Page 4 - 2016TVTimes.September25

4 September 25 - October 1, 2016
El Dorado News-Times
cover story
New toon in town
Fox blends animation with live action in ‘Son of Zorn’
GROUND DAILY!
Ground Meats!
Ground Chuck ... $3.29/lb
Ground Round .. $3.29/lb
Ground Breakfast Sausage $1.99/lb
usda choice steaks!
Ribeyes ........................................... $9.29/lb
T-Bones ........A../.L..if..e.t..o..u.c..h...H..o..s.p..i.c.e........ $7.29/lb
fresh pork!
Center Cut Bone-In Pork Chops ................ $1.99/lb Center Cut Boneless Pork Chops ............... $2.29/lb
Porterhouse ...................................... $7.39/lb
B/Timberlane Meat Market
2 x5
Pork Shoulder Roast ............................ $1.29 /lb
Boston Butt
Stuffed Pork Chops ............................... $3.99/lb
Boudain or Ham & Sausage Jambalaya
700 S. Timberlane Dr.
881-9605
Mon. - Sat. 10am - 6:30pm
By Jacqueline Spendlove
TV Media
It’s an age-old story: absentee father appears out of the blue to make good with the wife and kids and winds up upending everybody’s lives. Such a figure is seldom able to make a seam- less re-entry into the lives of those he’s been away from for years on end, but in some families it’s an especially jarring event.
Like in “Son of Zorn,” for instance. The partly animated comedy joins Fox’s cartoon-packed Sunday night lineup this fall and features the voice talents of Jason Sudeikis. The “Saturday Night Live” alum stars as Zorn, an animated barbarian hailing from the far-off island of Zephyria, who returns to Orange County to reconnect with his live-action ex-wife and son. The series premieres Sunday, Sept. 25, on Fox.
Poor Zorn. The long-haired, hulking, muscle-bound toon may be hot stuff in his homeland, but in suburban Cali- fornia, he’s pretty much at sea. The ani- mated island nation of Zephyria is lo- cated somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and is utterly chaotic. Its landscape is dotted with ice caves and lava pits, it’s teeming with monsters, and killing and violence are part of everyday life.
What a shock, then, to make the move to sunny Orange County, where he learns that his ex-wife, Edie (Cheryl Hines, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), is en-
gaged to a mild-mannered psychology professor named Craig (Tim Meadows, “Saturday Night Live”), and his teen- age son Alangulon (Johnny Pemberton, “21 Jump Street,” 2012) is a sensitive, slightly dweeby vegetarian.
Undaunted, Zorn is determined to establish himself in the ‘burbs, where he can begin to be a father to Alan- gulon (who goes by Alan) in earnest, which is terribly entertaining. Evidently, what constitutes an impressive résumé in Zephyria doesn’t go far in Orange County, but Zorn manages to land
an assistant job at an industrial soap company, where he pairs an office- appropriate shirt and tie with his knee-high boots and furry briefs. He’s delightfully oblivious to the fact that his boss is female, the concept of a woman being his superior being entirely for- eign to him. For her part, Linda (Artemis Pebdani, “Scandal”) takes her subordi- nate’s eccentricities in stride, displaying the patience of a saint.
As for the fact that Zorn is clearly
a cartoon, nobody in the live-action world is too phased by it, and that’s exactly the way showrunners wanted it. Zephyria’s a far-off land, but it’s not a secret — the general population is aware that some of the world’s inhabit- ants are simply animated.
“We never wanted to call him a cartoon,” co-creator and executive producer Reed Agnew explained at this summer’s Television Critics As- sociation press tour. “We
talk about it as if you were to see someone from Liberia who would seem strange and look weird.”
Says Sudeikis of his character: “He
wears a battle
strap and furry underpants.
Other than that, he’s just a nor- mal guy.”
Ten years is
a long time to
be away, but
Zorn’s desire
to be a father
to Alan is sin-
cere and fun to
watch. He takes
him to dinner,
where Zorn is
baffled and dismayed by his son’s refusal to eat meat; he helps Alan
with girl problems; he buys his son an enormous “death hawk” — which Edie quite understandably balks at — much as a father might buy his son his first car.
The series boasts some respectable star power in front of the camera, but there are some big names behind the scenes as well. Executive producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord have their names attached to a number of funny and successful projects, and “Son of Zorn” isn’t their first foray into the cartoon world. The pair wrote and directed the animated films “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” (2009) and “The Lego Movie” (2014), both of which scored Golden Globe nods for Best Animated Feature Film. They also directed “21 Jump Street” (2012) and its 2014 sequel, and have several writ- ing, directing and producing credits, including “Clone High” (which they also co-created and lent their voice talents to), “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Last Man on Earth” and “Brook- lyn Nine-Nine.”
Expect some big names on the list of guest stars this season, too. Sudeikis’s “SNL” castmate Fred Armisen guests as Vulchazor, Zorn’s evil, vulture-headed nemesis, who’s been wreaking havoc in Zephyria since Zorn left. “Parks and Recreation” star Nick Offerman plays a cave-dwelling doctor, and “Key & Peele’s” Keegan-Michael Key plays Zorn’s warrior pal Gobos the Great. Su- deikis’s fiancée Olivia Wilde (“House”) voices Zorn’s ex-girlfriend, Radiana,
whom our desperate hero brings as a date to Craig and Edie’s engagement
party.
All in all, “Son of Zorn” sounds like
a good time. After all, there’s nothing like a good fish-
out-of-water story, and this is one to a tee.
“[Zorn] comes from a world where, every day, there’s
a battle and mon- sters to be slain,”
said Agnew at the TCA panel. “Now he can’t
figure out how to work a vending machine.These are
the battles he’s fighting now.” Don’t miss the series
premiere of “Son of Zorn” when it airs Sunday, Sept. 25,
on Fox.
Artemis Pebdani as seen in “Son of Zorn”
We care about your health!
Medic
A/Vanhook Tire
DISCOUNT PHARMACY
• Fast Friendly Service!
• Drive-Thru or Delivery!
• Approved Nursing Home Provider!
B/Medic Pharmacy
2 x 2
Full line of
Diabetic Supplies
including Shoes & Socks
347 W. Oak • El Dorado 870-862-4931
COMMON
• Asking others to repeat themselves
• Answering questions with an inappropriate response
• Thinking people mumble or don’t speak clearly
SYMPTOMS
OF
HEARING
LOSS
• Playing the TV or radio A/South Arkansas Women’s Clinic
B/Audibel Hearing Services
2 x3
HEARING SERVICES
• Avoiding social encounters because of struggles with hearing
We have State of the Art Hearing Aids and Quality Service to help you have Better Hearing and a Better Quality of Life!!
There’s no reason to “suffer in silence”. Nothing compares to the lifestyle change of hearing clearly again!
too loud
524 West Faulkner (The Plaza) • El Dorado, AR • 870-862-8330
Fresh
2768
2626 4420