As A Rick And Morty Fan Waiting For Season 8 To Hit HBO Max, I'm Questioning Why Another Adult Swim Series Is Getting A Preferential Streaming Plan

It took a long time, but Rick and Morty Season 8 is finally heading to streaming in September. I'm excited to let all my non-cable-having friends watch the latest episodes and give me their thoughts on everything from James Gunn and Zack Snyder's cameo to that wild episode of Jerry traveling through the different dimensions.

Fortunately, the wait to watch Rick and Morty Season 8 online is almost over. While I'm happy about that, the recent news about another Adult Swim series has me a little miffed. Smiling Friends Season 3 is coming to streaming a lot quicker than Rick and Morty did, and I feel some way about that.

Smiling Friends Season 3 Will Stream Episodes On HBO Max The Next Day

Smiling Friends Season 3 finally got a premiere date at Adult Swim, as well as some exciting news about when fans will be able to stream it with an HBO Max subscription. With the premiere set for Sunday, October 5th, new episodes will be released the following day on the streamer.

This is definitely great news for those who cut the cord, as they'll be able to join the buzz about new episodes with the rest of the fandom soon enough. Take a look at the announcement, along with a new image of the season below:

Not a ton to gather from that one picture that might tell us what to expect when Smiling Friends returns to the 2025 TV schedule, but it's great all the same to see anything new. So I definitely don't take issue with Smiling Friends getting good news here. It's more about not all shows enjoying that same rolloutl

Why's The Wait For Rick And Morty Season 8 To Hit Streaming So Long?

I'm a bit salty to see the preferential streaming plan for Smiling Friends Season 3. While the wait is almost over, Rick and Morty Season 8 will hit streaming on September 1st, over a month after the season ended on Adult Swim. If we're counting from the time it premiered, it's been about four months.

While fans may not be happy that Smiling Friends gets a more immediate move to streaming and Rick and Morty didn't, I'm sure there are reasons behind the scenes for why that happened. The latter is, without a doubt, more of a mainstream success, and therefore might have more viewers willing to DVR or even stay up late at night to watch new episodes on Adult Swim as they premiere. Linear viewing is still an important metric for a lot of networks, even with streaming also having its own place.

Not to generalize the Smiling Friends audience, but I feel their fandom may skew younger than the Rick and Morty crowd, and maybe toward a crowd that would much sooner stream than tune in to watch it on premiere night. There are probably number crunchers behind the scenes that figure all this out beforehand, though I still wish we could just get all Adult Swim shows on streaming the day after they stream.

HBO Max: Plans start from $9.99 a month
Watch Smiling Friends and Rick and Morty over on HBO Max. With plans starting at $9.99 a month (Basic With Ads), an HBO Max subscription gives you access to thousands of movies, shows, documentaries, and more. Save up to 20% when you prepay for a year.

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Catch the Season 3 premiere of Smiling Friends on Sunday, October 5th. With just a few more days to wait until Rick and Morty Season 8 hits the streamer, now might be as good a time as any to revisit the best episodes of the series.