User reviews

Personal opinion this was a very entertaining adult comedy and should never have been cut. I mean how many networks authorize 13 episodes and then CANCEL after only 4 claiming poor ratings. If poor ratings after only a few episodes were the only reason the show was cut than my guess is half of Adult Swim's shows would never last. What kills me it that even in 2000 they gave into pressure from religious activists based on this particular show. To actually find it offensive my opinion is you would have to be more characterized as a religious EXTREMIST, nut case or DISHONEST and simply looking for another cause as this show, at least in my opinion, is pretty tame actually and BOTTOM LINE IS A GOD DAMN CARTOON. My guess is God likely has a sense of humor and I doubt he or she would find humor this tame offensive. I know I am a few years late writing this but once again I just discovered the show, purchased the season, enjoyed it and am disappointed it was cancelled, especially given the cancellation was due allegedly to poor ratings although once again with 13 episodes in the can and only 4 aired, which does not seem quite enough time give any show a chance (look it up, all would be amazed at the number of long running shows that would never have made it if cancelled solely on the ratings of the first four episodes) as well as objections by religious extremists (just my opinion likely given the most weight at the time). What bothers me is why any attention is paid to such objections; obviously they are from pretty ignorant people who are unable to grasp the concept that if they don't like a show they can always change the channel.

Religious extremists in this country are no better than any others as they use intimidation tactics and threats to get what they want. How does this really differ from the tactics of terror groups. Bottom line wrong is wrong and when networks give in they are simply sending a sign to others and condoning actions that most of the world rightly condemns.

Somebody brought up the Simpson's in this context. It's true: the same narrow minds that fought the Simpsons for Bart's "rebellious attitude" fought this one too. How stupid can you get. While not the greatest show in the world, this was clever, fun, and quite wise on a theological level. In fact, I can't really figure out why a religious person would be against this, unless they are simply looking for something to be offended by, because it makes them happy to get in a paroxysm of moral outrage, regardless of the matter before them.

I'll tell you the difference between the Simpson's and this quick cancellation: we've had a great increase in power, over the last 15 years, of the narrow-minded and censorious. This trend must be fought, or we won't have much culture left.

I rented the 2 disc series which has a total of 13 episodes i think it is one of the best animated TV series i have seen. It has lessons in them that everybody can learn from. I don't ever remember seeing any of the episodes on TV but i cant understand why. I didn't see anything wrong of course its not for little kids because it has a little cursing every once in a while but nothing that is not said on the other animated series thats on TV right now. But any way i watched it then told my wife about it and she is a very hard critic of all movies and TV and she really liked it and when we watched it together i heard her actually laugh out loud at this series which is very rare for her. But once again i loved it and wished they were more of them to watch.

i have to agree with the above comment it was a real shame it was so short lived and fought by small minded people who have nothing better to moan about. I'm a Christian and in the great scheme of things there are a lot of things worse than this show the people who campaigned against it would have spent their time better by going out and acting like Christians helping other people. i actually thought it was really good and portrayed God in the way i like to think of him, fun, loving and with a good sense of humour. The plots were good and funny and so relevant to life today, i really hope it comes out on DVD soon as it is well worth watching for a bit of light hearted fun.

OK first i am matthew carlson's son. the episodes don't end in sappy pro-religion, instead they promote family values. second, you're wrong. the reason the show was canceled is because of the Christian rights protesters. That's the real reason. if i cared enough i could show you the legal document that proves it. so just because you are to narrow-minded to enjoy a show that everyone else seems to enjoy (based on the posts) doesn't mean you should assume things you don't know. GDAB is a great show. of course i have a bias, but from what i've heard many people agree. the characters are not shallow. they go through tons of emotional turmoil. and it's funny ;-0

I love God, the Devil & Bob (GD&B)! I rewatch episodes a couple times a year, and still laugh at some of the jokes. And, occasionally, shed a tear or two.

It's a miraculous thing, really, apparently written by a chimeric beast; part divinity student, part Broadway showboater. Although perhaps too bad they skimped a little in the animation visuals department, the visuals nonetheless reasonably hold up their part of the bargain.

Special shout-out to the voice work: Everyone does a slam-bang job, but gotta pay tribute to James Garner, RIP. I also have a special place in my heart for Jeff Doucette's Smeck.

Check it out! But only IFF those jackanapes who fancy themselves "the elect" haven't yet made off with your sense of humor!

As you may have gathered from reading the other user comments (you did read the other user comments didn't you? Go and read them. Read them? Good.) The concept was brilliant. The animation was very good (I hesitate to say brilliant, but it kind of is). The characters were marvellous.

Then the Americans cancelled it.

They said it was blasphemous.

God and the Devil influence a man's actions and he usually, after wavering slightly to make the plot better, ends up doing the right thing. It shows man as a creature that, whilst fallible, is generally good. That God has faith in man and that as hard as the Devil might try he can't seem to turn man to evil. How is this blasphemous? Well, it's blasphemous because it takes the name of God in (what they construe as) vain. The name of God, Lord, Christ or Jesus are taken in vain on so many other shows that it is almost impossible to count them all. [Side note; ever notice how these shows never take Mohammed or Allah or Vishnu or Gnesha or Buddha in vain? There's political correctness for you.] So why target this show? The character's in it didn't take the Lord's name in vain nearly as often as other shows did. The only difference is that God was there to answer back. Was God out of character? No. Was God callous? No. Did God ever do anything nasty? No. Did God have faith in humanity? Yes. Was God good? Yes. So it was the fact that he was actually there, whether or not he was 'as he should be'.

