The protagonist of “Grimsburg” seems and acts nothing like Jon Hamm, although the actor lends his voice — and backing as an govt producer — to the lead of Fox’s newest animated sitcom. Detective Marvin Flute is a scruffy, potbellied deadbeat who’s considerably expert at fixing crimes, if nowhere close to as a lot as he thinks he’s. Flute is a far cry from the debonair sorts Hamm is finest identified for taking part in, from Don Draper on “Mad Males” to Paul Marks on “The Morning Present.” However with animation, Hamm can separate his voice from his famously good-looking face, even roughing up his signature baritone to sound considerably much less suave. The change in medium presents an opportunity to broaden the performer’s vary.

The namesake of “Grimsburg” is a small city with a giant fatality charge. (Motto: “Come for the climbing, keep since you’re lacking.”) Created by Catlan McClelland and Matthew Schlissel and developed by Chadd Gindin, “Grimsburg” is a heightened riff on the likes of “Homicide, She Wrote” — procedurals set in rural hamlets that naturally beg the query of how such a restricted inhabitants can produce so many criminals, or maintain so many misplaced lives. Naturally, “Grimsburg” escalates such suspension of disbelief to outright absurdity. A homicide thriller celebration takes place in a hybrid train-mansion, dubbed a “trainsion”; a serial killer leaves animal bones on the scene of each crime, cuing up 20 minutes of nonstop boner puns.

Detective Flute’s return to Grimsburg after a nervous breakdown and a while away serves because the sequence’ inciting incident, although he’s rapidly surrounded with a coterie of eccentrics, together with his ex-wife Concord (Erinn Hayes), an area information anchor who was fairly actually raised by bears, and Dr. Pentos (Alan Tudyk), a Hannibal Lecter-like determine with a vaguely European accent and an ever-present orange jumpsuit. Among the characterizations are broader than others: Flute’s son Stan (Rachel Dratch) craves his approval, a constant effectively of jokes and story alike, whereas his boss Chief Patsy (Wendi McClendon-Covey) is a scattered patchwork of archetypes. She’s established as an anti-vaccine fringe conservative early on, although that character by no means appears to stay.

Collectively, “Grimsburg” is an all-too-easy sendup of a tradition obsessive about true crime, copaganda and gritty status. (Only a week after “Grimsburg” debuts on Fox, the most recent season of “True Detective” will launch on HBO.) To match the joke-a-minute tempo of a broadcast comedy, “Grimsburg” affords itself a broad vary of satirical targets. The “trainsion” episode is a tackle Agatha Christie, “Clue” and “Knives Out,” whereas a slasher plot set at a summer season camp recollects the basic ’80s B-movie “Sleepaway Camp.” Every part from horror to thriller turns into grist for the mill, as long as it comes with a physique depend and a chance for Flute and his colleagues to make fools of themselves.

“Grimsburg” incessantly succeeds in getting laughs on the expense of an industrial advanced that’s lengthy since jumped the shark. At one level, a director decides to make a scripted present about Flute’s newest case whereas the investigation remains to be underway, then complains the detective goes “too quick for eight closely padded episodes.” However “Grimsburg” runs into the identical drawback as many spoofs in relation to cultivating emotional stakes, that are wanted for any present’s longevity irrespective of how foolish the premise. We’re by no means positive how critically to take any twist; one killer seems to be a personality’s fast member of the family, although the connection by no means comes up once more. Animation permits for some abstraction, and for “Grimsburg” to keep away from the exploitative gore that marks so lots of its live-action reference factors. To final for the lengthy haul, although, even the best parody has to work as a narrative of its personal.

The primary episode of “Grimsburg” premieres on Fox on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 8pm ET.