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"The War Next Door" is currently screening on Bravo at 1:30am on a Saturday morning... is it worth staying up for? Yes, yes, yes, yes!! This is probably the best idea I have seen for a television program in living memory. Let me explain..
Kennedy Smith is an US secret agent who apparently knows "29 ways to kill a man with a spoon"! However, under pressure from his missus he chucks it all in and moves to middle class suburbia, becoming the normal nine to four family guy. Then somewhere it all goes wrong, his arch-nemesis Kriegman decides that their "eternal dance of death" can never be allowed to finish and so moves in next door with the sole aim of luring Kennedy back into battle. Yet he too finds comfort in suburbia and so has to be really rather innovative to draw Kennedy into fighting.
Okay, maybe this has hooked some people already, but I still haven't really described the best bits. Firstly the program is a comedy, albeit a black one. It takes the best bits from "the 'Burbs" adds a little "Simpsons"/"South Park" film buff references and keeps its tongue firmly shoved into its cheek. The true beauty of this program is the combination of suburban rivalry and epic rivalry. For instance, Kriegman has only just moved in and so doesn't have many friends, whereas Kennedy being an all-round popular guy has loads. Kriegman sees his chance and tries to usurp Kennedy as everyone's favourite guy.. but how? In middle class suburbia that's easy.. you just need the biggest satellite dish with the most channels and a really massive widescreen TV. Of course, being an international supervillain, Kriegman's satellite dish doubles up as a lethal death ray. He then aims it at Kennedy's wife and threatens that unless the guys come round to his house to watch the basketball he will kill her. He then gets an NBA star to pop around too. Soon the guys are round at Kriegman's house watching the game, but outside Kennedy and Kriegman are locked in battle. These are actually the funniest moments as they're usually a cross between a Jackie Chan fight scene and a Bond fight scene, with all the usual clichÈs. Needless to say Kennedy always wins.
Unfortuantely only 8 episodes were made and the last one was on Bravo this morning so I don't know if they'll be repeating it from the start next week or not.. but it's worth a look. Here's a brief prÈcis of the episodes:
First was the Pilot episode:
Basically setting the scene; Kennedy quits the secret service moves to the suburbs...
Menage-a-kill:
Kriegman pretends to have thrown out his wife so that she can move in next door and try to seduce Kennedy (part of an evil plan hatched by Kriegman to destroy Kennedy's life). Unfortunately Kriegman gets jealous of his wife trying to seduce his nemesis and tells her that he loves her, which shocks his wife, as she thought their marriage was just an evil plan, and so she walks out for real. Kriegman then gets really depressed and begs Kennedy to bump him off, so Kennedy reconciles them.
Father Knows Death:
Kennedy's father is in town and Kennedy needs to impress him. This bit's drawn from films where the hero has psychological demons due to a traumatic childhood. Kriegamn thus decides that he will try and be the son that Mr.Smith Senior always wanted..
Death of a Salesman:
Kennedy has become a car salesman since quitting the CIA and, being so perfect at everything, he's pretty darn good at it. Kreigman sets out to do all that he can to beat Kennedy's sales figures and soon they are again locked in battle. This is juxtaposed with their family lives, which they are beginning to ignore, much to the annoyance of their wives. As usual the conflict ends in a battle to the death.
Death Dish:
The aforementioned Basketball game one.
Get a Death:
I missed this one but apparently it's about kennedy trying to find Kriegman a job and so rehabilitate him. Sounds pretty like it would have been pretty funny.. It probably follows the usual dance of death routine.
Blood is Thicker than Death:
Kennedy doesn't want his son knowing about the violence of his past job so he tells young Lucas that he was only an office-worker at the CIA. Kriegman sees the disappointment in Lucas and so sets about teaching him some Martial arets skills to help out with some bullies. Gradually Kriegman steps into the father role and so Kennedy must fight him to the death. Again.
