Perfect Strangers, you remember it. Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot) from the island of Mypos shows up unexpectedly to live with his distant cousin Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) in Chicago. The two couldn't be more different. Balki is a wide-eyed fun-loving guy (he sleeps with a stuffed lamb), while Larry is tense, organized, and methodical.
Series creator Dale McRaven also helped create Mork & Mindy back in 1978, so the idea of mixing two people with little in common was nothing new to him. In some ways, with his wacky Myposian customs and complete ignorance regarding American customs, Balki is just a more humanized version of Mork. Balki takes almost everything people tell him literally and America is the home of the Whopper!
Both Larry and Balki work as cashiers at Ritz Discount Store, located on the ground level of their apartment building. Their boss, Donald Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella) is an ill tempered miser who delights in referring to Larry as "turnip" whenever possible. Sabella has a great sense of comic timing and his caustic one-liners are guaranteed to make you laugh. He also thinks he's too smart for his own good and is constantly outwitted by Larry and Balki.
Pinchot and Linn-Baker work very well together. Linn-Baker is usually the straight man to Pinchot's comic. In one particularly funny moment, Larry is exasperated when Balki is up early in the morning doing exercises to a television show and utterly confused when Balki starts doing "butt" crunches. When I watched the show originally, I thought of them sort of like The Odd Couple; not for their sartorial ways but their personalities. They were so different, yet it is obvious they love each other.
While the traditional sitcom storylines of dating troubles, problems at work, or getting a driver's license can make a sitcom more stale than day old bread, Pinchot's ability to bring a child-like innocence to everything makes the material seem fresher. There is something fun about Balki's sense of wonder at discovering pop top soda cans, color television, and pink lemonade.
The first season of Perfect Strangers is very short, only six episodes. Larry and Balki pretty much stay in the confines of their apartment and the Ritz Discount Store. They are visited regularly by Larry's platonic friend and neighbor Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter) who was phased out early on.
Article comments