Best Sitcom Neighbors

Ten people who never once knocked.

Entries
10
Category
TV
Updated
  1. An apartment hallway with a broken elevator taped off, a door marked by a brass number and a stack of takeout boxes.

    10. Penny

    The Big Bang Theory · 2007

    Kaley Cuoco's waitress across the hall never got a maiden name on the show, not even after marrying Leonard. She answered Sheldon's three-times-three knock for twelve seasons and climbed the stairs every day, because the elevator stayed broken until the end.

  2. A pair of dirty sneakers on a San Francisco townhouse doormat, a back door left ajar and a plate of cookies on the counter.

    09. Kimmy Gibbler

    Full House · 1987

    Andrea Barber's next-door neighbor walks in uninvited, takes her shoes off and gets openly insulted by the Tanners for eight seasons. Then the reboot Fuller House moved her into the actual house. A long game, played in socks.

  3. A broom handle pressed against a ceiling in a cluttered apartment, a stack of old newspapers and a lamp with a tilted shade.

    08. Mr. Heckles

    Friends · 1994

    Larry Hankin's cranky downstairs neighbor complains that the girls are too loud while they are sitting perfectly still, then dies and leaves them all his stuff. The broom-banging on the ceiling sticks. He was right about one thing: everybody in that building was loud.

  4. A Milwaukee basement apartment with a sidewalk-level window, two pairs of dirty work boots on the stairs and a brewery truck outside.

    07. Lenny and Squiggy

    Laverne & Shirley · 1976

    Michael McKean and David Lander's greasy upstairs neighbors entered every scene the same way and stole most of them. They had developed the characters in college. McKean went on to Spinal Tap. Squiggy never took off the hair gel.

  5. A suburban Chicago kitchen with a cheese plate, a pair of thick glasses on the counter and a homemade transformation chamber.

    06. Steve Urkel

    Family Matters · 1989

    Jaleel White's nerdy neighbor was meant to appear in one episode of the first season and ended up taking over the show, with his own catchphrases, a cloning machine and a suave alter ego. The Winslows never got the house back. Neither did ABC.

  6. A tidy suburban lawn with a perfect hedge, a borrowed barbecue grill on the neighbor's side of the fence and a welcome mat.

    05. Ned Flanders

    The Simpsons · 1989

    Harry Shearer voices the relentlessly kind, left-handed-store-owning Christian next door, whose only crime is being a better neighbor than Homer. The Leftorium went under and came back. Homer borrowed everything he owns. Somehow Ned still waves.

  7. A small attic apartment in Minneapolis with a slanted ceiling, a beaded curtain and a mannequin in the corner.

    04. Rhoda Morgenstern

    The Mary Tyler Moore Show · 1970

    Valerie Harper's upstairs neighbor, a window dresser from the Bronx, won three Emmys as Mary's best friend and then got her own spinoff, Rhoda, whose wedding episode drew a giant audience. She came down to borrow things and stayed in TV history.

  8. A 1950s New York living room with a piano, a plaid armchair and a rent receipt on the coffee table.

    03. Fred and Ethel Mertz

    I Love Lucy · 1951

    The Ricardos' landlords and best friends, played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who were 22 years apart in age and did not get along off camera. They still co-signed every scheme Lucy had. The rent was cheap and the friendship was mandatory.

  9. A weathered wooden backyard fence with a floppy fishing hat resting on top and a tool belt hung on a post.

    02. Wilson

    Home Improvement · 1991

    Earl Hindman's Wilson gives Tim life advice over the backyard fence for eight seasons, and the camera never shows the bottom half of his face. He quotes philosophers, plays instruments and absorbs constant mispronunciation of his wisdom. The fence did the heavy lifting.

  10. An apartment door flung open mid-swing in a narrow hallway, an open refrigerator glowing inside.

    01. Cosmo Kramer

    Seinfeld · 1989

    Michael Richards slides through Jerry's door unannounced and eats his food for nine seasons. The character is based on Kenny Kramer, Larry David's real neighbor, who now runs a Seinfeld bus tour of New York and calls it a reality tour. Rent was never discussed.

Honorable mentions

  • Parted living room curtains looking across a suburban street at a house with a broom leaning by the front door.

    Gladys Kravitz

    Bewitched · 1964

    Alice Pearce's nosy neighbor across the street keeps seeing actual witchcraft and nobody ever believes her. Pearce won an Emmy for the role in 1966, after her death. She was right about everything and was treated like the crazy one for two seasons.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A mail cart overflowing with undelivered letters in a dim apartment hallway, a half-eaten sandwich on top.

    Newman

    Seinfeld · 1991

    Wayne Knight's mailman lives down the hall from Jerry and spends nine seasons plotting against him, hoarding mail in his apartment and eating whatever is unattended. Jerry greets him by name with real hatred. The best enemy a man ever had across the hall.

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