The Neighborhood stars Cedric the Entertainer in a comedy about what happens when the friendliest guy in the Midwest moves his family to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone looks like him or appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Dave Johnson is a good-natured, professional conflict negotiator. When his wife, Gemma, gets a job as a school principal in L.A., they move from Michigan with their young son, Grover, unfazed that their new dream home is located in a community quite different from their small town. Their opinionated next-door neighbor, Calvin Butler, is wary of the newcomers, certain that the Johnsons will disrupt the culture on the block.
However, Calvin’s gracious wife, Tina, rolls out the welcome wagon; their chipper younger son, Marty, thinks the Johnsons could be good for the community; and their unemployed older son, Malcolm, finds Dave may finally be someone who understands him. Dave realizes that fitting into their new community is more complex than he expected, but if he can find a way to connect with Calvin, they have an excellent chance of making their new neighborhood their home.
A trailer was initially released back in May which displayed the original pilot with Josh Lawson (House of Lies) and Dreama Walker (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23) starring. These roles were then recast after CBS ordered the series and the roles went to Max Greenfield and Beth Behrs.
The new series will naturally be somewhat controversial to some with its humour with a white man moving into an African-American neighbourhood. However, the writing staff that should ensure multiple points of view get heard.
At the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour, creator Jim Reynolds “always thought going into this that this can’t be just another middle-aged white guy’s point of view. We need real, authentic voices. This show is supposed to be a dialogue, and that needs to be reflected in the writers room.”
Half of the show’s writers are African-American, and it includes “more women on staff than is typical.” It also includes a great age range from the ages of 20 to 50-somethings.
Cedric the Entertainer also serves as an executive producer on the series and spoke about the show extensively with Reynolds as the series is loosely based on Reynolds own experience.
“The show was developed and created by Jim, and he had the concept loosely based on his own experiences,” he said. “Early on, when I started to get involved, I thought the thing that was missing was the actual point of view of the black guy. You had the point of view of how it felt moving into a black neighborhood, but you don’t really have that true counter side. … If you get that point of view, you start to get more into the human side, the relationship side of what it takes to live in harmony with someone next door to you, white, black or otherwise. That’s when we started to figure out we actually have a show we can have fun with.”
The series stars Cedric the Entertainer (Barbershop) as Calvin, Max Greenfield (New Girl) as Dave, Tichina Arnold (Everybody Hates Chris) as Tina, Beth Behrs (Two Broke Girls) as Gemma, Sheaun McKinney (Great News) as Malcolm, and Marcel Spears (The Mayor) as Marty.
The Neighborhood premieres Monday, Oct. 1 at 8/7c on CBS.
