Washington Monthly

How is it that the same economy that gives us bland fodder like Vin Diesel, Evanescence, and "According To Jim" can sometimes suddenly produce the sort of wonderful, bizarre material that we see on Adult Swim? It's because the good stuff tends to come when nobody's looking--created by those on the fringes of the studio system, occupying marginal creative real estate with minimal supervision. In the natural world, punctuated evolution occurs when small groups find themselves geographically isolated and free from natural predators, allowing creatures with rare mutations to thrive and develop into entirely new species. So it is in entertainment: The best material has often come from the back alleys of the studio system.

Yes. It's precisely because "the good stuff tends to come when nobody's looking--created by those on the fringes of the studio system, occupying marginal creative real estate with minimal supervision."

Ever seen Space Ghost, Coast-to-Coast? Do you have Brak's Greatest Hits on CD and mp3? If you have and do, then this Washington Monthly article is not for you. It may make you cry. It may even be a sign of Armageddon, or at least a jump-the-shark moment for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's post-modern, post-primetime adult cartoon slot. Nah. If you don't know Adult Swim, go read it. For a comparative, Adult Swim is to Sponge Bob, what Jon Stewart is to Larry King. The fact that it comes out of Time-Warner is reason to belive there's a God.

(A politcal mag doing a piece on edgy cartoons? Maybe we can presume the writer, Justin Peters, is the son of founder Charlie Peters. Helps to have pull, I guess. Or maybe they're just tired of giving wedgies to neocons.)

Anyway, it's yet another fine example of when the cat's away the mice will play. Hoorah! Gee, yet more synchronicity: In the post previous to this one, I'd scribbled some on the growing realization that design and sensibility are replacing the old corporatized feature-advantage-benefit formulation comfortable to Spreadsheet Cowboys in nice pressed suits. Well, using Adult Swim's sardonic superhero fast food entrees and a winged avenger attorney as their anti-mush, Washington Monthly shows how corporate-induced mush syndrome applies to entertainment just like any other category.

[Other category? Go here and scroll down a few posts to "Climb ev'ry mountain" for how the off-the-suit's-radar model aided Chrysler's reemergence from the dead-pool.]