Adult Swim
Rick and Morty is currently the best cartoon on television and it isn’t even close.
Between its mind-bending plot lines, mile-a-minute jokes, or gorgeously creative animation, Rick and Morty is just a step ahead of its competitors. Except when it comes to season length, as they are currently only airing 10 episodes per season.
Back in South Park’s heyday, they were airing at least 14 episodes per season, so there’s no reason why Rick and Morty can’t follow suit. And according to co-creator Dan Harmon, that change isn’t too far away, as he says that the only reason 14-episode-long seasons hasn’t happened yet is due to his perfectionism.
“I mostly blame myself for doing 10 instead of 14. I’m still learning how to do the show efficiently while catering to the perfectionist in all of us. I would like to think I’ve learned enough from my mistakes in season 3 that we could definitely do 14 now, but then I have to say, “Yeah but you’re the guy who says we can do 14 who turned out to be wrong so we’re not listening to you now.” The nice healthy way to approach this is I want to prove it with the first 10 of season 4 — prove it to ourselves, to production, to the network — that it’s so easy that we’ll earn additional episodes. Because I never got this far [working on NBC’s] Community. I felt apart in season 3 of Community and got fired in season 4. Now I’m about to do season 4 of Rick and Morty and want to prove that I’ve grown.”
“My obsessiveness is an enemy that needs to be fought … And that ‘Purge’ episode is fun and great. I can feel it’s “good enough” quality. I think the audience would vote unanimously for the idea of 14 episodes instead of 10 on the condition that 4 of them would be [‘Purge Planet’ level] episodes.”
Given that Rick and Morty at its worst is still better than most cartoons at their best, churning out more episodes makes sense for both the creators and the advertisers.
The final episode of Rick and Morty season 3 airs on Adult Swim on October 1st.
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