God, The Devil and Bob: The Complete Series
Video: B-
Audio: C Extras: B- Episodes: B-
Let’s face it, folks.
The primetime-animated sitcom is a dying breed. Recently, Paramount and DreamWorks tried to
revive the genre by utilizing new CGI-animated technology with the shows Game
Over (Paramount) and Father of the Pride (DreamWorks). Unfortunately, both shows floundered and
were cancelled before all their episodes even got to air. The problem wasn’t that the animation was
poor; the problem stemmed from the problem that plague most shows—poor
writing. Given that both UPN and NBC
did a lot to promote their respective show, viewers soon discovered that the
shows were badly written and thus ratings plummeted. However, poor writing isn’t always why primetime animation
fails. Failure to properly promote the
show and giving it a poor timeslot where it faces stiff competition are the
main reasons well-written primetime animated sitcoms fail.
Take ABC for example.
Two well-written and extremely hilarious shows were The Critic
and Clerks. Clerks failed
because it aired over the summer when TV viewing is generally at a low. The Critic failed because of poor
promotion. Even with Home
Improvement as its lead-in, it couldn’t survive. Luckily, FOX decided to pick it up and give it a good home, but
even then it failed since it never got a proper start. Ah, FOX: the last bastion of hilarious,
well-written primetime animation. Ever
since King of the Hill joined The Simpsons in 1997, FOX has been
the number one mainstay for animated shows that have a decent life. Granted, Futurama and Family Guy
did not last long in the grand scheme of things, but Futurama lasted
five seasons (pretty good considering how long most shows last) and Family
Guy is coming back thanks to high DVD sales and reruns on Cartoon Network’s
Adult Swim. And with American Dad
being the newest show to join the FOX lineup, FOX continues to be the number
one supporter for primetime animation.
So, in March 2000, 20th Century Fox and Carsey-Werner
Productions joined up to premiere a new primetime animated sitcom entitled God,
The Devil and Bob. While it would
air on NBC rather than Fox, the show followed the Fox tradition of dedicated
animation, quality writing, and talented voice-actors. Unfortunately, NBC followed ABC and did next
to nothing to properly promote the show.
Only four episodes ended up airing and before people even knew it was on
the air, the show was off the air.
God, The Devil and Bob is a show that concerns
the trials and tribulations of Bob Alman has he’s suddenly thrust into a wager
between God and The Devil. You see, one
day, God decides he is fed up with the way the world is run and starts
seriously thinking about ending it all and starting over again from scratch. The Devil is more than happy with this
prospect as to him it means he would win and defeat God. But God isn’t ready to give up, yet. He thinks if he can find one individual that
proves the world is worth saving, he will spare humanity’s doom. God even lets The Devil pick the one man who
will be the participant in their little wager.
Unfortunately for God, The Devil chooses Bob Alman, a
less-than-appealing choice. Bob isn’t
the greatest human, but nevertheless, God has faith in him and guides him to do
what he must to save the world. The
series chronicles Bob’s plight as he tries to save humanity from its
self-created evils, while at the same time trying to balance his hectic family
life. The show boasts a huge talent
list with several well-known actors lending their voice to the show. The producers mentioned they wanted to use
actors rather than traditional voice-over actors that most animated shows
use. The voice acting is superb. James Garner voices God, Alan Cumming voices
The Devil, French Stuart voices Bob Alman, and Laurie Metcalf voices Bob’s
wife, Donna Alman. Some traditional
animation voice-actors are part of the show, as Nancy Cartwright and Kath
Soucie provide the voices of Bob and Donna’s children. All do wonderful jobs, embodying their
characters wholly. Alas, even though
the show is well written and acted, the comedy aspect of this show is quite
hard to find. In fact, the laughs are
very few and too far between. The show
ends up being preachier and sometimes philosophical as it explores various
human vices and toes the line between morality and immorality. All in all, the show’s humor really isn’t
there, and may have been one of the reasons why it could never find an
audience.
