Jan
11

25 Best Sitcom Neighbors

michaellistscomments (3)
Cosmo Kramer
1. Cosmo Kramer - Seinfeld
He cooked his Chinos in Jerry’s oven. He took on the role of Movie Phone Guy. He kept Japanese visitors in a Farbman chest of drawers. The show would not have been as eccentric or as funny without Kramer across the hall.
Fonzie
2. Arthur “Fonz” Fonzarelli - Happy Days
The quintessential cool guy, Fonz could turn on the lights with the snap of his fingers and start the jukebox with his fist. His character even started a phenomenon when he jumped the shark, a phrase which has since become known as the point when a series starts to go downhill.
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3. Frank and Marie Barone - Everybody Loves Raymond
Cantancerous Frank and passive aggressive Marie are the parents and neighbors of Ray Barone. Almost all of the running gags and funny situations involved the parents in some way, making them as important to the show as Ray himself, and everyone loves him.
Norton
4. Ed Norton - The Honeymooners
It was long before my time, but there’s no denying the popularity and cultural impact of the Honeymooners. Plus I do like to sometimes say “One of these days … to the moon!”
Monica and Rachel
5. Monica Geller and Rachel Green - Friends
Having good looking friends across the hall is pretty good in itself, but the fact that one of them is an obsessive compulsive who likes nothing more than to cook you a meal and clean your apartment makes them valuable neighbors indeed.

Winnie Cooper
6. Winnie Cooper - Wonder Years
Every pubescent boy should be so lucky to have a cute and understanding girl next door friend like Winnie Cooper. Sure, it would be frustrating to constantly hear the just friends speech, but one day she just might realize that the two of you are perfect for each other.
Rhoda
7. Rhoda Morgenstern - Mary Tyler Moore
I didn’t watch Mary Tyler Moore or Rhoda, but I know that the spin off show was pretty popular, so I can only assume that Rhoda was good on the original series, too.
Urkel
8. Steve Urkel - Family Matters
Most valuable character to a series does not necessarily mean likable or even tolerable. I have no idea why people watched this show, but the recognizable nerd was one reason why it lasted 10 years on the air.
George Jefferson
9. George Jefferson - All In the Family
It was nice to see old-fashioned racist Archie Bunker put in his place by George Jefferson, the successful African-American dry cleaning business owner. The spin-off show success comes into play as well since the Jeffersons moved on up to a good show of their own.
Arthur Spooner
10. Arthur Spooner - King of Queens
He’s not technically a neighbor, since he lives in the basement, but outrageous Arthur added so much to the quality of this show as a non-central character that he deserves a mention. His schemes were always fun to watch even when the rest of the series quality started to go downhill.
Barney Rubble
11. Barney Rubble - The Flintstones
The Flintstones was basically an animated Honeymooners, and it proved that cartoons aimed at adults were viable, paving the way for the Simpsons and many other series to follow. The happy go-lucky Barney balanced out Fred’s short temper.
Eddie Haskell
12. Eddie Haskell - Leave It To Beaver
An archetype for the suburban trouble maker, Eddie Haskell was the kind of boy who would be artificially polite to Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver and then talk Wally into shoplifting as soon as they are out of range of the adults.
Ned Flanders
13. Ned Flanders - The Simpsons
Always available to loan Homer some tools, impress his religious beliefs on anyone who would listen, and act as single dad to boys Rod and Todd, Ned Flanders helps show that stereotypes can be pretty funny. And so can breaking them.
Fred and Ethel
14. Fred and Ethel Mertz - I Love Lucy
Like many people, the most I know about Lucy’s neighbors is that Ethel always got tied into Lucy’s predicaments. They stomped grapes together and ate a lot of chocolate when the assembly line was moving too fast.
Urkel
15. Wilson W. Wilson, Jr. - Home Improvement
He never showed his whole face, but Tim Taylor’s neighbor Wilson always had an interesting anecdote and good advice.
Boner
16. Boner Stabone - Growing Pains
Boner was a pretty ridiculous nick name for a best friend on a family sitcom, but Mike Seaver’s companion coaxed him into many ill-advised situations which allowed psychiatrist Jason to step in to dispense words of wisdom.
Larry
17. Larry Dallas - Three’s Company
Upstairs neighbor Larry was the unchecked id who blatantly said and did everything Jack Tripper was trying to keep in check. He and Jack spent some good evenings together over drinks at the Regal Beagle.
Kimmy Gibbler
18. Kimmy Gibbler - Full House
Competing with Urkel for the most annoying character on this list, Kimmy Gibbler was a friend, neighbor, and frequent house guest of the Tanner family. I’m ashamed to admit that I actually watched this show regularly, but Dave Coulier won me over with his horrible impressions. cut. it. out.
Lenny and Squiggy
19. Lenny and Squiggy - Laverne and Shirley
Grease balls Lenny and Squiggy often made demonstrative entrances with their trademark greeting “HELLO!” Though they were basically one-dimentional characters, the show wouldn’t have been the same without them.
Vinnie Delpino
20. Vinnie Delpino - Doogie Houser M.D.
Lovable child prodigy Doogie needed someone to balance out his boyish charm and extraordinary brain power. Vinnie Delpino was just the man for the job. He would climb through Doogie’s window to talk about girls, and he represented teenage normalcy.
Skippy
21. Erwin “Skippy” Handelman - Family Ties
Skippy had the hots for Mallory, and he would have done anything to get her attention. Even though he seemed like the kind of guy that might grow up to become a serial killer, many of us could relate to his unreturned feelings.
Buddy Lembeck
22. Buddy Lembeck - Charles In Charge
Buddy was a coat tail rider. He would hang around hoping that the attractive girl coming over to see Charles had a friend who wouldn’t mind his feathery hair and Member’s Only jacket.
Jack MacFarland
23. Jack MacFarland - Will and Grace
Jazz Hands. Flamboyantly gay Jack showed that generalizations of homosexual men are not too far off in some cases. Apparently, it was not accessible enough to have Will play a completely normal person who happened to be gay, so writers added Jack to show the juxtoposition of the two extremes.
Mister Wilson
24. Mister Wilson - Dennis the Menace
The TV series survived two different Mister Wilsons over its run, but you couldn’t have the precocious youngster without the exaserbated retired nemesis living next door to bear the brunt of Dennis’s actions.
Niles Crane
25. Niles Crane - Frasier
Equal parts wimp and nerd, Niles was a metrosexual who was more comfortable at the opera than at a baseball game, and that led to some funny fish out of water situations when his sheltered snob of a character had to deal with people in the real world.

3 Responses to “25 Best Sitcom Neighbors”

  1. Mungo

    Great list. Really glad to see you didn’t miss Vinny Delpino from Doogie Hauser. Growing up, I really wished I had a friend who would just climb through my window whenever he came over.

    To add one to the list, I never watched King of the Hill too often, but I always liked that neighbor of Hank Hill’s with the crazy accent. I think it was “Boomhauer”???

    January 11th, 2008 | 10:51 am
  2. michael

    This list is far from exhaustive, so please add your favorite neighbor that I missed. Since putting this post together, I also thought of Steven Hyde from That 70s Show, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl from the Newhart Show, Marcy from Married … With Children, Jeff Greene from Curb Your Enthusiasm, and it goes on and on.

    January 11th, 2008 | 12:22 pm
  3. Tommy

    Winnie Cooper…my first love.

    February 11th, 2008 | 10:55 am

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