Posted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: pibby

Pibby Creator Had Plans to "Violently Murder" Courage the Cowardly Dog

Pibby creator Dodge Greenley teased a storyline involving Courage the Cowardly Dog's "tragic death" and shared a look at some artwork.

As much as we love any chance we get to cover Dodge Greenley's "Pibby" universe, it also comes with a healthy dose of anger and sadness. In Adult Swim's Come and Learn with Pibby!, Pibby finds herself ripped out of her safe preschool world and thrown into unknown lands. If she wants to stop the cartoon apocalypse, then she's going to need to grow up, get caught up, and embrace her inner badass. To do that, Pibby and her friends must face down some of the ghosts from (now) Warner Bros. Discovery's multimedia past & present. From there, Pibby's battlefield extended to Adult Swim's April Fool's Day 2022 – where we got to witness how the infection/corruption had even gotten to the late-night programming block's best and brightest (more on that below).

But series hopes were pretty much dashed in October 2023 when Greenley took to Instagram to announce, "I'm sorry to say that Pibby has still not been greenlit, and it doesn't look like it will happen in the near future." Since that time, Greenley has been kind enough to post looks at what could've been – from Pibby facing a Huckleberry Hound horror to Pibby breaking the meta rules and Yosemite Sam getting corrupted. Now, Greenley is offering new incite into a storyline he had planned for John R. Dilworth's Courage the Cowardly Dog – one that wouldn't have ended well for the cowardly dog.

"I had a whole storyline with Courage the Cowardly Dog's tragic death. I'm not sure if we would've gotten the rights and approvals to actually treat John R. [Dilworth's] character so brutally, but a boy can dream," Greenley wrote as the caption to his Instagram post, which included a look at what fate had in store for Courage:

And here's a look at what Greenley had to share about the highs and lows of trying to get Pibby onto our screens, with the artist and writer offering an open and honest accounting of what went down and how it impacted Greenley on a number of levels:

Pibby Saved Adult Swim's April Fool's Day 2022

We all know that April Fool's Day is a special day for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block. But did we think Adult Swim was going to send us down a three-hour rabbit hole in 2022? Nope. But for Pibby, it was more than worth it… and just to be clear? What you're about to read was finished just before 3 a.m. on Friday morning, so be kind because we can get a bit loopy. Here's a look back at what appears to be our last official "mission" with Pibby:

Now before we get to what this has to do with Adult Swim celebrating April Fool's Day, it's probably best to start things off with a look back at the short that started a sensation:

Well, it appears Pibby's war to stop the apocalypse has made its way onto tonight's Adult Swim broadcast universe. As you can see below, we have an "infection" happening on Smiling Friends.

We can also confirm that there was an "infection" at the beginning of Rick and Morty S02E04 "Total Rickall" (contrary to what Adult Swim's Master Control is reporting):

UPDATE: Morty suffered from a brief "infection," as you're about to see below:

At 12:30 ET, Adult Swim began a special broadcast on YouTube that appears to be broadcasting the episodes and the "infections" that have been plaguing the channel since midnight. Meanwhile, Smiling Friends S01E08 "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" is also showing signs of "infection." Though reports out of Atlanta have us gravely concerned over who's actually in charge:

UPDATE: "Infections" have made their way to The Eric Andre Show S02E06 (with guests Wink Martindale & Sarah Burns; musical guest Fredro Starr)

And even the promos… along with a cry for help:

UPDATE: Even the Aqua Teen Hunger Force isn't safe, with Aqua TV Show Show S10E01 "Muscles" also showing numerous examples of "infections" (including direct contact with Master Shake)

UPDATE: The "infections" continued into the promo prior to Birdgirl and were found sporadically throughout S01E02 "ShareBear" as well as into more promos:

UPDATE: We have another promo "infection" leading into Joe Pera Talks With You S01E06 "Joe Pera Reads You The Church Announcements" (which also happens to be our favorite episode of a really sweet series, which included a Pibby presence at the end but appeared to be "infection"-free):

And the messages are getting much more disturbing as the "infection" grows:

And then just like that, the "infections" (and Pibby) were gone… but for how long? Okay, we need to get some sleep but since we'll be awake by the time you read this, here's a look at the complete special broadcast followed by a compilation of just the "infections". And while we're hoping this is a sign of better things to come, BCTV officially endorses a Pibby series:

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!