Perfect Strangers DVD Seasons 1 - 6 RARE Bronson Pinchot




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Reference Number: Avaluer:8488275Format: DVD
Movie/TV Title: BronsonUPC: Does not apply
Original Description:
5 Box Sets (the first is season 1 & 2 together). You get season's 1-6
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986 to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean Europe, Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot).
Originally airing on Tuesdays for the short six-episo...de first season in the spring of 1986, it moved to Wednesdays in prime time in the fall of 1986. It remained on Wednesdays until March 1988, when it was moved to Fridays. The show found its niche there as the anchor for ABC's original TGIF Friday-night lineup, though it aired on Saturdays for a short time in 1992.

Contents1 Premise2 Synopsis2.1 Development2.2 Season 1 (1986)2.3 Season 2 (1986–87)2.4 Seasons 3–4 (1987–1989)2.5 Seasons 5–6 (1989–1991)2.6 Season 7 (1991–92)2.7 Season 8 (1993)3 Cast4 Production notes4.1 Theme song and opening sequence4.1.1 Theme song4.1.2 Opening credits4.1.2.1 First version (seasons one and two)4.1.2.2 Second version (seasons three through eight)4.2 Exterior shot locations4.2.1 First apartment building4.2.2 Second apartment building4.2.3 Chicago Chronicle5 Episodes6 Syndication7 Spinoff7.1 Family Matters8 Home media9 In popular culture10 Foreign versions11 References12 Footnotes13 External linksPremiseThe series chronicles the relationship of Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker) and his distant cousin Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot). Larry, a Wisconsin native from a large family, has just moved into his first apartment in Chicago, and is savoring his first taste of privacy when Balki, a hitherto-unknown cousin from a Mediterranean island, Mypos, arrives intending to move in with him.
Balki, who was a shepherd on Mypos, interprets what little he knows about the United States by relying on his own (often out-of-context) recollections of American pop culture ("America: Land of my dreams and home of the Whopper").[1] Balki's signature is his "Dance of Joy", a cross between the dosado and the hokey pokey that he performs (with Larry) to celebrate good fortune. It usually begins with Balki saying, "Now we are so happy. We do the dance of joy!" He debuts it in the second episode, "Picture This", when he and Larry reconciled after an argument.
After initially gently rebuffing his cousin's request to stay at his apartment, aspiring photographer Larry decides to take Balki under his wing and teach him about American life. However, the neurotic Larry frequently proves to be as inept as Balki, if not more so, and often gets the pair into situations that only Balki can set right. Major influences on the show include "buddy sitcoms" such as Laverne & Shirley[2] and Mork & Mindy, [3] both of which were produced by the Perfect Strangers team.
SynopsisDevelopmentThe series was the brainchild of Dale McRaven (co-creator of Mork & Mindy) and producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett. Miller claimed that the series' inspiration came in the wake of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when America experienced a wave of renewed patriotic sentiment.[4] Their idea for a comedy about an immigrant in America was initially rejected by all three major commercial television networks operating in the U.S. at the time (ABC, CBS and NBC).
In December 1984, Bronson Pinchot garnered notice for his role in Beverly Hills Cop as Serge, an effeminate art-gallery employee with an unplaceable foreign accent. When Miller and company pitched Pinchot as the star of their immigrant show, ABC signed on to the project, originally entitled The Greenhorn. By this time, however, Pinchot had become unavailable, as he had taken the role of a gay attorney in the NBC series Sara alongside star Geena Davis.
Sara failed to find an audience, and was canceled by May 1985. With Pinchot now available, Miller and Boyett began to develop the show in earnest. By November, comedian Louie Anderson was cast as the immigrant's American cousin.[5] A pilot episode was put into production, but in the end Anderson was not considered right for the role.
