God (James Garner) is fed up with humanity and our general suckiness and is this close to sending another Great Flood. But he decides to give us another chance and so one man is arbitrarily chosen; if he can prove that he is worth saving, then we all are.

Now, if this sounds just like the plot of the 1983 Olivia Newton John/John Travolta re-teaming Two of a Kind to you, then you’re absolutely right (and also, you are so my kind of person; e-mail me and we can be best friends). However, what God, The Devil and Bob has going for it that Two of a Kind does not is that it is truly -- often uncomfortably -- funny, occasionally thought-provoking and frequently outrageous. On the other hand, God the Devil and Bob doesn’t have a soundtrack enhanced by the song stylings of Olivia Newton John. So, y’know. You win some, you lose some.

Our savior, Bob Alman (French Stewart) -- get it? “All man” -- is the kind of henpecked, frustrated and oblivious wage slave family man we’ve seen many a time. He’s Al Bundy, Dan Conner and Tim “The Toolman” Taylor thrown into a blender and then animated and forced to do the Lord's bidding. He works in a car manufacturing plant in Detroit, loves strippers and beer and more strippers. He has a sometimes shrill and often neglected wife, Donna (Laurie Metcalf), a histrionic teenage daughter Megan (Bart Simpson herself, Nancy Cartwright) and a worshipful and precocious son, Andy (animation stalwart, Kath Soucie).

Bob’s workaday life is complicated when the Devil (Alan Cumming), given the honor of choosing the one man in all of Creation who might convince God to save our souls, but really not wanting him to succeed, selects Bob for the daunting task of keeping the planet from being taken back to the drawing board.

“What’s in it for me?” Bob asks immediately.

It’s that kind of show.

Like in Joan of Arcadia or those O, God movies or in any other story in which some mysterious and unknowable deity makes much put-upon people do things for cryptic and often cruel-seeming reasons, Bob is then forced to undertake a series of challenges in order to prove mankind’s worthiness. He doesn’t always succeed, but he doesn’t always fail, either. And while, yes, he usually learns a lesson of some kind (it’s almost a given that any show involving God is going to be overflowing with Very Special Episodes, even such an irreverent one as this), for the most part this show is about two families: the Almans and their very familiar struggles (Donna’s exasperation with the teenage Megan brings back far too many memories for me; I still feel like I should call my parents and apologize) and the father-son duo of God and the Devil.

This show is full of great lines. From the Devil grousing: “I'm tired of being blamed for this hideous modern music. I'm sick of Marilyn Manson trading on my good name. I mean, I'm a Gershwin guy,” to God on Bob’s answering machine: “Bob? It's me God. Bob? I hate these things. Bob, pick up. Bob, don't screen your Maker,” it has you in a constant chuckle.

All lamentably few 13 episodes of God, the Devil and Bob -- only four of which were aired on TV in the US -- have their moments of hilarity, but for me the delight is almost entirely to be found in the interactions between the Heavenly Father and his wayward son. They go out for Starbucks; they make golf dates; they shop together at the farmers’ market. It’s like they’re friends. The episode where Bob gets the two of them together to work out their differences – God always forgets the Devil’s birthday because he’s trying to repress the disappointment he felt at His favorite angel’s Fall – was one in which I was literally (and, yes, I mean literally, actually) holding my sides as I was wracked with uncontrollable laughter.

‘Cause that’s just funny.

All the voice actors do a fine job, but it is really Cumming who is the standout; he is so petulant, fussy and British as the Devil, metrosexual in a way that makes you wonder if “metro” is the right prefix. While a devout atheist myself, I have long been fascinated by religious mythology in general, and the popular concept of Satan in particular. Oh, not in a “Let’s all get together and sacrifice a virgin” kind of way, but it just intrigues me, the way that the ultimate evil can so often be turned into a whiny, needy attention seeker with Daddy Issues. (As Supernatural did so well this past season.) That’s what we have here. This DVD box set is worth the price of admission, just for that alone.

Another favorite of mine from this show is Bob’s frighteningly self-aware six-year-old son, Andy, who is just so darned cute you want to reach into the TV screen and adopt him. He’s like this magical hybrid of Calvin, Linus and Phineas and/or Ferb. Want!

All in all, there is a lot to like about God, the Devil and Bob, and it is a shame that it was canceled so precipitously, reportedly due to outraged religious groups threatening to boycott stuff, as is their wont. Come on, they got five seasons of Highway to Heaven and nine of Touched by an Angel. And we couldn’t even get a full 22-episode season of this slice of agnostic-friendly Heaven? For shame, Christians! For shame.
 
  -- Rachel Hyland