The Baby of Death:
I saw this one last night.. A personal favourite of mine simply for the opening where Kennedy is off to work. Kriegman hands him a cup of coffee as they are talking and then invites him into the house because "he needs to talk", Kennedy says he can't because he'll be late for work and so Kriegman cackles and points out that he has poisoned Kennedy's coffee and only he has the antidote, which he will administer if Kennedy comes in and chats. So while Kennedy is injecting the antidote Kriegman opens his heart to his nemesis and reveals that he wants to have a son. Kennedy is initally appalled at having another Kriegman in the world but then sees that it might rehabilitate him. Then, after much trying, it emerges that Kriegman is impotent!
The Kriegmans begin by trying artificial insemination but none of the donors meet their high targets, one of the candidates cannot dodge an oncoming car, another does not have the balance to stay on the edge of a high rise building and the last one doesn't have the lung capacity to not drown when being held underwater in a fish tank. Clearly not the right genes for a super-villain-in-the-making! Seeing Kennedy playing with his own child sends Kriegman into a fit of jealousy at how perfect Kennedy is. So he starts their dance of death again, but while they're fighting he realises that Kennedy is the only man "with enough spunk" to match his own genetic make-up. Unfortunately in order to get Kennedy to father his child he needs to break into the sperm bank and steal some of Kennedy's 'seed'. Cue a fight to the death in the deep freeze section of the sperm bank as Kennedy attempts to stop Kriegman and Kriegman dies (as he always does) ý la Demolition Man.
------
According to some sites on the internet there were more episodes made but only the ones I have mentioned were ever screened. It's a great shame as this truly is one of the most innovative and funny shows I have seen for a long long time. Hopefully Bravo will screen the rest of the series or a video will be released, but at the moment it looks bleak, especially given its "graveyard slot" at 1:30am. All-in-all this is one show that you should really try and catch if only because it will make you laugh again and again and again. It's even better if you have an eye for subtle film references or blunt bong gags because it's choc-full of both. Damn fine cult entertainment in MrHappy's opinion. Watch it!!
Kennedy Smith is an US secret agent who apparently knows "29 ways to kill a man with a spoon"! However, under pressure from his missus he chucks it all in and moves to middle class suburbia, becoming the normal nine to four family guy. Then somewhere it all goes wrong, his arch-nemesis Kriegman decides that their "eternal dance of death" can never be allowed to finish and so moves in next door with the sole aim of luring Kennedy back into battle. Yet he too finds comfort in suburbia and so has to be really rather innovative to draw Kennedy into fighting.
Okay, maybe this has hooked some people already, but I still haven't really described the best bits. Firstly the program is a comedy, albeit a black one. It takes the best bits from "the 'Burbs" adds a little "Simpsons"/"South Park" film buff references and keeps its tongue firmly shoved into its cheek. The true beauty of this program is the combination of suburban rivalry and epic rivalry. For instance, Kriegman has only just moved in and so doesn't have many friends, whereas Kennedy being an all-round popular guy has loads. Kriegman sees his chance and tries to usurp Kennedy as everyone's favourite guy.. but how? In middle class suburbia that's easy.. you just need the biggest satellite dish with the most channels and a really massive widescreen TV. Of course, being an international supervillain, Kriegman's satellite dish doubles up as a lethal death ray. He then aims it at Kennedy's wife and threatens that unless the guys come round to his house to watch the basketball he will kill her. He then gets an NBA star to pop around too. Soon the guys are round at Kriegman's house watching the game, but outside Kennedy and Kriegman are locked in battle. These are actually the funniest moments as they're usually a cross between a Jackie Chan fight scene and a Bond fight scene, with all the usual clichÈs. Needless to say Kennedy always wins.
Unfortuantely only 8 episodes were made and the last one was on Bravo this morning so I don't know if they'll be repeating it from the start next week or not.. but it's worth a look. Here's a brief prÈcis of the episodes:
First was the Pilot episode:
Basically setting the scene; Kennedy quits the secret service moves to the suburbs...