The people who objected to this seem to be overly sensitive to the portrayal of God. I can see their point; they may see this as the thin end of the wedge and that if they let this go God may be portrayed in another show in a far less favourable light. But their job is done for them by studio executives who would not go anywhere near putting that much effort into broadcasting something that would attract so much protest from so many Christians.

So who are the Americans who were not wrong? The ones that made the show and thought that common sense was a lot more common than it is. A wise man once wrote that the IQ of a mob is the lowest individual IQ divided by the number of people in the mob. This does not just apply to mobs but to any group really.

And just as a final note, before the show was broadcast in the UK it was shown to a number of religious leaders. They saw the show as a good comedy and that it had a very good, very Christian message.

This was a great show. I guess I can understand why many people would be against it, but weren't people against the Simpsons when it first came out? I remember many groups saying "Eat My Shorts" was blasphemous! I mean, if FOX had listened to those religious groups and canceled the Simpsons, TV would be really different today. God, the Devil and Bob was not given much of a chance to suceed, and it was really funny. I hope another network, perhaps one less obscure, picks it up again someday.

I'm religious and I love this programme. That is my first point, just to make clear that people who say this is bad are wrong.

Okay I was forced to watch it against my choice and now I am so glad. It is hysterically funny and very well written. Alan Cumming as the devil is by far the greatest cartoon character (not including anything from the simpsons) and is the best portrayal of the devil I have seen upon the screen. Ever. This show not only has wit, farce, brilliant scripting but morals and style. It is NOT saying anything bad against religion at all and really makes you feel good about yourself.

I am very upset, so America dropped it due to religious folk complaining and here in Britain we got the whole series BUT due to it being an American cartoon it didn't really take off. Yes it is an acquired taste but take the time and you'll be hooked too.

Funny is too bland a word for this show. It is BRILLIANT.

This program was excellent and it's a shame it got cancelled. I really enjoyed it during it's tenure in the UK. I'm not sure why it got such low ratings, maybe it was on the wrong network or on at the wrong time for the target audience but it's a real shame because it was clever and entertaining. The casting was well done and I would have thought that with Nancy Cartwright on board as a voice as well it would have drawn more attention than it did. I would personally like a channel in the UK to pick it up and run repeats. I think it may have been done once already but I would like to see it again. It was on Channel 4 originally.

This show had a lot going for it. Great voice talent, the leads are all quite well known (although Allen Cumming only recently for his role as Nightcrawler in X-2) a smart premise, and hilarious writing. I've been reading a lot of the other comments on this board and a lot of them tend to blame Americans (not with any real hostility mind you) for the show getting canceled. I have to say that as an American I was very disappointed when it was cut. Here in the states we only got to see one episode before it was yanked from the air waves. My only hope is that some day soon it will follow in the foot steps of Family Guy and be put on DVD so that every one here in the Sates can enjoy it finally.

In the mean time, I plan on checking for it with Kazaa.

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.

I really enjoyed this show, and its a shame the damn crazy bible thumpers got their way. I'm not saying there's no God, but do you really think he would want to hang out with those self-righteous troublemakers? HELL NO! Okay, rant over. I know this is not the place for that, but I had to say it...

Anyway, yeah, great light-hearted show. It was a lot of fun and I'm sorry it got cancelled. The acting is pretty good, it had good writers. Damn, 10 lines is a lot. I mean, how much can you say about a show that got cancelled 5 minutes after it came out? Yep, great show. If you find it on DVD then get it.

I watched all 13 episodes of this wonderful show, and I'm really suprised that it got canceled. God, the devil, and bob didn't get the ratings or publicity it should have. I think NBC had a lot to do with it, there weren't people looking for shows like this in the "must see TV" line-up. I can see this show doing wonderfully in a time slot on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I'm the only person that I know as of yet who has seen or heard of this show. Truely sad.

Yes, this show is actually deserved to run for longer than it did. And yes, it's probably obvious that any complaints about the show on religious grounds would be merit-less. However, this show is not as good as the comments here would lead you to believe. While the ideas in the show are great, it falls short because of weak pacing (although this gradually gets picked up as the series went on) and slightly sub-standard scripts.

Make no mistake - I like this show, but the pilot wasn't that great. These sorts of things can make or break a series. I also noticed that the series needed some time to grow. My favorite episode is The Devil's Birthday, which gave a better idea of the potential for the series.

I suspect that the executives viewed the series as a liability; while it could be a great show, it could also just serve to boil the blood of religious groups.

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

Well, I was truly amazed. I was expecting another boring mid-season replacement, but I was wrong. The show was absolutely amazing. The writing is straight to the point and just hilarious. Alan Cumming, (the devil), is the best! He brings the show to life and this is the perfect role for him. I hope others like it too, I'd be crushed to see it canceled.

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.

This show should have never been taken off the U.S. airwaves. Finally, a fresh approach to religion and morals, while being funnier than the Simpsons at their best. My father, who does not enjoy most of the major network offerings, actually made sure he was in front of the television with us when this show came on. Intelligent, witty, and reminiscent of good Monty Python, it's brilliancy was eclipsed by pettiness by the religious right.