The Dude Next Door | Borislavkiprin.com

There is always this guy in American soap operas – the dude next door. He usually is very tall and strong, quite a hunk actually, rough around the edges and most certainly an object of desire by wedded and unwedded women in the neighbourhood.

Sometimes, the main actress is not really aware of her feelings about him, other times she is. But before they actually hook up, a couple of seasons and numbers of episodes pass. Then they go through a misunderstanding, followed by a rough patch until they clear somehow magically the air and end up together by the season finale.

The pillar of the sitcom is the dude next door. He is the only constant there, everything else shifts, tulles, leaves or comes in. But the dude is always there.

Apart from it being obvious that the sitcoms targets women, the knight in shining armour is still very much a thing. But let forgo the possible unfulfilled desire to find the right partner and not open this can of warms.

It is hard to see or recognise the dude next door. No, not in the sitcom, but in real life. The girl looks far beyond the short distance. Usually going through at least three other characters trying to make him jealous or in case she is not aware of her object of desire (it happens often), to have time to develop and sort of growing up.

In the end, it all works out. The guy next door meets the girl next door… at least halfway. Well, sometimes he has to work for it…or she has to.

The important thing is that it all works out. On-screen, that is and not always in real life. This probably explains the number of complaints I hear my friends say – “I can’t seem to find the right person…”