Were there really people who thought this was a prank?Seems silly in hindsight
>>153290270I wouldn't call them "people" but yes
OneyPlays autism and HEAVY irony poisoning with a touch of cope
>>153290270Most people knew the show was failing so probably not
>>153290270No clue what the fuck happened behind the scenes to make them back out of the two season renewal but season 3 throughout had a feeling of a final season imo. Both Glep and Charlie's Uncle could work as a finale
>>153290542I worked on Smiling Friends and Zach wanted to keep this a secret but fuck him. Stamper basically threatened a lawsuit behind the scenes claiming he created the idea, and Zach wanted to pull out before things got ugly.
>>153290603Bullshit
>>153290603I doubt Stamper has the money or attention span to launch a lawsuit against a studio.
>>153290603I worked on Smiling Friends too and Zach told me you were gay
>>153290647Cope. A junkie could've made this series.
>>153290270between pranksters pranking vs a successful show ditching 2 announced seasons, fans would naturally assume the more flattering explanation
>>153290270Because abandoning a successful show after getting renewed for two seasons is such an asinine decision that fans have to cope by saying it's a prank to avoid the embarrassment.The other cope method is by saying "YOU WANT IT TO LAST AS LONG AS SIMPSONS OR RICK AND MORTY?!" These are 8-10 episode seasons with 11 min runtimes. Goddamn seasons 1-3 of SpongeBob gave us 60 half hours and over 100 11 min segments. Venture Bros which is also ran by two guys managed to put out 80 half hour episodes despite long gaps and a fucking movie.It's a really insane move the more you think about it
>>153290270These two fucking queers will regret this stunt when none of their next projects catch on, let alone become as successful as Smiling Friends.
Is it weird that I think this was more of a Zach decision than Michael? Michael had prior experience working in the tv industry, so I think he would have been down to continue working on the show. Zach seems more like the, "I have to be constantly seen as the funny/cool guy" so he's never truly happy with his work. I imagine he'd be cool to hang out with outside a work environment, but probably a nightmare to work with on a project.
>>153291305Michael literally was working on three shows simultaneously during the production of S2 (Yolo and Koala Man). Dude's a trooper and I imagine he'll be getting new gigs pretty soon besides his indie work like Croc & Cube.
>>153290603As someone who actually works (worked) on smiling friends, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Zach was actually in favor of keeping the show going, but Donald Trump himself stepped in and said the show was cancelled.
>>153290603>>153290735>>153291763I ACTUALLY worked on Smiling Friends and can confirm none of these are true, but there are in fact nudalities
>>153290270People only had doubt because (A) Zach is rarely ever sincere and thus amassed a fandom of people who always feel they're "in on some bit," and (B) Smiling Friends had a 4th and 5th season confirmed not even a year earlier. Announcing that you'd reversed that decision came as a surprise to many.
>>153290603Absolutely the dumbest theory I've heard so far
>>153290270Smiling Friends has always done April fools pranks, so announcing its ending in March before releasing the last episodes in April seemed like a setup for a prank.Granted, it wouldn’t have been a good prank. It would have been pretty lame and far too obvious, but it’s easy to see why people thought it was a prank
>>153293289It was late Feb askhually
>>153290270It is a prank. See you next year or so when they drop season 4
>>153293447Do you have a single rationale for believing this?
>>153291819Yeah whatever chump, I worked on Smiling Friends and one of you fuckers at Williams Street ate all the FUCKING donuts at the wrap party and didn't leave me a crumb
I WORKED ON SMILING FRIENDS
>>153290270>Were there really people who thought this was a prank?The fact they were saying the show animators who were coming out and saying they were shocked by the cancel anouncement were part of an elaborate psyop to pull off the prank should tell you everything you need to know about the kind of people we are dealing with here.
>Zach is a known liar, will say anything for a bit>announcment starts with "no no no listen this is not a joke this is not a bit">comes after the announcment that it was renewed for 2 more seasons>several weeks before april fools dayAre you really this surprised anyone thought it was fake?
>>153294047All the animators coming forward to look for work after the announcement should have clued you in...
>>153290270The studio tried to rugpull after the merger and AS restructuring, zach/michael called the bluff and the show was CANCELLED.
>>153294058That was honestly the only weird part about the theory. Especially since they just opened Zam! My thought was "these people wouldn't need new jobs since they probably got roped into the studio" but I guess the studio is.... ??????? what? An advertising venture?
>>153294047It was announced well over a month before April Fools
>>153294076Most animators are freelancers
>>153294058Thinking it might be a prank based on Z’s past behavior was the only reason anyone was skeptical of that, because if it wasn’t canceled those people would still be his employees and might go along with a dumb idea to keep their job. Either way it’s dumb
>>153290603I actually worked on Smiling Friends and the truth is that Zach is actually a tiny little man in a big Zach suit and one day at the studio the president of Adult Swim came in while Zach had opened his face up and was doing a little dance and the President went AHHHHH and fell over and told Zach he had to quit because no tiny people allowed.
>>153290603I actually worked on Smiling Friends and what REALLY happened is that Zach ran out of coke money and then he threw a rock at a monkey and monkey never came back to the village
>>153290300Yeah they were a bunch of coping idiots for doubting the guy who got 4 hour long video compilations of him gaslighting its friends for the funny.
>>153290603>>153294291Zach and Michael groped my balls and mantitties at the company picnic on camera in front of everyone. Zach's girlfriend just watched without saying a word. Marc M was the one recording while narrating the entire thing in character as Mr BossNot that I'm complaining
>>153294356I got a girl preggers on one of the Smiling Friends bouncy slides at Adult Swim Fest
>>153294320it's almost like there's a difference between an intimate and professional settingretard
>>153290603I worked on Smiling Friends and Glep is real. Zach wanted to keep this a secret, but Glep is real.
