Neon Knome is a new short cartoon created by Ben Jones of Paper Rad and PFFR, the dudes behind Xavier: Renegade Angel and Wonder Showzen. Adult Swim commissioned new shorts from eight crews to pit against each other in a popularity contest. I believe all of Adult Swim’s shows to this point have been programmed to air by the magical whims of the Adult Swim executives down in Atlanta, as is typically the case on any network. The wild weirdness of their choices has put a lot of good and bad work on air. However it is hard to find people who agree on exactly which shows are the good ones. That’s fine, in fact it probably is a part of Adult Swim’s success. The dividing of its viewership into “comedy”, “action” and “dong fart butt blood”, etc. camps promotes fanatical devotion. I should know, I read the Adult Swim forums while I was working on Tom Goes To The Mayor…

A problem then arises for fans of Adult Swim’s psychedelic cartoon selections when a promising show by proven creators of entertaining weirdness is placed in a contest like the current one because it may not have wide enough popularity to win. Neon Knome is up against Yappy Broads currently in the voting, and is trailing in popularity 33% to 67%. It confounds me because Yappy Broads is less entertaining than even The View, the kind of show that it is attempting to parody. Seriously. Yappy Broads proves that you need more than just men in wigs for comedy. It is frustrating to see Neon Knome‘s intensely imaginative world potentially being shut down by boring dreck.

I understand that the contest is part of a sponsorship tie-in deal which helps to keep this weird dank corner of cable television on the air, it is just a shame that cool shows could get chewed up in the process. Neon Knome is the kind of show that I’d like to see the Adult Swim guys shoehorning onto TV by force as they always do with their nuttiest selections.

The voting is open here, so check out the shows and make up your own mind. Fair and balanced. Thanks to a tip from Marc on this.

Edit: I suppose my frustration with the contest is misplaced if it is in fact the very existence of this contest that allowed the budgets for these shows to be produced in the first place. I am pleased that they were made, so that is a positive aspect of the whole deal. Also, now I know that Ben Jones intended ALFE to be pronounced “Alf-ay” instead of just “Alf”.