This is a wonderful concept and to be honest whose interest couldn't be picked by such a cracking title as "God the Devil and Bob." Sadly, the most remarkable thing about this programme is the utter sense of disappointment and anticlimax it inspires.There are a number of glimmering gems of ideas buried in this programme but so deeply disguised and poorly done that you can't help feel it was a disaster they tried to do them at all. It would have been better if they'd just left it for someone else to do well.Some of the dialogue itself seems good but is so poorly delivered and with such bad timing they don't even register as amusing. There's not even one point in the whole thing that really cracks a genuine smile. The characters are flat, the music annoying the sentiment painful.The only vaguely redeeming feature of this programme is Alan Cumming as the Devil. His vulnerable, do-you-really-love-me tone of voice during some of his conversations with God is wonderful.I expected this to be the snappy, quirky, satirical programme it looked to be. If you are expecting the same thing save yourself the disappointment and don't watch. Sad to say, it's really not worth it.

Network: NBC; Genre: Animated Comedy; Content Rating: TV-PG (for language and adult content); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Season Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season) We hear a lot about great TV shows that get canceled before their time. Matthew Carlson's "God, The Devil & Bob" is a good old fashioned show that deserved its short life. NBC has not had the best luck with its animated efforts - this follows in the shadow of the "Stressed Eric" debacle.God, the almighty himself (James Garner), has had it with the world and makes a deal with the devil (Alan Cumming) where by he will spare it if an average Joe can prove that it is all worth saving. Enter Bob Allman (a miscast French Stewart, "3rd Rock from the Sun") - a man-child husband, father and Detroit auto assembly-line worker with an affinity for soft-core porn and - you guessed it, TV's vice of choice - beer. Bob becomes the game ball between God and the Devil, persuaded to carry out their will on Earth.God working his magic in human form on Earth, a buddy relationship with the Devil who connives for souls, a "Theological Consultant" on staff and the New Testament taken literally - all on prime-time TV in an animated sitcom. It's not a bad premise, one that in the right hands could be explosively creative as well as spark controversy from all sides (those that don't want God depicted with human problems and those that don't want God on TV period). Not since Matt Groening's "Futurama" has a show written itself such a license for limitless animated lunacy. But to say that "God" lacks the slick polish and crafting of a juggernaut like "Futurama" would be the understatement of the year. Not even Kevin Bacon in an appropriate "Footloose" parody can save it. The show never seems to stop giggling over itself. Start a count of how often a joke is simply a cheeky reference back to the show's own premise. The favorite: God being God and yet allowing himself to be at the mercy of a candy machine, wobbly table or other little human annoyance. The show takes the idea that man was made in God's image, thus God must act like man, and runs with it. But what's the point of having God on your right shoulder if he talks and acts like another guy? In the true comic duo form the Devil is given an annoying little sidekick, Smeck, to take the brunt of his sadism. "God" is a lame animated comedy doing an impression of an edgy one. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon. That tone is so pervasive that the show's witty one-liners and celebrity name-dropping, some of which are amusing ("Can you believe it, Leno is still doing Lewinsky jokes"), feel like they belong somewhere else. It is hard to imagine that reputable actors like James Garner and Alan Cumming read this script and really felt it was good, or where just won over by the novelty of adding these iconic characters to their resume.The show is also enamored with the eye-rolling antics of our generically named hero, but neither Bob or any of the other characters are ever fully established. The only way to relate to Bob is to realize that he is just like any other hapless but well-meaning sitcom dad and go from there. Bob's wife, Donna (Laurie Metcalf), might be more interesting if she wasn't a plug-in of the usual insufferable sitcom nag, perennially with her arms crossed and her eyes squinted. Their relationship is as caustic as it comes. The root problem for all this is that it appears to be an animated show written and produced by sitcom people, not cartoonists. That simple concept goes a long way to explaining why, despite the possibilities, the series, never gets itself off the ground or reaches any comic boil. "God" is another show that feels like a parody of a show you would see or hear about inside another show. Example bit: God wants to play third base on Bob's baseball team, so he drops a tree on the third baseman. Bob goes "Was that you?" and God goes "How could you even ask that?" Wa, wa. Cue the slide whistle. It is moments like this, and the show's cornball intro, that push the bile to the tongue of the average prime-time viewer. "Bob's Father" is the show's best use of the premise, where God and the Devil provide a vehicle for the family story, but are kept well in the background.An argument can be made that the show was ahead of its time. In retrospect, it was one of the first to use a primary voice cast of known celebrities to slog through its dialog - a style that has put a creative crutch on anything Dreamwork's PDI studio has done. It will also not be the last show where an Earthbound human is made into a divine tool, also done far better in "Joan of Arcadia" and "Wonderfalls".There is nothing mean-spirited in the show; But it is dreary, uninspired and insufferably botched. While God does enough swearing to call for religious unrest, each episode ends with the most sappy pro-family, pro-faith message this side of "Touched by an Angel". Lastly, it is worth pointing out, how many TV shows have been canceled because of a mounting pressure from protesting religious groups? That's right, none. Zero. It never happens. Shows get canceled for a lot of reasons, but never from the organized boycott of religious fundamentalists. They make simple, thoughtless, quick-fix scapegoats though, don't they? "God, the Devil & Bob" didn't make it because it was offensive, it didn't make it because it was lame, dismal and completely underdeveloped.* ½ /4

