Rogers Media’s digi-station, G4, unveils a new block of programming today. Running weeknights in two-hour increments starting at 8pm, 11pm and 2am, Adult Digital Distraction – fittingly monikered ‘ADd’ – targets the male 18-to-34 demo with animated, live-action comedy and alternative series.
In a release, Rogers Media Television EVP programming Malcolm Dunlop says the new block is ‘sure to draw more viewers while entertaining G4’s existing audience,’ referring to the established fan base of popular Adult Swim series like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and The Venture Bros on Teletoon and Cartoon networks.
Starting off the summer block tonight, half-hour eps of Freaks and Geeks starting at 8 pm and 11 pm, Monday to Friday. The show follows siblings navigating the perils of a Michigan high school circa 1980. The cast includes SCTV vet Joe Flaherty and Spider-Man star James Franco.
Later at 9 pm, 12 pm and 2 am on Mondays only, half-hour eps of Undeclared follows a college freshman played by Jay Baruchel (Just Legal) whose recently-divorced dad (Loudon Wainwright III, For Your Consideration) tags along for the dorm experience.
Later on Mondays at 9:30 pm, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm, half-hour eps of The I.T. Crowd, a comedy based on a British series, centers on two basement-dwelling misfits who slave away in the IT department of a large corporation.
On Tuesdays, two back-to-back 15-minute eps of Superjail join the ADd block at 9 pm, 12 am and 2 am. Superjail is the largest and most brutal prison in the world, with routine riots and murders, an insane warden and no successful escapes.
Also on Tuesdays, two back-to-back 15-minute eps of Aqua Teen air at 9:30 pm, 12:30 am, and 2:30 am. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which has a cult following, is about the misadventures human-sized food items.
On Wednesdays, two back-to-back 15-min eps of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! start at 9 pm, 12 am and 2 am, featuring comedians, celebs and pets in short films, spoofs, animations, pranks and musical numbers.
Later on Wednesdays at 9:30 pm, 12:30 am and 2:30 am, Tom Goes To The Mayor joins the lineup. The protagonist moves to a small town, and befriends the eccentric mayor. Daft schemes ensue.
On Thursdays, starting at 9 pm, 12 am and 2 am, two back-to-back 15-minute eps of Delocated (pictured) air, about a family in a witness protection program who choose to live in NYC, with some curious restrictions.
The Thursday ADd lineup wraps with half-hour eps starting at 9:30 pm, 12:30 am and 2:30 am of The Venture Bros., about the misadventures of a former boy genius turned middle-aged mad scientist.
On Fridays, two back-to-back 15 min eps of Fat Guy Stuck in Internet start airing at 9 pm, 12 am and 2 am. It’s about an ace computer programmer – and jerk – who gets sucked inside his computer and must find a way out.
The week’s ADd block wraps on Fridays with a weekly half-hour comedy series Web Soup airing 9:30 pm, 12:30 am and 2:30 am. Host Chris Hardwick (Attack of the Show) curates web videos – from stunts and local news mishaps to web celebrity shenanigans.
Expected to join the ADd block’s fall and winter skeds later this year are Titan Maximum, from the creators of Robot Chicken, the net’s most popular original series. Stop-motion animation brings a 1980s-inspired action cartoon to life in which the fate of humanity once again rests in the hands of a team of misfits and a rust-bucket robot.
Also expected to join the ADd block later this year, Frankenhole is a new stop-motion animated show about Frankenstein, in which the mad genius who mastered immortality has also figured out time travel and created portals (Frankenholes), linking his supernatural creature-filled village to every time and place.
Southies, an animated comedy set in South Boston, is also expected to join the block’s fall and winter skeds, and tells the story of a family and their neighbours, who all like to smash things over each others’ heads.
Tight Bros is also joining the slate later this year. It’s described as an exploration of ‘the lives of two New Jersey guys who want to be rich and score but are really only successful at looking orange.’ ‘Nuff said.
