Rick and Morty

About

Rick and Morty is an animated television series created by Community executive producer Dan Harmon and writer Justin Roiland^[22] and broadcast weekly on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The series is mainly centered around an alcoholic scientist-and-inventor named "Rick" and his long lost grandson "Morty" as they embark on dangerous and bizarre adventures together throughout space and time.

History

Season One

The show concept for Rick and Morty was first announced during Adult Swim's Upfront presentation in May 2012, followed by the commencement of the production for 10 half-hour episodes to be aired on Cartoon Network (not including the pilot) in October that year. On November 27th, 2013, the pilot episode of Rick and Morty was leaked via YouTube several days prior to its scheduled broadcast on Adult Swim, which premiered at 10 p.m. (ET) on December 2nd. In the episode, Rick takes his grandson Morty into another dimension to research “mega trees.”

Season Two

Rick and Morty season two premiered on July 26th, 2015 with the episode "A Rickle in time." The season ran for 10 episodes and concluded on October 4th, 2015.^[20]

Season Three

The third season of Rick and Morty surprised audiences when it aired on April 1st, 2017 on Cartoon Network. Appearing without notice or advertising, the episode played on a loop from 8pm to midnight.^[21] The episode turned a 1998 McDonald's promotion for the Disney film Mulan, szechuan sauce dipping sauce, into a viral sensation

Season 4 Rumors

On March 16th, 2018, Dan Harmon tweeted in response to a fan who called him a lazy alcoholic with the revelation that Season 4 of Rick and Morty had yet to be ordered by a network.^[31]

This fueled concerns among the fandom that there may not be a fourth season of the show. Some expressed that Cartoon Network may not be interested in renewing the show following the actions of the fandom during the third season of the show, particularly with regards to the Szechuan Sauce debacle.

However, while fans expressed their dismay that Adult Swim had yet to renew the series, others warned against overreacting. Highsnobiety^[32] wrote that Adult Swim was notorious for having an irregular airdate schedule, with shows on the network often having long periods between seasons. Highsnobiety also noted that show writer Ryan Ridley had previously openly hypothesized that should the show get a fourth season, it would likely not air until late 2019. Other media outlets including Twitter Moments^[33] and Nerdist^[34] covered the drama.

Season 4 Announcement

On May 15th, 2019, Adult Swim Twitter account tweeted a 30-second video announcement of season four of Rick and Morty, scheduled to begin in November 2019.^[35] The tweet gained over 58,500 retweets and 108,000 likes within seven hours.

We heard some of you were interested in this information. #WarnerMediaUpfront @rickandmorty pic.twitter.com/UkUINBmw9a

— [adult swim] (@adultswim) May 15, 2019

In the following hours, numerous memes celebrating the announcement appeared on Twitter and in /r/rickandmorty subreddit (examples shown below).

Fandom

On May 19th, 2012, a few days after the announcement by Adult Swim, a subreddit community titled /r/rickandmorty^[2] was launched, which gained over 16,900 subscribers in the following two years. On November 27th, 2013, Redditor theroboticdan submitted the leaked pilot episode to the /r/videos^[1] subreddit, where it garnered upwards of 2,100 up votes and 220 comments in the first two months. As the series progressed over the next several months, subsequent episodes reached the front page of Reddit as well. Also on November 27th, a page for the show was created on the trope database website TV Tropes.^[8] On December 10th, a Rick and Morty wiki^[7] was created. On January 21st, 2014, /r/rickandmorty ranked in as the fastest growing non-default subreddit.^[3] As of February 2014, Rick and Morty's official Facebook page has accumulated more than 10,000 likes.

Rich and Morto

On November 15th, 2016, Redditor TheNiceBiscuit posted a message proclaiming an appreciation for the show "Rich and Morto," followed by the phrase "wooba looba dick duck" (shown below). Within 72 hours, the post received upwards of 8,700 votes (87% upvoted) and 350 comments on the /r/rickandmorty^[15] subreddit.

That day, Redditor Wyntersun uploaded a "Rich and Morto" illustration to /r/rickandmorty,^[18] where it garnered more than 5,600 votes and 130 comments in three days (shown below, left). On November 16th, Redditor MC_Labs15 posted a traced version of Wynersun's drawing (shown below, right).^[19]

That day, Redditor ElderCunningham submitted a post asking about the origin of "Rich and Morto" to /r/OutOfTheLoop,^[16] where Redditor finnegar cited TheNiceBiscuit's post. Also on November 16th, the official Rick and Morty Twitter^[17] account posted a tweet referencing the "Rich and Morto" meme (shown below).

Fan Art

On Deviant Art^[10][12] and Tumblr,^[11][13][14] fans of the series have featured original fan made artwork inspired by the series.

What is Rick and Morty?

On December 10th, Twitter user @sadgirlkms^[25] posted a tweet which read "isnt rick and morty that thing you get when you die and your body gets all stiff". The tweet gained over 68,000 retweets and 181,000 likes (shown below).

This started a lengthy Twitter thread where a person would correct the above poster while offering another definition for Rick and Morty. For example, the top comment to @sadgirlkms, posted by poketrainer7^[26] read "You're thinking of rigor mortis. Rick and morty is when you get trolled into watching "never gonna give you up"." This continued for dozens of posts. The following day, Twitter user @Matt__nelson^[27] tweeted several screenshots from the thread, saying "I’d like to personally congratulate each and every individual involved," gaining over 26,000 retweets and 59,000 likes (screenshots shown below).

A thread about the Twitter thread was posted to Reddit's /r/rickandmorty, gaining over 20,000 upvotes.^[28] The Twitter thread was also covered by Salon^[29] and Twitter Moments.^[30]

Reception

On January 28th, the entertainment news blog Vulture^[4] reported that Rick and Morty had beaten NBC's late night comedy programs in ratings. On the following day, Rick and Morty was renewed for a second season on Adult Swim.^[5]

After season 2, a 3rd season was released unannounced on April Fool's Day and then fully released between July 31st 2017 thru Oct 1st 2017.^[23] Deadline magazine published that Rick and Morty Season 3 set record ratings for Adult Swim.^[24]

Search Interest

External References