The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window

Anna spends her days in a kind of slow-motion rut, perched by a window with wine in hand, watching the world move on without her. When a handsome new neighbor arrives, she allows herself a sliver of hope and begins to pay closer attention to the street she’s been staring at for so long. That attention turns dark when she thinks she witnesses a violent crime next door, but her memory, medication, and isolation make the truth slippery. The series plays like a dark comedy with a mystery at its center, asking whether what Anna saw really happened and how far she can trust what her own mind is telling her.

Created by Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson, and Larry Dorf, the show premiered in 2022 and was directed in part by Michael Lehmann. It was presented as a limited television series, with a tone that mixes noir pastiche and sitcom timing, and Kristen Bell leads the cast as Anna, with Tom Riley as the neighbor Neil.

Critics and audiences were split, reflected in a 6.6/10 vote average from 485 voters, with many reviewers pointing to Bell’s strong lead performance and the show’s willingness to skew genre expectations. Some viewers enjoyed the darkly comic approach and unreliable narration, while others felt the tonal shifts and plot contrivances undercut the mystery. Themes include grief, loneliness, perception versus reality, and how suburban routines can mask deeper unrest.

The series leaned into parody and homage, riffing on domestic noir and psychological thriller conventions in a way that generated online conversation. Its cheeky title and surreal, self-aware moments made it easy to reference when people discussed how TV blends satire with suspense, and it prompted discussions about how mental health is portrayed in genre fare.

The show didn’t become an awards season staple, and it didn’t sweep major prizes, but Bell’s performance was frequently cited as the most memorable element, helping the series land a devoted, if divided, audience.