Animation Domination High-Def
Animation Domination High-Def is a late-night programming block broadcast by Fox. Originally premiering on July 21, 2013 as a spin-off of the Fox network's Sunday-night Animation Domination block, the block originally focused on new, original adult animation series—similarly in style to Adult Swim. The ninety-minute block and its content were primarily produced by Friends Night, a studio headed by Adult Swim alumni Nick Weidenfeld, Hend Baghdady, and creative director Ben Jones —including its programs, along with interstitials and other content featured during its programming.
In April 2014, it was reported that Fox planned to discontinue the ADHD block on television that June, citing an inability to reach the correct demographics among viewers; however, ADHD's digital outlets, which feature additional content such as online shorts, continue to operate. The block's last airings on Fox consisted only of reruns.
In January 2015, a new block under the "Animation Domination" name premiered on FXX. The new block featured first-run episodes of ADHD programs as well as some shows exclusive to it.
History
2013
On January 8, 2013, Fox announced that it would launch a spin-off adult animation block – similar in format to Adult Swim – called Animation Domination High-Def. 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 – later reduced to 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on September 7, 2013 with the 12:00 a.m. half-hour being given back to its owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to carry other programming – with some affiliates delaying the block by 30 minutes to an hour to run late evening newscasts. 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, with the 90-minute block being filled thereafter by reruns of the network's primetime series. Fox Entertainment Group's president at the time, Kevin Reilly, announced the block would feature alternative programming, highlighting short films and extended film trailers in between the episodes. Nick Weidenfeld, former development head at Adult Swim, was tapped to oversee the block. The block uses various animated bumpers that were produced each week with a new "Week In Review" piece that aired each Saturday.
Weidenfeld stated in an interview with The New York Times that Animation Domination High-Def 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 for the block to offer viewers new content with a significant lack of cynicism, which he believed contrasts his former employer, which he stated is "not an optimistic channel." Despite this, Weidenfeld allowed Cartoon Network/Adult Swim owner Turner Broadcasting System to purchase commercial time during the premiere night of ADHD. 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 was done without their knowledge.
All content within the block – the animation for the programs themselves, bumpers and interstitial short films – were produced by Friends Night Studios at its offices on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. Along with the short seasons offered for production approval and Fox's ownership of all content in the process, this setup was designed to reduce total costs and significantly shorten the turnaround time for most shows. In addition to the Fox lineup, ADHD's programming is also available for streaming on a dedicated website and mobile app as well as through Hulu. All of the programs in the lineup were generally shown without commercial interruption, and with few exceptions, aired without editing. The High School USA! episode "Best Friends Forever" was released briefly on Hulu and not broadcast on Fox due to content issues with the network's standards and practices department.
2014
On April 17, 2014, Broadcasting & Cable reported that Fox would discontinue Animation Domination High-Def after the June 28, 2014 broadcast of the block, citing an inability to reach the correct demographics during its Saturday late night timeslot—particularly as a result of 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, albeit consisting 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.
2015: Shift to FXX
In 2015, Fox began to shift the original series it had produced through ADHD 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 were aired at midnight ET on January 1, 2015 as a lead-out for a marathon of The Simpsons, while new episodes of the two series 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, explaining that "based on the successful launch of The Simpsons on FXX, this is the perfect time to expand our animation offerings and make FXX the after hours destination for animated shorts and series." Reruns of these new episodes can still potentially air on Fox. The FXX adaptation of this block includes an "Everything That Happened This Week" recap that appears in between the first two shows. That recap was discontinued in 2016.