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Adult Swim has brought its cool block of Cartoon Network classics to an end after nearly two years of running, so it’s time to say goodbye to Checkered Past. Adult Swim has been going through a lot of changes together with Cartoon Network as the cable channel has been shifting around its schedule and priorities. The Adult Swim brand had become a major success within the network during the pandemic especially, and this resulted in an extension of Adult Swim within Cartoon Network and meant it started two hours earlier each day. Which meant there was also some room for some cool experimentation.
One of these fun experiments was a weekly block of shows dubbed Checkered Past. This block used the two extra hours Adult Swim had with Cartoon Network programming to showcase some of their older programs that had not been airing with the network for many years. Shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and more got to relive their glory days, but sadly Checkered Past has now come to an end according to Adult Swim’s future listings.
What Happened to Checkered Past?
According to Adult Swim’s programming listings beginning Monday, June 30th, Checkered Past has officially come to an end as of June 27th. The block had been previously shrunken down from its former two hours every weekday until one, and now it seems like that has disappeared completely in favor of more King of the Hill reruns. It makes sense for a channel given that King of the Hill is one of the top syndicated programs overall, but it’s a shame for all of the fans who loved seeing these nostalgic Cartoon Network shows on the air for the first time in many, many years.
It’s one of the many changes that Adult Swim and Cartoon Network are going to go through for the next year, and likely even more so given everything happening within Warner Bros. Discovery. If they separate their TV channels and their streaming platforms and other industries into different areas, then each cable channel is going to need to then focus on programming that’s going to survive the shift. As cable watching habits change, unfortunately even a success with older demographics like Adult Swim will need to rely on the things that will perform the best rather than experiment with its programming in this way further.
What Was Checkered Past?
Checkered Past first began with Adult Swim back in August 2023, and nearly ran for two years with Adult Swim. The then two hour block first began with Dexter’s Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd n Eddyand The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. These shows would end doing so well on their return that other classic Cartoon Network shows would be shuffled into the block as well with later additions being Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Evil Con Carne, Samurai Jack and more. There was even a brief time where we got classic Toonami shows as part of Toonami Rewind during this block as well before it was canceled too.
Checkered Past even then aired some experimental shows that are nearly impossible to watch these days too with Cartoon Planet, The Cartoon Cartoon Show, Johnny Bravo and even What a Cartoon! being offered as part of the block. While it seems like this nostalgic block is still going to be active in Latin America, for now its run has come to an end in the United States as Adult Swim continues to shuffle its schedule around for the foreseeable future.
