King Of The Hill's Mike Judge and Greg Daniels line up a very weird-sounding Adult Swim show
Common Side Effects, created by Joe Bennett and Steve Hely, will explore "complex reactions to the revelation of the mysterious elixir of life"
Greg Daniels and Mike Judge—both TV luminaries in their own right, but best known, as a partnership, as the minds behind Fox’s King Of The Hill—have been making big pushes back into the world of collaborative animation of late. The pair founded a new company, Bandera Entertainment, together last year, and have already successfully sold a revival of King Of The Hill to Hulu, a big win for devoted Arlen-ites everywhere.
But Daniels and Judge refuse to stop there: The pair have now added another series to their roster, having successfully sold Common Side Effects to Adult Swim. And this does sound like an Adult Swim show, at least from the basic logline: Per THR, the series will explore its characters’ “complex reactions to the revelation of the mysterious elixir of life,” which sounds like some sort of bizarre Fountain Of Youth tale. (A further plot description suggests that it’s about two old friends who learn that Big Pharma is blocking the world from finding out about an exotic mushroom that can cure all diseases.) The series was created by Joe Bennett, who previously contributed to FXX’s anthology animation series Cake, and American Dad writer Steve Hely. And if that description is to be taken at face value, the show also shares some themes with Daniels’ recent work—most notably his Amazon show Upload, which also concerned itself with world-changing science capable of massively extending the human lifespan.
Bandera has built up a busy little slate of new programs in recent months: In addition to Common Side Effects and King Of The Hill, the company also has Praise Petey at Freeform, and had previously sold the Lauren Lapkus and Nicole Byer-starring Bad Crimes to Netflix. (The latter series was canceled mid-development back in October 2022.)