Menage-a-kill:
Kriegman pretends to have thrown out his wife so that she can move in next door and try to seduce Kennedy (part of an evil plan hatched by Kriegman to destroy Kennedy's life). Unfortunately Kriegman gets jealous of his wife trying to seduce his nemesis and tells her that he loves her, which shocks his wife, as she thought their marriage was just an evil plan, and so she walks out for real. Kriegman then gets really depressed and begs Kennedy to bump him off, so Kennedy reconciles them.
Father Knows Death:
Kennedy's father is in town and Kennedy needs to impress him. This bit's drawn from films where the hero has psychological demons due to a traumatic childhood. Kriegamn thus decides that he will try and be the son that Mr.Smith Senior always wanted..
Death of a Salesman:
Kennedy has become a car salesman since quitting the CIA and, being so perfect at everything, he's pretty darn good at it. Kreigman sets out to do all that he can to beat Kennedy's sales figures and soon they are again locked in battle. This is juxtaposed with their family lives, which they are beginning to ignore, much to the annoyance of their wives. As usual the conflict ends in a battle to the death.
Death Dish:
The aforementioned Basketball game one.
Get a Death:
I missed this one but apparently it's about kennedy trying to find Kriegman a job and so rehabilitate him. Sounds pretty like it would have been pretty funny.. It probably follows the usual dance of death routine.
Blood is Thicker than Death:
Kennedy doesn't want his son knowing about the violence of his past job so he tells young Lucas that he was only an office-worker at the CIA. Kriegman sees the disappointment in Lucas and so sets about teaching him some Martial arets skills to help out with some bullies. Gradually Kriegman steps into the father role and so Kennedy must fight him to the death. Again.
The Baby of Death:
I saw this one last night.. A personal favourite of mine simply for the opening where Kennedy is off to work. Kriegman hands him a cup of coffee as they are talking and then invites him into the house because "he needs to talk", Kennedy says he can't because he'll be late for work and so Kriegman cackles and points out that he has poisoned Kennedy's coffee and only he has the antidote, which he will administer if Kennedy comes in and chats. So while Kennedy is injecting the antidote Kriegman opens his heart to his nemesis and reveals that he wants to have a son. Kennedy is initally appalled at having another Kriegman in the world but then sees that it might rehabilitate him. Then, after much trying, it emerges that Kriegman is impotent!
The Kriegmans begin by trying artificial insemination but none of the donors meet their high targets, one of the candidates cannot dodge an oncoming car, another does not have the balance to stay on the edge of a high rise building and the last one doesn't have the lung capacity to not drown when being held underwater in a fish tank. Clearly not the right genes for a super-villain-in-the-making! Seeing Kennedy playing with his own child sends Kriegman into a fit of jealousy at how perfect Kennedy is. So he starts their dance of death again, but while they're fighting he realises that Kennedy is the only man "with enough spunk" to match his own genetic make-up. Unfortunately in order to get Kennedy to father his child he needs to break into the sperm bank and steal some of Kennedy's 'seed'. Cue a fight to the death in the deep freeze section of the sperm bank as Kennedy attempts to stop Kriegman and Kriegman dies (as he always does) ý la Demolition Man.
------
According to some sites on the internet there were more episodes made but only the ones I have mentioned were ever screened. It's a great shame as this truly is one of the most innovative and funny shows I have seen for a long long time. Hopefully Bravo will screen the rest of the series or a video will be released, but at the moment it looks bleak, especially given its "graveyard slot" at 1:30am. All-in-all this is one show that you should really try and catch if only because it will make you laugh again and again and again. It's even better if you have an eye for subtle film references or blunt bong gags because it's choc-full of both. Damn fine cult entertainment in MrHappy's opinion. Watch it!!
It's on Bravo this coming Saturday morning, so if you get in during the twilight hours after a night on the town on Friday, sit down and have a watch.
