With 2011 quickly coming to a close and 2012 on the horizon, I wanted to write a little bit on what the future has in store for [adult swim]…

What we already know… Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way. We’re clearly going to see new seasons of Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 (will it return to Aqua Teen Hunger Force? We’ll have to wait and find out,) Squidbillies, and Robot Chicken. AUPS1 is tentatively scheduled for May, while Robot Chicken is slated for April. Squidbillies has yet to recieve a date for its next season, however if the last couple of years are any indication, expect it to drop sometime next Fall.

This year, we also saw massive changes in production for shows, with Titmouse Inc. (who originally only made Metalocalypse,) now handling animating duties for Superjail, China, IL, and the Venture Bros. Shallow Gravy special (along with the announcement of Seasons 5 and 6 being handed over to Titmouse from the now closed World Leaders Entertainment.) Superjail has yet to nail down a release date (hopefully sooner than the exceedingly large gap between Seasons One and Two.) Metalocalypse is scheduled for April (although that’s one of the few shows riddled with production-related reschedulings.) and will revert back to its old 11 minute episodes (to be honest, 30 minutes didn’t really work.) Season Five of Venture Bros. has no release date as of yet, though much like Squidbillies, expect a release sometime between late Summer and mid-Fall.

We also learned that both Robot Chicken’s Seth Green and Matt Senreich and Frankenhole’s Dino Stamotopoulos have split from Shadowmachine Productions to spin off their own respective production companies (Stoopid Buddy Stoodios for Robot Chicken and Starburns Industries for Frankenhole… and possibly upcoming Moral Orel special(s).) Frankenhole is scheduled for February as of current.

In addition (though not formerly announced,) it has been speculated internally that Radical Axis (animation studio for AUPS1 and Squidbillies,) may have been folded into Floyd County Productions (the folks who make Archer for FX.) Production-wise, 2012 should be an interesting year for all of these production companies and their respective shows.

Live-Action-wise (because we know most of you LOOOOOVE the LA stuff): We know that all four of last year’s Live-Action shows will be returning. Childrens’ Hospital will be returning in early June (possibly with another DVD release alongside) as well as the sophomore outing of CH spin-off, NTSF:SD:SUV which is set to start production soon.

Speaking of new Live-Action, Season Two of Eagleheart starring Chris Elliott will premier in March, also with a DVD release not too far behind in April. Last but not least, Delocated Season Three will be premiering on January 5th, again, with a DVD release on the 17th (P.S.: A DVD review for Seasons 1 & 2… possibly even a giveaway on this very site may be in the works.) Additionally, it was announced by Eric Wareheim on Twitter that a Season Two for “Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule” may be in the works.

Stuff we’ve heard rumblings about… A lot of the following shows have been announced by [adult swim] however, as with this first show announced back in 2009 during Dragon*Con, it’s very possibly you may not even seen some of these shows this year…

First off, Tight Bros. which was originally touted as two Jersey guidos scamming chicks (note: This was pre-Jersey Shore so that could possibly have some bearing on why it hasn’t seen the light of day.) by Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil (who have previously written for Beavis and Butthead and How I Met Your Mother.) is once again slated for a premier… of 2012. Black Dynamite (which had a panel at this year’s New York Comic-Con,) a cartoon based on the movie of the same name starring Michael Jai White… is set for release in July (P.S.: Also being produced by Titmouse.,) Loiter Squad (created by OFWGKTA,)  is scheduled for March. Two other (probably live-action) shows are set for June and July… The Eric Andre Show (named after a comedian who does shows at the UCB Theater in L.A.,) and The Best of…Derrick Beckles (if you’ve seen the pilot for Totally 4 Teens, its probably the same idea.)

Surprises?… As with every year, [as] pulls out some specials, pilots, random stuff that’s aired at 4am, and of course… anime. What will be seen? Even we don’t know. Much like the new stuff I mentioned in the last paragraph, there are also a few pilots from people such as Bob Odenkirk, Nick Cannon, Dan Harmon, and the band Major Lazer (which Dave Willis briefly touched on when he was on the Swimcast this past Summer. Hint: Titmouse was mentioned.) We also learned that Jay-Z will be collaborating with [as] on something, as it was mentioned during last Spring’s Upfront (something we hope to be able to cover finally, this coming Spring.)

Also with the past few years, [as] has snatched up a couple of syndicated shows like King of the Hill and American Dad. We know that The Cleveland Show will (unfortunately) start airing in 2013, but nothing was annouced this year as of yet. Will they snatch up new Fox shows like Bob’s Burgers? Perhaps (in our wildest dreams) grab syndicated episodes of Archer? Or will they try something new/old and grab shows from other networks like BBC? Personally, I’d love to see episodes of Red Dwarf in circulation.

Will we see more specials like The Heart, She Holler? More than likely. Will The Room air on April Fools Eve again? Very likely. History certainly has a tendency to repeat itself. Despite that, in the past ten years, [adult swim] went from airing its own programming for six hours on two seperate nights to airing from 9pm to 6am every day of the week.

Whatever the end result… if 2011 was a record year for the [adult swim] network, just think about how 2012 should be… I know I am.