I haven’t seen Son of Zorn but I do think that a main protagonist needs some sort of positive trait to hook onto and justify dealing with their shit. To use another animated example, Sterling Archer is introduced in the first couple episodes as a competent (or even excellent) agent in terms of ‘action’ skills: shooting, sneaking, punching, driving, etc even if his judgment is terrible and he’s an insufferable dick full of ignorant sexist/racist remarks and you’d never want to spend considerable time with him in real life.
Of course, what often happens is a character starts with a relative balance of decent traits versus bad behavior but the bad behavior is funnier so the character becomes all about that until it’s just unbelievable that anyone would deal with their shit. The League started with a group of fairly normal people who acted like dicks to one another in fun and evolved into a group of 100% unmitigated asshole morons who no sane person would spent time with. Which, come to think of it, is probably why it got less funny and I stopped watching in its final season or two.
Counterpoint: Kenny Powers. So far I don’t think Zorn’s problem is that he doesn’t have any good qualities. It’s that he isn’t funny enough. So far I’ve been amused but I haven’t thrown anything down a quarry.
The fact that people don’t generally speak out against South Park is what makes your complaint seem weird. It’s a good show. People like it. So if you try to say that this show might become bad because it’ll be like South Park, you don’t make any sense to these people.
Also, the show is a satire. So a complaint about Cartman’s character is gonna seem weird. South Park is praised for its ability to make fun of things, not being some character study.
As for complaints, well, there’s a thread on this very board about how they don’t like what they are doing with the continuity these past couple of seasons. It seems too focused on that, and not focused enough on satirizing something new. So, to a lot of people, it seems less funny. IGN suggests the episodes are losing continuity.
And, BTW, Cartman is on a weird kick right now. I predict he’s still an asshole deep down, but he’s currently being portrayed as a decent dude. Because the plot needed someone who was falsely accused, and to have a nice character actually be the troll.
D_Odds - Yeah, be your own person, I know…it just gets so frustrating when I can’t find any agreement with me when I state what I believe to be a basic truth. If one person, just one, ever said “Well, I never would, I can see why a cheater like you would want to fudge die rolls on Monopoly for PS3” or “Yeah, Beavis and Butthead looks ugly and can be hard to watch for some, but that’s beside the point” or “Okay, maybe, just maybe, I can see how that judge’s incessant shrieking can get a tiny bit irritating”. I’m tired of saying that water is wet, mountains are big, and jabbing a red-hot sewing needle into your inner thigh is fairly uncomfortable and the board acting like I’m from Mars. In fact, that’s the main reason I spend so much time here: you guys are a lot cooler about unpopular opinions than anywhere else I’ve been.
Actually, the main reason I started this thread was that I had no idea how popular this show was, mainly because couldn’t find any real discussion. In fact, I just did a search, and hardly anything is turning up. So I guess that answers it…I probably shouldn’t be concerned. (If some idiot blames this for a rash of hawk killings, however, I may change my mind. )
As of now Son of Zorn still hasn’t been renewed or cancelled. Finale was sure funny. I was waiting for the payoff to Zorn not giving Alangulon the Zephyrian birds & bees talk.
I’ve continued to watch it, though without making any great effort. Often enough, I’ve needed to bring something up on Hulu during lunch and I’ve managed to more or less keep up with this show. Haven’t seen the finale yet but I’ve thought it’s generally been fairly funny. Not must-see, but sufficiently enjoyable.
And Cheryl Hines hasn’t ceased to be insanely hot.
There was even an episode that had her in pajamas (and plenty of episodes that have her in jeans), so there’s that.
Can’t say I’m surprised. It’s remarkable how many shows pitched as “high concept” or “unconventional” or “quirky” or “cult” turn into the same dreary cavalcade of cliches and walking stereotypes and tropes and ancient jokes we’ve seen 30 million times before. “Asking for a friend”? REALLY? THAT’S YOUR HIGH FRICKIN’ CONCEPT??
Also, forgot to mention this earlier: One reason this show struck a nerve was that I really hate anything that takes cheap shots at liberal ideas. I am an unathletic, somewhat introverted, unreligious account clerk of Chinese descent with no connections, and I can say with 100% confidence that strong, rigidly enforced liberal ideas are the only reason I get any kind of fair shake in this rotten, ignorant, bigoted world. Seriously, you all realize there are reasons for affirmative action that have nothing to do with giving destructive clods that insult their bosses a free pass, right? What next, rape culture? Police brutality? Voter suppression? All rejection of “PC culture” and “SJWs” ever amounts to is a relentless, gleeful punching down at the members of our society, myself included, who have no other recourse for having anything close to a good life, and I will never make excuses for that reprehensible mindset.
Huh. You know what, maybe someone should just say the hell with it and do a brazen ripoff of Mary Poppins or Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Space Jam. At least I’d recognize something with the potential to be entertaining.
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