Hughes is a former employee of MTV Animation who first pitched it to Mike Lazzo at Adult Swim after producing a video mixtape for the network's 2010 Carnival Tour event.

As a result of its 4 a.m. graveyard slot and small selection of episodes, the series remains relatively unknown on the network, but has been received positively and dubbed a cult phenomenon by critics and Adult Swim itself.

"[9] He originally imagined for it to exist as a "bizarre collection" of Internet and archival footage intertwined with clips from Adult Swim shows, "set to good music.

"[8]: 86 In putting an episode together, Hughes seeks clips "with some kind of truth or integrity to them", opting for both viral videos in addition to ones with fewer view counts.

[8]: 86 [c] Tracking down licensees for clips proves to be the most difficult aspect of the process, he stated, with co-producers Cody DeMatteis and Alan Steadman assisting him in pursuit of material hard to obtain.

[9] Hughes observed a large portion of producing episodes to stem from "finding the right music to go with the visuals, or vice versa",[12] and found transitions to "really help keep it moving.

[22] The third special is a music video of Deacon's song "When I Was Done Dying" from his album Gliss Riffer animated by nine directors featured previously in Off the Air, that broadcast March 24, 2015.

"[23] For Neon Tommy, Jeremy Fuster called it "a dark, unspeakable corner of television where no light can reach and only the sleepless and drug-addled dare to venture.

"[24] Amanda McCorquodale of the Miami New Times joked that, for artists featured on the show, "nothing compares to the prestige of sharing a network with Tim & Eric and Brak, right?

"[25] PQ Ribber of The Overnightscape Underground dubbed the series a "modern version" of Liquid Television and called it "really kinda spiffy, and trippy, and cool.

In particular, he enjoys reactions from people who wake up to it after falling asleep to the network, and judged from the online response that its audience would be "pretty young, late teens, early 20s" and "strangely positive and engaged.