“If you don’t put in structure and rules, this is dangerous,” says John Q. Blond Bro in the teaser for A&E’s upcoming so-called reality series Neighbors with Benefits. Set in Hamilton Township, Ohio, the series focuses on couples that live the swinger lifestyle while examining how hooking up with people who aren’t their husbands or wives affects each person’s relationships. It’s a far cry from the network’s already popular reality series like Wahlburgers or Jenny and Mark Wahlberg’s Brother, but life can’t be all hamburgers and Transformers paychecks for the working class.
Debuting on March 22, Neighbors with Benefits isn’t exactly being met with enthusiasm by the prominent TV watch groups and even residents in and around Hamilton Township. People, it seems, are thinking of the children.
On Tuesday, Citizens for Community Values released a statement to their website condemning the show’s content saying, “This immoral show belittles and makes a mockery of marriage.” Their statement goes on to say, “This inappropriate program glamorizes cheating and having affairs. Why get married if you do not plan on being faithful?”
Their sentiments are echoed by the group, One Million Moms. They’ve posted to their website in recent days a call for the network to drop the show altogether. (Via Fox 19)
Township trustee David Wallace told Fox 19 that he tried to sabotage the production of Neighbors with Benefits, but that obviously didn’t work.
“This show is terribly inappropriate, and my concern is what time this program’s going to be airing so our children aren’t subject to it. I’m encouraging everyone to send a message and boycott its advertisers,” Wallace said.
With all due respect to the honorable trustee, it’s not hard to look the show up and learn that it will air on Sunday at 10 PM ET. Also, stop clutching pearls and start taking the remote out of your kid’s hand if he or she should be up at that time and decide to watch A&E. But people are going to be outraged, so go ahead and try to boycott whatever sponsors this show has. I assume they’ll include Ashley Madison and Valtrex.
What the locals are apparently most upset about, though, is that their small township is being portrayed as America’s wife-swapping capital. One resident claims that the series isn’t being honest with its locations, but she also says that some of the folks in the neighborhood are still looking forward to watching their friends get it on with each other.
