Infomercials (TV specials)

Last updated
Infomercials
Genre
StarringVarious
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers Keith Crofford [lower-alpha 1]
Mike Lazzo [lower-alpha 2]
Walter Newman [lower-alpha 2]
ProducersMelissa Warrenburg [lower-alpha 3]
Ollie Green [lower-alpha 4]
Mark Costa [lower-alpha 5]
Paige Boudreaux [lower-alpha 6]
Camera setup Single camera
Running time5–22 minutes (15-30 min. with commercials)
Production company Williams Street
Original release
Network Adult Swim
ReleaseNovember 3, 2009 (2009-11-03) 
present

Infomercials is an umbrella title for independent, quarter-hour television comedy specials airing on Adult Swim. Unlike actual paid programming, all of the programs are fictitious, and for the most part maintain no continuity with each other.

Contents

Most of the specials closely resemble & lampoon the format of infomercials, while others parody tropes in niche media such as closed-circuit hotel information channels, industrial films, sitcoms, outdated reality television formats, and public-access television. A number of the titles have a purposeful standard definition look and framing, to match a dated aesthetic. The specials typically air at 4 a.m. ET/PT.

There is no title card or common identifier for the specials, and on some program guide listings, it can be confused with an actual segment of paid programming; if there is a description, it is sometimes blank, with no season or episode numbers. Every title has a different look, as outside of the Williams Street production logos, there are no common directors, cast or crew between the specials, though some directors have returned.

One in particular, " Too Many Cooks ", is notable for gathering media interest in November 2014. It contains a long-form introduction sequence common to 1980s and 1990s TV shows, except with a seemingly endless cast that continued to be introduced for 11 minutes straight. [1] [2]

Specials

All the titles are or have been aired under the homonym banner, according to the Adult Swim schedule.

