When a Santa Clarita family feels they have nowhere else to turn, could it be that help is right next door?This is what the Oprah Winfrey Network and Studio Lambert will explore with the premiere of their new series, “Trouble Next Door,” on Monday, January 7 at 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

“Trouble Next Door” is a reality television show and social experiment based on the saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” Each episode highlights a family in crisis who reach out to their neighbors for help.

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“I think all of us are more connected than we’ve ever been… We’re more in touch with people than ever, but I know that most people don’t know their neighbors the way that they used to,” said the show’s executive producer Domini Hofmann.

“Trouble Next Door” tries to bridge that gap between neighbors and bring them together help each other.

After a casting call in February 2012, Studio Lambert cast a Santa Clarita family for their premiere episode.

In tonight’s show, the neighborhood will come around Shawn and Melissa and their two boys, Blake, 16, and Hunter, 6. Shawn feels he has lost touch with Blake, who is more concerned with practicing and listening to music than keeping his grades up so he can graduate high school. Hunter, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, is out of control and daily interrupts family activities with explosive temper tantrums.

The conflict has been a strain on the couple’s marriage and a constant source of stress. But, the episode will not focus so much on the family’s troubles as on what the community can do to help.

This is why Studio Lambert casting director Shannon McCarty thought the Santa Clarita Valley was a perfect fit for the show.

“For us in the casting process, what was nice about Santa Clarita Valley was we found that in some cases there were still pockets of neighbors who absolutely knew each other… It was refreshing for us as a casting department to find that those people still exist, and it was one of the places that had overwhelming support for the family, which I think was really nice to see, and I can see why so many people live there.”

McCarty also hopes the show will encourage viewers to seek help or reach out in their own communities.

For more information about “Trouble Next Door” visit the Oprah Winfrey Network website, here. Click here for a sneak peek of the first five minutes from tonight’s episode.

• Article: Oprah Winfrey Network Features Santa Clarita Family in Show Premiere
• Source: Newsroom
• Author: Allison Pari