Network’s growing late-night adult animation block premiere’s its first two original series, back to back, next month.
SYFY’s expanding lineup of Saturday, late-night TZGZ adult animation programming just got bigger – two shows bigger to be exact, with the announcement that starting September 26 at midnight, the network’s first two originals, Magical Girl Friendship Squad and Wild Life, will premiere back-to-back.
In case you’re wondering, “TZGZ” comes after “SYFY.”
Besides an inaugural run of 6 15-minute episodes, what do the two shows have in common, you might ask? I know I did. Well, the answer is… pandas.
In Magical Girl Friendship Squad, when a little red panda named Nut (Ana Gasteyer) arrives in the apartment of two directionless twenty-somethings and gives them the ability to transform into badass magical girls, Alex (Quinta Brunson) and Daisy (Anna Akana) are forced to get their shit together in order to save the Universe from otherworldly threats. Through a journey of love and friendship and with the help of their magical objects (birth control and a bong), Alex and Daisy learn to wield their new powers and protect their mysterious panda friend who claims to be the creator of the Universe.
The anime-inspired comedy also stars Matteo Lane. Christine Baranski, Eric Bauza, Helen Hong, Manny Jacinto and Sarah “Squirm” Sherman recur. Guest stars include Paget Brewster, Patti Harrison, Jamie Loftus, Vella Lovell and Jason Mantzoukas.
Produced by Cartuna, the Magical Girl Friendship Squad franchise, which includes a shorter-form version Origins, is created by Kelsey Stephanides, who also serves as showrunner. James Belfer, Adam Belfer and Max Benator executive produce, along with Hallie Cantor, who is also the lead writer.
Wild Life is a comedy about a gang of zoo animal friends hanging out after the apocalypse. There’s the pacifist cheetah Glenn (John Reynolds), bubbly dolphin Marny (Claudia O’Doherty), hyper fox Hudson (Baron Vaughn), psychedelic koala Darby (Reggie Watts), self-care loving panda Debbie (SkittLeZ Ortiz) and energy drink-guzzling sloth Viv (Natalie Palamides). Together, they come up with elaborate schemes to entertain themselves and just keep from going insane. From taking trips to a mutant-infested mall for hood ornaments to stumbling upon an old broadcast studio and creating their own shows, these critters are always up to something.
The series is executive produced by creator Adam Davies, as well as Alex Plapinger, Dylan Dawson, Valparaiso Pictures and Octopie.
So, they both have pandas. Now you have it.
Airing every Saturday at midnight-ish on SYFY, TZGZ is a 90-minute block of adult comedic, animated, genre-based programming of varying lengths. Since its 2019 debut, the block has grown +7% in the 18-49 demo vs prior year, and continues to bring younger viewers to the network.
Source: SYFY
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