No.TitleCreated by / Developed byWritten byDirected byCo-production(s)Original air date
1 Icelandic UltraBlue H. Jon Benjamin and David Cross Jeff BuchananNovember 3, 2009
2 Dangerously Delicious: Paid Advertisement Aziz Ansari (original stand-up comedy film)
(d): Aziz Ansari, Jason Woliner, and Eric Wareheim
Aziz Ansari, Jason Woliner, and Eric WareheimEric Wareheim Abso Lutely Productions
Grandpa Pictures
July 23, 2012
3 The NTSF:SD:SUV:HISS Infomercial [3] [4] [lower-alpha 7] Paul Scheer Alex Fernie and Nick WigerAlex Fernie 2nd Man On The Moon
Abominable Pictures
November 9, 2012
4 Swords, Knives, Very Sharp Objects and Cutlery [lower-alpha 7] Rob Huebel Eric Appel November 27, 2012
5BroomshakalakaJustin Becker, Steve Clemmons, and Becca KinskeyJustin Becker and Steve Clemmons Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert Abominable Pictures December 10, 2013
6 For-Profit Online University Wild, Aggressive Dog(s): Geoff Haggerty, Dan E. Klein, Matthew Klinman, Micheal Pielocik, Chris Sartinsky, and Sam West
(t): Sam West
Sam WestAbominable Pictures
Wild, Aggressive Dog (uncredited)
December 17, 2013
7 Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick Ben O'Brien and Alan Resnick Alan Resnick and Dina KelbermanBen O'Brien and Alan Resnick AB Video Solutions, LLC December 24, 2013
8Fartcopter [lower-alpha 8] Rob HuebelAlex FernieAbominable PicturesOctober 6, 2014
9The Salad MixxxerChris Amick, Ben Mekler, and David Soldinger Ken Marino and David SoldingerOctober 13, 2014
10Alpha Chow [lower-alpha 9] Justin Becker, Steve Clemmons, and Becca KinskeyJustin Becker and Steve ClemmonsDave GreenOctober 20, 2014
11Goth Fitness [lower-alpha 9] Chris Amick, Ben Mekler, and David SoldingerDanny Jelinek
12 Too Many Cooks Casper Kelly Awesome Inc. October 28, 2014
13 The Newbridge Tourism Board Presents: "We're Newbridge, We're Comin' to Get Ya!" Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster Tom ScharplingProduction Company ProductionsNovember 3, 2014
14In Search of Miracle Man Matt Besser and Rich Fulcher Neil MahoneyAbominable PicturesNovember 10, 2014
15Smart PipeWild, Aggressive Dog(s): Geoff Haggerty, Dan E. Klein, Matthew Klinman, Micheal Pielocik, Chris Sartinsky, and Sam West
(t): Micheal Pielocik (in Smart Pipe); Chris Sartinsky (in Book of Christ)
Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey MaxAbominable Pictures
Wild, Aggressive Dog
November 17, 2014
16Book of ChristNovember 24, 2014
17Frank Pierre Presents: "The Frank Pierre Resort & Casino"Paul ScheerMatthew FreundAbominable Pictures
2nd Man On The Moon
December 2, 2014
18Unedited Footage of a BearBen O'Brien (concept)Alan Resnick, Robby Rackleff, and Dina KelbermanAlan Resnick and Ben O'BrienWham CityDecember 16, 2014
19This House Has People in ItAlan Resnick (concept)Alan ResnickWham CityMarch 14, 2016
20Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep [lower-alpha 10] [lower-alpha 11] Joe Pera; (d): Kieran O'HareJoe PeraKieran O'Hare Chestnut Walnut Unlimited March 21, 2016
21 Big Grams: "Born to Shine" / "Run for Your Life" [lower-alpha 10] [lower-alpha 12] Antwan Patton, Sarah Barthel, and Josh Carter (original EP)
(d): Erik Minkin
Sarah Barthel, Antwan Patton, and Jim Petosa Awesome Inc. Awesome Inc. March 28, 2016
22M.O.P.Z. Todd Rohal and Benjamin KasulkeTodd RohalMechanical Dreams
PFFR
April 4, 2016
23Gigglefudge, USA Nicholas Maier and Dimitri Simakis John Lee PFFR
Everything Is Terrible!
FishBowl Worldwide Media
April 11, 2016
24Giles Vanderhoot Michael Showalter Michael Showalter and Jonathan Stern Michael ShowalterAbominable PicturesApril 25, 2016
25Live at the Necropolis: The Lords of SynthNick Corirossi, Scott Gairdner, Charles Ingram, Danny Jelinek, and Ryan PerezScott Gairdner and Ryan PerezNick Corirossi and Charles IngramMay 2, 2016
26NewsHitsRob HuebelSergio CilliMay 31, 2016
27MulchtownChris Sartinsky and Becca KinskeyChris SartinskyDanny JelinekIdeal Milk Co.
Abominable Pictures [7] (uncredited)
June 7, 2016
28 Check It Out! with Scott Clam [lower-alpha 7] John C. Reilly, Tim Heidecker, and Eric WareheimTim Heidecker and Eric WareheimAbso Lutely ProductionsOctober 23, 2017
29The Suplex Duplex ComplexZack Carlson, Bryan Connolly, and Todd RohalTodd Rohal PFFR
Ten Acre Films
October 30, 2017
30Wet ShapesKati SkeltonLittle Bear Bear Productions
It's Grim
November 6, 2017
31Innovation Makers: The Coyote Suit Dan Guterman and John HarrisDanny JelinekAbso Lutely ProductionsDecember 12, 2017
32A Message from the Future [lower-alpha 13] Paul ScheerPaul Scheer and Jonathan SternRyan PerezAbominable Pictures
2nd Man On The Moon
June 4, 2018
33Cool Dad - Official TrailerAlex Kavutskiy and Ariel GardnerAbominable PicturesJune 11, 2018
34Dayworld [lower-alpha 10] [lower-alpha 8] Cole Kush and Jay WeingartenAbso Lutely Productions
Daytime Studio
June 18, 2018
35Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough [lower-alpha 14] Casper Kelly and Nick Gibbons Awesome Inc. June 25, 2018
36Food: The Source of Life [lower-alpha 13] Greg HessRyan PerezAbominable PicturesJuly 2, 2018
37Pervert EverythingLorelei Ramirez PFFR
Wham City
December 10, 2018
38Flayaway Sarah Sherman Kati SkeltonAbso Lutely Productions
Helltrap Nightmare
December 17, 2018
39When Panties FlyChiyoung LeeDecember 16, 2019
40PiggySteve SmithSteve Smith & Clay TatumSteve SmithAbso Lutely ProductionsApril 27, 2020
41Skeleton Landlord [lower-alpha 8] [lower-alpha 15] Doug Bleichner & Sam WagstaffMay 4, 2020
42WormholesBenjamin BermanClark Baker, Benjamin Berman & Kirk C. JohnsonBenjamin BermanThe Ranch ProductionsSeptember 8, 2020
4311 Minute Whambam 90's Ride! Anders Holm Abominable PicturesNovember 30, 2020
44A Life In Questions: Wisdom School with Aaron Chen Aaron Chen & Henry Stone Henry StoneWest Street Sports, Pty Ltd.December 8, 2020
45Rate The Cookie (with Jo Firestone)Jo FirestoneJulie Miller PFFR December 14, 2020
46Danny Ketchup Casper Kelly Fried SocietyDecember 21, 2020
47The Fireplace (Adult Swim Yule Log) Casper Kelly Fried SocietyDecember 11, 2022