Quality programming
Quality programming
"The War Next Door" is currently screening on Bravo at 1:30am on a Saturday morning... is it worth staying up for? Yes, yes, yes, yes!! This is probably the best idea I have seen for a television program in living memory. Let me explain..
Kennedy Smith is an US secret agent who apparently knows "29 ways to kill a man with a spoon"! However, under pressure from his missus he chucks it all in and moves to middle class suburbia, becoming the normal nine to four family guy. Then somewhere it all goes wrong, his arch-nemesis Kriegman decides that their "eternal dance of death" can never be allowed to finish and so moves in next door with the sole aim of luring Kennedy back into battle. Yet he too finds comfort in suburbia and so has to be really rather innovative to draw Kennedy into fighting.
Okay, maybe this has hooked some people already, but I still haven't really described the best bits. Firstly the program is a comedy, albeit a black one. It takes the best bits from "the 'Burbs" adds a little "Simpsons"/"South Park" film buff references and keeps its tongue firmly shoved into its cheek. The true beauty of this program is the combination of suburban rivalry and epic rivalry. For instance, Kriegman has only just moved in and so doesn't have many friends, whereas Kennedy being an all-round popular guy has loads. Kriegman sees his chance and tries to usurp Kennedy as everyone's favourite guy.. but how? In middle class suburbia that's easy.. you just need the biggest satellite dish with the most channels and a really massive widescreen TV. Of course, being an international supervillain, Kriegman's satellite dish doubles up as a lethal death ray. He then aims it at Kennedy's wife and threatens that unless the guys come round to his house to watch the basketball he will kill her. He then gets an NBA star to pop around too. Soon the guys are round at Kriegman's house watching the game, but outside Kennedy and Kriegman are locked in battle. These are actually the funniest moments as they're usually a cross between a Jackie Chan fight scene and a Bond fight scene, with all the usual clichÈs. Needless to say Kennedy always wins.
Unfortuantely only 8 episodes were made and the last one was on Bravo this morning so I don't know if they'll be repeating it from the start next week or not.. but it's worth a look. Here's a brief prÈcis of the episodes:
First was the Pilot episode:
Basically setting the scene; Kennedy quits the secret service moves to the suburbs...
Menage-a-kill:
Kriegman pretends to have thrown out his wife so that she can move in next door and try to seduce Kennedy (part of an evil plan hatched by Kriegman to destroy Kennedy's life). Unfortunately Kriegman gets jealous of his wife trying to seduce his nemesis and tells her that he loves her, which shocks his wife, as she thought their marriage was just an evil plan, and so she walks out for real. Kriegman then gets really depressed and begs Kennedy to bump him off, so Kennedy reconciles them.
Father Knows Death:
Kennedy's father is in town and Kennedy needs to impress him. This bit's drawn from films where the hero has psychological demons due to a traumatic childhood. Kriegamn thus decides that he will try and be the son that Mr.Smith Senior always wanted..
Death of a Salesman:
Kennedy has become a car salesman since quitting the CIA and, being so perfect at everything, he's pretty darn good at it. Kreigman sets out to do all that he can to beat Kennedy's sales figures and soon they are again locked in battle. This is juxtaposed with their family lives, which they are beginning to ignore, much to the annoyance of their wives. As usual the conflict ends in a battle to the death.
Death Dish:
The aforementioned Basketball game one.
Get a Death:
I missed this one but apparently it's about kennedy trying to find Kriegman a job and so rehabilitate him. Sounds pretty like it would have been pretty funny.. It probably follows the usual dance of death routine.
Blood is Thicker than Death:
Kennedy doesn't want his son knowing about the violence of his past job so he tells young Lucas that he was only an office-worker at the CIA. Kriegman sees the disappointment in Lucas and so sets about teaching him some Martial arets skills to help out with some bullies. Gradually Kriegman steps into the father role and so Kennedy must fight him to the death. Again.
