The ’Burbs review — Keke Palmer leads frothy TV remake

Studio-owned streamers once rifled through back catalogues to turn well-known films into TV shows, a pipeline that has lately slowed. A few recent adaptations have found ways to extend their source material thoughtfully, and Peacock’s gentle new take on The ’Burbs, a 1989 Tom Hanks comedy horror, lands somewhere in between: not necessary, but mostly harmless and decently engaging, revealing its limits only toward the end.

The remake, produced by Seth MacFarlane, shifts the tone away from the original’s goofier horror toward a broader, drip-feed mystery with an Only Murders in the Building-inspired refresh. Keke Palmer replaces Hanks’s neurotic staycationer as Samira, a lonely new mother who moves from the city to a mostly white cul-de-sac where her husband (Jack Whitehall) grew up.

Suspicious of a crumbling house across the street and a decades-old disappearance, she finds allies in a group of curious outcasts played by Paula Pell, Julia Duffy and Mark Proksch; their white-wine hangs soon turn into strategy meetings.

the ’burbs, keke palmer, peacock, seth macfarlane, tom hanks, jack whitehall, paula pell, julia duffy, mark proksch, comedy horror