The Neighborhood is set to end on Monday, May 11, and for Hank Greenspan, the goodbye felt heavier than he expected. He said the last day of filming was bittersweet, adding that the final week of shooting was the longest week of shooting ever.
Greenspan said no one on the CBS show wanted The Neighborhood to end, and that mood carried through the final stretch. He said, “No one wanted The Neighborhood to end. No one was like, ‘Alright, looking forward to new opportunities.’ The industry is rough right now, so it isn’t ideal.”
The ending was not left alone after the cast gathered for a table read. Greenspan said the finale was rewritten because the cast thought it needed more punch, and he said he and his castmates had a say in how it would end. The final episodes will include both Marty and Malcolm’s weddings, along with tearful goodbyes and old tensions.
That is a fitting finish for a sitcom that has been part of Greenspan’s life for more than half of it. He said he was only six or seven years old when he started on the show, and during its first year he was still going to school while working. At the time, children under 17 needed at least three hours a day of school with a studio teacher to meet requirements, he said, before production later switched him to online schooling.
Greenspan is the youngest cast member, and he said the show has run for more than half of his life. The final week forced the cast to turn what had become routine into a finish line, and the rewritten ending suggests the show wanted the last episode to land with the same force as the years that came before it.