History WesternAnimation / GodtheDevilandBob

* BumblingDad: 90 percent of the time, Bob has no idea what to do with his family. In one episode, Bob worries that God, who has temporarily made himself human, is taking over his life; he's mildly concerned about God taking over his role in his workplace and home, but is far more angry about God taking over his baseball team, because that's the only thing he was any good at anyway.

Side characters include Bob's wife Donna, their kids Megan (a teenager) and Andy (a six-year-old), Bob's work buddies (a white pervert and a [[TokenMinority black]] guy[=/=]occasional {{Deadpan Snarker}}), and Smeck (The Devil's demon henchman[=/=]{{Chew Toy}}).

--> '''God''': [[WhatTheHellHero Alright, after we're done, I'll take you to her house where you can see her in the shower crying and trying to wash off the shame]]
--> '''Bob''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint But... she'll be naked, right?]]

* GodIsFlawed: Some episodes portray God as less "perfect being" and more, for lack of a better word, "human". Examples include the weariness and disappointment He feels in the first episode, having someone "accidentally" crushed under a tree in order to get onto Bob's baseball team, His relationship trouble with a human, and His estranged relationship with His fallen angel creation. And he's not above cheating at TabletopGame/ChutesAndLadders.

* GodIsFlawed: Some episodes portray God as less "perfect being" and more, for lack of a better word, "human". Examples include the weariness and disappointment He feels in the first episode, having someone "accidentally" crushed under a tree in order to get onto Bob's baseball team, His relationship trouble with a human, and His estranged relationship with His fallen angel creation.

The show opens as {{God}} (Creator/JamesGarner) decides that HumansAreBastards and he's going to end the world; {{The Devil}} (Creator/AlanCummings), of course, is delighted with His decision. God eventually has second thoughts about the idea, though -- saying that He's "not that kind of God" -- and He decides to give the world one last chance: if a single person can somehow prove that humanity as a whole is worth saving, God will put off smiting the entire world. The Devil is none too happy about this, so God decides to make things fair by ''letting The Devil choose the person''. Enter the third titular character: Detroit's own Bob Alman (Creator/FrenchStewart), an under-educated, beer-drinking, swearing, selfish person who -- by his own admission -- downloads a lot of porn from the Internet. In the first episode, Bob manages to redeem humanity, and for the rest of the series, he becomes God's "go-to guy" for new ideas on how to help humanity further redeem itself -- all while The Devil tries to interfere with God's plans.

The show opens as {{God}} decides that HumansAreBastards and he's going to end the world; {{The Devil}}, of course, is delighted with His decision. God eventually has second thoughts about the idea, though -- saying that He's "not that kind of God" -- and He decides to give the world one last chance: if a single person can somehow prove that humanity as a whole is worth saving, God will put off smiting the entire world. The Devil is none too happy about this, so God decides to make things fair by ''letting The Devil choose the person''. Enter the third titular character: Detroit's own Bob Alman, an under-educated, beer-drinking, swearing, selfish person who -- by his own admission -- downloads a lot of porn from the Internet. In the first episode, Bob manages to redeem humanity, and for the rest of the series, he becomes God's "go-to guy" for new ideas on how to help humanity further redeem itself -- all while The Devil tries to interfere with God's plans.

* PartingWordsRegret: In "Bob's Father" just before Bob's father dies he tells him to go to Hell.

* PlaceWorseThanDeath: When the Devil takes all the evil out of the world, God insists Bob visit Hell to talk sense into him. Bob is less than comfortable with this plan. "Oh, for Pete's sake, you've been to Branson, Missouri. It's not that different."

* RecordNeedleScratch: In the pilot when Bob asks "What's in it for me?". God was not expecting that.

* ThisLoserIsYou: Bob, a dim witted, perverted and bumbling man, is supposed to represent all of humanity. In the pilot Satan chose him for this role to give himself the advantage.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: The Devil is on the receiving end of this more than once.
** When he hires Martha Stewart to help him redecorate the fourth circle of Hell, he is completely pushed aside.
** When he pretends to be an ordinary teenager to get close to Bob's daughter, he realizes he's forgotten how depressing teenagers can be and abandons the scheme halfway through their date.
** He point blank refuses to take UsefulNotes/RichardNixon. "I don't want him in hell! [[EvenEvilHasStandards It's not fair to my other guests!]]"

** Bob is eventually overwhelmed by his new responsibility in the pilot, not to mention being threatened by Satan, and calls out God for seemingly allowing him to languish in a situation he has no control over.

* EasilyForgiven: No matter how much destruction he causes, the Devil is always on friendly terms with God by the end of the episode. Most of the time it's ''God'' who ends up apologizing to ''him''. He's an unusual example as he's the main villain of the show. It's justified with the fact that God could easily reshape everything the Devil destroys in a matter of seconds if he wanted to.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: God and the Devil certainly look like this at times considering how much time they spend together.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Smeck is a horrible devil which means he's closer to a NiceGuy or a SalaryMan.

The show touched on many family issues, including death, puberty, and bullying, among others. The show caused a good deal of controversy due to its presumed mocking of the Christian faith, a largely inaccurate accusation leveled almost entirely by people [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch who had never actually seen]] -- and indeed ''refused'' to watch -- the show (like they did with ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' and ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''). Ironically, the show's creator was an ordained clergyman with a favorable attitude towards the faith. It eventually made it to DVD in the US, several overseas markets did air the full series, and in 2011, the show's full run made its way into the Creator/AdultSwim lineup.

