There Goes the Neighborhood

 (Series -- CBS, Sun. Aug. 9, 9 p.m.)

By BRIAN LOWRY

The Eye's 'There Goes the Neighborhood' pits neighbor against walled-in neighbor in a game of elimination.

Filmed in Georgia by Next Entertainment and Jay Bienstock Prods. in association with Warner Horizon Television. Executive producers, Mike Fleiss, Bienstock; co-executive producer, Liz Schulze; supervising producer, Brian Skope; producers, Jason Ehrlich, Meredith Fisher, Andi Ward; director, Christian Faber.
 
Host: Matt Rogers.
 

ABC produced a program called "Welcome to the Neighborhood" in 2005, in which the residents of an all-white Texas cul-de-sac screened minority candidates (including Wiccans!) to join their homogenous little block. Deemed offensive, the concept was shelved. CBS tries a different tack at cul-de-sac politics with "There Goes the Neighborhood," a more bizarre format that's certainly airable but basically plays like a slightly stoned riff on a landlocked version of "The Amazing Race" or "Survivor: Family Edition."

Eight families in a Georgia neighborhood awaken (or so we're supposed to believe) to discover that a 20-foot wall now surrounds them, blocking access to the outside world. It would also prevent King Kong from attacking, but that's perhaps for another show.

So now the families -- all with kids, including an African-American unit, a lesbian couple and a single mom -- are pitted against each other, to be eliminated weekly as they vie for a $250,000 prize. Moreover, privileges such as electricity will be arbitrarily cut off, adding an element of that "The Twilight Zone" episode titled "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," trying to see how long it takes before the combination of harsh conditions and greed prompt neighbors to turn on each other.

As artificial constructs go, the latest wrinkle from "The Bachelor" producer Mike Fleiss and "Survivor's" Jay Bienstock is more ersatz than most, but at least (thus far, anyway) there are no deeper social-experiment pretensions; rather, it's another way to mount a family elimination game without the nuisance of a travel budget.

As always, the inclusion of young children (there are 11 minors in the show, from age 5 to 17) is a distasteful element, especially when the tykes join in strategizing about which of their neighbors to bounce. Still, we are long since past the age of innocence in terms of people sacrificing their kids' privacy on the altar of reality TV fame and fortune.

"This is a game," one of the dads says sternly in the premiere, explaining his decision to vote against a family with which he's previously been close.

Indeed it is. And by that measure, just think of "There Goes the Neighborhood" as another brick in the (reality-competition) wall -- one that's frankly becoming a bit of an eyesore.

Camera, Alan Pierce; production designer, Dave Blass; casting, Lynne Spillman. RUNNING TIME: 60 MIN.