Dec 21, 2020

Pluto TV's New Comedy Central Animation Channel Is a Treasury of Vintage Series

ViacomCBS is raking in its back catalog of adult animated series for a reboot while making it easier to revisit those original shows themselves.

Classic series from MTV and Comedy Central are now available on Comedy Central Animation, a new channel on the conglomerate's free streaming service Pluto TV. Its programming includes Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria, Drawn Together, Legends of Chamberlain Heights, Triptank, Ugly Americans, and the puppet show Crank Yankers.

Comedy

It is still unclear when or if Comedy Central Animation will launch outside the U.S., where Pluto TV operates, including European and Latin American countries; Cartoon Brew has reached out to streamers for comment.

Pluto TV is currently working on a new product.

Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported streaming service that organizes most of its programming into digital linear channels. As of last month, it had 28.4 million active users.

The Comedy Central Animation Channel is in line with the Viacom CBS reboot (a strategy led by the new Adult Animation Unit). Shows slated for revival or new spinoffs include "South Park," "Beavis and Butthead," "Clone High," and "Daria" (with the planned spin-off series "Jodie"). Plans to revive Ren & Stimpy remain a question mark and were reportedly shelved, but Viacom has refused to comment on these reports.

Most of these new shows are for Comedy Central and MTV. However, behind this strategy is the development of CBS All Access, which will be rebranded and relaunched as Paramount+ (a full-fledged SVOD competitor) next year.