Development was placed into overdrive when ABC President Brandon Stoddard offered the producers a prime tryout slot for the spring of 1986 between the hit shows Who's The Boss? and Moonlighting on Tuesday nights.[6] After running through several actors for the part of Balki's cousin, the producers chose Mark Linn-Baker, whom they had recently seen in a guest appearance on Moonlighting. Linn-Baker displayed immediate chemistry with Pinchot, [3] and the series raced into production under the new title Perfect Strangers. It premiered on ABC on March 25, 1986.
Season 1 (1986)The series commences with Larry living alone in an apartment in Chicago. In the pilot episode, Balki unexpectedly shows up at Larry's door claiming to be his distant cousin. Balki joined Larry as a clerk at the Ritz Discount Store, located on the ground level of their apartment building. Their boss is Donald "Twinkie" Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), an unscrupulous miser who is also their landlord.[1] Twinkacetti's incessant berating of his two employees (he calls Balki "Turnip" and Larry "Yo-Yo") is occasionally alleviated by his wife Edwina (Belita Moreno). In the first season, upstairs neighbor Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter) is Larry's platonic friend.
Airing in the coveted timeslot between Who's The Boss? and Moonlighting, Perfect Strangers was an instant ratings hit in the spring of 1986, landing in the season's top 10 highest-rated shows.
Season 2 (1986–87)For its second season, Perfect Strangers was moved to Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m. as a lead-in to the new ABC sitcom Head of the Class.
Susan's character was phased out early in this season. Larry began dating Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson) and Balki began dating Mary Anne Spencer (Rebeca Arthur), after meeting them through a local gym.[7] In later episodes, it is revealed that both women are flight attendants who live in Larry and Balki's building.
Seasons 3–4 (1987–1989)The start of season 3 in late 1987 found Larry and Balki in a new, larger apartment where Balki had his own room instead of sleeping on a fold-out sofa.[8] External shots clearly depict a new apartment building. The characters never made reference to the move, and Jennifer and Mary Anne were still co-tenants in the new surroundings.
Larry acquires a reporter job working out of the basement of the Chicago Chronicle, a fictional metropolitan newspaper, and helps Balki get a job in the Chronicle's mail room. They are overseen by demanding city editor Harry Burns (Eugene Roche). Burns is phased out of the show by the end of season 3; the paper's publisher, Mr. Wainwright (F.J. O'Neill) is introduced later in season 3, [9] and takes over as Larry's boss after Eugene Roche leaves the show. Mr. Wainwright appears through season 7. Balki's immediate supervisor is mail room head Sam Gorpley (Sam Anderson, who had portrayed a bank clerk in the season one episode "Check This" in which Balki opens his first bank account). Gorpley never warms to Balki (he sometimes calls him "the Mypiot") and insults him regularly. Lydia Markham is the Chronicle's thin-skinned, multi-phobic advice columnist; she is played by Belita Moreno, who had previously played Edwina Twinkacetti in the first two seasons. Although Larry physically remains at his typewriter in the basement, he joins the investigative team of Marshall and Walpole (loosely-based on the famed Washington Post duo of Woodward and Bernstein) in season 4. Larry's relationship with Jennifer matures as well.
Working as an elevator operator is Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton-France). Her husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) is introduced in the fourth-season episode "Crimebusters", in which the couple moves into Larry and Balki's apartment building.
In March 1988, midway through the third season, ABC moved Perfect Strangers from its successful Wednesday-night slot to Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. before Full House. This was a key development in the formation of the ABC Friday-night comedy block that would later become known as "TGIF". Later moving to the 9/8c slot on Friday nights in the fall of 1989, Perfect Strangers would remain an anchor of ABC's Friday-night programming until it was unsuccessfully moved to Saturday nights in February 1992.
Seasons 5–6 (1989–1991)In the fall of 1989, after two seasons on Perfect Strangers, Harriette's character was given her own spin-off series, Family Matters. Joining Perfect Strangers in the TGIF lineup, Family Matters would eventually run longer than its parent show. Harriette was not seen again on Perfect Strangers, although an early Family Matters episode explained that she had been fired as the elevator operator, only to be re-hired as chief of security at the Chronicle. Carl became a main character on Family Matters.
