SUMMER TV EXTRAVAGANZA

ANIMATION DOMINATION HIGH DEF EDITION

                                       AXE COP                                    HIGH SCHOOL USA!

**1/2 (out of ****)                                                                          *1/2 (out of ****)

There are two types of people in this world: the people who know the backstory of Axe Cop, and the people that don’t. I do, and there’s nothing that can change that going in to the sneak preview of the new animated series, part of Fox’s attempt to have their own Adult Swim-like “animation for high people” block of TV. Throughout the pilot I wish I didn’t know, if just for a moment, so I could wonder what the fuck was going on, why something like this would even exist. That would have made for a different, yet equally crazy experience. But I did know the backstory — I knew that this was all the brain child of a four year old, shouting out ideas to his 29 year old brother, who would transpose them into the webcomic that this show would be based on — which means everything makes a little more sense to me, if ever so slightly. In a show with no stakes and no rules, all we have to go on is the next wacky idea, which by necessity has to be wackier than the last, and for the most part, Axe Cop does its job. There’s a plan that if this first season goes well, the second season will feature 30 minute episodes, instead of 15, and based on the pilot, that scares me a little bit. But for now, 15 minute bursts of Dinosaur Horn Rental Stores and ramps that launch monster trucks to the moon is enough for me.

It’s hard to be as excited, or excited at all, for the other Animation Domination High Def show that premiered with Axe Cop. High School USA!, from creator Dino Stamatopoulos, is drawn to be a parody of Archie, but turns out to not really be a parody of anything. Or maybe it tries to be a parody of so much that it doesn’t succeed at parodying any one thing. It doesn’t matter. Whatever loftier goals or messages High School USA! has for us, it’s so dreadfully unfunny that it’s hard to find a reason to stick around and let it figure itself out.