ABC premieres its new comedy The Neighbors, about a family moving in to a housing development occupied by aliens, on Sept. 26 at 9:30 p.m. The following are reviews from TV critics around the Web, compiled by B&C.
“It’s stiff, lifeless, unfunny and the entire cast fails to register in any meaningful way. Once again, there’s so much potential humor here — the humans are fish out of water among the weirdo aliens, and the aliens themselves don’t understand human customs and communication — but this show fails to abduct nearly all of it.”
– Maureen Ryan, Huffington Post
“Created by Dan Fogelman, it is enjoyable if not impressive - not bad, and almost good. The jokes won’t knock you off your feet, but the players do some nice things around them.”
– Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times
“Sadly, Neighbors settles for charmless performances, stupid jokes and sight gags that might be funny once, such as naming all of the aliens after famous sports figures (like Larry Bird and Jackie Joyner-Kersee), but with repetition grows fretfully stale.”
– Matt Rousch, TV Guide
“It’s very briefly amusing that the neighbors are named Wilt Chamberlain and Jackie Joyner-Kersee and that their kids are named Larry Bird and Dick Butkus, but it’s difficult to see where the show can go from here, other than to replicate the setup of the old Third Rock From the Sun, which did it better.”
– David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
“Once the Weavers get over their initial shock, the lazy metaphor can do its thing, letting us know that we’re all a little bit weird when viewed from the other side of the fence. The Neighbors means you no harm; it is merely offering buoyant, slightly creepy entertainment for anybody who doesn’t take sci-fi or satire too seriously.”
– Hank Stuever, WashingtonPost
