Axe Cop and High School USA

[on:]

These are adult cartoons on FOX ADHD late on Saturday Nights.   What is everyone's thoughts on these shows?  Anyone notice how much Marsh from HSUSA looks so much like Fry?

[Reply #1 on:]

I haven't watched High School USA yet (though I loved Moral Orel, so it's on my "to check out" list), but Axe Cop is brilliant. Casting Nick Offerman as Axe Cop was a genius move.

[Reply #2 on:]

As a fan of Axe Cop, the comic, I really enjoy Axe Cop, the show - and I'm surprised at how much of a negative response it seems to have received from people. I agree that the casting of Offerman was absolutely perfect.

High School USA, on the other hand, sucks donkey noodles.

[Reply #3 on:]

I agree that the casting of Offerman was absolutely perfect.

I think the casting for pretty much every role in the show was perfect. I mean, holy shit, we have Gus from Breaking Bad playing a talking chihuahua! Easily one of the strongest casts assembled for an animated show since Archer.

The show received a negative reception from fans? Granted, I haven't read much of the web comic, but they seem to be right on par with each other in terms of tone and humour. Episodes 2 and 3 were a little weak, though it's not as though no good tv show ever starts off shakily. The rest was more than good enough to prove its potential as a tv series.

[Reply #4 on:]

I don't know about from fans - just a negative reception in general.

I think a lot of the problem is that most of them aren't familiar with the source material, so they just don't know how to take it.

Although, the largest complaint I see is that it's a rip-off of Adult Swim's programming.

[Reply #5 on:]

Adult Swim was such an inspired idea and a runaway success, I'm kind of surprised no other network has even attempted to challenge it until now.

[Reply #6 on:]

Anyone notice how much Marsh from HSUSA looks so much like Fry?

Eh, kind of. Probably just the red jacket.

Eh, ADHD's okay I guess. Axe Cop is honestly just too random for my tastes, but occasionally clever to watch. High School USA is decent and might be able to become something really good in the future, but right now is a bit on the mediocre side.

As for the cartoons on the website, it's a bit mixed. Some of them are pretty good shorts like Remember When, but others like the Scientifically Accurate shorts and the bulldog one are a bit too grotesque/awkward to really enjoy.

[Reply #7 on:]

Anyone notice how much Marsh from HSUSA looks so much like Fry?

I don't think he looks like Fry at all. But that's just me.

[Reply #8 on:]

It's pretty clear these shows are targeted at late teens/early 20s male audiences; I recently turned 30 and while I enjoy AS, the twisted, edgy humor of these two shows isn't my style.  

It was speculated that Fox would trial the ADHD block on late Saturdays, and if it was successful, expand it to 6 nights a week -- Saturday nights were chosen because Fox already "owned" that time from its affiliates.  ADHD was delayed, slimmed down, and Fox recently returned the final half-hour back to its affiliates (they've owned that time dating back to MadTV, at least).  Thus far, ratings have paralleled those of its previous Saturday night programming -- re-runs of Master Chef/Hell's Kitchen.  In fairness, some affiliates show ADHD at a later time (mine runs it in the midnight hour) while others offer it to another local station.

ADHD is low-cost programming.  Fox developed the concept and owns the studio & equipment where it's produced, but work is outsourced (animators earn low wages, no benefits) and Fox does not own the rights to ADHD content, including syndication/etc. revenues.

[Reply #9 on:]

So are any of these shows actually any good?

[Reply #10 on:]

Axe Cop is good, but you have to go into it with a bit of context.

Read the wikipedia page and a few of the comics and then you'll be fine.

[Reply #11 on:]

I read axe cop now and again, and I recall hearing that they were going to animate it and put it on the television machine.

I'm on Hulu right now, watching the first episode. Liking it so far!

[Reply #12 on:]

axe cop is better than HSUSA