John Powers

In the decades after World War II, America was flooded with novels, movies, and hot-button studies pondering the nature of suburbia, its comfort in consumerism, its safety and soullessness. Nobody explored these themes any better than John Cheever, whose elegantly devastating stories captured suburban life in both its sunlit splendor and shadowy desolation.

In the decades after World War II, America was flooded with novels, movies, and hot-button studies pondering the nature of suburbia, its comfort in consumerism, its safety and soullessness. Nobody explored these themes any better than John Cheever, whose elegantly devastating stories captured suburban life in both its sunlit splendor and shadowy desolation.

Take, for instance, his famous 1956 story, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill. Its hero, Johnny Hake, loses his prosperous job and, needing dough, begins robbing his friends' houses. You get a 2025 riff on that same idea in the new Apple TV Plus series, Your Friends and Neighbors.

Take, for instance, his famous 1956 story, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill. Its hero, Johnny Hake, loses his prosperous job and, needing dough, begins robbing his friends' houses. You get a 2025 riff on that same idea in the new Apple TV Plus series, Your Friends and Neighbors.

Take, for instance, his famous 1956 story, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill. Its hero, Johnny Hake, loses his prosperous job and, needing dough, begins robbing his friends' houses. You get a 2025 riff on that same idea in the new Apple TV Plus series, Your Friends and Neighbors.

Created by Jonathan Tropper, who made his name with a series of novels in the Tom Parada, Nick Hornby vein, this comic drama stars John Hamm as a hedge fund hotshot whose cushy suburban existence goes kerflooey. Yet the show isn't merely about the flamboyant crisis of a handsome, privileged guy, but about a culture in which wealth comes lined with rage and melancholy.

Created by Jonathan Tropper, who made his name with a series of novels in the Tom Parada, Nick Hornby vein, this comic drama stars John Hamm as a hedge fund hotshot whose cushy suburban existence goes kerflooey. Yet the show isn't merely about the flamboyant crisis of a handsome, privileged guy, but about a culture in which wealth comes lined with rage and melancholy.

Created by Jonathan Tropper, who made his name with a series of novels in the Tom Parada, Nick Hornby vein, this comic drama stars John Hamm as a hedge fund hotshot whose cushy suburban existence goes kerflooey. Yet the show isn't merely about the flamboyant crisis of a handsome, privileged guy, but about a culture in which wealth comes lined with rage and melancholy.

Ham plays our hero and narrator Andrew Cooper, known as Coop, who gets canned for a sexual indiscretion and finds his career in ruins. He's already lost his family, which happened when he caught his wife Mel, that's Amanda Peet, in bed with one of his friends, an ex-NBA player. Outwardly, Coop pretends that nothing has happened, but internally he's changed.

Ham plays our hero and narrator Andrew Cooper, known as Coop, who gets canned for a sexual indiscretion and finds his career in ruins. He's already lost his family, which happened when he caught his wife Mel, that's Amanda Peet, in bed with one of his friends, an ex-NBA player. Outwardly, Coop pretends that nothing has happened, but internally he's changed.

Ham plays our hero and narrator Andrew Cooper, known as Coop, who gets canned for a sexual indiscretion and finds his career in ruins. He's already lost his family, which happened when he caught his wife Mel, that's Amanda Peet, in bed with one of his friends, an ex-NBA player. Outwardly, Coop pretends that nothing has happened, but internally he's changed.

Where he once thought of his luxurious town of Westmont Village as paradise, he's now cynical about its values. He starts breaking into his friends' houses, stealing things like Patek Philippe watches worth $250,000, and in the process, discovering their secrets.

Where he once thought of his luxurious town of Westmont Village as paradise, he's now cynical about its values. He starts breaking into his friends' houses, stealing things like Patek Philippe watches worth $250,000, and in the process, discovering their secrets.

Where he once thought of his luxurious town of Westmont Village as paradise, he's now cynical about its values. He starts breaking into his friends' houses, stealing things like Patek Philippe watches worth $250,000, and in the process, discovering their secrets.

From there, the show expands outwards, introducing many other characters, such as Coop's sometime lover Sam, that's Olivia Munn, who's caught in a nasty divorce, his money manager Barney, played by Hoon Lee, his wife's Dominican house cleaner Elena, played by Aimee Carrero, and his musician sister Allie, that's Tony winner Lena Hall, whom Coop has taken in after her breakdown.

From there, the show expands outwards, introducing many other characters, such as Coop's sometime lover Sam, that's Olivia Munn, who's caught in a nasty divorce, his money manager Barney, played by Hoon Lee, his wife's Dominican house cleaner Elena, played by Aimee Carrero, and his musician sister Allie, that's Tony winner Lena Hall, whom Coop has taken in after her breakdown.

From there, the show expands outwards, introducing many other characters, such as Coop's sometime lover Sam, that's Olivia Munn, who's caught in a nasty divorce, his money manager Barney, played by Hoon Lee, his wife's Dominican house cleaner Elena, played by Aimee Carrero, and his musician sister Allie, that's Tony winner Lena Hall, whom Coop has taken in after her breakdown.

They all figure in a storyline chock-full of betrayal, theft, infidelity, and murder. Juicy stuff. Not to mention Koop's sardonic voiceover, mocking the country club fees and fetishized brands of scotch that define the suburban enclave he now disdains. The show's emotional center is Koop's struggle to cope with his ex-wife and disaffected teenage children.

They all figure in a storyline chock-full of betrayal, theft, infidelity, and murder. Juicy stuff. Not to mention Koop's sardonic voiceover, mocking the country club fees and fetishized brands of scotch that define the suburban enclave he now disdains. The show's emotional center is Koop's struggle to cope with his ex-wife and disaffected teenage children.

They all figure in a storyline chock-full of betrayal, theft, infidelity, and murder. Juicy stuff. Not to mention Koop's sardonic voiceover, mocking the country club fees and fetishized brands of scotch that define the suburban enclave he now disdains. The show's emotional center is Koop's struggle to cope with his ex-wife and disaffected teenage children.