For real though it's pretty obvious that Zach got tired of showrunning because it's a fucking exhausting job you have to love and he's ADHDI have infinitely more respect for Zach cutting his contract and walking when he knew he was too bored to keep going than I do for Roland sticking around as an albatross around Rick and Morty's neck
>>153294498Its Zach and AS, anything could have been possible, hell i was actually expecting them to pull an aqua team hunger force then just renaming the show for seasons 4 and 5 to happy friends or something just to confirm that smiling friends is indeed over....but it really isn't.
>>153294657Maybe if it still were Adult Swim under Mike Lazzo's control there would have been a possibility. But you have to understand the company is more corporate now and they would never allow a prank like that.
>>153294682Nta but the thing is, the company being corporate is also why cancelling a publicized 2 season order for their only new success like it was nothing seemed equally or less unbelievable in the current state of the industry.
>>153290542the two best theories are that they wanted out due to the merger for some reason or the simplest and most likely reason, they started working of season 4 and realized they didn't have the juice for it so pulled the plug.If anon's /here/ could clock a decline in the shows quality and burgeoning reliance on the same tropes being used to fill episode time then Zach and Michael likely also saw it.And to go further into semi-parasocial speculation territory while one can assume based on previous output that Michael likely could of kept going (if he could feel comfortable putting out Koala Man then their is nothing stopping him on any of his other projects), Zach seems like the one to pull the plug and since the show was very much a team project, that was that.
>>153294076Zam! is ostensibly a production banner for the kinds of specialty work that went into some episodes, the 3D models and the like not the standard aniamtion.Really if the studio does stuff again it will likely be doing other specialty "out of medium" animation parts for other shows.
>>153290603I also worked on Smiling Friends, and everything is fine and we were all happy with losing our jobs.
>>153294510Bullshit, no way in hell Zach would keep that secret.
>>153294926Look anyone who works in the industry knows you can’t expect a job that involves a show to last forever. You might get lucky and bag a simpsons but the chances are random, I won’t even say low it’s honestly random sometimes amazing shows end too soon and terrible shows seemingly last forever.
>>153294528Zach could've at least kept his word and delivered those next two seasons before gutting the show...
>>153291305>>153291537Ending the show was def more Zach's decision. All I've seen of Michael's work ethic these last few years gives me the impression he would've been just fine making Seasons 4 and 5 with a more hands-off approach. It's too bad he couldn't convince Zach to just keep it pushing for another two seasons before officially wrapping up. The guy spent years fighting to get Koala Man made, only for it to be killed after 8 episodes. I doubt he took Smiling Friends's success for granted like Zach most likely did.
>>153296055>sometimes amazing shows end too soon and terrible shows seemingly last forever *oftentimes
>>153294809>cancelling a publicized 2 season order for their only new success like it was nothingIt IS nothing because they know Paramount is gonna get rid of Adult Swim. Better to cut the cord now.
>>153296493Smiling Friends was in no danger. It was already on its way to becoming as protected as Rick and Morty. Neither show would've been affected by the Paramount merger
>>153294926Look anyone who works in the industry knows you can’t expect a job that says you’re doing two more seasons not to cancel at the last minute
>>153296419I dunno this was Michael's forst big show, like I love Kolaman and Yolo, but both shows combined weren’t half as big as Smiling friends. I honestly think both Zach and Michael didn’t want this show to be the bloated mascot of Adultswim. I can easily see Michael not wanting a wendy’s commercial of Pim pink new passion fruit drink and sour lemon Charlie. I could see Michael not wanting to do a cameo in space jam 3. I fully belive they both walked away before it became the new Rick and Morty.
>>153296546That wouldn't have happened to a show with as much momentum as Smiling Friends. It was one of Adult Swim's biggest hits in years and one of the few rare cartoons on HBO Max to make it into the Top 10 Series section. No one expected it to be abruptly cancelled, so the creators being the ones to do that feels like a slap in the face. What's worse is how Zach's sycophants treat this as some admirable auteur feat because he didn't want to "serve them slop," which a nonsensical show like this was pretty much already doing anyway. It's crazy he thought SF fans wouldn't follow him to the ends of the earth
>>153296567They're friends with Matt Groening and are big Simpsons, South Park, and SpongeBob fans, so I'm sure they would've been fine with the show becoming a merch giant. At the same time, they always made it clear to fans SF wouldn't last forever, and that's totally okay. The show never seemed like a concept they had to think long and hard about when first developing it; I don't see them being as "precious" with how Adult Swim would potentially use it. If anything, it was the quality of the show itself that they wanted to keep to a certain standard; not everything outside of that.
>>153296603I think it makes sense from the point of view of the ego’s needs being more important than anything in the real world, which is a flaw we are all susceptible to indulging given the option
>>153290603Yeah well my Dad works at Microsoft and I told him to hack your Xbox.
>>153296658I can’t agree with that because Michael said himself in the smiling friends is ending video that they don’t want to hand the show to someone else. Also are they fans of the new episodes of the simpsons and family guy?
It's really really funny to me that people here can't possibly conceive that someone might quit a job because they don't like the work.Everyone is going on about show quality and merchandising and selling out when the most likely answer is simply that one or both showrunners didn't want to do it anymore.
>>153290603hi, I worked on Smiling Friends, the main animator just started to jerk off to porn of Blossom from Powerpuff Girls Z instead of animating and they cancelled the show out of fear
>>153294047Ah, this type of cope brings me back to the grinch leak days
>>153297808Everyone knows they quit because they don’t want to do the job. Everyone thinks it’s crazy to talk about quitting showrunning like it’s the same as quitting a job where you don’t have any responsibilities.
