Adult Swim just released the world premier of their new episode of Rick and Morty exclusively on Instagram. That is, if you are willing to wade through all 109 clips of it. The recent hit addition to the Adult Swim line up comes from Creator and Executive Producer Dan Harmond (Community) and Justin Roiland (House of Cosbys) and is produced by Starburns Industries. The show follows the unlikely exploits of a gassy and touched though brilliant inventor and his not too bright grandson who ends up joining him as his reluctant companion on dangerous and usually disastrous adventures, both voiced by Roiland.
Rather then only releasing a sneak peek teaser Adult Swim is rewarding their more tenacious fans this week through their Instagram pageĀ with an early chance to devour the full episode from beginning to end, all be it in 15 second bites. Working with Instagram’s tiny time limit on clips makes for a challenge but fans can still pound on the mouse button to get another quick hit of entertainment from what is more or less an interactive video flipbook. How many hoops are fans willing to go through once they are hooked? Rick and Morty is set to test the limits.
The viewing experience is similar to suffering from a chronically bad streaming connection or adult ADHD and is not likely to be anyone’s preferred method of watching media anytime soon, but those willing to stick with the bumpy ride live to tell the tale. There’s of course also the clever additional marketing benefit in being able to match viewer comments directly to few seconds of the scene they are responding to and of keeping a few of the ones who stop by as followers which may make it a crude but effective tool to gauge popularity so it is yet to be seen if this is a one off or signals the start of more to come. Those not as keen to endure all that can still catch the episode during its regular screening time Monday at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.
By Laura Gaddy