[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Neighborhood Season 7 finale, “Welcome to Pomp and Circumstance” and “Welcome to Venice.”]
Welcome to the block, welcome to a new neighborhood! The Neighborhood delivered a surprising two-part Season 7 finale, where Marty (Marcel Spears) and Malcolm Butler (Sheaun McKinney) moved from their house down the block to a new house in Venice Beach, California, so Malcolm could pursue his writing career. This storyline was supposed to set up the spinoff that would feature Marty and Malcolm as the main characters, but in April, it was sadly announced it would not be moving forward.
The last three episodes of the season were filled with guest stars, including Garrett Morris, Justin Long, and Hunter King, heartfelt moments, and some unfigured-out feelings. With only one season left, The Neighborhood will wrap up everyone’s stories in a handful of episodes.
TV Insider spoke with Cedric The Entertainer, who plays Calvin Butler on the sitcom, about what he hopes happens in the final season, if there will be any familiar guest stars, hopes for another spinoff, and more.
Sonja Fleming/CBS
Season 7 was filled with guest stars, including Garrett Morris. What was it like working with him?
Cedric the Entertainer: We’ve been loving Garrett for many years. First of all, one of the first people that we saw on Saturday Night Live. And then, of course, he had really fun roles on Martin and 2 Broke Girls and just a great TV legend, and so that’s one of the reasons we love being able to have him on our show. Thought it was a great Easter egg to both Tichina [Arnold, who plays Tina Butler] and Beth [Behrs, who plays Gemma Johnson] to have Gary show up as someone who they’ve worked with and been on shows within their past careers. So, at 88 years old, the man still is funny and delivering lines and having us dying, we loved it, and we just loved having him there. It was a blessing.
Is there anyone from the Kings of Comedy, Barbershop, or New Girl you’d like to see swing by The Neighborhood in Season 8?
Yeah, Season 8, we’re going to turn it up at this point. I’m definitely going to work hard to bring my dog, Steve Harvey, onto the show at least once. Got to bring my brother Anthony Anderson onto the show. I’ve had so many of my great friends there. There have been talks to bring Kat [Dennings] on for Beth and then I had Martin [Lawrence] come by to see Tichina and direct an episode this year. And I had him come by and say hello to her. So, maybe we can get Terry Crews to pop on for Tichina. I’d love it. And then there’s been a couple of talks for the people, all from New Girl. So we don’t know who can come by, but we’d love that, that mixing and matching where people stop by. When Garrett was on the show, there was a little funny line at the end where he looked at Beth and said, “Do I know you from somewhere?” It was kind of cute.
You’re gearing up for the final season of the series. Why do you think the show continues to resonate with audiences nearly eight seasons in?
I think it’s just really one of those fun shows that shows what life really is all about. You’ve got so many people in this world — a melting pot of people with different beliefs, religious backgrounds, sexual orientations, and cultures, where they are from. If we learn to just meet these people, talk to them, and get to know them, we can actually find that there is an opportunity for growth, friendship, and family, that you just have no idea.
And that’s really the kind of the basis behind The Neighborhood, what it was all about in the very beginning. And I think that we’ve really captured that without being preachy. We just kind of show the world. We’re able to talk about all kinds of mental health, having a child out of wedlock. We just kind of attacked it all. How my oldest son found his career later in life, how these expectations that people think, like life is this to do, and we were able to show that. He thought he was going to be a baseball player and ended up being a literary writer. These things are what life is all about. And I think that that’s what people love about this show, is that we try to dig into these things and find our way through them, and bring that little slice of life into this comedic world.
The Season 7 finale teased Marty and Malcolm’s next chapter. How will that continue to be incorporated into The Neighborhood, especially since the spinoff was canceled?
The spin-off didn’t happen, and that was really unfortunate. But I think it’ll ring true and it’ll still work. Those guys are very much still regulars for Season 8. So, I think it’s going to be an opportunity for us to do a number of things. One is that as we are going into the finale of the show, I think it’s going to be important to show that Malcolm is moving on. He’s doing his own thing. Marty will eventually probably do something similar, and we are just showing the growth.
Like we don’t know exactly where our show’s going to go, but for me, a good series finale always kind of gives you something to inspire for that may or may not happen, but ultimately, all your heroes have a hero’s ending. They have their end in a way that you’re satisfied and you’re happy, and you even imagine what their new life will be like beyond The Neighborhood or whatever. So that’s the kind of themes we’re talking about. It’s really early on. The guys are getting back in the writers’ room in June, and so until then, we are just kind of toying and playing with concepts and mess around until it becomes very clear where we’re going to head.
