ABC Picks Up Aliens Next Door Comedy Neighbors
It’s getting to be that time of year where TV networks have looked at all the pilots of potential new shows for the fall viewing season, and start ordering up new programs. Sounds a bit like the counter at a fast food restaurant. And what’s more, there won’t be a complete dearth of new science fiction on the airwaves next season.
ABC has picked up Neighbors, a comedy about finding out that your neighborhood is infested with aliens. The show revolves around a family that relocates to what they think is an exclusive, upscale gated community in New Jersey. Unbeknownst to them, all of the other residents are really being from outer space pretending to be human.
I’m curious about the method of the alien disguises. Is this a body-snatching situation, where the aliens come down and take over already extant human bodies and drive them around like a bunch of damned skin cars? Is there some sort of camouflage involved? Maybe they have a device that makes them appear human when people look at them. That might be a bit high concept, also derivative of They Live. Aside from whether or not Neighborhs will be any good, that is my biggest question about the series.
Neighbors stars Jami Gertz, Lenny Venito, Isabella Cramp, Clara Mamet, and Max Charles, as the Weaver family. Tim Jo, Ian Patrick, Simon Templeman, and Toks Olagandoye co-star in the single camera comedy. Dan Fogleman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Cars, Tangled) wrote and executive produces.
We’ll see how this turns out. It could be good, and it could very well be garbages. There hasn’t been a good domestic comedy series about wacky alien antics since Third Rock From the Sun. Fogelman definitely has the cutesy thing down.
