Season Review: Grimsburg Season One

Before the first season even premiered, Grimsburg had already been renewed for a second season which has been an increasingly common flex that FOX has been doing as of late for its new animated comedies. For Krapopolis I kind of understood why because, even before it premiered on television, the series was making money. Just last week, Universal Basic Guys got the same courtesy though judging from the show’s trailer I do think it’s going to be one of the best animated comedy debuts on FOX in a very long time. So why did Grimsburg get the early renewal?

A lot of it has to do with the marquee name attached to the series…Jon Hamm. The executive producer of a series created by Catlan McClelland & Matthew Schlissel is by far the reason which is actually a method FOX hearkened back to in the early days of cord-cutting is loading up their animated comedies with guest stars after guest stars for the entirety of its Animation Domination lineup. One time, I remember they did a weekend of Amy Schumer guest spots at the height of her career with guest appearances on The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, and Family Guy. FOX loves their marquee names so if it means being in business with Jon Hamm then I can see why they are doing just that.

It certainly can’t be for Hamm’s voice-acting in the role of “Marvin Flute” which straddles the line between okay and blatant Will Arnett just with added McGruff. The series does a decent job surrounding the big name with a litany of more-than-capable actors to help round out the cast. The likes of Alan Tudyk, Kevin Michael Richardson (“Summers”), and Rachel Dratch (“Stan”) are the types of utility voice actors you hire when you want to keep your show in business because these actors are capable of playing a dozen or so different characters, namely Tudyk who voices the roles of Marvin’s nemesis “Dr. Pentos” and Stan’s imaginary friend “Mr. Flesh”. Grimsburg also employs a strong list of guest stars for the series’ first season including Patton Oswalt, Rob Huebel, and Tim Meadows.

The voice cast is strong, but does the dialogue suit them? For the most part, Grimsburg’s dialogue struggles for most of the season. The jokes struggle to land and oftentimes Marvin comes off a bit too cliche. For my money, I prefer when the series gets a bit more semi-serious in the vein of the show’s season finale which was the first season’s best episode by a mile, one that actually shows the world what the show CAN be if it were to instead maybe focus more on the police procedural route as opposed to the constant movie parodies that don’t quite get the same laugh as when Family Guy does it.

Bento Box Entertainment checks in with a series that doesn’t look unlike other police animated comedies that it has produced in the past such as Paradise PD, Murder Police, and even Brickleberry(kinda), though the action sequences definitely have quite a bit more heavy in it. The character designs and gags, especially when it comes to the villains, is definitely one of the highlights of the young series and is something that I think the show can build on in the future.

Grimsburg has some assets to it that I think are very positive, but the show has to get out of its own way if it wants to be successful. Focus on what makes the series original and different from the rest of the pack by maybe playing a bit more into the criminal aspect of the series and maybe hire some writers that can help punch up scripts and then I think we can have a serviceable series moving forward for the FOX Network that can even get a third season.