Recently the first season of this show has started on the Belgian quality network.I say quality network because this show is quality. The voices and characters are funny, the idea of a man who has a human relation with God and the devil (God and the devil are shown as 2 ordinary guys doing their job) is very funny.I have read how the show has been cancelled very quick in the USA. The show certainly isn't blasfemous, it's very lighthearted. It sadly shows how quality programs aren't always recognized. And that's a pity.

Well well...didn't THIS show have a bit going for it, in concept and all.Another one of the "what if?" scenarios, as God and the devil have teamed up (I guess?) to see if the human race is worthwhile or not. They pick an Everyday Man to study and judge...and lets give him an Everyday Man name, like Bob. Perfect!Actually, pretty much everyone is given the Everyday Man treatment, which leads to some pretty funny moments. The first one that comes to my mind is how God is portrayed: he's not given the bright light behind him, angels singing, flowing beard-type treatment that we'd all expect from Him...rather, his beard is shorter, he wears t-shirts and looks like a hippie, which, in all actuality, he was modeled after Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Like I said, when He comes down to Earth, God has problems that we all have, like getting ripped off by a candy machine; not even God the Almighty can retrieve his candy bar from the blasted machine!Sometimes this leads to jokes that don't even need punchlines; for instance, I thought it was hilarious to have God rummaging around in Bob's refrigerator, popping a cold one and saying "this is good beer!"...I guess it was just funny because I have no idea what on earth God would even WANT to drink a beer, much less find it good ("...and it was good", as the text says).Granted, "what if?"-type shows, movies, short stories, etc. have been done pretty much since the beginning of the written word...however, a few original traits still managed to appear. At one point, Bob just says the solution to saving mankind is to remove all evil...which God does, proving that this is not so, since good cannot exist without evil (which IS true in real life).So Bob goes to work, and since there's no evil, everyone is singing at their dead-end job...which, by the end of the day, is almost enough to make Bob puke. Luckily though, that night is his friend's bachelor party, which he has been looking forward to all day. The big moment arrives when a scantily-clad stripper WOULD pop out of the oversized cake, but since there's no Lust or anything, out pops his friends' parents...to give advice on how their long marriage has endured. "What, no STRIPPER?" exclaims Bob. "Well that'd be RUDE!" answers the guy next to him.This show had the same potential as Third Rock from the Sun: just on the idea ALONE it could've ran forever. In Third Rock, aliens come to earth to study mankind, which everyday life (that's nothing/normal to us) is weird to them (actually it's funny how I make this comparison, since French Stewart from that show voiced Bob on this one), so there was plenty of material to keep that show running, and the same went for God, the Devil and Bob.Unfortunately, this show had "death warrant" written all over it from it's inception: first was just MAKING a religious spoof; when the show was axed, the network said that the religious outcry didn't have much of a factor, but you KNOW it had SOME. Next was trying to make a prime-time cartoon show make it; it was a very long time in between The Flintstones and The Simpsons before that happened, and several others failed (Fish Police, Capitol Critters, etc.). Last, I think they ran it against something popular...like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or something. So it was killed within only about three shows, I think.Pity.