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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1980s TV Shows - 1990s 3 Mins Read

    Perfect Strangers

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    1 9 8 6 – 1 9 9 3 (USA)
    150 x 30 minute episodes

    This slapstick comedy explored America and its ways, through the eyes of a newly arrived immigrant.

    Balki Bartokomous was a shepherd from the Mediterranean island of Mypos, who showed up one day unexpectedly at the Chicago apartment of his distant cousin Larry Appleton.

    perfectstrangers6

    Balki’s heavy accent, fun-loving nature, wide-eyed naiveté, nutty Myposian customs, and a tendency to take quite literally everything Americans said to him caused considerable disruption for Larry but he still took him in – After all, it was not going to be easy getting started as a shepherd in Chicago.

    Larry aspired to be a photojournalist but worked downstairs from his apartment at the Ritz Discount Shop, run by a greedy, insensitive man called Donald Twinkacetti (known as Twinkie).

    Larry’s nurse friend, Susan lived upstairs but was soon replaced by Mary Anne and Jennifer, two stewardesses who also lived in the building.

    Balki’s comic misadventures – as he learned about America, studied citizenship at night school, and chased girls with Larry – caused many funny and frustrating situations.

    His answer to every problem seemed to be, “Don’t be ridikalus!” and his basic grasp of the English language meant he often came out with sayings like “We are lean cuisine, fighting machines” or “You’ve made your cake, now lie in it”.

    perfectstrangers_022

    In 1987 both Larry and Balki began work with the Chicago Chronicle – Larry as a cub reporter and Balki in the mailroom.

    This introduced new characters to the series; Harriette (the wisecracking elevator operator), Harry the editor, Lydia the neurotic advice columnist, and Mr Gorpley as Balki’s scrooge-like boss.

    Eventually Balki earned his high school diploma and drew a comic strip featuring a sheep named Dimitri, Larry was assigned to write dialogue for the strip, and by the end of the series’ run, Larry and Jennifer got married and moved into a big Victorian house where they take in Balki and Mary Anne as boarders.

    When the series was abruptly cancelled, Balki was about to marry Mary Anne. Several original episodes were aired in the summer of 1993, in which that marriage finally took place and both couples had babies.

    Balki Bartokomous 
    Bronson Pinchot
    Larry Appleton 

    Mark Linn-Baker
    Donald Twinkacetti 

    Ernie Sabella
    Edwina Twinkacetti 

    Belita Moreno
    Susan Campbell 

    Lise Cutter
    Mary Anne Spencer 

    Rebeca Arthur
    Jennifer Lyons 

    Melanie Wilson
    Harriette Winslow 

    Jo Marie Payton-France
    Lydia Markham 

    Belita Moreno
    Harry Burns 

    Eugene Roche
    Sam Gorpley 

    Sam Anderson
    Mr Wainright 

    F.J. O’Neil
    Tess Holland 

    Alisan Porter

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