Cartoon Network's late night block has always had an upper hand when it comes to April Fool's shenanigans. From it's first attempt back in 2004, Adult Swim started off simple, keeping all scheduled episodes in the same order, but with varying mustaches drawn on all the characters. In 2007, after several weeks of advertising that they would play the entirety of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres, they made good on their promise....by playing the first two minutes of the film in full screen and then shrinking down the rest of the film in a very small picture-in-picture window at the bottom corner as its sound was played over by the regular programs. The biggest success was in 2012, when the normal programming schedule was replaced with Toonami, an old programming block that had housed shows like Dragon Ball Z, Trigun, and YuYu Hakusho, but had been off the air for several years. The success of the prank brought back both attention and want for the old block, and shortly afterwards, Toonami returned under the Adult Swim brand, but as the Saturday block for anime, where it can currently be viewed to this day.

The late night block has always had a creative direction, especially with its pranks, but this year has probably taken the cake. Since 2013, they've held a series called Rick And Morty, which is probably one of the best things to ever come out of Williams Street and has garnered worldwide acclaim. It started as a parody of Back To the Future, created by Community creator Dan Harmon and voice actor Justin Roiland, but was changed around at the request of Adult Swim, and has stayed in its current version since. The series pits Rick, an alcoholic mad scientist, with Morty, his kindhearted but easily startled grandson, in a variety of situations, some involving family life, others involving the characters reacting and dealing with the dangerous adventures that occur from Rick's interdimensional traveling. The series has gained a cult status, and with the release of 2 seasons, has already garnered a rabid fanbase, constantly asking the creators of the show when the next season will appear, much to the chagrin of the creators.

In a move that many say came completely out of the metaphoric left field, Adult Swim took the ENTIRETY of April 1st to drop the first episode of season 3 of Rick and Morty on REPEAT from the beginning of the block to midnight. Fans took to social media to express their joy, disbelief, and overall excitement at such a wonderful "prank". Many were skeptical at first, as Dan Harmon has constantly tried to point out the complications that occur within the day to day creation process on the series, but were thrilled upon seeing episode streams on social media, and quickly tuned into the actual broadcast on their televisions. The night was also full of Rick and Morty shorts, as well as a tasteful ad from Hardee's (Carl's Jr) featuring Rick and Morty (and a bunch of GIANT burgers). Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until this summer to see the remainder of the season, but the sampling of what's to come has satisfied many.