** In the pilot:
-->'''Andy''': Hi dad. Hi, God.

** God experimenting with possible back-up plans in case he ever decides to destroy the universe. One of them is pretty much the same as the old one, but he got rid of [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys France]], and he "also made a few other improvements".

** God experimenting with possible back-up plans in case he ever decides to destroy the universe. One of them is much the same as the old one, but he got rid of France, and he "also made a few other improvements".

* DespairEventHorizon: Bob crosses it in the episode where his dad dies. Not ''because'' his dad died, but by learning that, despite what an incredible asshole he was in life, [[EasilyForgiven he was allowed into Heaven]]. Bob is unable to comprehend how such an awful person wouldn't get sent to hell and basically decides nothing he does matters if morality is a joke. It's so bad Donna and Megan can both tell something is really wrong. Bob then steals a fancy sports car, gets in a high speed police chase, and moons a couple of nuns. He gets better when God explains that, while Bob has a right to be angry at the way he was treated, it's GOD'S job to forgive people, and that Bob's father was actually trying to be a better father to Bob than his own father was to him.

* DespairEventHorizon: Bob crosses it in the episode where his dad dies. Not ''because'' his dad died, but by learning despite what an incredible asshole he was in life he was allowed into Heaven. Bob is unable to comprehend how such an awful person wouldn't get sent to hell and basically decides nothing he does matters if morality is a joke. It's so bad Donna and Megan can both tell something is really wrong. Bob then steals a fancy sports car, gets in a high speed police chase, and moons a couple of nuns. He gets better when God explains that, while Bob has a right to be angry at the way he was treated, it's GOD'S job to forgive people, and that Bob's father was actually trying to be a better father to Bob than his own father was to him.

* DealWithTheDevil: Bob (and inadvertently his wife) makes one of these involving a palm pilot.
* DespairEventHorizon: Bob crosses it in the episode where his dad dies. Not ''because'' his dad died, but by learning despite what an incredible asshole he was in life he was allowed into heaven. Bob is unable to comprehend how such an awful person wouldn't get sent to hell and basically decides nothing he does matters if morality is a joke. It's so bad Donna and Megan can both tell something is really wrong. Bob then steals a fancy sports car, gets in a high speed police chase, and moons a couple of nuns. He gets better when God explains that, while Bob has a right to be angry at the way he was treated, it's GOD'S job to forgive people, and that Bob's father was actually trying to be a better father to Bob than his own father was to him.

''God, the Devil and Bob'' (2000) was a [[ShortRunners short-lived]] American animated series with only 3 episodes out of 13 shown in its first run.

!!This animated series contains examples of the following tropes:

* VillainSong: "Rain on my parade" is the most extended of the Devil's temptations of Bob.

* WellDoneSonGuy: The Devil's animosity toward God stems from this. Yep, Lucifer's Morningstar's fall from grace and subjugation of Hell were all caused by creator issues. "Knowing you were good, but never good ''enough''." In turn, God's estranged relationship with Lucifer is due to Him feeling betrayed by his fall, having considered Lucifer Morningstar to have been His greatest Angel.
--> '''God''': He was my best angel... my bright shinging light...
--> '''Satan''': ''But you never told me that!'''

** When God decides to see what it's like to be human, The Devil realizes that he's now the ultimate power in the Universe, and decides that his first act will be something so diabolical even he will be disgusted by it. Smeck suggests Tony Danza on Broadway. The Devil responds that he wants "something on that level".

* AllLovingHero: ''Everyone'' is "God's special guy". However that doesn't stop his plans to destroy the world if Bob can't convince to do otherwise.

* EpicFail: The fourth circle of Hell has been neglected for a while. The result? It's a golf course.

* AllLovingHero: ''Everyone'' is "God's special guy".

The show opens as {{God}} decides that HumansAreBastards and he's going to end the world; {{The Devil}}, of course, is delighted with His decision. God eventually has second thoughts about the idea, though -- saying that He's "not that kind of God" -- and He decides to give the world one last chance: [[AsLongAsThereIsOneMan if a single person can somehow prove that humanity as a whole is worth saving]], God will put off smiting the entire world. The Devil is none too happy about this, so God decides to make things fair by ''letting The Devil choose the person''. Enter the third titular character: Detroit's own Bob Alman, an under-educated, beer-drinking, swearing, selfish person who -- by his own admission -- downloads a lot of porn from the Internet. In the first episode, Bob manages to redeem humanity, and for the rest of the series, he becomes God's "go-to guy" for new ideas on how to help humanity further redeem itself -- all while The Devil tries to interfere with God's plans.

The show opens as {{God}} decides that HumansAreBastards and he's going to end the world; {{The Devil}}, of course, is delighted with His decision. God eventually has second thoughts about the idea, though -- saying that He's "not that kind of God" -- and He decides to give the world one last chance: if a single person can somehow prove that humanity as a whole is worth saving, God will put off smiting the entire world. The Devil is none too happy about this, so God decides to make things fair by ''letting The Devil choose the person''. Enter the third titular character: Detroit's own Bob Alman, an under-educated, beer-drinking, swearing, selfish person who -- by his own admission -- downloads a lot of porn from the Internet. In the first episode, Bob manages to redeem humanity, and for the rest of the series, he becomes God's "go-to guy" for new ideas on how to help humanity further redeem itself -- all while The Devil tries to interfere with God's plans.