Plot: God (voiced by James Garner), having attended a Detroit auto show with the Devil (Alan Cumming), has grown disenchanted with humanity, and is considering destroying us once and for all. What took him so long. But he's a big softie, and starts having second thoughts. If even one person can show him humanity was worth saving, he won't wipe us out. The Devil pitches a fit about God reneging on his promise, so God lets him pick who the one person will be. The Devil proves he's a dumbass by picking alcoholic auto worker Bob Allman (French Stewart). Bob needs some convincing of the seriousness of the situation, but once that's achieved, he tries to make it work.
Sadly, his two plans fail to gain traction. People aren't inclined to listen to him, and the local religious network wasn't interested when Bob's idea for show didn't involve bilking viewers out of their money. Maybe the "Savior Car" would have done the trick, but it never got past the blueprint stage. The Devil makes his play, offering Bob a chance to start for the Detroit Red Wings while attempting to mask the less charming aspects of Hell. When that fails, he has demons drag Bob through a hellish vortex and dump him in a field.
Frustrated, Bob thinks he's saved the day when a homeless guy approaches him asking for money, and Bob gives him some. God interrupts Supermodel Beach Party to let him know that's not the case. What does end up temporarily saving humanity is Bob getting involved in the arguing between his teenage daughter Megan, and his wife Donna, and figuring out what's bothering the girl.
Quote of the Episode: Bob - 'Are you just gonna be able to come into my house whenever you want? because you should know there are times that I'm naked.'
Smeck smacks: 2 (2 overall). Smeck is the Devil's comedy (I use that word loosely) relief sidekick/assistant. He gets abused by the Devil a lot, because of course the Devil is the sort of boss who abuses his employees.
Other: This was not actually my original plan for this Sunday. But I failed to get off my ass and do the prep work necessary for the original plan, so here we are. Hopefully the three months this series will take will be enough lead time for me to get my shit together.
The show aired when I was in high school, also known as the point in time I was most anti-religion. So the idea of God hanging out with the Devil and shooting pool or whatever struck me as great stuff. In pretty much every other respect it's your standard sitcom with the working class boob of a dad, and the kids, and the put-upon wife, but generally reaffirming traditional family values. But, the presence of deities does allow for some more fantastic elements, which seems to be a bare minimum requirement for me with sitcoms. I'm not watching TV to see people sit in coffee shops and complain about their bosses; I can do that myself.
On to the usual random stuff I discuss in this section.
The Devil was going to make it so Bob could start for the Red Wings. Was Bob going to suddenly be an NHL-caliber player, or just Bob Allman, regular schlub, out there getting killed? The latter is the Monkey's Paw approach, but if the Devil is trying to buddy up to Bob, I assume he made it so Bob is good. But then, how good? Steve Yzerman good? He was a Red Wing right? Look, I barely know hockey outside of Gretzky, and that's as much because of that terrible Pro Stars cartoon with him, Jordan, and Bo Jackson fighting crime with sports-themed gadgets as anything else.
Seriously, though, the Devil's a moron. He could pick anyone - not in the bar, in the world - to stack the deck, and he picked Bob. Because Bob was trying to refill his beer mug while the bartender's back was closed. I guess the Devil is a sporting man, too. Didn't want too easy a win after all this time.
Bob's son Andy can see God when he's hanging around, eating up the family's Pop Tarts. He's the only one in the family who can, and this will come up in subsequent episodes. Andy is disappointed God doesn't appear to have missile launchers, though.
God admits the Devil will probably target Bob, and he was right, but says Andy will be safe, because God gets the kids until they're 12, and the Devil gets them until they're 20. Which means Megan, 13, isn't safe, and that too, will come up later. Donna, as an adult is presumably also fair game, but I don't think she gets dragged into things directly. She's sort of stuck on the outside, observing her husband's peculiar sudden obsession with God.
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