Network: HBO
Season Year: 2026
Watch: HBO Max
I honestly thought this series would be better. Because, frankly, it was kind of boring. We know there are crazy rednecks and weirdos in the US. In every neighborhood in every state. So, why do all these disputes they’ve decided to film feel so similar? You put your fence / wall on my property. That’s 80% of the show. And, let me tell you, that is not very interesting no matter how many times you repeat it. Six episodes of this leaves you wondering if, perhaps, the concept was better than the results. Or if maybe they should have taken true crime cases — or done deeper research on cases that blew up to murder and mayhem — and made something of that. Instead of these petty squabbles where some dummies decide to escalate things to occasional shouting or stomping. Or, in several cases, just crossing their arms on the couch and grumbling.
If it’s not already obvious, the concept here is that two neighbors have some sort of dispute, and the team from HBO comes out and films it. They zig-zag the country finding some folks who live next to each other — though the concept goes beyond this exact setup on occasion — and are mainly arguing over dumb shit. You can’t have animals on your property because they smell. You can’t drive on this road because it’s a private road meant for my house. You can’t sit on the beach in front of my house because it’s a private beach. And on and on. There are generally two stories per episode, except for the sixth episode, which is all about a dude who just wants to exercise outside in his tiny bikini against the wishes of his prudish neighbors. Meaning there are a total of eleven of these neighborly disputes. Only two or so of which are even worth telling. Because, ultimately, none of the disputes are in and of themselves of note; it’s all about the crazy people involved. The bikini guy we’ll set aside for the moment, since his story is way more involved.
But, yeah, there’s not a whole lot to say about this thing. One story was set not too far from casa de Hipster in Bloomfield, NJ. Two dudes try to one-up each other with their crazy Halloween decorations. Which are apparently judged by some neighborhood panel. One dude black and the other mega-MAGA. There is some psychology underlying their obsession, and the show tries to get there, but this is a pretty surface exploration of what makes for friendship and being neighborly. They try to get there in some of the episodes — often leaning into stories where the people involved in the disputes where one-time friends turned foes — but having to zoom back and forth between two stories and the limited time the production clearly had with our subjects mutes the impact and makes the parties more caricatures than rounded human beings.
And then we get to episode six. Banana hammock dude, Danny. A very quirky older man in San Diego who has inherited his mother’s house and prefers to ride his stationary bike and lift his weights wearing only a yellow thong bikini in his driveway. The neighborhood, which has clearly turned over in the years since he took ownership of the house, is aghast at his exhibitionism and has taken to yelling at him and ridiculing him for exposing his leathery skin to neighborhood children and just generally offending their eyeballs with his near nudity. In a scenario that feels entirely engineered by the show’s producers, Danny goes to visit a nudist community down in Florida with the intention of possibly relocating there. The episode is filled with full-frontal and all sorts of activities that seem like a bad idea to do naked. But we get to see Danny’s psychology unfold, as he immediately falls for a young woman named Amanda who may or may not be a grifter or an aspiring rap star or a mentally unstable individual or something in between. It is cringe in the worst possible way — because we have to watch the cringe while the two sit with their naked asses on the couch. Yuck. But, while this tale went on a beat or three too long, it was certainly the only fleshed-out and full-circle tale of the bunch. Though it did feel like there were some folks behind the scenes pulling the strings and guiding the narrative. Kind of taking advantage of Danny’s diminished mental capacity and/or naiveté. It’s a sad one, to be sure, but could have been way more effecting if the style and format of the show was different. Because this show makes it evident that its job is to kind of wink-wink make fun of the people it’s presenting. Or, like, kind of ogle the weirdos in the crazy zoo. I would not be happy if I were one of these folks watching the final product, as none of them are presented particularly generously.
It’ll be fascinating to see if they tweak the formula for season two. Though these types of reality TV doc type shows must always be harder to cast in their second go ’rounds when the potential candidates know they’re basically going to be portrayed mostly as crazy losers. I’d say they have the opportunity here to lean into the humanity of things and maybe branch out beyond the fence variance stories. We’ve seen it — and, in some cases, lived it — so let’s figure out something either way more wacky or way more life affirming.
