The BEST Adult Swim shows of all time
Every Adult Swim show, ranked
We've compiled the average episode rating for every Adult Swim show to compile this list of best shows!
#1 - Adult Swim Infomercials
Adult Swim's Infomercials are quarter-hour American television comedy specials that have little to do with each other except that they are all fictitious. Most of the episodes lampoon the infomercial format, while others parody tropes and cliches in media such as closed-circuit info channels in hotels, sitcoms, and public-access television. The specials typically air at 4 AM Eastern Time. There is no title card or common identifier to any of the episodes, and On-Screen Programming guide info on each episode is left generic. Every episode has a different look and feel as there are no common directors, production companies or crew between all of the episodes, although some production companies have returned to make additional (and unrelated) episodes.
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#2 - Apollo Gauntlet
Paul Cassidy, a police officer on Earth who gets sent to a futuristic feudal society by Dr. Benign. Now known as Apollo Gauntlet, the former cop fights evil and tries to take out Dr. Benign with the help of his talking gauntlets and magical suit.
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#3 - Off the Air
This series is presented without explanation or narration as a showcase of surreal footage—animations, short films, music videos, viral videos, film, and television clips, stock footage and morphing psychedelic imagery—arranged around a single loose theme (expressed in the episode title) and blended without pause into a single continuous presentation. The series does not air on a regular schedule, with new episodes airing unannounced.
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#4 - Tim and Eric Nite Live
The makers of Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! offer broadband talk show Tim and Eric Nite Live. Viewers can interact with Tim, Eric and friends at their website.
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#5 - Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule
Channel 5's Dr.Steve Brule has a new show! Brule hits the streets this time around. Jam-Packed with interviews! Popular segments like "On the Spot" and "Doctor to Doctor" lets Steve experience things first-hand. Check it Out!
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#6 - The Venture Bros.
Hank and Dean Venture, with their father Doctor Venture and faithful bodyguard Brock Samson, go on wild adventures facing megalomaniacs, zombies, and suspicious ninjas, all for the glory of adventure. Or something like that.
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#7 - Rick and Morty
Follows the misadventures of an alcoholic scientist Rick and his overly nervous grandson Morty, who split their time between domestic family life and intergalactic travel. Often finding themselves in a heap of trouble that more often than not is created through their own actions.
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#8 - Decker
The free world is in danger, and only one man can help. Jack Decker has sworn to defend America from foreign terrorists regardless of which spineless president is in charge. This is Decker: The Series.
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#9 - Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
From Tim and Eric, the creators of Adult Swim's 'Tom Goes To The Mayor', comes a bizarre comedy, which consists of sketches, fake commercials, prank phone calls, etc. Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, features many guest stars, in addition to it's numerous appearances by the show's creators Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. It is mostly live-action, which is very unusual for a channel called "Cartoon Network". The unusual humor should appeal to viewers of the rest of the Adult Swim block that airs on the Cartoon Network.
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#10 - Korgoth of Barbaria
Korgoth is a 30-minute animated parody of the sword and sorcery genre and follows the exploits of the most feared and physically awesome barbarian the world has ever seen. When an unsavory ruffian swings an axe into Korgoth's shoulder, it just makes him angry. And he's irritable and bellicose at the best of times. Korgoth lives in a world of spiteful wizards, overweight inn-keepers, devious and hedonistic thieves and distressed, scantily-clad maidens. Through brute strength, an absolute adherence to the tenets of stoicism, and a fair amount of sheer luck, Korgoth often finds himself coming out ahead of his medieval antagonists.
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#11 - Sealab 2021
The year is 2021. Deep below the ocean's surface, looms a vast, magnificently high-tech compound: Sealab. A multi-national scientific station with an annual budget in the trillions, dedicated to the research and exploration of man's final frontier... Sealab's crew is charged with exploring the possibility of underwater colonization. As the Earth's surface, by this time, has gotten just generally crowded, hot, and icky. However, as most government-funded agencies usually are, Sealab is manned by a motley collection of malcontents and screw-ups who were unfit for work in the private sector. They really don't get any research done, but instead spend their time bickering among themselves or just plain goofing off. The crew have manipulated their luckless leader, Captain Murphy, into submission, and are content to ride the government clock, raking in fat, hazardous-duty paychecks.
