REVIEW: ‘The ‘Burbs’ Is A Reboot That Does Everything Right

Peacock Original Series, The Burbs (2026) is an eight-episode series loosely inspired by the 1989 Joe Dante-directed and Dana Olsen-written film of the same name. Whether you call it a reboot or a reimagining or even an adaptation, the most important piece of this series from showrunner Celeste Hughey and producer Seth McFarlane is that it captures modern sensibilities, worries, and issues. 

Updated for 2026, The Burbs follows Samira Fisher (Keke Palmer) and Rob Fisher (Jack Whitehall), a married couple with a newborn son named Miles, as they move into Hinkley Hills and Rob’s childhood home. Dubbed “the safest city in America,” the mysterious Victorian house across the street from the family and Samira’s boredom while on maternity leave is the perfect recipe to start unearthing long-held Hinkley Hills secrets. 

Situated in a cul-de-sac, the threats start to get deadlier as the mysteries of the old Victorian start to come out and shatter the idea of the quiet neighborhood. In addition to Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall as Samira and Rob, the series’ neighbors are just as important to the story, with the ensemble cast made up of Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Kapil Talwalkar. 

When Samira’s investigation into the Victorian house gets the rest of her cul-de-sac involved (barring the overbearing and petty HOA president), the nosey neighbors begin to realize that the mystery runs deeper than they could have imagined.  

Peacock Original Series The Burbs Season 1 is a blend of comedy, mystery, and just the right amount of creepy.

The Burbs (2026) is a stellar reboot of Tom Hanks’ 1989 film of the same name. Not because it’s copying the work done in that film, but because it naturally taps into the chaos and micromanagement of an HOA. It spins a mystery without ever feeling too convoluted. With an ensemble cast whose chemistry keeps pace even as the narrative falters, The Burbs embraces each character’s background to paint a picture of suburbia that goes against the grain. 

Additionally, it’s exciting to see a series that captures what it’s like to live in a white suburb as a person of color without going for the easy-to-reach jokes. A lot of that comes from the cast’s delivery, but more importantly, the larger social and racial commentary is expertly done thanks to Keke Palmer’s performance. 

Her comedic timing never falters, her line delivery is sharp when it needs to be, caring when it calls for it, and as an actress, there isn’t a single moment where she doesn’t steal the spotlight or make her scene partner better. While the script relies heavily on dialogue and the pacing of the interactions, Palmer’s portrayal as a young mother in a new neighborhood grounds the show.

Keke Palmer makes every scene partner better and steals the show in The Burbs.

But Samira isn’t just a mother. She’s also a lawyer looking for a way to pass the time on maternity leave.  That curiosity is the bedrock of The Burbs and the friendships that start to develop on her street. The boredom that each of the neighbors experiences, however silly at first, always expands into something else.

For Lynn Gardner (Julia Duffy), it’s grieving her dead husband. With Dana Richards (Paula Pell), it’s about missing her wife. And finally, Tod Mann (Mark Proksch) is looking for meaning even though he’s loaded with enough cash to buy it. All while Naveen Varma (Kapil Talwalkar) and Rob unpack the guilt from their teenage years in the process. 

Despite the weirdness and pettiness that brew in a neighborhood, especially when working against a controlling HOA, the important element of the characters is that they all have something going on under the surface. They have things that hurt them, that they’re hiding, and despite the consistent melodrama and sitcom-like eccentricities, the sincerity in this comedy makes it work, even when it shouldn’t. 

The Burbs is a little too awkward at times, and the way that the twists cascade one after the other can start to break the pace, but its charm is always welcome. Whether that’s driven by Keke Palmer or any other members of the cast, particularly Samira’s husband, Rob, and his best friend, Naveen. 

With a killer ensemble, The Burbs knows exactly what it is, and that’s why it succeeds.

While the Peacock Original series offers more than enough when it comes to comedy, the mystery does end up paying off. This is a mystery as much as it’s a comedy, and while the balance sometimes gets off-kilter, it always finds its way back, and if anything, it pays off because of it. 

The Burbs scratches the itch you may have for a sitcom. It’ll make you laugh, and the mystery of it all stokes the right kind of curiosity while offering the right kind of misdirections to keep you engaged. But the largest critique that has to be lodged is that The Burbs Season 1 just ends with the hope of a Season 2 setup without any closure. By constantly spinning the mystery larger, a second season is necessary. 

That said, the callouts to the Tom Hanks-fronted film, 90s fashion, and nostalgia reach to the past just enough to make everything work without being in the shadow of the original film. Keke Palmer’s The Burbs (2026) is the right kind of modernized reboot. With all the right ingredients, the series captures the pettiness of an HOA and just how much bored curiosity gets done. Always comedic and sometimes creepy, the genre-blending series just works.

The ‘Burbs (2026) is streaming now, exclusively on Peacock.