"Hi. God here. So, I was all set to destroy the world when I thought, 'Hey, I'm not that kind of God.' If just one soul could show me it's worth saving, I'd spare it. And being a sporting deity, I let the Devil choose. So folks, meet your last chance for salvation." - James Garner as God
God, the Devil and Bob DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
TV on DVD has truly arrived. A large number of popular favorites of the last fifty years have now arrived on the format: I Love Lucy; Seinfeld; The Andy Griffith Show; God, the Devil and Bob. Okay, God, the Devil and Bob doesn't exactly belong on that list. This controversial animated series premiered March 9, 2000 on NBC, was watched by approximately three people, and was cancelled two weeks later. Only three episodes were broadcast, leaving the series' remaining ten installments unaired. Thanks to the growing trend of releasing low-rated cult favorites on DVD (Greg the Bunny, Freaks and Geeks, the upcoming Wonderfalls), viewers who missed the show during its 2000 run - and that would pretty much be all of us - now have the chance to judge the series on their own.
God (voiced by The Rockford Files' James Garner) - yes, THE God, the Lord Almighty, Jehovah, whatever you'd like to call him - is a bit miffed. It seems that the world he created has deteriorated. He's disappointed by the spread of violence, the lack of respect for fellow man, the proliferation of sex on TV.everything. So God, who looks a lot like Jerry Garcia, decides to destroy his creation. Not being a wrathful fellow, he grants humanity one last chance. He will allow one predetermined person to prove whether or not the world is worth saving. Just to make things interesting, he allows his old pal, the Devil (Alan Cumming) to choose the person. Old Scratch's choice? Bob Alman (3rd Rock from the Sun's French Stewart), a thirty-two-year-old Detroit auto worker whose favorite things in life are beer and beer commercials, especially if they feature scantily-clad women. Perhaps the world should get its affairs in order.
It isn't giving anything away to reveal that Bob inadvertently saves the world in the very first episode. God decides to continue to use the poor schlub to get out his message. Bob isn't exactly a conventional choice for a modern-day prophet. He doesn't know much about theology ("I'm sure one of the Seven Commandments covers this") and decides to learn more about the Bible by renting a video.specifically, Showgirls. He tries to be a good father and husband, but is often inept since, as he explains, "90% of the time [he's] and idiot and the other 30% [he's] drunk." His wife, Donna (Roseanne's Laurie Metcalf), is a bored housewife who has decided to go back to college. Thirteen-year-old daughter Megan (The Simpsons' Nancy Cartwright) is a rebellious malcontent who is concerned that everyone at school thinks she's a slut because of a rumor that she slept with a boy. Of course, she started the rumor. Six-year-old Andy (The Critic's Kath Soucie) is the family's most grounded member.except for the time he runs away to Hackeysackeyawechamonie, Canada because the other kids at his school don't believe that his dad talks to God.
The look and tone of God, the Devil and Bob is different than most other primetime animated shows. Visually, the show incorporates actual photos and found images into its backgrounds. The characters are also slightly out of scale, with large heads and skinny, stringy bodies. The humor is not as frenetic and pop culture-driven as The Simpsons, for example, nor is it as straight-forward as King of the Hill. It does, after all, feature God and the Devil as major characters.
The relationship between God and the Devil is one of the series' most interesting. The two actually hang out with each other - Lucifer was always one of God's favorites before he was expelled. When we first meet them, God and the Devil are browsing at a car show. Satan, an effete Brit with a trim goatee and bleached blonde hair, casually pops a child's balloon, scratches a car, and kicks the cane out from under an old lady. God, of course, pushes a chair beneath her before she can fall.
Whether meeting for coffee or playing handball, the two bicker like an old married couple. In actuality, they need each other. In "The Devil's Birthday," the Devil's feelings are hurt when God once again forgets his birthday. He is so upset that he retreats to Hell, taking all of the world's evil with him. He even recruits Martha Stewart to help spruce up a few of the Circles of Hell. When the entire world begins behaving like the Stepford Wives crossed with the cast of "Up With People," God soon becomes bored. Without evil as a point of comparison, good means less. In "God's Girlfriend," God becomes distracted by a woman he thinks has fallen in love with him. Since God's attention is focused on his personal problems, the Devil decides to let evil run rampant in the world. The only flaw in his plan is that without having God as an adversary, there is no joy in evil. The series often tackles interesting moral issues, but in a light, breezy way.
The series' standout episode is "Bob's Father." Bob has always had a strained relationship with his dad, and when he learns that the old man is dying, he flies home to make amends. Things don't exactly go as planned, and he ends up telling the mean old coot to go to hell. Dad promptly dies, and Bob is inconsolable about sending his father to eternal damnation. When he learns the surprising truth behind his father's final destination - heaven - Bob embarks on a drunken bender. If the unloving, cruel father who abandoned him as a child can get to heaven, then why bother trying to be good? With the help of God and Andy, Bob realizes the true meaning of fatherhood. God's explanation of why Bob's father was actually better than Bob thought is extraordinarily moving. God points out that Bob never met his grandfather. He asks Bob to imagine a line of fathers from Adam through his own dad, each father passing along a punch to his son. Bob's father passed on a softer punch than he had received from his own father. This concept - indeed the entire episode - is surprisingly deep for a supposedly sacrilegious comedy.
As "Bob's Father" proves, those people who vowed to boycott the show on religious grounds might have found much to like here. The series is irreverent at times, but less so than The Simpsons. The show also has a deep-felt sense of humanity. The characters are imperfect, but they try their darndest to live the best lives that they can. By claiming that the series is sacrilegious without having viewed a single episode, the protestors missed out on seeing a show that they may have actually found appealing.
Guest voices include Kevin Bacon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Elizabeth Taylor.
God, the Devil and Bob's thirteen episodes are divided onto two discs. The discs are housed in a keepcase that includes an interior swinging arm to hold the second disc. The full motion menus play short clips from each of the disc's episodes. Viewers can play all episodes or individual episodes. Viewers can also jump to specific scenes.
