8. “Adventure Time”
The rise of “Adventure Time” came slowly. First, it was just a weird little cartoon about a boy and his talking dog going on adventures. Then it started to grow. A world was built. It became the No. 1 “hey, adults can like this show too!” cartoon of its era. After all, how many cartoons for kids feature a vampire doing a cover of a Mitski song?
7. “Archer”
The folks behind “Archer” started off with a couple of Adult Swim outings in “Sea lab 2021” and “Frisky Dingo.” Those set the table for “Archer,” which took them into the stratosphere. It began life as a raunchy James Bond parody, but it emerged into so much more by becoming whatever it felt like. The show changed genres. It went to space. Through it all, Sterling Archer has remained an endlessly quotable character, with his voice burnt into our brain thanks to the work of H. Jon Benjamin.