Since “Zeke and Luther” proved that there’s a fairly sizable young-male audience out there which enjoys sitcoms that mix slapstick & extreme sports, Disney XD is revisiting this theme tomorrow night with “Kickin’ It.” Which is a brand-new half-hour-long comedy that debuts on this cable channel tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. ET / PT following the Season 2 premiere of “Pair of Kings.”
“So how does ‘Kickin’ It’ compare to “Zeke and Luther’?,” you ask. Well, given that “Zeke” is a single-camera comedy while “Kickin'” is a more traditional multi-camera sitcom (which is shot in front of a live studio audience), we’re kind of in apples-and-oranges country here, folks. But based on the pilot episode that I viewed over this past weekend, I’d have to say that “Kickin’ It” has a pretty good chance of connecting with Disney XD’s target audience to 6-to-14 year-old young males.
Mind you, most of “Kickin’ It” ‘s appeal can be traced back to 13-year-old martial arts whiz Leo Howard. Whose comedy chops are almost as impressive as his karate chops.
Leo plays Jack, a new student at Seaford High School who’s harboring kind of a huge secret. Though he may look like your average skateboarder at the mall, Jack’s grandfather taught martial arts legend Bobby Wasabi (who starred in such chopsocky classics as “Kung Fu Cop” and “Nana was a Ninja”) all of his moves. And since his grandfather also served as Jack’s sensei … This 13-year-old has some pretty extreme martial arts moves of his own. Which we get to see in “Kickin’ It” ‘s opening moments, when Jack – right in the middle of lunch period – manages to pound the pudding out of four members of the Black Dragon dojo.
Word of this cafeteria smackdown gets back to Sensei Rudy (played by Jason Earles. Who’s probably best known for playing Jackson Stewart on that long-running Disney Channel hit, “Hannah Montana“). Given that his dojo (which is actually a franchise of Bobby Wasabi’s chain of martial arts academies) is in danger of being closed down, Rudy takes advantage of a run-in that Jack has with some mall cops and then basically tricks this 13-year-old into joining his strip-mall-based dojo.
And since “Kickin’ It” is a sitcom, Jack & Sensei Rudy are surrounded by an amusing array of misfit martial arts students. Among them is Milton David Krupnick (Played by Dylan Riley Snyder. Who actually appeared on Broadway as young Tarzan in the Disney Theatrical Group‘s 2006 production of “Tarzan“). Who is so lacking in physical ability that – when Milton is challenged to karate-chop his way through a wooden board at a tournament – he whines that ” … I can barely cut a well-cooked piece of fish.”
And then there’s the gross-but-good-hearted Jerry (played by Mateo Arias). Who – after belching loudly after consuming way-too-much pizza – remarks that ” … You should be happy that it came out the right end.” Or – after whacking himself in the crotch with a pair of nunchucks – looks around the dojo and gasps “Everything is purple.”
Okay. So obviously “Kickin’ It” isn’t some sort of sophisticated drawing room comedy. But what this new Disney XD series is is a well-produced family comedy which regularly features some pretty amazing martial arts sequences. And given that the production company behind “Kickin’ It” is It’s A Laugh Productions, Inc. (i.e. the folks behind such long-running Disney Channel shows as “Hannah Montana,” “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and “Wizards of Waverly Place“) … Well, these folks obviously have a handle on how to make a TV program appeal to tweens.
More to the point, given that Jason Earles regularly shined in his supporting role on “Hannah Montana,” it’s nice to finally see this talented young performer with a TV showcase of his very own. And then when you marry Leo Howard’s amazing martial arts skills to the breezy way that he handles punchlines (not to mention how Howards plays off of Olivia Holt. Who plays Kim, the only female high school student in the Bobby Wasabi dojo. Who may or may not have a crush on Jack) … This sitcom is off to a very promising start.
So if you’d like to kick the tires on “Kickin’ It” … As I mentioned earlier, the series premiere – which is entitled “Wasabi Warriors” – will air on Disney XD tomorrow night from 8:30 – 9 p.m. ET/PT.
And then – on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night in that exact same time slot – this cable channel will be airing additional episodes of this new series (to give as many viewers as possible the opportunity to sample this new martial arts-themed comedy). After that, “Kickin’ It” will settle back into its usual Monday-nights-at-8:30-p.m. timeslot.
So why not check on this new sitcom when it debuts on Disney XD tomorrow night after the Season 2 premiere of “Pair of Kings” and then come back on over to JHM & let us know what you actually thought of this TV show?