The show itself has a rather unique animation style. It blends a style of traditional cel
animation as well as a process or digitally scanning in photographs to short
cut the background and scenery animation process. As a result, complex patterns in wallpaper or carpets or even an
extra shine on a floor make it easier for the animators as they don’t have to
draw these repeating patterns. The show
also does something that is rarely, if not ever, seen in an animated show: it
incorporates depth of field! More often
than not, background scenery and characters are blurred out to establish that
they are much further away than objects and characters in the foreground. There are even times when that is flipped
around, where background objects and characters are in focus, but the
foreground is out of focus. While it
adds an element uncommon to animation, it makes the feel of the show somewhat
unnatural and it didn’t really work for me.
The entire series of 13 episodes is spread over two
single-sided discs and comes in an Amaray case with a flap inside to hold the
first of the two discs. The set does
not come with an insert or booklet. I
must say that menus for this set are quite nice. Each disc has animated menus showcasing various scenes from the
episodes on the respective discs. Each
episode itself has a sub-menu featuring a one image taken from the episode
itself. Each episode is broken down
into chapters for easy access, or there is a “Play All” option. What is also particularly nice is that the
episodes are presented by airdate.
Granted, only four episodes of the 13 ever aired, but those four are
given in airdate order. The remaining
nine episodes are presented by production code. Good job, Fox.
Outstanding job on these menus.
The video for the series is presented in its original TV
broadcast ratio of 1.33:1. Boy howdy
does the image look nice. It looks like
the video was pulled from a really great source, as there are absolutely no
hints of blemishes, dirt, or scratches.
All the colors are solid and rich and show no sign of degradation. The only problem with the video comes with
the interlacing errors that are unfortunately spread throughout the set. It gives black lines a jagged and squiggly
look, which shouldn’t happen since it’s apparent that the black lines are meant
to be stationary. This is most
noticeable with character movement.
The audio for the series is presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital
Stereo Surround. There is also the
option to have English or Spanish captions and subtitles. I’d usually criticize a show for not being
given a 5.1 treatment, but it’s hard for me to fault the show when the 2.0
surround is barley even utilized at all!
Almost all dialogue, sound effects, and music come through the center
channel. The front speakers are barely
used at all, and the only instances where they are used are when music
plays. At least all sound is crisp and
clear with no static or noise.
It’s nice to see that even though the show didn’t last
very long that Fox committed to put some extras on the set. Included on six of the 13 episodes are audio
commentaries from various producers from the show. The commentaries start out strong for the first few
episodes. The producers provide a bevy
of background information concerning the creation and development of the show
as well as the particular episode they’re commenting on. They discuss character creation and how the
show was hard to do, as it began without the help of any animators. They also discuss controversy surrounding
the show and how religious factions didn’t like the representation of God. They even mention how some NBC affiliates
wouldn’t air the show without having even seen the episodes. They also mention some deleted scenes that
didn’t make it into the episodes, but where are they on this set? It would have been nice for them to be
included as well. But while the
commentaries start strong on early episodes, they become blander and boring
with later episodes as there are too many silent moments as it’s apparent that
the producers get caught up in watching the episodes.
Also included is a making-of featurette entitled “God,
The Devil and Bob! Making God, The
Devil and Bob!” Creator/executive
producer Matt Carlson and executive producer Harvey Myman discuss the creation
of the show and the troubles they faced during production. Interspersed with the interviews are clips
from the show. While the info they give
is good, most of it is just stuff that is repeated from the audio commentaries
and really does nothing to enhance what has already been said.
The final extra is a four-minute short called “God, The
Devil and Bob Revealed.” This
segment contains three “mock” interviews with the characters of God, The Devil,
and Bob. The segment really isn’t that
interesting and doesn’t add anything to the set.
While the concept and idea behind the show are
interesting, it just never seems that the show was properly executed. Too often does it miss out on real humor
that could have been there. It’s a
shame too, since there’s so much voice talent involved in the show. But then again, it should be a lesson to all
shows out there. No matter whom you
have attached to your show, if you don’t execute it properly, not even the best
actors can save poor work. It’s not to
say that the writing was horrible on this show; there just weren’t any big
laughs.
- Antonio Lopez
