Why Smiling Friends' Creator Is Fine If Fans Hate The Show When It Ends

The creative drive is a little bit different for everyone, but the vast majority of people who make entertainment do it for the audience to some degree. After all, the audience helps fund that art, and it's important to keep them at least somewhat happy. And then there's "Smiling Friends" co-creator Zach Hadel, who is much more interested in entertaining himself and fellow co-creator Michael Cusack. In fact, Hadel even told Variety that if the hit Adult Swim show ends and fans hate it, he's totally okay with that.

"Smiling Friends" is pretty unique in its humor, following the optimistic Pim (Cusack) and his cynical co-worker and best friend Charlie (Hadel) as they do their jobs at Smiling Friends, a charity that is supposed to bring people joy and happiness. "Smiling Friends" can be absolutely horrific and gut-bustingly funny all within the span of each 11-minute-long episode, with some seriously strange (and occasionally disturbing) detours along the way. And while some of that can be attributed to Hadel and Cusack's start as creators on Newgrounds and YouTube, it's also clear that they're doing most of these bits to make themselves laugh, and that rules.

"Smiling Friends," which airs on Adult Swim and streams on HBO Max, isn't exactly your typical cartoon TV comedy, even for the generally weird Adult Swim. Nothing about the world of the series is ever fully explained and often attempts to bridge the gap between Pennsylvania in the real world and the one in the show just create more questions than answers. So, could "Smiling Friends" end in a way that's equally unconventional and possibly not all that satisfying? Absolutely, if it makes Hadel and Cusack laugh. As Hadel explained:

"I really could see the show ending with us loving it and people hating it. I'm not saying that will happen, but I'm just saying that would be fine with me. That's funny to me. That's better than doing fan service. We'll do whatever we find funny."

Honestly, ending the series in a way that's purely a bit would be pretty on-brand for "Smiling Friends," which would definitely amuse at least some of the more die-hard fans. And for those fans who might end up walking away disgruntled, there are always all those other great TV shows kind of like "Smiling Friends" to make up for it. Look, I'm okay with whatever Hadel and Cusack do as long as they don't hurt Glep. Leave my boy alone!