Shortly after the sixth season opened, the producers attempted to add a child character to the show. Tess Holland, as played by Alisan Porter (who had starred on ABC's short-lived Chicken Soup the previous fall), was introduced as the troublemaking-but-immensely-cute little girl who lived upstairs from Larry and Balki. Tess appeared in the season's second episode, "New Kid on the Block", when Balki agrees to babysit her, causing an uproar both at home and at the Chronicle. While Porter was supposed to be on full-time, and even credited in the opening title sequence of the episode, she was suddenly dropped, never to be seen again. The experiment of adding a child to the cast was partially influenced by the network as well, since ABC's TGIF lineup was wishing to incorporate the child-and-preteen demographic into its audience. While the content of Perfect Strangers could often appeal to the family as a whole, it had never had children in the regular cast. A similar infusion happened a few months later on sister show Going Places, which had also started with a more adult tone.
While Larry and Jennifer's romance blossomed, Balki and Mary Anne's relationship moved more slowly: the pair would get very close, but then back off after fleeting moments of passion, then drift back into affection. Many viewers' predictions came true near the beginning of season 6, when Larry proposed to Jennifer, [10] after feeling competition from her old flame who was trying to woo her back. Jennifer accepted, and in the season finale they set a wedding date.[11] As the 6th season (1990–91) closed, it was clear that despite Larry's impending marriage, he and Balki's relationship would somehow remain a focal point of the show.[12]
Cast
The cast of Perfect Strangers in season 4. Front row (left to right):Melanie Wilson, Mark Linn-Baker, Belita Moreno, Bronson Pinchot, and Rebeca Arthur.Back row (left to right): Jo Marie Payton and Sam Anderson.Main cast
Bronson Pinchot – Balki BartokomousMark Linn-Baker – Larry AppletonMelanie Wilson – Jennifer Lyons (seasons 2–8)Rebeca Arthur – Mary Anne Spencer (seasons 2–8)Belita Moreno – Edwina Twinkacetti (seasons 1–2); Lydia Markham (seasons 3–7)Ernie Sabella – Donald Twinkacetti (seasons 1–2)Lise Cutter – Susan Campbell (seasons 1–2)Sam Anderson – Sam Gorpley (seasons 3–7)Recurring cast
Jo Marie Payton – Harriette Winslow (seasons 3–4)F.J. O'Neil – Mr. Wainwright (seasons 3–7)Eugene Roche – Harry Burns (season 3)Production notesPerfect Strangers was produced by Miller-Boyett Productions in association with Lorimar-Telepictures, which later became Lorimar Television in 1988. The show, for its entire run, was executive produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, and series creator Dale McRaven was executive producer with them for the first two seasons, becoming an executive consultant thereafter. William Bickley and Michael Warren, who became longtime associates of Miller and Boyett, were supervising producers during seasons one through four, elevating to co-executive producers in season five and finally executive producers with Miller and Boyett from seasons six through eight. Chip and Doug Keyes, who also served as producers on Miller and Boyett's first project under Lorimar, Valerie (later The Hogan Family), were producers on Perfect Strangers during its first season. Others who joined or remained on the production staff for several seasons included Paula A. Roth (who eventually became a principal showrunner in the seventh season alongside the senior executive producers), Alan Plotkin, Terry Hart, James O'Keefe, and the team of Barry O'Brien & Cheryl Alu.
Robert Griffard and Howard Adler, who joined the show in its third season as writers and executive story consultants, were promoted to co-producers in season five. At the end of the 1989–90 season, Griffard and Adler launched pre-production on their own series developed by Miller/Boyett, Going Places, which followed Perfect Strangers on TGIF the following season. Later seasons saw the arrival of such producers as Shari Hearn and Tom Devanney.
