Slam the door on ‘The Neighbors’
Sitcom isn’t worthy of ‘Family’ company
Wow. Just — wow.
Granted, that’s not a particularly insightful critical analysis of ABC’s latest sitcom. But there are shows where one’s first and most lasting reaction is stunned surprise, best expressed by “wow,” followed quickly by “really?”
As in: Really? Out of everything Hollywood had to offer, this aliens-among-us comedy is the show ABC wants people to watch tonight after the return of TV’s best sitcom, the whip-smart Modern
Family? What, was the network afraid people wouldn’t be able to sufficiently gauge
The Neighbors’ stupidity unless they could immediately draw a contrast?
And keep in mind that ABC initially planned to give The Neighbors that coveted post- Modern slot permanently — until an onslaught of shock and mockery forced the network to shift it to the earlier 8:30 slot as of next week. Where it will now block the viewer path between Modern and The
Middle. Good move. To be fair to ABC, the network is at least being consistent. As it proved with spring ’s quick cross-dressing flop Work It, ABC is convinced there’s a place for broad, silly, high-concept sitcoms on today’s schedule. And the folks at ABC might be right. The show would just have to be better, and funnier, than The Neighbors, which mistakes a gimmick for a joke and then proceeds to drive that gimmick into the ground.
TV has tried this joke before, of course, but shows such as Third Rock,
Mork & Mindy, ALF and My Favorite Martian were all built around the idea of space aliens living secretly among us. The Neighbors reverses that plot: The humans are living among the aliens, who reveal their identity before tonight’s half-hour is out. It’s a slightly different idea — and, to judge from the opener, a worse one.
The humans are Marty and Debbie Weaver ( Lenny Venito and Jami Gertz) and their three kids, who have just moved into a New Jersey gated community. Their first clue that’s something ’s amiss comes when their neighbors, all of whom are named after famous people, line up with pies and greet them in unison.
Their second comes when “Dick Butkus,” son of the head Zabvronians, “Larry Bird” (Simon Templeman) and “Jackie Joyner-Kersee” (Toks Olagundoye), exposes his real identity to Marty and Debbie’s children. Which leads, by the way, to a mild double-entendre that is the sole adult-only moment in an otherwise family-friendly show.
There is a place for this kind of comedy, though watching The Neighbors, you may begin to suspect that place is a Friday night in the late ’70s. But the shows that have made this concept work have either boasted a novel twist that caught on, like ALF, or terrific comic performers who commanded attention, like Robin Williams in Mork and the entire cast of Third Rock. Nothing in The Neighbors rises above mediocrity, and too much falls beneath it. Which brings us back to “wow.”
And, one hopes, “bye.”