The Neighborhood is a predictable show with only one punchline: the white family moved into the black neighborhood. While the show wants to be All in the Family with the Archie Bunker and George Jefferson roles reversed, it never rises above the main joke. The Neighborhood thinks its teaching a lesson about acceptance, but fails in that mission.
The pilot starts with Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield), his wife Jemma (Beth Behrs), and son Grover (Hank Greenspan). From the back seat, Grover parrots everything his worried racist grandmother said to him. Naturally, Dave and Jemma aren’t happy and try to convince Grover everything will be fine. Unfortunately, Calvin Butler (Cedric the Entertainer) does his best to make the family feel unwelcome, which Grover notices.
Calvin had assumed the Johnson family next door was black. He did not appreciate that his son didn’t correct that assumption or the fact that this Johnson family is white. Calvin’s sons Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney) and Marty (Marcel Spears) attempt to smooth things over and convince the Johnsons that they must attend the neighborhood barbecue otherwise their mother, Tina (Tichina Arnold) will be gravely offended.
Once the plot was established, The Neighborhood consisted of 20 minutes of Dave awkwardly attending the barbecue and trying to establish a connection with Calvin as his wife hits it off with Tina. At the end of the episode, Calvin reveals he doesn’t like Dave because he feels Dave is overly-friendly. Calvin is convinced Dave’s being nice simply because the Butler family is black.
If The Neighborhood is going to succeed, the writers will need to dig deeper into why Dave and Calvin can’t get along. It’s fully established that Calvin only thinks Dave’s being nice to have a black friend that he can brag about. However, Malcolm knows that Dave means well, but can’t fully understand the experiences of a black man.
The reasons Dave’s well-meaning actions are sometimes misinterpreted needs to be explored more. Until The Neighborhood starts confronting issues head on, the show will simply glaze over serious topics and share empty platitudes .
Rating: 2 out of 10
The Neighborhood airs Monday nights on CBS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50zAZ50RDP8
