Every once in a while, a TV show decides to make a musical, just as Buffy the Vampire Slayer did more than eleven years ago. This week, a certain group of aliens in New Jersey will raise their voices to convince their Earthling neighbors they can handle the outside world. A preview of  the musical episode of The Neighbors after the jump

If you haven’t seen The Neighbors, it’s about a family who moves to a gated community in New Jersey, and finds out their neighbors are from another world, and named after famous athletes. It’s the only place where Larry Bird (Simon Templeton) can be married to Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye), and have a son named Dick Butkus…with long hair.

This week, Larry and Jackie want their Earthling neighbors Marty (Lenny Venito) and Debbie Weaver (Jami Gertz) to take them to New York to see a musical because they are “excited about Mormons and Cats” After the Weavers decline because they’re not sure Larry and Jackie can handle it, they decide to go on their own. They’re also inspired to make their own musical to show the Weavers they can be trusted. They sing about pretty odd things, and their audition process does look a little familiar. However, an emergency arises that may expose the aliens, although they keep faith through song.

The episode also features another appearance by Doug Jones, familiar to Buffy fans, as “Dominique Wilkins”. Although he doesn’t pass the audition, he does sing a couple of lines anyway. The songs, by the way, are written by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken. Here’s a link to their big production number, which matches up pretty well to what Glee does every week.

The Neighbors airs on ABC at 8:30 PM Eastern and Pacific, 7:30 Central.

Note from Dougie: “If you’ve missed other episodes this season, you can catch up on season 1 here —  http://www.hulu.com/the-neighbors (I’m in episodes 1, 2, 3, 12, barely in 19, then this Wednesday is 20, the musical!!)”