Review – Neighbors From Hell

Neighbors From Hell – TBS – 10:00/9:00pm Monday – USA

Neighbors From Hell is a brand new animated series from TBS, that comedy network responsible for Are We There Yet? and 10 Items Or Less, amongst other things. Neighbors arrives into an animate world dominated by Adult Swim and Seth MacFarlane. It’s obvious from the get go where Neighbors aspirations lie, as Seth MacFarlane himself would even have trouble differentiating this premise of ‘fat dad, hot mum, dumb son, alternative daughter, talking animal’ from his own Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show. As if to confirm our suspicions that this is nothing more than a knock off, the fat dad Belthazor is voiced by Will Sasso doing, what can only be described as, his best Peter Griffin impersonation.

Belthazor is a demon dad with a demon family, who is ordered by Satan himself to go and live up on earth and stop a giant drill from drilling all the way to the underworld. While on earth he finds that his human neighbors are unbearable twits – in a way THEY’RE the neighbors from hell. Get it?! Neighbors From Hell has two joke modes: ‘lame’ and ‘gross’. In ‘lame’ Neighbors aims to be a second rate Nickelodeon cartoon in the realm of Rocko’s Modern Life and Aaaah!!! Real Monsters with an assortment of lame puns like “Quit it! I’m hex messaging!” and “I’m almost on level 666!” At one point somebody even says “Great going Einstein, now we’re E=McSCREWED!”

While under ‘gross’ it desperately tries to be relevant by attempting to up the ante on Family Guy by offering gross out gags – the grandfather demon swallowing and then regurgitating a cat which then gets kissed by its grateful owner, for example. Or simply in the form of an annoying neighbour who is having a sexual affair with her dog. This neighbour in question is Marjoe Saint Sparks, a WASPy sort, who everybody naturally hates because she’s ridiculously annoying. So annoying in fact that we hate her as well; unfortunately she spends more time on screen than half the family members and drags the entire show down with her screechy voice, sexual advances on her poodle, and general annoyingness.

Neighbors From Hell desperately wants to be a Seth MacFarlane show but can’t even muster up the tea-spoon of talent needed to reach that far. When you aim low and miss you’re on the bottom. At least if Neighbors From Hell had tried to be something more than the Griffin family with horns it could have failed and landed somewhere above mediocrity. Neighbors From Hell is filled with puns, barely noteworthy pop-culture references, groan inducing zingers, and would probably be excusable if it wasn’t so freaking irritating to watch. This series is so pathetic that I’d genuinely rather watch an entire season of American Dad than sit through another episode of this nonsense. Seriously.

Good, Alright, Bad Or Ugly?
Bad