The Baby of Death:
I saw this one last night.. A personal favourite of mine simply for the opening where Kennedy is off to work. Kriegman hands him a cup of coffee as they are talking and then invites him into the house because "he needs to talk", Kennedy says he can't because he'll be late for work and so Kriegman cackles and points out that he has poisoned Kennedy's coffee and only he has the antidote, which he will administer if Kennedy comes in and chats. So while Kennedy is injecting the antidote Kriegman opens his heart to his nemesis and reveals that he wants to have a son. Kennedy is initally appalled at having another Kriegman in the world but then sees that it might rehabilitate him. Then, after much trying, it emerges that Kriegman is impotent!
The Kriegmans begin by trying artificial insemination but none of the donors meet their high targets, one of the candidates cannot dodge an oncoming car, another does not have the balance to stay on the edge of a high rise building and the last one doesn't have the lung capacity to not drown when being held underwater in a fish tank. Clearly not the right genes for a super-villain-in-the-making! Seeing Kennedy playing with his own child sends Kriegman into a fit of jealousy at how perfect Kennedy is. So he starts their dance of death again, but while they're fighting he realises that Kennedy is the only man "with enough spunk" to match his own genetic make-up. Unfortunately in order to get Kennedy to father his child he needs to break into the sperm bank and steal some of Kennedy's 'seed'. Cue a fight to the death in the deep freeze section of the sperm bank as Kennedy attempts to stop Kriegman and Kriegman dies (as he always does) ý la Demolition Man.
------
According to some sites on the internet there were more episodes made but only the ones I have mentioned were ever screened. It's a great shame as this truly is one of the most innovative and funny shows I have seen for a long long time. Hopefully Bravo will screen the rest of the series or a video will be released, but at the moment it looks bleak, especially given its "graveyard slot" at 1:30am. All-in-all this is one show that you should really try and catch if only because it will make you laugh again and again and again. It's even better if you have an eye for subtle film references or blunt bong gags because it's choc-full of both. Damn fine cult entertainment in MrHappy's opinion. Watch it!!
Kennedy Smith is an US secret agent who apparently knows "29 ways to kill a man with a spoon"! However, under pressure from his missus he chucks it all in and moves to middle class suburbia, becoming the normal nine to four family guy. Then somewhere it all goes wrong, his arch-nemesis Kriegman decides that their "eternal dance of death" can never be allowed to finish and so moves in next door with the sole aim of luring Kennedy back into battle. Yet he too finds comfort in suburbia and so has to be really rather innovative to draw Kennedy into fighting.
Okay, maybe this has hooked some people already, but I still haven't really described the best bits. Firstly the program is a comedy, albeit a black one. It takes the best bits from "the 'Burbs" adds a little "Simpsons"/"South Park" film buff references and keeps its tongue firmly shoved into its cheek. The true beauty of this program is the combination of suburban rivalry and epic rivalry. For instance, Kriegman has only just moved in and so doesn't have many friends, whereas Kennedy being an all-round popular guy has loads. Kriegman sees his chance and tries to usurp Kennedy as everyone's favourite guy.. but how? In middle class suburbia that's easy.. you just need the biggest satellite dish with the most channels and a really massive widescreen TV. Of course, being an international supervillain, Kriegman's satellite dish doubles up as a lethal death ray. He then aims it at Kennedy's wife and threatens that unless the guys come round to his house to watch the basketball he will kill her. He then gets an NBA star to pop around too. Soon the guys are round at Kriegman's house watching the game, but outside Kennedy and Kriegman are locked in battle. These are actually the funniest moments as they're usually a cross between a Jackie Chan fight scene and a Bond fight scene, with all the usual clichÈs. Needless to say Kennedy always wins.
