FOXADHD: FOX’s Answer to Adult Swim (12 Years Too Late)

Graphic from Wikipedia
Almost 12 full years after Cartoon Network launched it’s mature humor block of cartoons, Adult Swim, Fox has finally decided it might be a good idea to compete against them with it’s new block of cartoons, FOXADHD.
Launching the website foxadhd.com (standing for Animation Domination HD) around late March, 2013, FOX has been teasing some very trippy cartoons on the site that kept my attention for about 2 minutes before I got bored.
Axe Cop
This changed when I started seeing videos and advertisements for their first real cartoon, Axe Cop. The cartoon is based off of a webcomic drawn by a 29 year old, with all the stories written by his 5 year old brother. Something like this has the potential to be really funny, or really awful. Casting Nick Offerman (best known as Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation) was the right move towards the funny direction.
Sunday night, after Family Guy, Fox aired a preview episode of Axe Cop (FOXADHD will normally be on Saturday nights at 11pm, starting July 27th), and I’m happy to report that it definitely succeeded in the funny department. Offerman delivers lines as Axe Cop that are so ridiculous, yet read so seriously, that I laughed hard quite a few times. From having a partner named Flute Cop, to arguing with a salesman at the dinosaur horn store (located on another planet) on the benefits of buying a dinosaur horn vs. renting one (he only needed it an hour to kill the king of all bad guys), I honestly think a 5 year old might be a funnier writer than most sitcom writers these days. Definitely give Axe Cop a chance.
High School USA!
Axe Cop was paired with FOXADHD’s one other show, High School USA!, which I knew nothing about going into. To put it bluntly, the show did nothing but play on high school cliches, and was pretty bland as a result. The topic of the episode was bullying, and it tried to poke fun at teaching you a lesson, then ended with a truly 70’s cartoon music scene where all the characters play in a band together. I could take or leave this show, but if you have nothing better to do, I suppose it won’t hurt to watch it.
Competition for Adult Swim?
Like I said to begin with, Fox is over a decade behind Adult Swim in the adult humor cartoon game. Axe Cop was funny, but High School USA! was a bit on the weak side. If this is the best they have to offer, I can’t see this as becoming any real competition for Adult Swim. In other words, we, as the viewers unfortunately lose overall.