Should You Adopt Son Of Zorn?

What Is This Thing?

Zorn is respected and feared as the mythical (and animated) Defender Of Zephyria. But he's not all-powerful, as he is reminded when he returns to Orange County for his half-live-action son Alangulon's birthday. Can Zorn rise to his ex Edie's challenge and be more present in his son's life?

When Is It On?

It's premiering on Fox in a special preview Sunday, September 11, at 8 PM ET; it moves to its permanent time slot -- Sundays at 8:30 PM ET -- on September 25.

Why Was It Made Now?

There are fewer and fewer slots on network television for weird, risky comedies, but Fox has already had one such series -- The Last Man On Earth -- become a hit with critics. So when its EPs, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, attached their names to Son Of Zorn, Fox wasn't trying to turn down what might be their next hit.

What's Its Pedigree?

In addition to Last Man, Lord and Miller's streak of recent comedy hits includes the feature films 21 and 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie. But they didn't actually create the show: it comes from Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne, who formerly worked together on Wilfred and Blunt Talk. Zorn is voiced by Jason Sudeikis, most recently of Last Man. His live-action co-stars include Johnny Pemberton (Pickle And Peanut) as Alangulon, aka Alan; Cheryl Hines as Edie; and Tim Meadows as Edie's fiancé Craig.

...And?

A show this high-concept is only going to work if its creators take its silly premise seriously, and they do. They dispense with the absurdity of an animated character moving about the live-action world with a scene set on Zorn's flight...from Zephyria...to southern California, on which his seatmates are less interested in his story than they are their mobile devices. When Zorn takes up Edie's challenge and applies for an office job, his interviewer (the great Artemis Pebdani, probably best known to comedy fans from her recurring role on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) sees not a hand-drawn hero but...

A supermarket cashier doesn't let the enormous broadsword strapped to Zorn's back stop her judging his beef-intensive diet.

Like so many dads of Fox's sitcoms (exception noted: Bob's Burgers's beta dad Bob Belcher), Zorn is a pushy blowhard -- but he's willing to put up with the indignities that come with a life in Orange County if it means bridging the gap with the son he loves.

Zorn just may need a little practice in how best to express that love. As of the end of the premiere, gift-giving is not his forte.

There's a lot more to like, but it's hard to describe it without ruining all the jokes, so I won't.

...But?

"Wussy Replacement For Uber-Masculine First Husband" is a pop culture cliché that's been on the rise for a few years now (see: Spike Jonze's sandal-wearer in Moneyball; Taylor Nichols's vegan on Friday Night Lights), and Craig -- an online professor who lectures on his phone -- is so much of this not-so-proud tradition that one of his last lines of the pilot is "Okay, class, well, I've been emasculated again." I have faith in Meadows that he'll be able to make more of this role over time, but in the series premiere he doesn't get many opportunities to impress.

Also, I know Pemberton's just a squirrel trying to get a nut, and he's apparently gone to a lot of trouble to scrub his actual birth date from the internet, but should he still be playing high schoolers? He's got to be in his thirties.

...So?

Ultimately, this is a show about a He-Man type (altered just enough not to get anyone sued) moving to the suburbs and learning how to be a good dad. This is either going to be your jam or REALLY NOT. I have a soft spot for dumb cartoons for grown-ups, so I laughed a lot; if you tend to enjoy Adult Swim shows and/or the rest of the Lord/Miller oeuvre, you probably will too.