"God, the Devil and Bob" (2000) TV series 2000-

Creator:

Matthew Carlson
(more)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

9 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Animation

Tagline:

God and the Devil have a new battleground. His name is Bob.

Plot:

God has made a bet with the Devil: if one human of the Devil's choosing can't prove that humanity is decent...

Plot Keywords:

Devil | The Devil | Lucifer | Short Lived | Depiction Of God

Cast

Alan Cumming	...	The Devil (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
James Garner	...	God (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
French Stewart	...	Bob Allman (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Laurie Metcalf	...	Donna Allman (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Kath Soucie	...	Andy Allman (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Megan Allman (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jeff Doucette	...	Smeck (13 episodes, 2000-2001)

Series Directed by
Dan Fausett		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Sherie Pollack		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Steve Ressel		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Swinton O. Scott III		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jeff DeGrandis		(2 episodes, 2000)

Series Writing credits
Matthew Carlson		(8 episodes, 2000-2001)
Gary Murphy		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Neil Thompson		(3 episodes, 2000-2001)
Alex Reid		(2 episodes, 2000)

Series Produced by
Caryn Mandabach	....	executive producer (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Linwood Boomer	....	co-executive producer (12 episodes, 2000-2001)
Matthew Carlson	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Marcy Carsey	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Gary Murphy	....	co-executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Harvey Myman	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Margot Pipkin	....	producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Alex Reid	....	co-producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Neil Thompson	....	co-executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Mitch Watson	....	associate producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Tom Werner	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2000)
Jeff DeGrandis	....	supervising producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Sean Murray		(2 episodes, 2000)

Series Film Editing by
Carol Lewis		(1 episode, 2000)

Series Casting by
Lisa Mionie		(2 episodes, 2000)
Eileen Stringer		(2 episodes, 2000)

Series Art Direction by
Greg Battes		(2 episodes, 2000)

Series Production Management
Courtney B. Conte	....	executive in charge of production (1 episode, 2000)
Wendi McNeese	....	post-production supervisor (1 episode, 2000)
John Rice	....	general manager: Fil Cartoons, Inc, Manila, Philippines (1 episode, 2000)

Series Art Department
Tyler Gentry	....	background key designer (8 episodes, 2000-2001)
Kimberly Bitsui	....	colorist (unknown episodes)
John Mathot	....	storyboard artist (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Gregg Barbanell	....	foley artist (unknown episodes)
John W. Cook II	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)
Peter Nusbaum	....	sound re-recording mixer (unknown episodes)

Series Special Effects by
Kathleen Quaife-Hodge	....	effects designer (13 episodes, 2000-2001)

Series Animation Department
Shavonne Cherry	....	storyboard revisionist (12 episodes, 2000-2001)
Victor Dal Chele	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2000-2001)
Jezreel Mann Carlos II	....	assistant animator (unknown episodes)
Paul Gil	....	character designer (unknown episodes)
Kenny Thompkins	....	character designer (unknown episodes)

Series Casting Department
Andrea Rose	....	casting assistant (unknown episodes)

Series Editorial Department
Steve Vallino	....	assistant layout reel editor / scanner (13 episodes, 2000-2001)

Series Music Department
John McCullough	....	music supervisor (2 episodes, 2000)
Chris Otcasek	....	music editor (2 episodes, 2000)
Brian Vaughn	....	composer: theme music (2 episodes, 2000)

Series Other crew
Ryan Robertson	....	main title producer (13 episodes, 2000-2001)
Gordon Hunt	....	voice director (2 episodes, 2000)
James Anderson	....	publicist (unknown episodes)
Steve Downs	....	animatic timer (unknown episodes)
Artemisa Gutierrez	....	publicist (unknown episodes)
Diann Shaw	....	publicist (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Carsey-Werner Company
• Fil-Cartoons
• Vanity Logo Productions

Distributors

• National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Carsey-Werner Company

Trivia:

Thirteen episodes were made but only three were aired in the USA. The show came under fire from religious groups, nine NBC affiliates refused to air the show in prime time (reruns of "F·r·i·e·n·d·s" were substituted in its place; several affiliates offered to air the show late night but NBC declined), promotion was minimal and, after the debut, ratings were minuscule so NBC canceled the series less than two weeks after it premiered.

Quotes:

Bob Allman:Wait. If anyone questions that I have a relationship with God, all I have to do is show them this corn nut as proof.
God:Yeah, Bob. Show them the corn nut.

The Americans were just plain wrong. Well...most of them.

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.