The Couple Next Door tells the story of an average small-town American couple and their family. Originally played by Olan Soulé and Elinor Harriet, the leading couple were revived many years later (1957) by Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce. Throughout the second run, the couple are known only as “dear” to one another and are never actually named, although they’re actually the characters that appeared in the Ethel and Albert show in the early 1940s.