"The 'Burbs" Season One Reviews (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

The 'Burbs "The Goddamn Brownies"

Seth MacFarlane. Of course. Should have guessed.

It's literally been nearly forty years since I saw the film but I seem to recall there were some allegories for class struggles in some of the subtext. Making Keke Palmer the lead and having the creepy neighbor essentially SWAT her in the pilot has stopped them from being mere subtext and are essentially the most relevant part of the episode.

The thing I notice about the rest of the neighborhood is that they are racist, in a clueless, well-meaning way. And yet, after Samira is done dirty like that, they all rally to her and promise to protect her. Naveen's idea of the neighbors faking being nice until they actually were nice holds up to scrutiny.

Tom Hanks is in the still photo of Hinkley, and Wendy Schaal from the film was probably an easy get because of her connections to MacFarlane from American Dad!. Although I must admit her racism felt much less clueless and well-meaning.

Adding to the mystery is that it seems like Samira's husband Rob is actually in on the conspiracy. A twist the film didn't use.

I felt that film was very underrated at the time, and MacFarlane has this deep admiration for hidden 80's gems. Maybe if I saw it again, I'd think differently (I am literally bewildered at what anybody could have possibly seen in "Romancing The Stone"). But yeah, this seems like a good outcome to that.

Pushing racial and political buttons is the way to go. Promising opener. ****.

The 'Burbs "Mind Your Own Business"

Sophomore episodes are almost always worse than Pilots, and that is especially true if the Pilot is strong. No surprises here.

I love the girl having one of her references being Michelle Obama.

Rob is super shady.

The episode felt a bit slow in places but as the second episode it did establish a good baseline of what to expect from the rest of the series. ***1/2.

The 'Burbs "Sardine?"

Wow, Wilson is really making all the neighbors look bad.

I'm really liking Tod. I agree with him that Rob is the neighbor they need to worry about. Samira is too close to see that. But maybe at the end she does.

Can't wait to see where this is all going. ****.

The 'Burbs "A Nine On The Tension Scale"

Oh, Lynn, no. Explains why she refused to let her house be searched last episode though.

I write these reviews after I see each episode, but the biggest question I have about Rob's potential guilt of Alison's murder is if he did it, why move back to that specific house? It makes NO fucking sense. Frankly, it makes little sense doing it if he's NOT guilty, but the other scenario is just so fucking unlikely and stupid. His best alibi for me is that he's there. If he did it, he wouldn't be.

Again, I write a review after each episode. I might be way off base here. But that's my reasoning.

Love Tod and Dana teaming up to interrogate Naveen. Looking forward to that.

I like this show so far. ****.

The 'Burbs "The Old Face-To-Face"

Good twist at the end with Alison but I do have a problem with the whole Rob mislead / red herring. It being a false trail makes the past two episodes feel like a bit of a waste of time. Maybe if Rob's innocence had been discovered in the finale, I'd be okay with it but for now it feels like the series just spun its wheels for two episodes for no good reason.

Still, that's a good twist at the end. ***1/2.

The 'Burbs "Neighbor Take Warning"

Okay, so this is not The 'Burbs. It's Desperate Housewives. It's not an 80's comedy. It's a soap from the aughts. Feels like a bit of a bait-and-switch. But there is too much television in this to consider it either a remake or spiritual successor to the film.

Gary being good makes the entire season feels like a waste of time. We'll see how this plays out, but right now the show has lost me. **1/2.

The 'Burbs "Do Not Mess With Suburbanites"

That ending was great, and I don't want to dismiss that. Serious tension, scares, and excitement. The revelation that it's the garbageman was underwhelming, but the thrills almost made it worth it.

Unfortunately, 9/10ths of the episode before it was 100% fucking television. And I can think of no bigger or more apt insult than that. We'll see how the finale does, but the show has a lot of ground to make up in my esteem after these past couple of episodes. ***.

The 'Burbs "Only One Way Out"

Cory Feldman cameo aside, that did not work. Too much Desperate Housewives. Hell, Desperate Housewives did the same thing with the dead husband in the freezer bit.

I'm disappointed. The show Ted's high quality and Seth MacFarlane's name got my hopes up. It was not meant to be.

Cliffhanger sucks too. **1/2.