Phil-Miller animated pilot ‘Son of Zahn’ sounds odd as hell

FOX has ordered a pilot presentation for a new live-action/animated comedy called Son of Zahn. The series comes from Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the guys behind Clone High) and has recruited Wilfred showrunners Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne. Johnny Pemberton will be taking on the male lead. Deadline.com has more on the plot:

In Son of Zahn, upon arriving home for the first time in ten years, an animated Barbarian father finds that reconnecting with his moody, live-action teenage son, Alan (Pemberton), and ex-wife while suffering a mundane office job and the banality of suburban life is harder than waging actual war in his distant, animated world.

The 8-10 minute  presentation will shoot later this summer. Agnew and Jorne serve as showrunners and executive produce alongside Lord, Miller and their TV executive Seth Cohen. Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) will direct the presentation and serve as co-executive producer. 20th Century Fox TV, where Miller and Lord’s company is based, is the studio.

Live-action/animated hybrids is starting to be a thing with Disney XD’s Kirby Buckets, Universal’s Ted 2, and other being good examples. That said, this pilot sounds like it was written whilst on acid or some other hallucinogenics. I like the fact that FOX is continuing to look outside the box outside of typical family animated comedies ala The Simpsons, and instead are looking at pilots that have more fantastical attributes.

At first, I had a lot of hesitation about liking the idea of the series, but  after thinking about it I really just want to see FOX try new things so maybe this will inspire them to pick up more shows. They leave a lot to be desired in promoting Golan the Insatiable, so here’s hoping if this show DOES get picked up, they put some fucking effort into it.