Off the Air is an American psychedelic anthology television series that aired on Adult Swim. Every episode is composed of surreal videos of different media and purposes – animated and live-action short films, clips from feature films and other television series, stock videos, music videos, abstract loops – presented continuously and in succession. These videos are arranged around a single vague theme, as expressed in the episode's title,[1] and are accompanied by songs by various artists.[2]Dave Hughes, the creator of the series, also serves as its editor.[3] He and the rest of the series' producers also commission artists to produce works to be featured in an episode.[1][4][5]
Fifty-two episodes have aired over thirteen seasons since Off the Air premiered on January 1, 2011. Every episode had a time slot of 4 a.m., which has contributed to the series' obscurity and status among fans of Adult Swim.[1] Three special episodes have been produced: "Dan Deacon: U.S.A.",[6] "Seramthgin", and "Dan Deacon: When I Was Done Dying".[3] The twentieth episode "NEWNOW" is a celebration of New Year's Day and the series' fifth anniversary featuring six original songs.[2]
The closing credits of every episode list the featured videos and songs as well as their respective artists; generic stock footage is often employed,[7] and suppliers (including Getty Images and iStock) are additionally credited. In the following lists, material commissioned for an episode are marked with a dagger (†). Segments are shown in an episode with more than one excerpt and so are marked with a plus (+) and the number of the segment that has been previously shown earlier in an episode.
Note: The eagle-owl stock footage from Getty Images is reused from the music video for Mike Jourgensen's song "Eye Drops" that show creator Dave Hughes and his company Million Monkeys Inc. directed.
"I Think I'm A Ghost"† by Ed Schrader's Music Beat
"Change Your Life (You Can Do It)"† by Dan Deacon
"Laurie"† by EMA
The following artists provided additional animated loops: Zachary Zezima, Kevin Eskew, Annapurna Kumar, Julia Newhide, Jack Turpin, Alan Jennings, Andrew Benson, Allegra Jones, Adriana Trukillo, Benjamin Janos-Szabo Hunter, Rachel Seropian, Tim Brown, Gina Maune, Dina Kelberman, Kaylee SooHyun Lee, Ana Mouyis, Sian Bliss and Maureen Kuo.
Note: Adult Swim posted an "Analog Video Remix" of this episode by Rob Feulner on their YouTube channel on January 26, 2018.[19]
Season 6 (2016–17)
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Original release date
Prod. code
US viewers (millions)
21
1
"Shapes"
May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24)
601
N/A
$H&P3$
Featured videos
Pendulum Waves provided by Harvard Natural Science Lecture Demonstrations
Title sequence animations† by Drew Tyndell (credited as Computer Team) and Emanuele Kabu
Cymbals Whacked excerpt by ChefSteps
Illusions (Part One) by Animal Inc.
"Slowly Rising" music video by Hideki Inaba
Octopus footage provided by Getty Images
Undercurrents by Albert Omoss
The Summoning of the Skylark by Cool 3D World
"AS Chingy" music video by Sam Rolfes
Cat Loop† by Jeron Braxton
"Glore" music video by Nicos Livesey
"Micro (twist)" music video by Jonathan McCabe (+1; +4)
Night Clowns† cinematography by Jonathan Rej, performances by Chris Brown, Gilbert Moreno, Jeanne Wesson, Erin McDowell, Chris Croasdale, David Gregory, Ben Bladon, Brandon Hughes, Daniel Price, Jacob Sharpe, Yelandria Phillips, John Clifton, Marjory McKinnon, Anna Thornton and Allison Cohen
Call Your Parents (credited as Clown Rave 2016)† by Kytten Janae
"Montealto" (credited as My Expanded View Music) by Alexa Silva and Nerftoss
AB95 music† by Geoff Graham
Glucose score by Jeron Braxton (uncredited)
Scissorhands Unboxing music† by Matt Fitzpatrick
"Full Circle" by Billie Fingers, Bruce Fingers, and Daniel Suett (credited as Doorcuts music by Man Made Hill)
Why Cecco Beppe Does Not Die (Stratch 'n Sniff Edition) music by Shy Layers
End of Simulation sound design† by Ryan McRyhew
Lyrica music by Drew Swinburne
Note 1: This episode was guest curated and produced by Wham City Comedy (Ben O'Brien, Robby Rackleff, and Alan Resnick). Note 2: No individual songs are given titles in this episode; the credits simply include a "Music by" credit for most of the videos.
