There's nothing I love more than a delightful sitcom that makes me laugh.

Now to be perfectly honest, I'd never watched CBS’s The Neighborhood until I learned that their latest episode featured pickleball.

That sealed the deal. I needed to tune in.

The Neighborhood is currently in its seventh season with an excellent cast starring Max Greenfield and Cedric the Entertainer.

The episode begins with the arrival of new neighbors, while families stand on their front porches with great curiosity.

The following morning at 6:00 a.m., the neighborhood is awakened by the familiar pop-pop-pop sound that can only mean one thing – pickleball.

The husbands, Calvin and Dave, who are annoyed by this new alarm clock, go over to the new pickleball-playing neighbors and ask them to keep it down. 

“You know how it is with pickleball, once you start playing you just can’t stop,” says new neighbor Zak, along with an apology.  

Soon, his wife Sara joins and they discover Calvin and Dave have never played pickleball.

“You’ve never played pickleball? It will consume you,” she says with utmost intensity and seriousness. 

Then, they make a joke about how a game of doubles is twice as fun as singles, and they join the new neighbors on their driveway to dink around. 

Meanwhile, Calvin and Dave’s wives are confused about why they’ve been gone for so long.

When Calvin and Dave finally return, it’s clear they enjoyed themselves. They talk about "dinks" and "the kitchen," which baffles their wives. 

Soon, Calvin and Dave get the pickleball bug for real.

Dave even has a full white and green outfit from FILA, plus pickleball socks, a sweatband, eye glasses, and a matching paddle. I think we’ve seen this look before. 

Then, they partake in après-pickleball wings and beer. 

But things dramatically shift when Calvin and Dave discover that these new neighbors might not have a conventional relationship. As it turns out, they might be in a pickleball “throuple” – meaning three people in a relationship. 

The episode concludes with the neighborhood discovering this relationship, with a dramatic “To be continued…” on the bottom of the screen. 

The writers clearly know pickleball and had a lot of fun with the script. Calling it "baby tennis" and talking about the utter addiction people get when they start playing, and the subtle ways they dropped hints that there’s something a little bit off with these new pickleball neighbors. Then to see the talented actors bring the comedy to life made it all the better. 

I can only imagine what’s about to happen next, but I know it’s going to be funny because I genuinely laughed out loud while watching. I will absolutely be tuning in to see where they take this pickleball story next.