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#12 - Samurai Jack
Made by Genndy Tartakovsky, this cartoon tells the story of a great warrior displaced to the distant future by the evil shape-shifting wizard Aku. The world has become a bleak place under the rule of Aku, segregated into fantastic tribes and ruled by Aku's evil robot warlords. Jack travels this foreign landscape in search of a time portal that can return him to his home time so he can "undo the future that is Aku!".
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#13 - Xavier: Renegade Angel
Xavier wants to find out who he is and where he comes from. From his serpent arm to his backwards knees, beak, and six nipples, Xavier is different from most. Although Xavier means well he is often causing trouble wherever he goes in Xavier: Renegade Angel.
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#14 - Moral Orel
Orel is an eleven year old boy who loves church. His unbridled enthusiasm for piousness and his misinterpretation of religious morals often lead to disasterous results, including self-mutilation and crack addiction. No matter how much trouble he gets into, his reverence always keeps him cheery.
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#15 - Home Movies
TV series about the life of Brendon Small, an eight-year-old visionary who, using his friends Jason and Melissa as actors, have managed to direct over a thousand homemade films. His parents are divorced, but it doesn't feel strange since so many other kids' parents are divorced. His friend Jason actually feels upset because his parents are still together. At school, he is taught soccer by his coach John McGuirk, or as he calls him, "that weird Irish guy".
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#16 - Made in Abyss
The “Abyss” is the last unexplored region, an enormous and treacherous cave system filled with ancient relics and strange creatures. Only the bravest of adventurers can traverse its depths, earning them the nickname, “Cave Raiders.” Within the depths of the Abyss, a girl named Riko stumbles upon a robot who looks like a young boy. Tantalized by the Abyss, Riko and her new friend descend into uncharted territory to unlock its mysteries, but what lies in wait for them in the darkness?
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#17 - Joe Pera Talks with You
A teacher in Michigan's Upper Peninsula explores subject matters such as pancakes, blueberries, eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, English muffins, coffee, orange juice, maple syrup, waffles, cornbread, and strawberries.
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#18 - Primal
Primal features a caveman at the dawn of evolution. A dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Bonded by tragedy, this unlikely friendship becomes the only hope of survival in a violent, primordial world.
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#19 - Frisky Dingo
The most evil villain of all time ever is halfway bent on destroying the Earth. Meanwhile, his nemesis, Awesome-X, is ambivalent about stopping him, as it might just crush toy sales.
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#20 - The Animatrix
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines.
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#21 - Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace
A super pure tragicomedy rosary of pious prayers bringing unity, joy, and excellent living to all.
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#22 - Squidbillies
Five million years ago, the Atlantic Ocean covered North America all the way to the Ohio Valley. As the ocean receded to form our present-day geography, a family of squids was stranded in a remote setting in the North Georgia mountains. This motley melange of mischievous mollusks, influenced by the rural ways of the redneck locals, quickly "adapticise" to a world of fighting, feuding and fornicating with a Faulknerian flambé of ferocious sea creature livin'. The humor lies in the "adapticization."
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#23 - The Boondocks
Two black boys, Riley and Huey Freeman, experience a culture clash when they move from the South side of Chicago to the "boondocks" to live with their grandfather.
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#24 - Mike Tyson Mysteries
A new series by Warner Bros Animation that places the ex-boxer in a problem solving premise alongside a talking pigeon and a magical face tattoo.
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#25 - Metalocalypse
Metalocalypse is an eleven-minute flash animated comedy airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The series follows the exploits of a fictitious half American/half Scandinavian death metal band known as Dethklok. The band and its members are huge the world over, but incredibly stupid - a death metal version of Spinal Tap. Watch as they leave a trail of destruction and mayhem in their wake with their ear-melting onslaught of metal!
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#26 - Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Feel The Power... OF ATTORNEY! Once, he was known as the aviary superhero called simply Birdman. Eventually, Birdman fell on hard times, and the hero route went by the wayside. Now, as an attorney, he represents his fellow former Hanna-Barbera cartoon stars, in a variety of strange cases. With opposing counsel made up of his former villains and his pet/partner Avenger working as his personal secretary, Harvey tackles the cases only a guy in a business suit with a mask & large wings can!
