, everybody thought that animation is for kids, which is not true since there are so many animated series that are way more mature than the adult ones.
   • Many of these animated series lack genres as most of them are sitcoms. While some of these cartoons do resort to using science fiction or fantasy, they usually hold on to the sitcom formula. Because of this, it causes these cartoons to suffer from a lack of variety and originality.
2. If this was made for adults, then there's no reason to make the jokes, the scenes, and the gags so childish as stated before.
3. They often have an excessive amount of violence, blood/gore, profanity, gross/offensive humor, filler, and bad morals to the point that it overtakes the plot.
4. When it comes to jokes/gags, they can be very insulting or disrespectful. For example, Fairview makes a joke about the COVID party, which is a punch in the gut for COVID-19 victims, as this also works for some things like racism, suicide jokes, murder, abuse, rape, etc. The worst offender of such jokes are references to tragic events like 9/11 or the Holocaust, with them somehow trying to make these events look like a joke even though that is 100% false.
5. The characters have no personality and lack heart and soul in them.
   • Many of the characters especially those in long-running series get a lot of their dimension and likable qualities removed forcibly, turning such characters into unlikeable, one-dimensional, flanderized husks. Examples of such characters who fell victim to this include Brian from Family Guy and Roger from American Dad!.
6. Some of them have incredibly stupid concepts, such as how Fairview tries to copy South Park by making it political, when South Park is more of a social satire, or how The Red Ape Family revolves entirely around NFTs, which already are a bad idea by themselves.
7. Some series like High Guardian Spice and the 2024 reboot of Ren & Stimpy, despite being for mature audiences and aside from mild/sexual swearing, are not even mature enough and do nothing to justify being mature for their respective audience and end up being seen as meant to be for younger audiences (in the case of the first) or a typical program for kids (in the case of the latter).
8. Most shows have a pretty bad animation style, which can go from a very stiff animation (like downright tracing poses in the Ren & Stimpy 2024 reboot), to ugly character designs, with the worst offender being Allen Gregory.
9. These kinds of shows follow a formula that has become completely stagnated and has caused the adult animation genre to undergo a massive amount of stagnation as a result as shown through these shows recycling plots from other shows and rehashing their episodes to the point where it becomes cliched.
10. Due to how most of these cartoons are rehashes of old concepts that keep repeating their plots, themes, and jokes, it shows that the writers and the studios in charge of these cartoons are refusing to take risks with the apparent mindset that if they make an adult cartoon that does not have crude jokes, rely on current events, and does not act like a sitcom then the said cartoon will suck and fail to make any money for their studio.
11. Many of these shows become extremely mean-spirited regarding the jokes and plots they produce.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Some shows can be approved.
2. Not all adult animated series are Family Guy-like sitcoms, there are some great shows with interesting concepts like Final Space, Arcane, Rick and Morty, Inside Job, Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss, Clone High, Harley Quinn, and Love Death + Robots.
   • Besides, even those that are sitcoms can also end up being good, such as Bob's Burgers and South Park, which are still great shows after 12 and 25 seasons respectively.

How to make a good Adult Animated show

1. When coming to the making of art styles, don't try make it much like Family Guy, instead, make it something unique or inspire it from UPA, the Simpsons, or French/Belgian Comics/Comic strips
2. If you promote this show, don't pander it that animation is for kids and instead, make it enjoyable for kids
3. At the premise, don't try it make it much like Family Guy, try make it something unique and original or try inspiring it at the Flintstones or the Simpsons

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