China, IL ''China, IL'' (meaning ''China, Illinois'') is an American adult animated sitcom created by Brad Neely for the Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network. The series was originally conceived as a web series on Adult Swim's defunct comedy w ...

'' (meaning ''China, Illinois'') is an American

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

animated sitcom An animated sitcom is a subgenre of the sitcom that is animation, animated instead of live action and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Simpsons'', ''South Park'', and ...

created by

Brad Neely Brad Neely (born October 26, 1976) is an American comic book artist and television writer/producer known for his work on television series such as '' South Park'', ''China, IL'' and '' Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio,'' the web series '' ...

for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

late night programming block,

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. The series takes place at the "Worst College in America", located at the edge of town. The school's poor reputation is celebrated by the school's uncaring faculty and staff. Steve and Frank Smith (voiced by Neely) are twin professors at the college, teaching history with limited success, while Professor Leonard Cakes (voiced by

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

) is the father of undergraduate Mark "Baby" Cakes (also voiced by Neely), who spends his time at college with the school staff. Pony Merks (voiced by

Greta Gerwig Greta Celeste Gerwig (; born August 4, 1983) is an American actress, screenwriter, and director. She first garnered attention after working on and appearing in several mumblecore films. Between 2006 and 2009, she appeared in a number of films b ...

) is the

teacher's aide A teaching assistant or teacher's aide (TA) or education assistant (EA) or team teacher (TT) is an individual who assists a teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate stude ...

for the history department at the school, and the most rational of the staff, but still willing to go along with the staff's insane plots to avoid working. The series was originally conceived as a web series on Adult Swim's defunct comedy website,

Super Deluxe Super Deluxe was an entertainment company owned by Turner Broadcasting. The company's main output was in online video, television series, and documentaries. History Turner Broadcasting System announced the launch of Super Deluxe, a digital com ...

, in 2008. Neely, who had done ''Baby Cakes'' and ''The Professor Brothers'' shorts for Super Deluxe in 2006, envisioned the characters in each series to coexist in the same universe. With the relationship in mind, he produced a four-part internet series entitled ''China, IL'', which was published on Super Deluxe in 2008. An 11-minute special combining the shorts, entitled "China, IL: The Funeral", aired on Adult Swim on May 25, 2008. The series officially premiered on October 2, 2011, and ended on June 14, 2015 with a total of 30 episodes.

Series overview

Episodes

Pilots

Season 1 (2011–12)

Season 2 (2013)

Season 3 (2015)

References