I begin this podcast episode by talking about the strange timing of television in our lives. Sometimes a show arrives at just the right moment, and for a while it feels like part of your weekly routine. Then you get older, your habits change, and without really deciding to, you stop watching. Years later, you come back to it and realize there was a whole stretch of the story you never saw. Perfect Strangers was one of those shows for me.
Then I talk about Perfect Strangers, including its creation, the people in front of and behind the camera, its place as one of the anchors of ABC’s TGIF lineup, and the full run of the series from its mid eighties debut through its final season in the early nineties. I also talk about how the show changed over time, how Balki and Larry grew from mismatched roommates into family, and how Perfect Strangers helped lead to one of television’s most successful spinoffs, Family Matters.
Perfect Strangers worked because Bronson Pinchot and Mark Linn Baker were so right together. The show could be very broad, and sometimes very silly, but their chemistry kept it grounded. Balki and Larry were funny because they were opposites, but the show lasted because you believed they cared about each other. That friendship gave all the physical comedy, misunderstandings, and catchphrases something warm to hang onto.
Metagirl is also back this week with a Top 5 list of the best episodes of Perfect Strangers. If you watched the show years ago, it is a nice reminder of why people loved it. If you never really watched it, it might give you a good place to start.
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Production Notes
This is the 365th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 16 of Season 18.
Perfect Strangers is one of those shows I was very excited about when it started, and then somehow I just stopped watching it. I did not turn against it. I did not get tired of it. Life just changed and it fell out of my routine.
I think that happened to a lot of shows for me around the end of the 80s. I was still watching television, but I was also working more, seeing friends more, renting movies more, and suddenly the shows I liked were not automatic anymore.
Coming back to Perfect Strangers years later was a strange experience, because the early episodes felt familiar, but the later seasons felt like new television from the past.
The thing that surprised me most when watching the full run is how much the show changes while still feeling like itself. It starts as a very simple odd couple show, then slowly becomes a workplace show, a friendship show, a relationship show, and eventually a family show.
Bronson Pinchot and Mark Linn Baker really make the whole thing work. The writing is often funny, but the show lives or dies on whether you believe in Balki and Larry together, and I do.
I always remembered the catchphrases, but watching the show again reminded me how much physical comedy they were doing. Some of those bits are closer to stage routines than normal sitcom scenes.
The Dance of Joy is one of those things that could have been unbearably annoying if the performers were not so committed to it. Instead, it feels like something the show earned.
I like that Balki is not usually the fool in the show. He misunderstands America, but he is often the one who sees a situation more clearly than Larry does.
Larry is a great sitcom character because he is not just uptight. He is a great combo anxious and ambitious.
Perfect Strangers helped make TGIF feel like TGIF. It was not just another show inside the block. It moved to be its initial anchor.
The spinoff connection to Family Matters is still funny to me. One elevator operator at a fictional newspaper leads, eventually, to Steve Urkel becoming one of the biggest sitcom characters of the 90s. I should eventually do a Family Matters podcast.
I wish Perfect Strangers and Family Matters had crossed over properly. It feels like the sort of thing TGIF should have done, especially since the two shows were so closely connected.
The ending of Perfect Strangers is odd. It does get a final episode, but it also sort of disappears. For a show that ran eight seasons, it deserved a more public goodbye.
The final scene with the cast taking a bow is sweet, especially when you remember that these actors had spent years doing very physical comedy in front of live audiences.
The baby name Robespierre is one of the strangest choices in any family sitcom. I am not sure how many TGIF viewers were expecting a French Revolution reference.
The theme song is still hard to skip. It is one of those TV themes that does a lot of emotional work before the episode even starts.
There is a version of this show that never becomes Perfect Strangers. Different title, different names, different actor opposite Bronson Pinchot, maybe no Dance of Joy, maybe no catchphrase. It is always interesting how much television history can turn on a few changes.
I did not do a Perfect Strangers tour when I lived near Chicago, and now I regret that a little. I could have at least looked for some of the locations from the opening credits.
Metagirl is back with a Top 5 list this week, which is especially useful for a show like this. Eight seasons can be a lot to take on, and sometimes a good episode list is the easiest way back in.
Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.
