Adult Swim on Fox? Network Plans New Late-Night Animation Block

If you groan every Saturday when you flip to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network hoping for some "Robot Chicken," but instead get a bunch of anime, then here's some news you might be interested in.

Fox announced yesterday that it will be partnering with Adult Swim to create a new block of animated shows for grown-ups on Saturday nights. The 90-minute block will include original programming, most likely all animated (though live-action shows similar to "Children's Hospital" aren't out of the question), designed for a late-night audience like the one that enjoys Adult Swim.

Fox exec Kevin Reilly noted during the TCA press tour that Fox has had to turn down a lot of animated material for their primetime slots due to stiff comeptition: "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" are long-running, well-loved shows that set a pretty high bar as far as animated comedies go.

The late-night slot, though, provides much more freedom: as Adult Swim has shown, there's much more room for experimentation and alternative comedy, as opposed to having to stick to the sitcom format used in primetime. Nick Weidenfeld, who executive produces "Children's Hospital" and "The Boondocks" on Adult Swim, will be in charge of developing the content for the block.

This animation block could potentially create competition for "Saturday Night Live," which up to this point had more or less run unopposed on late night Saturdays.

The content will be developed this year, with the goal of launching the new block in January of 2013, one year from now.