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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, September 23, 2016 2 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media I t's an age-old story: absen- tee father appears out of the blue to make good with the wife and kids and winds up up- ending everybody's lives. Such a figure is seldom able to make a seamless 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 in- stance. 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 bar- barian 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 Sun- day, Sept. 25, on Fox. Poor Zorn. The long-haired, hulking, muscle-bound toon may be hot stuff in his home- land, but in suburban Califor- nia, he's pretty much at sea. The animated island nation of Zephyria is located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and is ut- terly chaotic. Its landscape is dotted with ice caves and lava pits, it's teeming with mon- sters, 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 engaged to a mild-mannered psychology professor named Craig (Tim Meadows, "Satur- day Night Live"), and his teen- age son Alangulon (Johnny Pemberton, "21 Jump Street," 2012) is a sensitive, slightly dweeby vegetarian. Undaunted, Zorn is deter- mined to establish himself in the 'burbs, where he can begin to be a father to Alangulon (who goes by Alan) in earnest, which is terribly entertaining. Evidently, what constitutes an impressive résumé in Zephyria doesn't go far in Orange Coun- ty, 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 delightful- ly oblivious to the fact that his boss is female, the concept of a woman being his superior be- ing entirely foreign to him. For her part, Linda (Artemis Peb- dani, "Scandal") takes her sub- ordinate'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. Zephy- ria's a far-off land, but it's not a secret — the general popula- tion is aware that some of the world's inhabitants are simply animated. "We never wanted to call him a cartoon," co-creator and executive producer Reed Ag- new explained at this sum- mer's Television Critics Associa- tion press tour. "We talk about it as if you were to see some- one from Liberia who would seem strange and look weird." Says Sudeikis of his charac- ter: "He wears a battle strap and furry underpants. Other than that, he's just a normal guy." Ten years is a long time to be away, but Zorn's desire to be a father to Alan is sincere and fun to watch. He takes him to dinner, where Zorn is baffled and dismayed by his son's re- fusal to eat meat; he helps Alan with girl problems; he buys his son an enormous "death hawk" — which Edie quite un- derstandably balks at — much as a father might buy his son his first car. The series boasts some re- spectable 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 at- tached 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 sev- eral writing, directing and pro- ducing 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 "Brooklyn Nine- Nine." Expect some big names on the list of guest stars this sea- son, too. Sudeikis's "SNL" castmate Fred Armisen guests as Vulchazor, Zorn's evil, vul- ture-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 Go- bos the Great. Sudeikis's fian- cée Olivia Wilde ("House") voices Zorn's ex-girlfriend, Radiana, whom our desper- ate hero brings as a date to Craig and Edie's engagement party. A/Bulls Head Inn B/Laura Reyda 2 x 2 coverstory Artemis Pebdani as seen in "Son of Zorn" New toon in town Fox blends animation with live action in 'Son of Zorn' By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: What did Benedict Cumberbatch do before "Sher- lock"? It really seemed to put him on the map. A: Benedict Cumberbatch auditioned for his role in "Sher- lock," the BBC's literary drama about a precocious young ge- nius, by starring in a couple other BBC series — one a literary drama and one about a precocious young genius. You're right in thinking that "Sherlock" made him a star. Pri- or to taking on the role, he was mostly doing British television, but a year afterward, he was appearing in Hollywood block- busters. His biggest role prior to the debut of "Sherlock" in 2010 was in the 2008 miniseries "The Last Enemy," a BBC and PBS co- production in which he starred as a brilliant young mathemati- cian who is hired to work on a government surveillance pro- gram and is embroiled in conspiracy. In 2007, he appeared in the BBC/HBO TV movie "Stuart: A Life Backwards" alongside Tom Hardy ("Mad Max: Fury Road," 2015), a true story about an unstable, deteriorating young man (Hardy) and the writer (Cumberbatch) who penned the story of his tragic life. Q: On occasion, Hallmark Channel shows the movie "Class" with Justin Bruening and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Is this movie available on DVD? If so, where? A: Hallmark Channel does a good job, understandably, of keeping its made-for-TV movies alive. That's the beauty of be- ing a production company with your own channel: Whereas once upon a time Hallmark produced movies for the broadcast networks, which would often disappear for good as soon as they aired, now they live on in repeats. What I'm doing here is softening the bad news for you. Hall- mark has not yet released "Class" on video. It still may happen — the company has released many of its titles on DVD — but the fact that "Class" aired all the way back in 2010 and still hasn't seen a release is not a good sign. However, we live in the future, and boring old technologies like little plastic discs with massive amounts of information burned onto them with lasers (tech changes so fast) aren't the only way to watch videos. Hallmark has launched a streaming service, Hallmark Channel Everywhere, which makes a selec- tion of its older releases available online. "Class" isn't up there at the moment, but Hallmark says it changes the offerings reg- ularly. And since it still airs the movie on television, it knows there's still audience demand. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. hollywoodQ&A Losie's Gun Shop 1 x 4

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