27
3
"Paradise"
December 5, 2017 (2017-12-05)
703
Lost and Found
Featured videos
Intro animation† by Ricky Jonsson Jr.
Interstitials† by Sam Hochman and Kristel Brinshot
Isla's Day† by Jeremy Sengly and Winona Regan (+2)
Autonomous Paradise† by Filip Kostić (+2)
SMITE† by Thomas de Rijk
The Jungle† by Joseph Melhuish (+2)
Yeasties by Jordan Speer, video processing by Robert Beatty (+2; +3; +2)
Pin Pon (gameplay trailer) by Theo Triantafyllidis (+1; +6)
LadyPecs blasterX† by Andy and Sam Rolfes (+2; +3)
The Jungle music† by Iglooghost (credited in upper cases)
Yeasties music by Zak Alkek (+2)
Pin Pon (gameplay trailer) music by Slugabed
LadyPecs blasterX music† by Sam Rolfes (+2)
Selfish workers sound design by Thomas Cappeau
Quiet Time music† by Elenor Kopka
Intergalactic Absurdism and Server Ho music† by bod [包家巷] (+2)
Basilisk music† by Rusbaci (+2)
Sunset music† by Skillbard (+2)
Note 1: This episode was guest curated and produced by Ghosting.tv (Ricky Jonsson Jr. and Kristel Brinshot). Note 2: No individual songs are given titles in this episode; the credits simply include a "Music by" credit for most of the videos.
Season 8 (2018–19)
No. overall
No. in season
Title
Original release date
Prod. code
28
1
"Health"
May 29, 2018 (2018-05-29)
801
9 out of 10 doctors disagree
Featured videos
Family Dance by Alan Resnick
Girl Puddle† by Dr D. Foothead
Morning Wormhole† by Kokofreakbean
My Daily Routine #TearItUpGetFit by Simple Town
Wound Treatment by Meditech Communications
Doctor stock footage provided by iStock (uncredited; reused from "Body" and "Work")
"No Words" by Nick Rattigan (credited as Current Joys; +1)
31
4
"Winter"
January 1, 2019 (2019-01-01)
804
The ultimate bookend to humanity.
Featured videos
Bubbles Freezing In Slow Motion by Adrian Ybarra
Epic Catch footage provided by Viralhog, LLC
Title sequence† by Emanuele Kabu
Litter Yeti† by Solomon Burbridge, Greg Arden and Rob Shaw, story by Shively Humperdink
Frost Responder† by Sam Hochman and Alex Reynolds
Arctic fox excerpt from Life Story provided by Getty Images
Dusk Walk† by Kate Renshaw-Lewis
"Hope" music video by Thomas Vanz
Yule Log 2.0 (credited as Yule 2.0) project by Daniel Savage, animations by Gentleman Scholar, Emmett Dzieza, Eric Epstein, Erik Karasyk, Adam Grabowski, Brett Refner, Drew Tyndell (credited as Computer Team), Joe Ball, Denny Khurniawan, Claire Kang, Matthias Hoegg and Kouhei Nakama
Note: An additional segment, Big and Small Night by Anna Seregina and Kyle Mizono, was commissioned for the episode, but wasn't included due to time constraints. The segment was uploaded online on December 23, 2022.[31] The episode also features a small tribute to Low drummer Mimi Parker who'd passed away three weeks prior to the initial airing.
This 22-minute music video sets the last four songs of the Dan Deacon album America to videos pertaining to landscapes in the United States:
El hombre y la Tierra excerpt; Radical Updates† by Andrew Benson
Cityscape Chicago by Eric Hines
Space Station footage supplied by Image Science and Analysis Laboratory at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center; Groosland by Dutch National Ballet, footage provided by Poorhouse International, Ltd.; CGI space objects† by Adam Bruneau
American Harvest film supplied by Prelinger Archives
Head On by Lior Ben Horin
Murmuration by Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive; Cy's Sunrise Lefts by Cyrus Sutton and Korduroy.tv; Moonwalk performance by Dean Potter, cinematography by Reel Walter Productions, Ltd.
Primavera concert videos by Tom Bingham, Gill Austin, Jonathan Rej, and Jeff Crocker
Stone Mountain Ghillie Suits† feat. Cody DeMatteis and Zach White, cinematography by Alan Steadman
This five-and-a-half minute music video sets the song "When I Was Done Dying" by Dan Deacon from his album Gliss Riffer to original animations by nine artists (in chronological order):
