tek's rating: ½

Son of Zorn, on FOX
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Zorn (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is an animated barbarian from an animated country called Zephyria, which is somehow part of the real, live-action world. (So... the fact that Zephyrians are animated apparently is treated sort of like a racial thing.) Anyway, Zorn used to be married to a live-action woman named Edie (Cheryl Hines). They have a teenage son named Alangulon (who goes by "Alan"), and while he appears to be entirely a live-action character, it's revealed at the end of the pilot that his bottom half (beneath his pants and shoes) is actually animated. Edie is now engaged to an online college professor named Craig (Tim Meadows), who is probably the funniest person on the show, because of how goofily nice he is. Anyway, in the pilot, Zorn moves to Orange County, in the hopes of reconnecting with Alan, who harbors a lot of resentment about his father being absent for most of his life. Zorn also seems to want to reconnect with Edie, so he spends a lot of time mocking Craig and reminding Edie about their past together, which only seems to annoy her. He also gets a job selling office products over the phone. (He's considered a diversity hire.) His boss is a woman named Linda Orvend, but Zorn believes she's a man who only looks like a woman (because he can't imagine a woman could be in a position of authority over a man).

Well, I found the show more amusing than I expected to. The fact that Zorn (and anything he brought from Zephyria) is animated while everyone and everything around him is live-action is kind of gimmicky, but I think it works. (You know, not as well as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but it's okay. And I really can't imagine the show working at all if Zorn were live-action, himself.) Anyway, Alan eventually starts dating a girl named Layla (Clara Mamet, of whom I'm a fan from The Neighbors). And toward the end of the season, Linda gets temporarily demoted at work, which allows Zorn to finally realize she's a woman. And as I expected would happen if he realized that, they start hooking up. Also, Edie and Craig finally get married. Other than that, I don't know what else to say, except there are some shocking cliffhangers at the end of the season, so I hoped the show would get renewed. Alas, it did not.


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