Ah, you’re living in the TV suburbs. You’ve got a mom, a dad, a couple of siblings and a pet dog. And suddenly, in the first episode, you discover that your next door neighbor – or the person who’s renting a room over your garage – or the cute couple across the street… are…
It’s worked in the past. Shows like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Bewitched,” “My Favorite Martian” and “3rd Rock From The Sun” have played up the “you can’t believe who moved in next door” genre for laughs and comedy. However, for every TV show where the culture clash actually works onscreen, there are a bevy of others in which the “neighbors” are just a trainwreck to watch.
You don’t like living next to your neighbors? Be thankful. Your next door neighbors could be…
STORYBOOK CHARACTERS
Yep, meet “The Charmings.” Snow and Eric. Along with a magic mirror and an evil stepmother, they live in Van Nuys, and had a TV show on ABC for a couple of seasons.
ANOTHER TV FAMILY
Meet the Nielsens, the next-door neighbors of “Hi Honey, I’m Home,” a show that aired on Nickelodeon and ABC for a year or so. And yes, the daughter is Julie Benz. Yes, THAT Julie Benz.
THE FORMER LEADER OF NAZI GERMANY
This may have been a spoof on “next door neighbor” sitcoms, but the show “Heil Honey! I’m Home!” actually aired on the BBC. It also ties the record for the shortest run of any prime time TV series, airing only a single episode before the show got whacked.
TWO MEMBERS OF WU-TANG CLAN
Meet “The Method and Red Show,” in which rappers Method Man and Redman are your new neighbors in an upscale “exclusive” neighborhood. I understand the writing for this show was so pitiful, Method Man actually complained about this program to the press after the first episode aired. This – er, um, “gem” – lasted only nine episodes.
A STONE-AGE ADDAMS FAMILY RIPOFF
You think the Flintstones and the Rubbles were the only families in Bedrock? Uh-uh. At some point in the run of the Flintstones, they added some new neighbors in The Gruesomes. See for yourself.
A FAMILY RETURNING TO AN AGRARIAN LIFESTYLE
That was the plotline of the British TV series The Good Life (which aired on PBS stations as Good Neighbors). A businessman and his wife decide to eschew modern technology and go back to farming – in a busy British neighborhood. You people who were asking about growing chickens in Albany’s city limits… this show is just for you.
So there you have it. An overused TV cliche, taken to its extreme. Just remember that when someone rings your doorbell, looking to borrow a cup of sugar.
Chuck The Writer 
Besides Good Neighbors, another staple in my house was “To The Manor Born,” starring Good Neighbors Penelope Keith as decadent aristocracy becoming neighbors with a nouveau riche tycoon now living in her ancestral home while she steps down to a modest cottage. I see this theme running through a lot of British pop culture post WWII, the contrast as one class steps down and another rises up to replace them. In this show, they ended up marrying.
“Heil Honey” wasn’t actually BBC as far as I can find, it was a 1990 show on a satellite channel from a service long since merged into a Rupert Murdoch enterprise. I vaguely remember watching the service and half of the channels were German and showed porn after 9pm.
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i feel awful because my neighbors shun me because of my dogs ,for barking it’s like the hole neighborhood follows the neighbor who started it
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I only remember the Charmings….really bad show.
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Let’s stART A campaign to bring Good Neighbors back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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