While the fifth season of Adult Swim’s animated sci-fi sitcom being on-air, we acknowledge how hard it is to wait for the upcoming episodes. Focusing on Rick Sanchez, a crazy scientist who can travel through the fourth dimension, time, and battle strange creatures, as if it is a piece of cake for him, and Morty, his grandson who accompanies Rick in all his adventures, ‘Rick and Morty’ will make you glued to it. Despite being an animated series featuring goofy situations and characters, the show deals in a lot more— thought-provoking scenes, deeper lessons, and some dark moments. No wonder this combination for a TV show lets fans from all age groups enjoy it.
While you wait for the new episodes, you would probably want to try out similar animated shows to keep you occupied. Here is our list of recommendations. Some of them are light-hearted and positive, while the others are absurdist black or toilet comedies. Nevertheless, they will equally entertain you.
8. Disenchantment (2018-present)
Created by: Matt Groening
Voiced by: Abbi Jacobson, Eric André, John DiMaggio, Nat Faxon, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, Matt BerryMaurice LaMarche
Total Number of Seasons: 2
The adult fantasy sitcom, ‘Disenchantment’ is creator Matt Groening’s first project made exclusively for a streaming service that had previously created some of the greatest sitcom animated series, ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Futurama’. The story has been organised in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Dreamland, focusing on the adventures of Tiabeanie or Bean, who is a rebellious and alcoholic princess. Bean is irritated and unhappy at her upcoming arranged marriage to Prince Merkimer. When she comes across a destructive demon, Luci and a naive elf companion Elfo, her life gets exciting as well as dangerous. The three friends go on dark and magical adventures, just like Rick and Morty. Although the series has been set in medieval times, we get to witness a more scientific side of things in it, which makes the show richer in quality. You can watch all the thirty episodes of the series on Netflix while waiting for the second part of season 2 of the show.
7. Solar Opposites (2020-present)
Created by: Justin Roiland, Mike McMahan
Voiced by: Justin Roiland, Thomas Middleditch, Mary Mack, Sean Giambrone
Total Number of Seasons: 2
An adult animated sitcom, ‘Solar Opposites’ centres on a family of extraterrestrials belonging from a better world who must take shelter in middle America. The family members are totally opposite from each other and debate whether their lives are better or worse on Earth. A parallel storyline also exists in the series focusing on a society of humans who have been confined in a terrarium known, shrunk by the replicant Yumyulack. The show seems as if it is an expanded version of one of the many dimensions of Rick and Morty, with Justin Roiland as the co-creator. The second season of the series came out in March, this year. You can watch the episodes of both the seasons on Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+. Moreover, the series has already received the green light for two more seasons with twelve episodes each.
6. The Venture Bros. (2003-2018)
Created by: Jackson Publick
Voiced by: Christopher McCulloch, Michael Sinterniklaas, Patrick Warburton, James Urbaniak, Doc Hammer, Dana Snyder, Steven Rattazzi
Total Number of Seasons: 7
The show is about the exploits and adventurous lives of the Venture family, which includes brothers Dean and Hank, who are incompetent which leads them to get involved in many dangerous situations involving the arch-nemesis of the family, The Monarch, who is the butterfly-themed supervillain. Fortunately, their super-scientist father, Dr. Thaddeus Venture and their trustworthy bodyguard, Brock Samson keeps the two of them safe. The show used to be interpreted as a satire of boy adventurer as well as Space Age fiction that used to prevail in the early 1960s, the show has involved to be known for its action, adventure, comedy and drama. The show is available to watch online on Prime Video and Hulu, and the official website of Adult Swim.