In 1991, Bickley and Warren launched their own production plate, Bickley-Warren Productions, as associates to Miller/Boyett. The Bickley-Warren Productions entity oversaw Family Matters, Step by Step and Getting By for Miller/Boyett, and alone were later the producers of Hangin' With Mr. Cooper and Kirk, both of which were produced by Warner Bros. Television (which absorbed Lorimar Television in 1993). Despite the existence of the Bickley-Warren plate during the final two seasons of Perfect Strangers, and the fact that Bickley and Warren were still active as producers on Strangers, the Bickley-Warren logo was never added to the show's closing credits as an associate production company.
Within a year after Perfect Strangers finished production, many of its existing production staff (namely O'Brien & Alu, Plotkin, co-producer Michael J. Morris and executive story consultant Scott Spencer Gorden) were all assigned to sister series Getting By at the start of its second season (1993–94).
Theme song and opening sequenceTheme songThe show's theme song, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", was written by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay, who had composed the themes for other Miller-Boyett series, including Full House, Step by Step, and Perfect Strangers spin-off Family Matters. Frederick and Salvay also composed the show's musical score for the entire first two seasons; for the remaining seasons, the score compositions rotated between Frederick and Salvay, Steven Chesne and/or Gary Boren. The theme was performed by David Pomeranz. The music was rearranged and the lyrics re-recorded for season three and the music was rearranged slightly in season five.[18] The full opening theme used for season one and most episodes of season two lasted 90 seconds. Starting with season three, the repeat of the second chorus near the end of the theme was cut to allow more airtime, reducing it to 72 seconds.
Two additional shortened versions were also used occasionally when episodes ran over the allotted time: the version used in a few episodes of season two cut half of the first stanza and the entire second, going directly to the first chorus following the verse, "Sometimes you just get a feeling/Like you need some kind of change...", reducing the length to 65 seconds, but the version used from season three onward used all but the second stanza, reducing the length to 48 seconds; the season four short version added a shorter harmonica portion near the end, which was absent in the season three short version. It has been a common misconception that the theme was reduced to the 48-second version from season three onward but that version was only used in syndicated reruns to allow stations added commercial time. The 72-second version was used for all episodes originally broadcast on ABC from seasons 3 to 8, with exceptions where ABC airings used the 48-second version when episodes ran over the allotted time. A shorter instrumental version of the theme, also composed by Frederick and Salvay, was also used as a closing theme in all but a few episodes (and was dropped entirely for season eight), which was rearranged in season three to sound nearly identical to the main theme, with another rearrangement for season five that saw it elongated from 30 seconds to 40 seconds.
Opening creditsFirst version (seasons one and two)During seasons one and two, the opening sequence begins with images of Balki and Larry wiping sideways from opposite sides of the screen to meet in the middle, with the series title superimposed on top. Larry is shown saying good-bye to his family as he leaves his home in Wisconsin, and drives to Chicago in his old red Ford Mustang. The sequence then shifts to Balki, who is shown making his own farewells on Mypos before being driven off on the back of a horsecart, sitting alongside a box mislabeled "America or Burst". Balki is next seen on the tramp steamer as he sights the Statue of Liberty, then on a bus, presumably making his way to Chicago. After a brief shot of Larry driving under a "Welcome to Chicago" sign (in reality, located on eastbound Interstate 190 leading out of O'Hare International Airport), the sequence ends with the same shot of Balki and Larry together that began the sequence. The first season featured a script font for the series title and credits. For the second season, the show's title appears more similar to later seasons, and the script font is replaced with the fonts similar to that used in the remaining seasons. The Lake Shore Drive footage is now shown correctly. Additionally, the Larry and Balki sequences are shortened so that brief clips from some of the early episodes could be shown.