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#27 - The Drinky Crow Show
The Drinky Crow Show is an American animated television series created by Tony Millionaire and Eric Kaplan based on the "Maakies" comic strip by Tony Millionaire. The show centers around Drinky Crow (a drunken crow) and Uncle Gabby, described as a drunken Irish monkey. It has an eighteenth century nautical setting. The Drinky Crow show is a fast-paced, plot-twisting laff-riot combining adventure, romance, debauchery and graphic violence — offering something for everybody!
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#28 - The Eric Andre Show
The show is a parody of low-budget public access talk shows, hosted by Eric André and Hannibal Buress. André is a hyperactive and dysfunctional host who often stutters or otherwise fails to properly maintain his screen presence. He often overreacts during interviews, acts aggressively towards his crew members, diverts from the script and refuses to read the cue cards. The surreal attitude of the show is emphasized by "celebrity" guests that have nothing in common with the actual stars they purport to be except their announced names, although occasionally genuine celebrities do appear. Besides the studio segments that are the main focus of the show, short sketches, candid camera footage and non sequiturs, usually focused on André's absurd behavior, are featured in the program.
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#29 - Perfect Hair Forever
Perfect Hair Forever is a show about a young boy named Gerald who for some unknown reason is going bald. He sets off on an adventure to gain "perfect hair forever" under the guidance of his mentor, Uncle Grandfather, and Rod, The Anime God. He meets many strange individuals who join him in his quest including the Action Hotdog, Norman Douglas (Former the Inappropriate Comedy Tree), The King of All Animals, Twisty (aka Terry), and others. He is thwarted at every step by Coiffio, the Evil Controller of Cats, whose minions include Catman, Model Robot, and the Astronomic Cat. Essentially it's a big parody of Japanese Anime, and is not meant to be taken seriously, at all. Not even a little bit.
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#30 - The Heart, She Holler
A live-action series starring Patton Oswalt, Kristen Schaal and Heather Lawless
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#31 - FLCL
Naota's life is confined to going to school and living with his father and grandfather. The usually tranquil life in Mabase is rudely interrupted by the arrival of Haruhara Haruko, who bursts on the scene by running Naota over with her Vespa scooter and hitting him on the head with a Rickenbacker 4003 bass guitar. Later, Naota is shocked to find Haruko working in his house as a live-in maid. Haruko's search for the alien being Atomsk puts her at odds with Medical Mechanica. At the same time, Naota is being watched by Commander Amarao. The Commander believes Haruko is in love with Atomsk and Medical Mechanica is out to conquer the galaxy. The fortuitous circumstances get Naota involved in a three-way battle between Haruko, Amarao and Medical Mechanica.
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#32 - Final Space
An astronaut named Gary and his planet-destroying sidekick Mooncake embark on serialized journeys through space in order to unlock the mystery of “Final Space,” the last point in the universe, if it actually does exist.
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#33 - Mr. Pickles
The Goodman family lives with their lovable pet dog, Mr. Pickles, a deviant border collie with a secret satanic streak.
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#34 - Superjail!
Superjail is the largest and most brutal prison in the world. Built in an active volcano, this complex routinely has riots and murders, though nobody is ever able to escape. The Warden, who is in charge of the prison, has gone insane over the years and has decided to make his prison unlike any other in the world. Superjail! will focus on the crazy antics that occur inside the prison.
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#35 - Smiling Friends
Smiling Friends Inc. is a small company whose main purpose is to bring happiness to its clients. The series follows the day-to-day lives and misadventures of its representatives, the lazy, cynical Charlie, and the cheerful, optimistic Pim, as they try to cheer up and comfort the troubled people who call their company's hotline and help them out with their problems.
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#36 - 12 oz. Mouse
From the co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Space Ghost comes 12 oz. Mouse, the story of a drunk mouse named, well, Mouse. Occasionally he'll be called Fitz, but that isn't important. His best friend, and only friend, is Skillet, the chinchilla. They rob banks and get into all sorts of trouble.
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#37 - Robot Chicken
A series of pop-culture parodies using stop-motion animation of toys, action figures and dolls. The title character was an ordinary chicken until he was run down by a car and subsequently brought back to life in cyborg form by mad scientist Fritz Huhnmorder, who tortures Robot Chicken by forcing him to watch a random selection of TV shows, the sketches that make up the body of each episode.