5. Steven Universe (2013-2020)
Created by: Rebecca Sugar
Voices of: Estelle, Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz
Total Number of Seasons: 5
Featuring the theme of family, love and significance of healthy interpersonal relationships, ‘Steven Universe’ serves as the first animated series of Cartoon Network to be created solely by a woman. It is a coming-of-age sci-fi tale of a young boy named Steven Universe who lives in the fictional town of Beach City in Delmarva, with magical and ageless alien warriors called Crystal Gems, named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl protect the town from monsters. Steven, the protagonist of this series, is a half-gem and half-human, inheriting his powers from his mother. Steven goes on adventures with his friends in order to help the Gems protect the world from different kinds of threats. You can stream all the episodes of the series on Netflix, Prime Video, Cartoon Network and Hulu.
Read: Top 10 Most Underrated Anime Movies Of All Time
4. Adventure Time (2010-2018)
Created by: Pendleton Ward
Voiced by: Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, Niki Yang, Hynden Walch, Tom Kenny, Pendleton Ward, Olivia Olson, Polly Lou Livingston
Total Number of Seasons: 10
The series has been set in a post-apocalyptic Land named Ooo, which was ravaged by a catastrophic event thousand years ago, destroying civilization. ‘Adventure Time’ narrates the adventures of a 12-year-old boy named Finn and his adoptive brother cum best friend, Jake, who is a dog with the magical power to transform into any size and shape as he pleases. They go on a series of unusual feats with each other and come across other main characters of the show, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, the Ice King, BMO and others. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most successful shows of Cartoon Network in the previous decade. The streaming rights of the show is being owned by HBO Max and Cartoon Network. You can also watch them on Hulu, Apple TV, Microsoft Movies & TV, Sling.
3. The Regular Show (2009-2017)
Created by: J. G. Quintel
Voiced by: J. G. Quintel, William Salyers, Mark Hamill, Sam Marin, Janie Haddad Tompkins, Minty Lewis
Total Number of Seasons: 8
Although the show’s format is very similar to that of ‘Rick and Morty,’ along with the humour present, the characters here are weird anthropomorphic animals. The show follows the stories of two working-class friends named Mordecai, who is a blue jay and Rigby, who is a raccoon, both working at a local park as groundskeepers. They like to entertain themselves, avoiding working, which keeps disappointing their boss, Benson, who is a gumball machine and their coworker, Skips, who is a Yeti. While they attempt in solving simple problems, they somehow get involved in some extreme, surreal, and supernatural misadventures. They often interact with their other coworkers— the lollipop-shape headed Pops, Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost. You can search for the episodes on Netflix, Prime Video and Hulu.
2. Invader Zim (2001-2006)
Created by: Jhonen Vasquez
Voiced by: Richard Steven Horvitz, Andy Berman, Melissa Fahn, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Jhonen Vasquez, Lucille Bliss, Rodger Bumpass, Wally Wingert
Total Number of Seasons: 2
Invader Zim is a sci-fi dark comedy series revolving around the story of an alien named Zim belonging to the planet named Irk. His only mission is to invade Earth on his own abilities and enslave the human race thereby earning approval from his superiors. However, he is not very competent and a young paranormal investigator named Dib figures him out. He determines to prevent Zim from achieving his goals and what follows is a rivalry between a human and an alien, different from what we are used to see in every cartoon. The frequent dashes of surreal humour and the deranged characters with Zim strangely being more humane in nature will keep on entertaining you. You can check out the show on Prime Video, Netflix and Paramount Plus.
1. Gravity Falls (2012-2016)
Created by: Alex Hirsch
Voiced by: Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, Linda Cardellini, Alex Hirsch, J. K. Simmons
Total Number of Seasons: 2
One of the best American animated series ever, ‘Gravity Falls’ has always received a lot of praise for the amazing writing, characters, comedy along with its multi-generational appeal, earning several award nominations and wins. The storyline revolves around the adventures of Dipper Pines and his twin sister Mabel who has been sent to visit their great-uncle, Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon, which is seemingly a mysterious town full of extrapolation incidents and supernatural creatures. Dipper and Mabel help their Uncle run the tourist trap that he owns named, ‘The Mystery Shack’ along with investigating the mysteries involved in the town. If you want to watch the series, you can access both the seasons on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.
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