Animation Domination High-Def

Did You Know?

• The block's runtime was cut from 90 minutes to 60 minutes on September 7, 2013, when the 12:00 a.m. half-hour was given back to local stations.
• The High School USA! episode 'Best Friends Forever' was released briefly on Hulu but never broadcast on Fox due to content issues with the network's standards and practices department.
• A series created by Ben Jones, Stone Quackers, premiered on FXX on October 27, 2014 as part of a special preview.

History

On January 8, 2013, Fox announced it would launch a spin-off adult animation block called Animation Domination High-Def, similar in format to Adult Swim. The block ran Saturday late nights, originally airing for 90 minutes from 11:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. local time in most markets. On September 7, 2013, the runtime was reduced to 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., with the 12:00 a.m. half-hour given back to Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to carry other programming.

Some affiliates delayed the block by 30 minutes to an hour to run late evening newscasts, and overruns of Fox Sports broadcasts caused further delays on many evenings. Animation Domination High-Def was created to fill the first-run programming hole in Fox's Saturday late night schedule left by the 2010 cancellations of The Wanda Sykes Show and Talkshow with Spike Feresten. Before ADHD, that 90-minute block was filled with reruns of the network's primetime series.

Kevin Reilly, then president of Fox Entertainment Group, announced the block would feature alternative programming, highlighting short films and extended film trailers between episodes. Nick Weidenfeld, former development head at Adult Swim, was tapped to oversee the block. The block used various animated bumpers produced each week and a new 'Week In Review' piece that aired each Saturday. Weidenfeld stated in an interview with The New York Times that ADHD would celebrate 'the paramount importance of youth and love and friendship and hanging out and being awesome – not ironically awesome, just awesome.'

His intent was to offer viewers new content with a significant lack of cynicism, which he believed contrasted his former employer, Williams Street (programmer of Adult Swim), which he stated is 'not an optimistic channel.' Despite this, Weidenfeld allowed Turner Broadcasting System (owner of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim) to purchase commercial time during ADHD's premiere night. One ad aired at 11:30 p.m. with a Talking Heads reference stating that Adult Swim was first in the format, and the last ad aired at midnight congratulating the crew before a rerun of The Cleveland Show.

Weidenfeld responded: 'We love Adult Swim and we’re happy to receive both their attention and their ad dollars!' Fox executives were not made aware of the local ad buys, which were done without their knowledge. On April 17, 2014, Broadcasting & Cable reported that Fox would discontinue ADHD after the June 28, 2014 broadcast, citing an inability to reach the correct demographics during its Saturday late night timeslot—particularly due to overrunning college football games.

Through the digital platform, Fox planned to reposition ADHD as an 'incubator' for new series that could premiere on its Sunday primetime lineup, with plans for Friends Night to produce two half-hour series to debut in June 2015. The block itself continued to air on some Fox stations until March 5, 2016, but consisted solely of reruns of programs from ADHD and Fox's Sunday lineup. A series created by Ben Jones, entitled Stone Quackers, premiered on FXX on October 27 as part of a special preview.

In 2015, Fox began shifting original ADHD series to its cable networks. On December 17, 2014, it was announced that they would encompass a new late-night block on FXX beginning on January 22, 2015, also branded as Animation Domination, with new episodes of Axe Cop, Lucas Bros. Moving Co, and Stone Quackers joined by reruns of other ADHD series and shorts. To promote the new block, previews of the two series aired at midnight ET on January 1, 2015 as a lead-out for a marathon of The Simpsons, while new episodes aired following the premiere of the sixth season of Archer on FX on January 8, 2015.

FX Networks' Chuck Saftler viewed the additions as a complement to their existing animated series. The FXX adaptation included an 'Everything That Happened This Week' recap between the first two shows, which was discontinued in 2016.