Scrapped

Notes

  1. Keith Crofford serves as Executive Producer for Williams Street on all infomercials.
  2. 1 2 Mike Lazzo and Walter Newman serve as Executive Producers for Williams Street on select infomercials individually alongside Crofford.
  3. Melissa Warrenburg serves as Producer for Williams Street on live action infomercials from 2016 and prior, as well as Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough in 2018 and When Panties Fly in 2019.
  4. Ollie Green serves as Producer for Williams Street on animated infomercials and on M.O.P.Z.
  5. Mark Costa serves as Producer for Williams Street on live action infomercials after 2016.
  6. Paige Boudreaux serves as Producer for Williams Street on action infomercials after 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 These three Infomercials are the only ones to be related to TV series.
  8. 1 2 3 These Infomercials also serve as pilot episodes for Adult Swim. [5] [6]
  9. 1 2 These two Infomercials are the only eighth-hour ones of the project, and are always scheduled as one program listed in TV guides as "Alpha Chow & Goth Fitness". No commercial break is aired between it.
  10. 1 2 3 These three Infomercials are the only animated ones of the project.
  11. In 2019, the Adult Swim's official YouTube channel has a version of this special repeated for 10 hours.
  12. Only music video Infomercial of the entire project.
  13. 1 2 These two Infomercials were originally called: Nuclear Political Ad (for the first), and Farm to Table (for the second). [8]
  14. Only half-hour Infomercial of the entire project.
  15. This infomercial was greenlit after being pitched on Adult Swim's weekly Development Meeting livestream. [9]

Related Research Articles

Williams Street Productions, LLC, d/b/a Williams Street and formerly known as Ghost Planet Industries, is an American animation and live action television production studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the in-house production arm of Adult Swim. Mike Lazzo and Keith Crofford oversaw operations for the building for most of its existence.

Michael Lazzo is a retired American television producer and the former executive vice president in charge of the Adult Swim programming block of Cartoon Network, and its production arm, Williams Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Crofford</span> American television executive

Keith Crofford is the former executive vice president of production for Adult Swim, the adult-oriented division of Cartoon Network, and general manager of Williams Street. He was executive producer for several Williams Street in-house productions such as Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show and Squidbillies. He also served as the executive producer for Williams Street out-of-house productions such as Sealab 2021, Robot Chicken, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Minoriteam and Moral Orel. Crofford was also the executive in charge of production for Adult Swim's The Venture Bros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Scheer</span> American comedian, actor, writer, and producer

Paul Christian Scheer is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. Scheer is best known for his roles in FX/FXX's The Leagueand Showtime's comedy series Black Monday. Scheer also co-created and starred in MTV's Human Giant, and Adult Swim's series NTSF:SD:SUV::, and has had recurring roles on ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and HBO's Veep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andre Royo</span> American actor, producer, and writer

Andre Royo is an American actor, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins on the HBO crime drama series The Wire, and his appearances on Fringe, Party Down, How to Make It in America, and the 2013 film The Spectacular Now. Royo also appeared as Lucious Lyon's defense attorney Thirsty Rawlings on the FOX drama series Empire.

B. J. Porter is an actor, writer and comedian. Porter began his career writing and performing on the HBO sketch comedy program, Mr. Show. Porter, along with the rest of the Mr. Show writing staff, was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999. Porter won an Emmy in 2014 and 2015 for the Funny or Die series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which he co-created. Between Two Ferns was also nominated for an Emmy in 2013.

<i>Childrens Hospital</i> American black comedy television series

Childrens Hospital is an American dark comedy television series and web series that parodies the medical drama genre, created by and starring actor/comedian Rob Corddry. The series began on the web on TheWB.com with ten episodes, roughly five minutes in length, all of which premiered on December 8, 2008. Adult Swim picked up the rights to the show in 2009 and began airing episodes in 2010.

<i>Paid Programming</i> (TV pilot) American TV series or program

Paid Programming is a television pilot for Cartoon Network's late night programing block that premiered, unannounced, in the United States on the night of November 2, 2009, and was then re-aired every Monday through Friday night until December 4, 2009. It did not reair the night of November 23, 2009 due to a Family Guy rerun.

NTSF:SD:SUV:: is an American black comedy television series created by Paul Scheer for Adult Swim. It parodies the police procedural and action film genres. The series starred Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Brandon Johnson, Kate Mulgrew, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Starr, Karen Gillan, Rob Riggle, and Peter Serafinowicz. NTSF:SD:SUV:: aired three seasons from July 22, 2011 to December 13, 2013. A number of special episodes were included within the broadcast of the series. In a 2014 interview, Scheer stated that the show is on an indefinite hiatus, with no immediate plans for a return.

