'He-Man' hits suburbia in Fox's jokey 'Son of Zorn'
The network that brought you "The Simpsons," "Family Guy" and "Bob's Burgers" is bringing another animated show - sort of - to the Sunday lineup this fall, and Fox is getting a jump on the rest of the fall TV season by airing the first episode this Sunday.
"Son of Zorn," a new half-hour comedy produced by "Lego Movie" directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and "Wilfred" creators Reed Agnew and Eli Jorné, premieres at 7 p.m. Sunday on Fox. (The second episode won't air until Sept. 25 in the show's regular 7:30 p.m. time slot.) The premise: An animated warrior named Zorn (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) leaves his cartoon realm to reunite with his live-action family in California on the occasion of the titular son's 17th birthday.
Eighties kids will quickly spot that Zorn and his home of Zephyria are parodies of He-Man and Eternia from the "Masters of the Universe" cartoon series, and the show opens with Zorn and buddies like Headbutt Man and Skunk Man locked in battle. When Zorn leaves Zephyria, it doesn't involve a magical portal or other such nonsense - no, Zorn travels by airplane, alongside live-action humans who are very clearly from modern Earth.
No one in the "real world" seems to find it strange that a shirtless cartoon character is walking down the street, but Zorn is definitely a fish out of water; most of the premiere's jokes concern muscle-bound, manly-man Zorn adapting to living in modern America. Some jokes are cheap and obvious, like the casual misogyny he directs at a waitress. Others surprise and delight, as when Zorn goes grocery shopping or buys the equivalent of his son's first car.
The high-concept comedy mostly works. What doesn't are basic conversational scenes between Zorn and his ex-wife Edie, played by Cheryl Hines of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Their scenes together bear all the marks of rewrites and postproduction tinkering complicated by Hines not having a physical scene partner. The disconnect keeps Zorn from being a believable, human character.
Then again, this is the first episode, and show runner Sally Bradford McKenna ("The Goldbergs") has time to work out the kinks. My concern that "Son of Zorn" would work best as a feature film and not a TV series dissipated when the final scene revealed why the subject of the title is adolescent Alangulon (Alan for short), played by Johnny Pemberton.
"Son of Zorn" has my attention. I hope it can develop its characters enough to hold it.
Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.