Television Review: The Neighbors

My husband's been threatening to delete The Neighbors  from our DVR and I knew it had potential, so I refused to allow him to hit that delete button. We've been watching the episodes from the beginning of this season (which periodically confuses the shit of out me because they're from the fall, and I'm like, wait, that's not a new epi of Gray's, I saw that so and so. Duh.). Anyways, I really am in LOVE with this show. It's hilariously awkward. The premise is that a family, The Weavers,  moves to the suburbs, into the "only town house that's been available in ten years" in this neighborhood. There's a reason; the cul-de-sac's residents are all aliens and the opening is from one couple leaving to return to their home planet. 

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Everyone has taken the names of professional athletes. The lead alien is Larry Bird and he's married to Jackie Joyner Kersee. Their kids are Dick  Butkus and Reggie Jackson. That alone cracks me up, then add the fact that they call each other by their whole names. Even funnier. 

Jamie Gertz. I love her, period. She's hilarious. 

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Dick Butkus reeks of nerdiness. The kid is 8 or 9, so he's awkward by default at that age anyways. They're always saying  things like "Enough, DIck!" and although that sounds childish, such things really crack me up. 

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The main thing I love about this show is the social commentary. The Weavers have to teach their alien neighbors about the holidays, death, the mall and other random things we take for granted. It forces you to look at your own behavior from an objective perspective and can be very introspective. For instance, the Christmas episode made me rethink our purchasing practices and consider the real focus. Larry and Jackie get overtaken by the zeal of opening packages when the Weavers ask them to hide them from their children. As the alien family tears haphazardly into gifts with no regard to what the gifts are (Dick opens an ipad and screams, "I got a bike!" and then throws it like a Frisbee.) it made me consider our own Christmas, what we needed, what was worth it, what wasn't. Really, the presents are nice but the point of the holiday, for me, should be family and happiness, not gifts. 

Anyways, I'm digressing. The point is the show makes you think, makes you laugh and gives you a break from the tedium of it all by making you see if from outside the box. 

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The Neighbors comes on ABC in between The Middle and Modern Family. Side note, here, I love Modern Family. I only watch The Middle as a place holder for it, and because Sue Heck is pretty funny. Give the Neighbors a try, though. I will be really sad if it gets cancelled. There is a new epi this Wednesday at 8:30!! I'm so stoked!