The premiere episodes of Axe Cop and High School USA! on FOX ADHD

FOX’s new Animation Domination High-Def lineup of short-form animated mayhem officially kicks off this coming Saturday in a late-night programming block (11 p.m. Eastern/Pacific), but FOX ADHD gave viewers a sneak preview of both Axe Cop and High School USA last night in primetime.

The 10-minute shows debuted following a quick week-in-review animation that was short and sweetly subversive enough to keep viewers interested. And it’s comforting to see different takes on animation after what’s now decades of seeing multiple series look like they all blend in together into one Seth MacFarlane-Simpsons crossover to rule them all. Is that what they meant by Animation Domination?

In case you missed them, or just wanted to see them again, here you go…

Axe Cop premiere, “Night Mission: Stealing Friends Back”

https://www.hulu.com/watch/513224

High School USA! premiere, “Bullies”

https://www.hulu.com/watch/513216

Nick Weidenfeld, the executive in charge of FOX ADHD who came over from developing Adult Swim’s late-night alternative animation and live-action programming, noted that the primetime sneak peeks did include at least a little bit of censoring. So if you’re wondering how Axe Cop and his friends escaped from that there dangerous situation, there were no butts about it. But there were. You get it? You get it.

Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men, Angel) got his voice in the credits for both premieres last night. The Axe Cop cast also includes Nick Offerman, Ken Marino and Rob Huebel (and for the premiere, Todd Barry, Tyler the Creator and Megan Mullally). High School USA!, created by Dino Stamatopoulos, also features the voices of T.J. Miller, Mandy Moore, Rachel Butera and Nathan Barnatt.

Axe Cop definitely feels like it’s co-created by a 5-year-old (fun fact!), based on the narrative that runs through the premiere’s plot. Stamatopoulos looks to be upending everything you think you know about high school narratives, but in a subtextual twisted way for High School USA!

What else is coming to FOX ADHD? I guess we’ll have to tune in Saturday night to find out!

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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