Second version (seasons three through eight)For season three, the opening sequence was overhauled. The sequence begins with a close-up on Larry and Balki on the back of a tour boat heading east down the Chicago River, then zooming out to show them traveling under the Irv Kupcinet Bridge (the Wrigley Building and the now-demolished Sun-Times building can be seen in the background). A much larger version of the second season series title is superimposed on this image. During the third season only, light sparkles across this title. The sequence briefly recaps Larry and Balki's journeys to Chicago using footage from the earlier seasons. When Larry passes under the "Welcome to Chicago" sign this time, the sequence cuts to new footage of Larry and Balki around Chicago, including jogging in Lincoln Park, braving a wind gust on a city street, attending a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and messing around in a revolving door. After a view of an El train moving over the city street, the sequence concludes with Larry and Balki emerging from the subway to attend the Chicago Theatre. The theater marquee shows, appropriately enough, Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. The new location shots were filmed on September 11 and 12, 1987. This sequence remained the same from season three through the end of the series in season eight.
As a brief salute to its parent series, in the early-season opening credits of the spin-off series Family Matters, the Winslow family is shown riding bicycles over the Irv Kupcinet Bridge, as seen from exactly the same vantage point as in the opening Perfect Strangers sequence.
Exterior shot locationsFirst apartment building
Larry & Balki's first apartment, September 2006.The building used for the exterior shots of Larry and Balki's apartment for the first two seasons was the now non-existent Santa Rita Hotel, located at the south corner of S. Main St. and E. 11th St. in downtown Los Angeles, California. Since the series, the building has been remodeled and the upper stories removed. What remains of the building now houses several small shops and importers.
Second apartment buildingThe apartment building seen in the exterior shots from seasons three through six (and two episodes of season seven)[a] is located at the northwest corner of West Dickens Avenue and North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, Chicago, and little has changed in appearance today.

Larry & Balki's second apartment, March 2008Chicago ChronicleThe Chicago Chronicle building is in actuality known as the London Guarantee Building, located at 360 North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.
EpisodesMain article: List of Perfect Strangers episodesThere were a total of eight seasons in the series. The first and last seasons were six episodes each. The second through fourth seasons had 22 episodes each, and the fifth through seventh each had 24 episodes. There were a total of 150 episodes in the series.
Perfect Strangers' ratings remained steady throughout its long run, usually ranking among Nielsen's top 40 programs for its first six seasons. It was never a massive hit, but consistently in a comfortable spot in the ratings, and it usually won its time slot on Friday nights.
By the fall of 1991, ABC had been reaping the rewards of the successful TGIF and wanted to capitalize on the preteen-and-younger demographic for the lineup. An industry insider reported that ABC was looking for a reason to cancel Perfect Strangers, because it was becoming too costly to produce and was considered an aging program that did not fit into the new TGIF target demographic.[citation needed]
In late January 1992, the network rolled out plans to launch a similar family-friendly comedy block for Saturday, also helmed by TGIF creator Jim Janicek. It was announced that Perfect Strangers would move from TGIF to join this new lineup to help it take off. On February 1, 1992, Perfect Strangers began airing in the 9 p.m. slot of I Love Saturday Night, the new TGIF sister lineup (which included Growing Pains, Who's the Boss?, and Capitol Critters). The series experienced a drastic decline in ratings. It dropped to #65 for the remainder of the season. In July 1992, ABC moved Perfect Strangers back to Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET to fill the timeslot with reruns until the new TGIF season began. The reruns that were aired won their timeslot as they had before.
In its six-episode final season, which was filmed during the summer of 1992 but broadcast from July 9 to August 6, 1993, it was rated in the top 20 with its series finale attracting 15 million households and rated #11 for the week of August 1, 1993. The average Nielsen ratings for the entire run of eight seasons was #27. For the abbreviated eighth season, Perfect Strangers once again aired Fridays at 9:30/8:30c.
Season Episodes Originally aired Nielsen ratingsFirst aired Last aired1 6 March 25, 1986[19] April 29, 1986 #132 22 September 17, 1986 May 6, 1987 #313 22 September 23, 1987 May 6, 1988 #484 22 October 14, 1988 May 5, 1989 #385 24 September 22, 1989 May 4, 1990 #346 24 September 28, 1990 May 3, 1991 #32



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