SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from “Bienvenidos a Nosotros,” Season 7, Episode 8 of “The Neighborhood,” now streaming on CBS.
Max Greenfield earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of the OCD, kimono-wearing Schmidt on the hit comedy series “New Girl,” which ran on Fox from 2011-2018. And in the Season 7 episode of “The Neighborhood,” “Bienvenidos a Nosotros,” Greenfield’s inner-Schmidt comes out, as his character Dave must restrain himself from completing his teenage son Grover (Hank Greenspan)’s Spanish homework.
Greenfield says he finds parallels between the two roles, although he says Dave has a less over-the-top, dramatic mindset than Schmidt, and favors pragmatism. “There’s going to be overlap in anything I do. The big difference is Dave is very open and positive, and he doesn’t have any of the cynicism that Schmidt inherently has,” Greenfield says. “It is nice to just play completely open and vulnerable and optimistic about every interaction you have as a character.”
Greenfield says one of the elements of “The Neighborhood” that he loves is the tonal consistency of its episodes. He says that “The Neighborhood” is the kind of comedy he grew up with, and elicits a certain appreciation as well as intimacy among viewers. “Your goal is for an audience to fall in love with these characters and feel close to them so that when [fans] are watching in their living room every week, you really feel like you know these people and you trust these people,” Greenfield says. “Part of that trust is knowing what you’re going to get every week. Every Monday night I’m going to get Calvin and Dave — I get to tune into ‘The Neighborhood.'”
Greenfield adds that he uses experiences from his real-life constantly to ground his approaches to different scenes for “The Neighborhood.” Monday night’s midseason finale feels particularly realistic to him, because Greenfield himself has a 14-year-old daughter at home. “It starts out as just this pure loving relationship and and then there’s a shift,” Greenfield says of the dynamic between Dave and Grover in this episode. “This happens in real life too, where you’re sort of guiding this person you’ve given all this love to. And now that parenting has to become ‘How do I shape this person into adulthood?’ — and it’s been really fun to figure out the funniest version of who Grover could be as he gets older.” (Greenfield says that while his parenting style is drastically different from that of his on-screen counterpart, the writers did an excellent job of evoking the most comedic potential from the energy simmering between Dave and Grover.)
Later in the episode, Dave supports his neighbor Malcolm (Sheaun McKinney) when Malcolm’s family ignores that he’s been published in a prestigious literary magazine. After congratulating Malcolm on his accomplishment, Dave provides both of their families with copies of the book where Malcolm’s writing has been featured. “This is an accomplishment and it should be celebrated by the people who love you the most,” Dave tells Malcolm before bringing out a mariachi band to celebrate his friend.
“That’s what the show is,” Greenfield says of this moment. “Connection points between these characters who in any other circumstance wouldn’t necessarily be together, and finding a common ground.”
He explains how the emotional core of “The Neighborhood” lies in the consistency with which the Johnson and Butler families come together to form a heartfelt bond as neighbors.
Greenfield cites “The Big Bang Theory” — which also aired on CBS — as an example of a successful series that maintained a steady emotional tone throughout its 12-season run.
“Sheldon is not changing that much,” Greenfield says with a laugh. “I think people love that. I love that [Dave] doesn’t change. Because the character has been so consistent, I keep coming back to it for that very specific reason. There is something really nice about consistency and how [these characters] don’t change. These are the type of shows where you really feel like I’m inviting these people into my home.”
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