The 'Burbs

I suppose most of it adds up even if doesn’t always feel that way while watching it. It hops from tone to tone, and goes on a little long, in the modern manner, which dilutes the suspense. The characters are half-, let’s say three-quarters-formed, which is formed enough; everyone plays their part.

It falls into a familiar streaming pattern – dragging out, wearing thin, fading from one’s memory fast – giving us yet another not unpleasant but entirely inessential binge-watch.

All told, not bad as serialized mysteries go, but not the kind of thing that does much to enhance Peacock’s property value either.

The plot could’ve crackled if it was told in half the time. Frustratingly, the mystery isn’t even fully solved by the end of the season—though the answer seems pretty obvious. If The ’Burbs does return, here’s hoping it can pull itself out of the cul-de-sac.

“The ‘Burbs” is so intent on preserving an air of mystery, it never develops any of its other attributes.

It’s not terrible. At times it is enjoyable, if silly and overly mannered. But if it is hoped it will become a “binge watch” for the second series, for which it is clearly set up, the dialogue needs to be much sharper. And, if you ask me, darker. Scenes end and wither without a punchline.

All of this is investigated in the low-stakes style of Only Murders in the Building. Unfortunately, The ’Burbs, produced by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane, isn’t half as funny or camp as that show. Nor does it have the thrills and chills of Netflix’s The Watcher, which trod similar ground. What it does have is Whitehall, in quite the worst piece of transatlantic casting since they put Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.