#SYFY ALIEN NEWS DESK TV#
” My favorite show on TV right now is Rick and Morty. Why should Adult Swim have all the fun?,” McCumber said. It’s mostly, at this point, one network and we think there’s an opportunity there. “If you look at the top 30 shows every day in cable, you see a lot of unscripted and a lot of animation.
#SYFY ALIEN NEWS DESK SERIES#
The block, led by flagship series Rick and Morty, has enjoyed a tremendous ratings success in the young demographics, with other networks taking notice. Syfy’s animation push comes amidst an unprecedented boom of adult animation fare, with more than a dozen new series ordered over the past year across Fox, TBS, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, CBS All Access, Apple and DC Universe.Īdult Swim was a pioneer in putting edgy adult animation original series in late night as an alternative to off-network sitcoms and dramas that traditionally had occupied the time period on basic cable networks. “If there is a series of five-minute shorts that is really out there, really fun animation, we would figure out a way to get it on the air.” “In the world of genre animation, we want to open it up to experimental indie projects,” regardless of the length. “We look at this as a late-night playground for us,” McCumber said. SyfyĪs it prepares to launch Alien News Desk, its second original animated series ever, Syfy is already in development on others. While topical, the bulk of the show will have evergreen material so episodes could be rerun months later and not feel out of date. While it won’t air the same week, it will be fast enough for the program to feel current referencing ongoing and recent events. To accomplish that, Alien News Desk will have a relatively quick turnaround in the vein of South Park. People do it way better than SyFy can but what we can do is bring a point of view that’s completely different, completely unique and something that’s not there in the marketplace right now.”
“Politics, current events are covered ad nauseam. “We loved it because it was a way for us to do topical animation and doing a take on what’s happening in real life from an alien point of view, which we think is a really fun way to do it,” McCumber said. Heather Olander, SVP, Alternative Development & Production for USA & Syfy, tracked down Alien News Desk, which at one point had been in development at MTV, and brought it to Syfy where topicality is already part of the brand via Syfy Wire, which has grown into the #2 genre site. “I think this is a real opportunity for Syfy to open up a new area of business for us, which is late-night original animation,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, who oversees USA Network and Syfy. That encouraged Syfy brass to use Futurama as a platform for launching a foray into original adult animation series. The reruns have been a success, boosting Syfy’s late-night ratings by 13% in the adults 18-34 demographic and bringing new audiences, with 69% of its viewers new to the network (3Q18). The network pursued aggressively the rights to Matt Groening’s futuristic comedy when they became available. “Tackling news, politics and entertainment from the perspective of alien newscasters completely puzzled by our human ways, Alien News Desk is a fun, irreverent way to put a uniquely Syfy spin on the late-night current affairs genre.Alien News Desk is slated to air at 11 PM as a companion to Syfy’s acquired animated series Futurama.
“The expansion into original animation and late night marks the next step in the evolution of Syfy and builds on the successes we’ve had bringing new, younger viewers to the network,” said Chris McCumber, president, entertainment networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. They will provide topical commentary on the universe’s most baffling species: humans. Former SNL regular Will Forte and current castmember Heidi Gardner will voice the two main characters, extraterrestrial news anchors Drexx Drudlarr and Tuva Van Void.
The show, scheduled for a 12-episode run premiering in early 2019, marks the cable channel’s first original late-night animated series. Syfy is getting in the animation game with Alien News Desk, a weekly late-night series from a team of Saturday Night Live veterans.
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