A little over a year after their long-running Disney channel animated series ended, “Phineas and Ferb” creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh are back with a new show – “Milo Murphy’s Law”. When “P&F” started in 2009, I was instantly hooked. The premise was unique, the characters were fun, the animation cheerful and the songs were mixed-in perfectly to the quirky, over-the-top stories.
But a few years in, as the show got hot, I hit a roadblock. “Phineas and Ferb” was getting too clever for its own good, with so much tongue-and-cheek writing and references smashed into storylines which followed the EXACT same format every episode (just dressed-up to look different). I didn’t watch another episode until the series finale.
Now comes “Milo Murphy’s Law” – starring Weird Al Yankovic as the voice of Milo. The opening theme song, which Yankovic performs, features the line, “It’s my world and we’re all living in it.” Milo, a bright and adventurous kid, who sports a sweater vest and backpack, has a reputation in town that follows Murphy’s Law – what can go wrong with him will go wrong. When friend Melissa asks him how his weekend was, he responds, “Eventful.” That, combined with the theme song and the number of facts Milo throws at new schoolmate Zack in the opening episode add-up to a character who comes-off as a bit of a braggart.
However, we quickly understand Milo’s motivation as we get into “Going the Extra Milo”. The set-up is for Milo and Zack to make it to school before the bell rings, but getting there in the wackiest ways possible. The rest of the kids are on the school bus, where Melissa is taking bets in the form of lunch food. In a sewer, Zack asks Milo if he always likes being in a “cycle of calamity”. Through just a few lines of dialogue, Milo reveals that he’s perfectly comfortable being “different”, without coming right out and saying it.
The second episode of the debut half hour, “The Undergrounders”, features Milo, Zack and Melissa working on the classic egg drop science project. It gets Povenmire and Marsh back to their comfort zone, with Phineas and Ferb having done so many experiments on their show. There’s a song during a montage, though Yankovic doesn’t perform it. My guess is he’ll contribute more music as the season goes on.
There are plenty of similarities to “P&F”, from the colorful animation to the fast-paced dialogue and zany energy. And Milo’s adorable dog Diogee may become this show’s Perry the Platypus, though no subplots were established during either 11-minute episode.
Yankovic is a talented performer and a good choice here, though his voice work is very similar to Jim Parsons’s as Oh in “Home”. But outside of a few clever lines from Melissa, I didn’t laugh too much during the “Milo Murphy’s Law” debut. It’s fun enough for pre-teens but there’s not much to latch onto for older kids/adults. Overall, the tone is a little too innocent and it just doesn’t provide anything special. Hopefully that will change in the weeks to come.
LCJ Rating: C+
“Milo Murphy’s Law” airs Mondays at 8pm on Disney XD.