Willona (Good Times)
Schnieder (One Day At a Time)
Steve Urkel (Family Matters)


I don't think I've ever seen these characters knock or ring the door bell.

Kramer on Seinfeld
Chandler and Joey on Friends. They never knocked or buzzed Monica and Rachel's -- later, Monica and whoever's apartment -- when they came in.

I Love Lucy's Fred and Ethel Mertz

I think the reasons are threefold:
1) To make things simple/ otherwise, youd have to watch as the characters walk up to the door, unlock it open it...waste of time.
2) Element of surprise/ If the door just opens, and the nosey neighbour walks in, it makes it all seem less scripted and more random.
3) To make an "entrance" / Don't forget, for many of the actors in these parts, these were the only times you saw them ...so, they wanted to get that little bit of glory and hear that audience applause that came with their 2 minutes of airtime, when they burst through the door.

Frank and Marie Barone (Everybody loves Raymond)
ED Norton ( The Honeymooners)
Shawn Hunter (Boy Meets World)

You forgot to mention Howard Borden (Bob Newhart Show). He would always barge in and raid the Hartleys' fridge - the Kramer of the 1970s! :lol:

Lenny and Sqiggy on Laverne & Shirley

I believe this was explained by producer Garry Marshall on the first Odd Couple DVD. He pretty much confirmed that people burst through the door in order to keep the action going. I believe he made another comment but I forget right now, however he did explain why it was done so much.

In the Dick Van Dyke show, Jerry and Millie always seemed to be coming in through the screen kitchen door, I guess so they wouldn't have to knock.

I agree about the time factor. It would be awkward to have a character that's well known always ring the doorbell if he/she was a neighbor when they appear every episode. After a while, it would be boring.

With Kramer's case, it was an audience favorite how he flew in the door all of the time.

If I remember correctly, on "Married...with Children," Steve and Marcy always knocked first.

It's funny when you think of how rude the people are being. If anyone did that in real life, the resident of the house, would be ticked off. I found out the hard way. :( J/K

Don't forget that neighbors like Bewitched's Gladys Kravitz (especially the second one) would've been arrested and/or slapped with a restraining order for all the times she snuck into the Stephens house and spied on them from the window. :eek:

Don't forget that neighbors like Bewitched's Gladys Kravitz (especially the second one) would've been arrested and/or slapped with a restraining order for all the times she snuck into the Stephens house and spied on them from the window. :eek:

That always makes me nervous whenever Gladys would peak into the Stephen's window. And I know it's a sitcom, but it still makes me nervous. I'm just surprised that Darrin and Samantha don't seem upset with Gladys. When Gladys confronts them they should tell her that what they do in their own home is their business and that she has no business peaking through their windows. lol Instead Darrin and Samantha nervously try to explain everything to her.

It's funny when you think of how rude the people are being. If anyone did that in real life, the resident of the house, would be ticked off.
That's very true. It's wrong on every level. People could be in the buff, doing personal things...or you could really scare a person. I've been doing dishes and things before and jumped a mile when I saw my husband suddenly appear.

Don't forget that neighbors like Bewitched's Gladys Kravitz (especially the second one) would've been arrested and/or slapped with a restraining order for all the times she snuck into the Stephens house and spied on them from the window. :eek:
With Samantha's powers, I would have made Gladys "disappear". ;)

With Samantha's powers, I would have made Gladys "disappear". ;)
:lol: Same here - at least Gladys #2.

:D I've noticed this too! I've heard the Garry Marshall explanation too. It seems to make sense, but it does sort of stick out to those of us at home watching. I think it's just become an established convention of filming/writing to have neighbors that don't knock. /shrugs/.

All I know is that I'm glad my neighbors don't just barge in without knocking first!

Well, if they're close enough friends you could argue that it's not necessary, the friends can have sort of a "rule" between then - my best friend in college and I would often do this to each other when we both had single rooms. (Though I tended to knock more often.) But, you have to be *so* close to each other that you know the person's habits, when theyr'e likely to be "in the buff," etc.. (It was actually more of a knock then entering, though. And we'd leave our doors locked if we were getting dressed or something. Since we weren't the kind to have women and, well, you know, it was never a problem.)

(Actually, on "Full House" Kimmy alludes to this. Jesse, I think, says she shouldn't just barge in becasue they could be in their underwear. Kimmy says, "When you're in your underwear, I knock." Which implies she peeks anyway, but at least they acknowledge it :-)

So, with a few of these cases, it's easy to see how there could be such a close friendship that the person is allowed. Not with others, though.

I never really thought about it, but I guess you're right!

Steve Urkel even managed to get his own his key to the Winslow house! Yeah, that was a little bit weird, but I still love him!