Fox has asked Axe Cop to hand in his badge and axe, for the time being: According to Broadcast & Cable (and relayed by Entertainment Weekly), Animation Domination HD will wrap its late-night run on June 28. The topic was reportedly first broached at a meeting of Fox affiliates two weeks ago, couched in concerns about viewer complaints about risqué material. What those viewers were doing up past 10 p.m. on a Saturday night—the generally agreed upon hour when inhibitions fall by the wayside and adorable moppets form Calvin And Hobbes-like bonds with inter-dimensional deities—was apparently not discussed.
The good news for ADHD fans, and the bad news for skittish TV owners afraid of satirical depictions of what’s happening at the high school just down the block: The animation block’s digital platforms aren’t going away any time soon, and will continue to serve as a potential incubator for primetime series. To that end, a Fox rep told affiliates that two hatchlings from the ADHD nursery will hit the big time next year—though there’s no word on which it will be. In the event that one of them is not Axe Cop, take heart that that series lives on in webcomic form, its spirit preserved whenever a cop finds the perfect axe.
UPDATE: The A.V. Club reached out to Nick Weidenfeld, head of ADHD, to shed some light on his programs’ future. His response: “We are really excited. We were created to get shows on Sunday night. And in under a year we did! And getting off Saturday nights will allow us to develop a bigger range of shows with a more diverse group of talent for different outlets. We have the best of both worlds. We have the big league field of Sunday night and ability to operate like an unfettered studio. That’s awesome.”