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#38 - Childrens Hospital
A hospital isn't a place for lazy people. It's a place for smart people who take care of people who aren't smart enough to keep themselves healthy. So begins Childrens Hospital, an all-new series that follows the lives, loves and laughs of a hospital staff.
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#39 - Aqua Teen Hunger Force
FryLock, Shake and Meatwad are three anthropomorphic fast food items in suburban southern New Jersey.
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#40 - Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories
Tim and Eric's parody of horror anthology TV shows.
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#41 - Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil
An animated comedy series about Lucy, the 18 year old daughter of Satan who also happens to be the antichrist. Through out the series, Lucy attempts to live a normal life despite large amounts of interference from her father who wants her to follow her destiny as the one who will destroy the world. Unfortunately for Satan, his plans start to get fouled up when Lucy starts dating a man named Jesus.
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#42 - Space Dandy
Space Dandy is a dandy guy in space! This dreamy adventurer, with a to-die-for pompadour, travels across the galaxy in search of aliens no one has ever laid eyes on. Each new species he discovers earns him a hefty reward, but this dandy guy has to be quick on his feet because it’s first come – first served! Accompanied by his sidekicks, a rundown robot named QT and Meow the cat-looking space alien, Dandy bravely explores unknown worlds inhabited by a variety aliens. Join the best dressed alien hunter in all of space and time as he embarks on an adventure that ends at the edge of the universe!
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#43 - The Jellies
Follows a family of jellyfish and their 16-year-old human son, Cornell, whom learns that he was adopted at birth, setting the course of hectic events he and his family must go through in a journey of finding himself.
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#44 - Black Dynamite
Black Dynamite is based on the 2009 film of the same name. Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Tommy Davidson and Kym Whitley reprise their film roles as Black Dynamite, Bullhorn, Cream Corn and Honeybee, respectively. Like the movie, the show is predominantly a spoof of and tribute to blaxploitation cinema. The show features a dynamic animation style rooted in Japanese anime.
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#45 - China, IL
Frank and Steve Smith are brothers who teach in the history department of a state university in China, Illinois. They also happen to be legends in their own minds who will often sacrifice facts, lessons and syllabi for the sake of being awesome.
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#46 - The Shivering Truth
The Shivering Truth is a miniature propulsive omnibus clusterbomb of painfully riotous daymares all dripping with the orange goo of dream logic. A series of loosely linked emotional parables about stories within tales that crawled out of the deepest caverns of your unconscious mind and became lovingly animated in breath-slapping stop motion - in other words, it is the truth.
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#47 - Delocated
In "Delocated", a family in the witness protection program are moved to New York City, but only under the restrictions that they wear ski masks on camera and surgically graft voice changing devices to their vocal cords. David's problems are exacerbated when his family leaves him over the idea and the assassin discovers his new location.
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#48 - Tigtone
Tigtone is the saga of a quest-addicted hero who slashes his way across a satirical fantasy universe with melodramatic ferocity, always obeying the letter of the law but never its spirit.
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#49 - Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio
An animated sketch-comedy show, Sclopio Peepio comprises short, singular routines, short films, and songs. Each episode is a quarter-hour long, with some sketches lasting only a few seconds.As part of the main cast, Affion Crockett, Ilana Glazer, Darrell Hammond, Gabourey Sidibe, and Neely provide the voices of various characters. One guest star appears each episode.
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#50 - Eagleheart
Every episode of Eagleheart promises violence, suspense, intrigue and copious amounts of needless bloodshed as Marshal Chris Monsanto blindly kicks, punches and shoots his way to what may or may not be a legitimate solution to his case. On any given day, Monsanto may battle a pair of evil twin gubernatorial candidates, surgically alter his appearance to investigate a string of elderly kidnappings, track missing mountain lions to the center of the earth, or punch people so hard they explode. Aided by his sidekicks Brett (Brett Gelman, The Other Guys) and Susie (Maria Thayer, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and under the watchful authority of Chief (Michael Gladis, Mad Men), Chris Monsanto's goal is always the same: to overcome the obstacle that was presented in the beginning of the episode.
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