Rude Awakenings

Rude Awakenings, a New Zealand comedy/drama television series, originally aired on TV ONE on Friday evenings. The pilot episode aired on 9 February 2007. It has been confirmed there will be no more episodes, with TVNZ citing low ratings as the reason despite the show receiving much praise from viewers.

The series centres on two families who live next door to each other in a fashionable street in Ponsonby, a suburb of Auckland. The Rush family has just moved to their newly renovated house in Ponsonby from a lifestyle block in Kumeu. Dimity, the mother, is a human resources manager; Stuart, the father, is an anaesthesiologist, and Julian and Ollie are their sons. They immediately hit a wrong chord with their new neighbours, the Short family.

Arthur Short has recently had his wife Sharon leave him for a lesbian relationship, and he is unemployed and with few prospects. His two teenage daughters, Amber and Constance, live with him. Their house, where they have been tenants for the last 20 years, is up for sale, but they are determined to remain where they are.

The series was recently released to DVD.