Why The Venture Bros. Was Cancelled (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Thanks to an official statement from Adult Swim, we now know a bit more information regarding the fate of the Venture Brothers. Now all that’s left is to start pointing fingers.

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Yes, Readers. Unfortunately, it’s true.

/After 17 years and 7 seasons, The Venture Brothers is having its plug pulled from Adult Swim/ Variety - Venture Bros

News broke to us about the show’s cancellation by the creator of the series Jackson Publick on September 7th in the form of a tweet. And while it was definitely an on-again-off-again watch for me, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel sad to hear the news

Doctor Orpheus will forever be my favorite character...for obvious reasons

Also, I had NO IDEA that show’s been under Adult Swim’s banner for 17 years, holy crap

I’m so used to the season per year ratio being 1 by 1 for most shows that I literally forgot about how there’d be like...year plus-long breaks between Venture Brother seasons.

Then again, the Boondocks had 4 seasons across the span of 8 and a half years, so I guess the ratio is just different for animation

ALSO also, can we talk about the fact that my mans created a whole-ass show, has 7 seasons under his belt...and he’s still not verified on Twitter?

Like DAMN. What...What more...Wh-What more do you have to do???

Like, Jack why are you like this? Just give this man a Blue Check! I think he deserves it!

But speaking of his tweet, one of the first things that the internet noticed when he shared the information with us was that they had known the show was cancelled a few months before he made the initial announcement.

And I guess people were pissed off with Adult Swim when they saw that tidbit, because 4 hours later, THEIR Twitter account -- their VERIFIED TWITTER ACCOUNT -- posted their own info about the status of the show, stating and I quote:

/We also want more Venture Bros. and have been working with Jackson and Doc to find another way to continue the Venture Bros. story. Endquote/

Now I’m absolutely sure that there are multiple ways of interpreting that tweet. But considering past news that I’ll talk about in a minute, I don’t think Adult Swim wanted to cancel the show.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be working so hard with Jackson and series writer Doc Hammer to try and find alternative ways to produce more Venture Bros. now that it’s being taken off the air.

No, I don’t think it’s Adult Swim responsible for the cancellation of Venture Bros. It’s WarnerMedia.

/You see, if you recall, WarnerMedia had to lay off around 600 members of its staff, specifically aimed at Warner Brothers/ Hollywood Reporter - WarnerMedia

It was reported that WarnerMedia made these layoffs due to the current health and safety crisis, but they didn’t start making said cuts until August. Or, at least, that’s when every news source began to report them.

/Then reports about WarnerMedia’s decision to put more focus onto HBO Max -- AT&T and WarnerMedia’s new streaming service to act as a competitor to Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ -- came out days later/ Vanity Fair - HBO Max

So if you’re anything like me -- then first of all, I am...SO sorry -- you might interpret the statement about WarnerMedia making these layoffs because of the virus as nothing but a cover.

Considering that these are the type of plans that have to be made well in advance considering their strategy with it, they used both a timely and relatable scapegoat in order to keep from having to say that they made these layoffs because they want to put as much focus in HBO Max as possible.

/That would explain why in Jackson Publick’s tweet, he said that they knew the show was getting cancelled -- and I quote -- a few months ago./

As far as whether or not Venture Brothers would’ve been affected by the layoffs, you have to remember that the show is produced by Williams Street Productions -- the company that produces the majority of Adult Swim’s original content. And since Williams Street is owned by Warner Brothers, that in fact means they’d be affected by these layoffs as well.

So how do we interpret Adult Swim’s tweet about possible avenues to save the show? Well, considering Adult Swim is also a product of Warner Brothers -- and, as a result, WarnerMedia -- their major option is making it an exclusive title on HBO Max

Because now that the layoffs have been made, the money is being redistributed to HBO Max in the form of yearly budgets

/2 billion dollars is going to be spent on the platform in 2020 alone, while their budgets for 2021 and 2022 are aimed to be at 1 billion each/

So in order for the show to get the proper funding without losing the current quality of the show or abruptly shifting formats, trying to get the show on board the HBO Max train might be the only option.

Now there’s a reason why this is an opinion piece, Readers; I could be wrong about the majority of this.

Jackson Publick might watch this video, see my breakdown of everything and not only go “LOL NO,” but reveal that he’s been Twitter-verified THE WHOLE TIME

(Mrs. Doubtfire “The Whole Time” Scene)

But considering that Adult Swim is going out of their way to try and make sure that there is in fact a future for Venture Brothers, I feel like the current chain of events regarding Warner Brothers and WarnerMedia definitely had a part in this

I’m not gonna bet any money on it, because I...don’t have any, but you know what I mean.

But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below your opinions about the cancellation of The Venture Brothers

Do you think WarnerMedia’s focus on HBO Max is the reason it was cancelled? Do you think converting it to a Max Original as a way of saving it would be enough for you to get a subscription to the service? I’d love to know your thoughts!