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[title]Crowded with Seth MacFarlane shows and and mainstay The Simpsons, it's nice to see Fox's Saturday animation line-up get some new blood, but Allen Gregory could use a bit of a punch-up.
The titular character is an obnoxious 7-year-old (voiced by Jonah Hill, also one of the show's creators). Allen Gregory De Longpre (don't call him Allen) has been spoiled shamelessly by his father Richard (French Stewart) and acts like a pretentious, middle-aged socialite. However, it seems the De Longpre's have hit a rough patch financially and Richard is insisting his partner, Jeremy (Nat Faxon), go back to work. Since Jeremy has been serving as Allen Gregory's homeschool instructor, this means the boy must now attend public school.
The pilot is not without some giggles but Allen Gregory is a character in desperate need of a foil and most of the first episode is spent showing us just how insanely quirky and weird he is, without allowing any of the other characters to be fleshed out. While the idea of a first grader that brings sushi wine to school in his lunch pail is not without humor, Allen Gregory can just as easily be grating as droll and the more they push him on the audience, the worse he gets. Hopefully, future episodes will allow the show's less broad characters to balance him out a bit and allow the audience to find someone to laugh with.
Allen Gregory premieres Sunday 7:30pm on FOX.