Does hope for a Marty and Malcolm spinoff still exist post-The Neighborhood? What do you imagine it would look like?
Yeah, it’s still a great opportunity for us to do something. We talked to the network immediately after they passed on this, and there’s an opportunity to, of course, stay in business with them and find it. We don’t know what it is, because we thought this was such a natural fit, and loved the way it shaped up. We had great guest stars — Justin Long came on. We had so many cool people as a part of the show that we thought would kill and so, we’re just going to have to try and take a little step back and figure out, like, what is it that makes a true, great, spin-off idea? So it’s going to grow.
Calvin and Tina are technically empty nesters heading into the final season. What do you hope to see next for them in Season 8?
I think we’ll continue to be these kind of parents, where Tina would probably even want to be a helicopter parent even more when the kids were out. Like, you’re moving to a house, and she always there, still bringing you dishes, and you’re like, “OK, thank you, Mom.” So I think that kind of spacing, and then, you will see them as a couple decide what their future is. And this idea that the kids have grown, they’ve done a great job, what do we do is for us now, and so I think that that’s really important for real people to think about in real life. When you have a young family, you always kind of live for the kids, you do it all for the kids. And then you get to an age where you’re still a young person at the core of it, you still got a lot of life left. And you go, like, “OK, well, what do I do? Do I do what I want to do now?” And I figured we can go and live on the Ritz Carlton and a super luxury yacht for about three years or something. Maybe we can do that as well, so I can get CBS to pay for it. I love that. [Laughs]
How will Dave (Max Greenfield) and Calvin’s friendship be transformed?
That’s the thing about it. We’ve gone from adversaries to friends, from friends to family to brothers, right? We know these guys are locked at the hip, and it’s always so much fun to watch. It’s so much fun to play. And I think that that’s one of the things as we go into Season 8, we’ll just kind of really look for some of those themes, the one to kind of just ground it up, maybe even some of those things out loud, where we want to get people to understand that there is this idea that sometimes you think you don’t mix with or understand another group or another person, but if you allow yourself to get to know them, then you’ll be surprised on the commonalities. And so I think with that, their son is growing up, he’s changing, going to high school. We don’t know like, do they end up moving to another place because they want to be closer to him in high school? Do the Butlers decide to retire and go and live around the world and The Neighborhood kind of goes and spaces out now, and it’s no longer that neighborhood?
Is there hope for Marty and Courtney (Skye Townsend) to pursue a relationship, or Courtney and Malcolm?
You never know! With Courtney and Marty, you can feel that spark. They’ve got this natural rhythm and a lot of shared history, so I think fans are definitely rooting for them. And Marty, he has a big heart, so you never know. When things might line up for him, maybe they’ll give it another shot.
Are there any Season 8 teases you can offer as an executive producer?
Not at this point. I mean, we got the information that we were renewed after we wrapped and we were really happy to know that we were getting Season 8, and then, they informed us that it would be the final season. So we haven’t really locked in exactly where we plan on going yet. But we are excited that we get to tell our story and wrap it up, and we want to make sure our fans are pleased and they love it. We will have a lot of fun throughout Season 8 and hopefully lead you to a finale that feels worthy of the show that’s coming to your home on Monday nights for eight seasons.
When The Neighborhood does come to a close, would you return to scripted TV or revisit hosting?
I mean, I don’t know. I am a creative. I am constantly producing a lot. I also have a production deal with CBS/Paramount, so, I’m developing other shows for myself and other people. We are just going to look for that right thing, something that’s fun to play, the different character, maybe, and but I’m open and willing to come back and do a sitcom, maybe even do some kind of dramatic scene or two in a procedural, and we are developing a couple of game shows, so that may be something I can do, hopefully all together if I get something that’s fun to do. But, I’m excited about all the opportunities ahead.
You were the Honey Pot on The Masked Singer. What was that experience like?
That was an interesting experience for sure! My buddy Anthony Anderson did it and he always talks about it so I knew I had to give it a shot when they reached out with the opportunity. Let me tell you, that costume was HOT! But it was such a fun, out-of-the-box experience. I don’t think anyone really expected me to be up there so it was fun to be able to surprise folks and show off some of my other skills. Plus, it was fun to challenge myself to keep the secret from my friends and family even though I think they figured it out pretty quickly. I think the hat and my voice kind of gave it away.
The Neighborhood, Eighth and Final Season, TBA, CBS
