''Off the Air'' is an American

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

anthology television series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

created by

Dave Hughes David William Hughes (born 26 November 1970) is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter. He is known for his larrikin personality, drawling Australian accent, and deadpan comedic delivery. Hughes co-hosts ''Hughesy, ...

for

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 is presented without explanation or narration as a showcase of surreal footage arranged around a single loose theme (expressed in the episode title) and blended without pause into a single continuous presentation. The series premiered on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

on January 1, 2011, 4:00 am New Year's Day. Hughes is a former employee of

MTV Animation MTV Animation is the animation department of the television network MTV. History In 1991, MTV debuted its first full-length animated series, ''Liquid Television'', which helped launch ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. MTV establishe ...

who first pitched it to

Mike Lazzo Michael Lazzo (born April 10, 1958) is a retired American television producer and the former executive (management), executive vice president in charge of the Adult Swim programming block of Cartoon Network, and its production arm, Williams Street ...

at Adult Swim after producing a

video mixtape A video mixtape (VMT) is a stock footage movie consisting of clips from movies, television or home videos that are generally circulated as bootleg videos. Also called party tapes or video compilations, this phenomenon comes from the days of Betam ...

for the network's 2010 ''Carnival Tour'' event. As a result of its 4 a.m.

graveyard slot A graveyard slot (or death slot) is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots are usually in the early mor ...

and small selection of episodes, the series remains relatively unknown on the network, but has been received positively and dubbed a cult phenomenon by critics and Adult Swim itself. The series has aired 42 episodes and 3 specials over the course of 11 seasons, including two episodes, "Technology" (by

Wham City Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April Ca ...

) and "Paradise" (by Ghosting.tv), that Adult Swim announced on October 13, 2017, would air in late 2017. On December 31, 2019, Dave Hughes tweeted that the episode "Patterns" was the "last nefor now", indicating that the series has been put on hiatus until further notice. On June 9, 2020, the show came back with season 10. On October 12, 2021, the show came back with season 11. On July 4, 2022, the show came back with season 12.

Synopsis

The series is presented without explanation or narration as a showcase of surreal footage—animations, short films,

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

s, film, and television clips,

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

and morphing psychedelic imagery—arranged around a single loose theme (expressed in the episode title) and blended without pause into a single continuous presentation.

Production

Series creator

first started working for Adult Swim in 2003 after an eight-year stint with

, where he had edited series such as ''

Beavis and Butt-head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

'' and ''

Celebrity Deathmatch ''Celebrity Deathmatch'' is an adult stop-motion claymated series created by Eric Fogel and produced by John Worth Lynn Jr. for MTV. A parody of sports entertainment programs, ''Celebrity Deathmatch'' depicted various celebrities engaging in ...

''. Hughes, who saw Adult Swim "slipping away from its more experimental roots" as it got popular, had the concept for ''Off the Air'' in mind before, but never thought he would be the one to make it. While living in New York, ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV ...

'', ''Concrete TV'', ''

Liquid Television ''Liquid Television'' was an animation showcase that appeared on MTV from 1991 to 1995. It has served as the launching point for several high-profile original cartoons, including ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. The bulk of ''Liquid T ...

'' and '' Night Flight'' were among some of the experimental programming that exposed him "to a whole new world of ideas, music and people that I just didn't see anywhere else on television." Hughes first pitched the series to the network through

at Adult Swim sometime after late 2009, after producing a

that would be projected behind musical performers for the network's 2010 ''Carnival Tour'' event. He compiled footage for the mixtape using the

Prelinger Archives The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life, and social history. It was in New York City from 1982 to 2002 and is now in San Francisco. History The Arc ...

, as well as various online sources, and applied

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

to them "until you didn't quite know what you were looking at." He originally imagined for it to exist as a "bizarre collection" of Internet and archival footage intertwined with clips from Adult Swim shows, "set to good music." He ultimately had to omit the latter material, however, as the network would still have to acquire licenses for their own series in

derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...

s. He found that once they were gone, "the show really opened up." In putting an episode together, Hughes seeks clips "with some kind of truth or integrity to them", opting for both

s in addition to ones with fewer view counts. Tracking down licensees for clips proves to be the most difficult aspect of the process, he stated, with co-producers Cody DeMatteis and Alan Steadman assisting him in pursuit of material hard to obtain. When asked if getting consent for other's work posed a challenge, Hughes noted it to be helpful working under the "Adult Swim banner", with only a few artists responding with reluctance. He wrote that each piece of the episode is treated with protection, not "trying to exploit anyone or make fun of anything or anybody." Each episode is edited using

Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear editing, non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia, Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Macintosh, Mac computers power ...

