Show for feuding neighbours

Press, 7 September 1989, Page 11

Show for feuding neighbours

BY

JULIE BENSON

For Americans who have been dying to take their neighbours to “People’s Court,” but just can’t seem to nail him on anything more specific than bad manners, Hollywood is about, to answer their prayers. “Love Thy Neighbour," a new programme being developed by G.T.G. Entertainment, will allow feuding neighbours to air their grievances before a live studio audience, which, at the end of the half hour, will render a judgment on who’s right and who’s wrong, and who deserves the grand prize.

Kind of a cross between “People’s Court,” “Queen for a Day,” “Oprah” and “Let’s Make a Deal."

“Love Thy Neighbour,” won’t go into syndication until September 1990, but a pilot is already underway. So far, says Jacobs, producers have extracted some extremely bizarre cases. One, for example, involved two men who have lived side by side in silence for nearly two decades because of one’s playful water squirting of the other’s wife 18 years ago (they even constructed a cement wall oetween the properties to avoid eye contact). In another case, a

moonlighting salesman complained about a female neighbour. The problem: She stands before her poolside picture window and launches into nude aerobics every time he takes potential clients down to the apartment complex’s pool for waterfilter demonstrations.

“I think it’s going to be a phenomenal show, because people like to be nosy,” says Jacobs. “And nothing will be staged here. It’s all absolutely real.” Judge Wapner couldn’t have said it better.

—Copyright Los Angeles Times Syndicate