What May Cause Son of Zorn to be a Hit?
Football boosts in the fall
Son of Zorn gets the advantage of airing on some nights where FOX has football until almost 8:00. The 9:00 hour is affected slightly by this, but the affects are greater in the 8:00 hour, where Son of Zorn will be airing following a high-rated episode of The Simpsons.
Positive response to the trailer
The like/dislike ratio of Son of Zorn's trailer is a 94. That makes it the highest for all of FOX's fall lineup, beating out the second-highest of The Exorcist which has a 86. Additionally, this places it forth among all five networks, only beneath the strongly liked Designated Survivor, Frequency, and Speechless at 97, 97, and 96. That information can be found here.
Competition of different audiences
I doubt that a half-animated comedy shares much of an audience with a fantasy series based on fairy tales (Once Upon a Time) or a police procedural (NCIS: LA). This means its own audience is out there, probably not watching another show at the same time.
What May Cause Son of Zorn to be a Miss for FOX?
Lack of animated success
We all know that Bordertown failed this season, and it is difficult to think of any other recent animated shows that FOX aired. This is because animated sitcoms are dying off; Bob's Burgers has been sentenced to 7:30, American Dad was canceled in 2014, and The Cleveland Show in 2013. The other animated shows that were picked up in the last couple of seasons never got to air during the regular season; Golan the Insatiable flopped in the summer, while Murder Police never saw the light of day. We have to go back to 2011-12 to find new animated shows airing during the regular season, where Allen Gregory aired 7 and Napoleon Dynamite aired 6 episodes. Bob's Burgers in 2010-11 was the last animated show to make it to season 2. Son of Zorn is only half-animated, but will half be too much of this dying genre?
Sundays weak without football
The only animated shows standing strong are The Simpsons and Family Guy. Luckily, those shows are what Son of Zorn airs between, but even these shows are weak now without football. The Simpsons episodes that did not air following football this season averaged a 1.38 rating (calculated based on numbers rounded to the hundredth from TV Series Finale). While not a complete flop, that's not a very strong lead-in, even on FOX.
What to Expect for Son of Zorn?
I think that Son of Zorn will be a bubble show, with all of the factors listed above working together. I think it will eventually get canceled after one season, but this is a difficult one to predict.
Which factors do you think will be most in play in causing Son of Zorn to be a hit or a miss? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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