, along with

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

and

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...

for further manipulation (often employing data-moshing techniques). Hughes observed a large portion of producing episodes to stem from "finding the right music to go with the visuals, or vice versa", and found transitions to "really help keep it moving." Likewise, Hughes digressed from ''Liquid Television'' use of longer segments in order to make the series a "larger event rather than a series of smaller events", and found visual effects and transitions to be "a huge part" of his theory in making an episode. Starting in Season 7, the series began airing episodes produced by guest curators. A compilation of videos that were once considered to be featured in the first season had been published on the network's official blog. These videos, extending into its second season as well as hosting various other supplemental material, have since been published onto Network Awesome. A compilation of material from the first season and additional shorts was given a theatrical release at

Cinefamily The Cinefamily was a non-profit cinematheque located in West Hollywood, California, at the historic Silent Movie Theatre. The Cinefamily's mission statement was to "reinvigorate the movie-going experience by fostering a spirit of community and a ...

on August 25, 2012, which Hughes attended. In 2018, Hughes started ''Smalls'', a complementary series on Adult Swim's website featuring original shorts from the artists featured on ''Off the Air'' as well as new talent. Hughes has said he intended for the series to include "more traditional shorts,

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

a little more character and a little more comedy," as opposed to the more abstract material on ''Off the Air''. The series includes both weekly online short films and full 11-minute shorts for the network proper, the latter of which air under the title ''Adult Swim Smalls Presents''. The shorts and TV episodes also air on the ''Off the Air'' marathon stream on the network's website. Beginning in 2022, episodes of ''Smalls'' were added to

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

, with some also premiering there.

Broadcast and reception

Its pilot episode, "Animals", premiered on Adult Swim on New Year's Day 2011 at 4 a.m.; it was broadcast twice in a row, back-to-back. Episodes have continued to air in this time slot—considered a

in broadcast programming—and as a result of this and its small selection of episodes, the series remains relatively unknown on the network. However, Austin McManus of ''

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

'' noted

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

to be "gradually spreading" about it. He and the network also described the show as a cult phenomenon. Three specials have been produced: " Dan Deacon: U.S.A.", broadcast July 6, 2013, consists of surreal footage of American landscapes, with music from the last four tracks of the album ''

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

'' by

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...

. A second special—the second-season episode "Nightmares" played in literal reverse—aired after

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

night on November 1, 2014. The third special is a music video of Deacon's song "When I Was Done Dying" from his album ''

Gliss Riffer ''Gliss Riffer'' is the fourth studio album by American electronic musician Dan Deacon. It was released on February 25, 2015, on Domino Records. Background The album's title is combination of the common music term "Gliss", short for glissando, ...

'' animated by nine directors featured previously in ''Off the Air'', that broadcast March 24, 2015. It has received positive critical reception, with McManus conducting an eight-page interview and profile of Hughes in appreciation of the series. The magazine had previously published a special issue centered on the network and its shows in July 2012, but overlooked ''Off the Air'', presenting an "opportunity to shed a little insight and background on an extraordinary unique show." Speaking from the first time he watched it, McManus praised it for not being "your typical try-too-hard-to-be-weird production." In ''

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

'', Sam Thielman ranked it second place out of 18 other programs on the network. He tied it with the network's parody

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

specials and wrote that it was "in the same category as ''

King Star King ''King Star King'' is an American adult animated web series created by J.J. Villard for Adult Swim; Eric Kaplan also worked on the series' pilot episode. The series aired on the network's online video streaming service Adult Swim Video on June 15, ...

'' among things that are so cool and strange that they look like they should probably be part of a video installation in an art gallery somewhere." For ''

Neon Tommy ''Neon Tommy'' was the online news publication sponsored by the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. It was active from 2009 to 2015. Publication Neon Tommy was a web-only student publicati ...

'', Jeremy Fuster called it "a dark, unspeakable corner of television where no light can reach and only the sleepless and drug-addled dare to venture." Amanda McCorquodale of the ''

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami area and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired by Village Voic ...

'' joked that, for artists featured on the show, "nothing compares to the prestige of sharing a network with

Tim & Eric Tim & Eric are an American comedy duo consisting of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. They are the creators and stars of the Adult Swim television series ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'', ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'', '' Check It Out! wit ...

and Brak, right?" Ultimately, she saw it as the "already bizarre network's foray into out-there visual experimentation." Writing for ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'', Matthew Trammell regarded it as "when things get really interesting." PQ Ribber of ''The Overnightscape Underground'' dubbed the series a "modern version" of ''Liquid Television'' and called it "really kinda spiffy, and trippy, and cool."

Casper Kelly Chris "Casper" Kelly is an American writer, television director, and producer. Career Kelly is the co-creator of the Adult Swim live-action series ''Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell'', the Adult Swim animated series ''Stroker and Hoop'', and the ...

sought inspiration from the show during the production of his short film for the network, '' Too Many Cooks''. Ratings-wise, several episodes have surpassed one million views according to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. Hughes added that he follows the series' ratings when it occurs to him, but does not receive further

analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...

. He found it to trend on Twitter during the weeks of its airing, and likes viewing user's statuses regarding it. In particular, he enjoys reactions from people who wake up to it after falling asleep to the network, and judged from the online response that its audience would be "pretty young, late teens, early 20s" and "strangely positive and engaged." The network has broadcast praise of the show written by viewers in the form of bumpers, often hinting at further episodes being produced. Episodes have been distributed to sites like YouTube, while a continuous online stream of the show was launched by the network on September 5, 2014. On December 19, 2014, the show's Facebook page announced that additional exclusive material will be added to the livestream.

Episodes

Explanatory notes

References

External links