by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief

Aliens have been hiding among us for decades. We all know this. In the 1960s, Martian Mister Hand moved in with David Banner to pose as a human as documented in My Favorite Martian. In the 70s, Mrs Doubtfire left Ork and landed in Milwaukee to do comedy battle with The Fonz, and later settled in Boulder, Colorado to start a family. Another race that popped up in the 70s were the Coneheads from Remulak. In the 80s California was settled by a cat-eating Alien Life Form from Melmac and a half-breed teenage girl from Antareus. Things were quiet for a while, but the 1990s brought a whole team of aliens infiltrated Ohio as the Solomons.

What do all of these televisions documentaries have in common? They show us that space aliens are hilarious and usually want nothing better than to fit in with us and bring us comedy from beyond the stars.

Last year, ABC’s The Neighbors revealed the latest wave of comedy aliens to infiltrate Earth. The Zabvronians are a normally plant/reptile race, disguised as humans and led by patriarch Larry Bird (Simon Templeman – Mass Effect, Uncharted). Larry leads an entire gated duplex community populated by other sports-star-homage-named Zabvronians. While the rest of his Zabvronian community members seem to obey Larry like a perfect hive of bees, his family doesn’t always fall in line quite so obediently. Larry’s sons Reggie Jackson (Tim Jo – Glory Daze, Castle) and Dick Butkus (Ian Patrick – Wanderlust, Looper) don’t stray too far from their father’s wishes, but his wife Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye – NCIS, Law & Order) becomes less and less subservient to Larry as she acclimates to local New Jersey human culture thanks to the introduction of their new human neighbors the Weavers: Debbie (Jami Gertz – Square Pegs, The Lost Boys), Marty (Lenny Venito – Men in Black II & III, War of the Worlds), Amber (Clara Mamet – Spartan, Night Moves), Max (Max Charles – True Blood, The Amazing Spider-Man, Adventure Time), and Abby (Isabella Cramp – Happy Endings, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia).

Unlike other fish out of water space alien comedies, The Neighbors invert the normal formula where aliens attempt to fit in to an existing human culture, and instead features a human family within an existing alien community… Who still help the aliens learn human culture, so maybe it is just a new twist on the same old formula. It works though–maybe better.

Highlights

S01E01 “Pilot” – We’re introduced to the Weavers, the Bird-Kersees, and the aliens are soon revealed to the humans in proper comedic fashion. Geek legend Doug Jones (Batman Returns, Tank Girl, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Guild, Falling Skies) is somehow content to be just a background character. This is indicative of the awesomeness to come.

S01E05 “Halloween-ween” – The Weavers teach the Zabvronians about Halloween. Reggie’s costume choice is a delightful mirror on a much-derided aspect of our popular culture.

S01E07 “50 Shades of Green” – The Weavers’ wedding anniversary lands right in the middle of Zabvronian Pon-Far. S’up, Amber?

S01E10 “Juan of the Dead” – When the community’s human gardener dies, the Zabvronians reanimate him. You know, like ya do.

S01E20 “Sing Like a Larry Bird (Aka the Musical)” – The Neighbors‘ EMMY NOMINATED musical episode is amazing, hilarious, and too short. Dominique Wilkins (The afore-lauded Doug Jones) has some delightful screen time. Reggie sings a lovely song about his sweet nerdy girlfriend Giselle, but why does it sound like…?

S01E22 “It Has Begun” – While both sets of parents visit Atlantic City, Dick’s grandfather (George Takei – Star Trek) sends him a message via toast that he is coming to take the Zabvronians home to their own planet. Not content to only feature one Sci-Fi juggernaut, this season finale also features Commandant Bill (Mark Hamill – Star Wars). Although it’s not said, their uniforms seem to indicate that the icon from the Disney property outranks Supreme Commander Grandpa Sulu. Oh myyy.

Audio and Video

While we’d prefer to have The Neighbors on Blu-ray like every other show, it seems that the only way to get it in HD is to stream it on Amazon Instant Video.
That said, the audio and video quality on this DVD release is maxed out with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and it is optimized for widescreen displays.

Special Features

• Gag Reel – Worth a chuckle.
• Deleted Scenes – Hoping for additional songs? Me too.
• Hoping for commentary tracks? Me too.

Overall

On its surface, The Neighbors seems like just another gimicky sitcom bound to be filled with repetitious dumb lowbrow humor, but under that initial veneer we learn that The Neighbors might be one of the smartest comedies on TV. The Neighbors is a sonnet of buffoonery that holds up a mirror to American culture and shows us just how ridiculous and wonderful we really are.

The Neighbors attempts to build a high concept series out of all the corniest classic alien, comedy, and pop culture tropes and somehow succeeds. The whole time I’m watching this, I’m thinking that it shouldn’t keep my interest, and yet I remain hooked to this brilliant and miraculously still-fresh comedy and endearing characters.

The Cons? This show deserves a better release on Blu-ray with some more complete special features. It really should be set in California rather than New Jersey.

If you enjoy witty comedies, cultural reflection, and pop culture references, you’ll want to watch The Neighbors. Pick up the DVD and marathon the first season, then watch the new season on Hulu or live on ABC Fridays at 8:30/7:30c.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives The Neighbors: The Complete First Season 4.5 out of 5 deliciously cheesy high-concept aliens.

Want to learn more about The Neighbors? Read our first interview with “Reggie Jackson” Tim Jo here or watch our conversation with him at San Diego Comic-Con 2013 here:

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