Off the Air is an American psychedelic anthology television series created by Dave Hughes for Adult Swim. The series is presented without explanation or narration as a showcase of surreal footage arranged around a single loose theme and blended without pause into a single continuous presentation. The series premiered on Adult Swim on January 1, 2011, 4:00 am New Year's Day.

NTSF may refer to:

Adult Swim is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Showcase Television, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily airs animated and live-action comedies targeting a teenage and young adult audience.

<i>Filthy Preppy Teens</i> American comedy television series

Filthy Preppy Teens is an American satirical teen sitcom developed for Fullscreen by Paul Scheer, Curtis Gwinn and Jonathan Stern. The series, in which two wealthy teen siblings try to re-climb the social ladder after being presumed lost at sea, parodies teen dramas such as Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl. It debuted on April 26, 2016, as part of the first slate of programming on multi-channel network Fullscreen's eponymous subscription video-on-demand platform as a half-hour format program with an eight-episode order.

<i>Youre Whole</i> American satirical television series created by Michael Ian Black

You're Whole is an American satirical television series created by Michael Ian Black for Adult Swim. The show parodies self-help infomercials and stars Black as the host, Randall Tyree Mandersohn. In it, Mandersohn advertises his systems of objects and actions designed to help people with their issues. It was the production of Abominable Pictures, with which Black originally consulted with the premise of the show in mind. Meanwhile, Michael Showalter, longtime collaborator of Black, served as the director.

<i>Mike Tyson Mysteries</i> American adult animated television series

Mike Tyson Mysteries is an American adult animated television series, and is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation and Williams Street. It premiered October 27, 2014 on Adult Swim. The series features Mike Tyson solving mysteries, in the style of I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali, Scooby-Doo, Jonny Quest, and Mister T. On December 10, 2014, Adult Swim renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on November 1, 2015. A third season premiered on May 14, 2017, and the fourth and final season premiered on June 30, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Stern</span> American film producer

Jonathan Stern is the founder of Abominable Pictures, a creator-driven comedy production company that develops and produces content for television, web and film.

Abominable Pictures is an American creator-driven comedy production company that develops and produces content for television, web and film.

<i>Too Many Cooks</i> (short) 2014 short film directed by Casper Kelly

Too Many Cooks is a surreal black comedy short that originally aired as a special during Adult Swim's "infomercials" block on October 28, 2014, at 4:00 am Eastern Time. It was created, written, and directed by Casper Kelly, and produced by Williams Street. After its original airing, the piece became a viral video online and was repeated each night at midnight Eastern Time during the week of November 11, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warner TV Next</span> Television channel

Warner TV Next is a French television channel operated and distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery France, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery International. It launched on 11 February 2016 as Toonami, based on the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim programming block of the same name in the United States, and was originally targeted at children before shifting to mature audiences in 2020. The channel adopted its current branding on 4 September 2023.

<i>Joe Pera Talks with You</i> American television series

Joe Pera Talks with You is an American comedy television series created by Joe Pera for Adult Swim. The show stars Joe Pera as a fictionalized version of himself, a mild mannered choir teacher in Michigan who directly addresses the audience about seemingly mundane, everyday topics such as dance, pancakes, minerals, etc. Diving into these topics, viewers get an introspective glimpse into his slowly changing life in the Upper Peninsula and the interaction with people around him.

References

  1. Grinberg, Emanuella (November 10, 2014). "This weekend's trending video: 'Too Many Cooks'". No. Online. Turner Media. CNN. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  2. Branch, Chris (14 November 2014). "'Too Many Cooks' Creator Dishes on Making the Viral Hit". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. "NTSF:SD:SUV" The NTSF: SD: SUV: HISS Infomercial (TV Episode 2012)". IMDb. 9 November 2012. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  4. Bean, Alex (November 13, 2012). "NTSF:SD:SUV:: Episode Recap - HISS Infomercial - Season 2, Episode 13 – ToonZone News". ToonZone. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  5. "Adult Swim Pilot or Real Florida". Vimeo. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  6. "DAYWORLD - Cole Kush / Hello!". www.ckush.com. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  7. Adult Swim Infomercials — Abominable Pictures
  8. CREDITS — Abominable Pictures
  9. "Pitch Adult Swim | Development Meeting 7/11 | Adult Swim - YouTube". YouTube .
  10. Bnjrivera (March 11, 2016). "NEWS: The Return of the 4am Infomercials Premiering on 03.14.16 - [swim squad]" . Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  11. LySK1hZ.png (1301×642)
  12. Bnjrivera (March 11, 2016). "NEWS: The Return of the 4am Infomercials Premiering on 03.14.16 - [swim squad]" . Retrieved May 26, 2018.