George Takei Guest-Starred On A Sci-Fi Sitcom That Deserved Way More Attention

Remember that time George Takei played an alien who communicated with his son by sending him subspace toast? Then you're one of the few lucky enough to remember Dan Fogelman's "The Neighbors." More people should have watched this one.

Few may remember the 2012 ABC sitcom "The Neighbors." It lasted for two seasons, running 44 episodes, and was possessed of a clever premise: "The Neighbors" follows the Weaver family as they move into a ritzy gated community called Hidden Hills. The family consists of mom Debby (Jami Gertz), dad Marty (Lenny Venito), older daughter Amber (Clara Mamet), middle child Max (Max Charles), and the young Abby (Isabella Cramp). 

When the Weavers move into Hidden Hills, they find that the entire community is populated by the Zabvronians, aliens who have taken human form. The aliens have been hiding out on Earth for a decade, waiting for further instructions from their overlords. They try to behave like humans, but are clearly not of this Earth. When they cry, for instance, green goo pours out of their ears. They don't need to eat food, but get their sustenance from reading books. They also named themselves after human celebrities, with the leader of the aliens being named Larry Bird (Simon Templeman). Larry's wife is named Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye). Their older son is Reggie Jackson (Tim Jo), and their younger son is Dick Butkus (Ian Patrick). 

George Takei plays Big Bird, the father of Larry Bird, and is a recurring character on "The Neighbors." He appears in four episodes of the series, beginning with "It Has Begun..." right at the end of the first season. In an amusing exchange, Takei gets to make a few sci-fi references with "Star Wars" veteran Mark Hamill, playing the alien Commander Bill.

The concepts for "The Neighbors" weren't much different than what one might see in other lighthearted sci-fi sitcoms like "My Favorite Martian," "ALF," or "Third Rock from the Sun." A lot of the show's humor comes from the alien characters' misunderstanding of human culture, or the human characters being shocked by alien foibles. In the show's second season, for instance, Larry Bird doesn't seem to understand the nature of April Fool's Day, lacking the nuance required to play "pranks." One might also notice echoes of "The Neighbors" in "Resident Alien," a cult sci-fi comedy that found an audience on Netflix a couple of years go. 

On YouTube, one can easily find the notable scene wherein George Takei and Mark Hamill interacted, and the writers of "The Neighbors" took the opportunity to give them both cute references to "Star Trek" and "Star Wars." Big Bird can communicate with Earth with a seemingly innocuous communication device that just happens to look like a toaster. Bird can insert a piece of bread on his end, and it will pop up on Earth with a message burned into it. When operating the device, however, he calls out to Commander Bill, asking for assistance. Bill, not one to insist on official titles, complains that "Commandant Bill" is his father. Winkingly, Takei says, "I'm not your father." Hamill then prods Takei by making fun of the idea of "beaming" a message somewhere. Someone should tell Hamill that the "Star Trek" transporters served a practical purpose on set. 

Is this all silly? Yes? Is it actually funny? Yes, in fact. Although high-concept on paper, "The Neighbors" is actually refreshingly old-fashioned.

Show creator Dan Fogelman is perhaps better known these days for creating shows like "This Is Us" and "Paradise," but there was no reason "The Neighbors" should have lived so short a life. I guess "The Neighbors" never got an obsessed recommendation from Stephen King the way "Paradise" has. According to a 2013 interview Fogelman did with The A.V. Club, the early reviews of "The Neighbors" were quite bad. But the announcement of George Takei's involvement in the series was titillating, and the show's second season got favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The A.V. Club interview was just about the Season 1 episode with Hamill and not about Takei's additional appearances in the show's second season. When asked how he got Takei's interest, Fogelman revealed that he reeled him in with a letter: 

"My plan was always to get him to come and play Simon's father in the final episode of the season. We have a bunch of Trekkies on our staff, and on top of that, I'm a huge Howard Stern fan, so I wrote him a note and told him I feel like I know him better now, more personally, than I did when he was just on 'Star Trek.' And he said he would come and do it." 

Takei has told the story on "The Graham Norton Show" about how his appearances on "The Howard Stern Show" led to his coining of his well-known catchphrase "Oh myyy." In a fun coup, Takei did get to say "Oh myyy" in an episode of "The Neighbors." 

In The A.V. Club interview, Fogelman said he was optimistic about "The Neighbors" getting a second season, which, mercifully, it did. Sadly, a third season wasn't in the cards. The series isn't on streaming, but it can be purchased online.