Unfortuantely only 8 episodes were made and the last one was on Bravo this morning so I don't know if they'll be repeating it from the start next week or not.. but it's worth a look. Here's a brief prÈcis of the episodes:
First was the Pilot episode:
Basically setting the scene; Kennedy quits the secret service moves to the suburbs...
Menage-a-kill:
Kriegman pretends to have thrown out his wife so that she can move in next door and try to seduce Kennedy (part of an evil plan hatched by Kriegman to destroy Kennedy's life). Unfortunately Kriegman gets jealous of his wife trying to seduce his nemesis and tells her that he loves her, which shocks his wife, as she thought their marriage was just an evil plan, and so she walks out for real. Kriegman then gets really depressed and begs Kennedy to bump him off, so Kennedy reconciles them.
Father Knows Death:
Kennedy's father is in town and Kennedy needs to impress him. This bit's drawn from films where the hero has psychological demons due to a traumatic childhood. Kriegamn thus decides that he will try and be the son that Mr.Smith Senior always wanted..
Death of a Salesman:
Kennedy has become a car salesman since quitting the CIA and, being so perfect at everything, he's pretty darn good at it. Kreigman sets out to do all that he can to beat Kennedy's sales figures and soon they are again locked in battle. This is juxtaposed with their family lives, which they are beginning to ignore, much to the annoyance of their wives. As usual the conflict ends in a battle to the death.
Death Dish:
The aforementioned Basketball game one.
Get a Death:
I missed this one but apparently it's about kennedy trying to find Kriegman a job and so rehabilitate him. Sounds pretty like it would have been pretty funny.. It probably follows the usual dance of death routine.
Blood is Thicker than Death:
Kennedy doesn't want his son knowing about the violence of his past job so he tells young Lucas that he was only an office-worker at the CIA. Kriegman sees the disappointment in Lucas and so sets about teaching him some Martial arets skills to help out with some bullies. Gradually Kriegman steps into the father role and so Kennedy must fight him to the death. Again.
The Baby of Death:
I saw this one last night.. A personal favourite of mine simply for the opening where Kennedy is off to work. Kriegman hands him a cup of coffee as they are talking and then invites him into the house because "he needs to talk", Kennedy says he can't because he'll be late for work and so Kriegman cackles and points out that he has poisoned Kennedy's coffee and only he has the antidote, which he will administer if Kennedy comes in and chats. So while Kennedy is injecting the antidote Kriegman opens his heart to his nemesis and reveals that he wants to have a son. Kennedy is initally appalled at having another Kriegman in the world but then sees that it might rehabilitate him. Then, after much trying, it emerges that Kriegman is impotent!
The Kriegmans begin by trying artificial insemination but none of the donors meet their high targets, one of the candidates cannot dodge an oncoming car, another does not have the balance to stay on the edge of a high rise building and the last one doesn't have the lung capacity to not drown when being held underwater in a fish tank. Clearly not the right genes for a super-villain-in-the-making! Seeing Kennedy playing with his own child sends Kriegman into a fit of jealousy at how perfect Kennedy is. So he starts their dance of death again, but while they're fighting he realises that Kennedy is the only man "with enough spunk" to match his own genetic make-up. Unfortunately in order to get Kennedy to father his child he needs to break into the sperm bank and steal some of Kennedy's 'seed'. Cue a fight to the death in the deep freeze section of the sperm bank as Kennedy attempts to stop Kriegman and Kriegman dies (as he always does) ý la Demolition Man.
------
According to some sites on the internet there were more episodes made but only the ones I have mentioned were ever screened. It's a great shame as this truly is one of the most innovative and funny shows I have seen for a long long time. Hopefully Bravo will screen the rest of the series or a video will be released, but at the moment it looks bleak, especially given its "graveyard slot" at 1:30am. All-in-all this is one show that you should really try and catch if only because it will make you laugh again and again and again. It's even better if you have an eye for subtle film references or blunt bong gags because it's choc-full of both. Damn fine cult entertainment in MrHappy's opinion. Watch it!!