The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window: Release Date, Cast, And More

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You probably (correctly) guessed, based on its mouthful of a title, that Netflix's "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" is not an entirely serious TV series. Rather, it's a satirical take on the sub-genre of psychological thrillers about women who uncover a murder mystery yet struggle to get anyone to take them seriously due to their history of mental illness, substance abuse, and/or trauma. The show's title explicitly alludes to the best-selling novels-turned-movies "The Girl on the Train" and "The Woman in the Window," both of which follow this formula to a T. Other recent works, like "Sharp Objects," use some of these tropes while telling a very different tale.

As a whole, these stories offer an overdue correction to the long-standing narrative tradition of depicting women as less rational than men and overly emotional, as well as a timely critique of sexism as it exists today. At the same time, their quality has been all over the place, and plenty have tripped themselves up with their handling of class and especially race — all of which gives "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" a fair amount to poke fun at.

"The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" will premiere exclusively on Netflix on January 28, 2022, and will span eight half-hour episodes (all of which will be available to stream upon its debut).

In what seems like a good move, Netflix has classified "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" as a limited series and not, per se, the start of a show spanning multiple seasons. Obviously, though, that could change if it takes off with the streamer's subscribers and its showrunners suddenly find themselves pressured to come up with another batch of episodes (see also: the situation "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk finds himself in after Season 1's mega-successful run). But in the meantime, it's best to wait and see if the series can sustain its parodic premise over four hours before speculating too much about whether it will remain a one-off release.

The official synopsis for "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" describes the show as being about Anna, a "heartbroken" woman whose days blur together as she drinks wine and stares out the window of her home. However, when a "handsome" neighbor and his "adorable" daughter move in across the street, Anna sees it as her chance at a fresh start, only for her world to flip upside-down when she witnesses a murder ... or, at least, thinks she did.

If one didn't know any better and/or weren't familiar with the clichés that "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" is taking potshots at, they might not catch the irony simmering beneath the surface of this plot summary, and presume the show is simply another derivative entry in an increasingly saturated sub-genre of mystery-thrillers. It seems this dry sense of wit will also carry over into the actual series, which feels preferable to a more in-your-face jokey approach.

"Veronica Mars" and "The Good Place" headliner Kristen Bell is playing Anna in "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window," with Tom Riley ("Da Vinci's Demons") and Samsara Leela Yett ("Don't Look Up") co-starring as, respectively, Anna's "handsome" new neighbor Neil and his "adorable" daughter Emma. There's even an added layer of meta humor to Yett's casting, seeing as the young actor made her small screen debut in Season 1 of HBO Max's "The Flight Attendant": an adaptation of Chris Bohjalian's 2018 novel that puts a more darkly comedic spin on the "woman with alcoholism gets ensnared in a murder mystery" setup.

Beyond those three, the series' cast includes Mary Holland ("Happiest Season"), Michael Ealy ("Stumptown"), Shelley Hennig ("Teen Wolf"), and Cameron Britton ("The Umbrella Academy"), all of whom are playing characters that may or may not end up being major parts of the show's plot. Indeed, the lack of a mega-star (and, in turn, an obvious suspect) in the show's ensemble should only help to make sure "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" has a legitimately interesting mystery to go with its tongue-in-cheek jokes.

Bell co-produced "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" alongside Will Ferrell and his Gloria Sanchez Productions partners Jessica Elbaum and Brittney Segal, with Michael Lehmann — who helmed such films as "Heathers" and "Hudson Hawk" before shifting into directing TV full-time — serving as the series' main director. The show itself was created by Hugh Davidson, Larry Dorf, and Rachel Ramras: the trio that received modest praise from critics for their comedy series "Nobodies," where they played semi-fictional versions of themselves.

Altogether, the minds behind "The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window" have an imperfect yet decent collective track record, and seem to know their way around a self-reflexive comedy. Dare we hope the series might even follow in the footsteps of "Only Murders in the Building" by lovingly mocking the crime genre works that inspired it while also paying tribute to them? That would be more than okay by me.

For heartbroken Anna (Kristen Bell), every day is the same. She sits with her wine, staring out the window, watching life go by without her. But when a handsome neighbor (Tom Riley) and his adorable daughter (Samsara Yett) move in across the street, Anna starts to see a light at the end of the tunnel. That is until she witnesses a gruesome murder... Or did she?

From creators Rachel Ramras, Hugh Davidson and Larry Dorf, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is a darkly comedic, wine-soaked, satirical slant on the psychological thriller that will have you guessing who, what, where, why and how in the hell?! until the very end.