Perfect Strangers (sitcom)

Perfect Strangers was a televised sitcom on ABC which ran from 1986 through 1993. Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker), an average Chicago resident welcomes Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot), his far-removed and new-to-the-country cousin, into his life. Balki hails from the (fictional) island nation of Mypos.

Many episode plots involved Larry's greed getting the better of him, and having to be saved by Balki, and many involved elaborate dance numbers or stunts.

Balki's catch phrase was "Don't be ridiculous." Although Balki's home country of Mypos is discussed as an independent nation on the show, it is clearly one of the Greek Isles. The show is also often remembered from the "Dance of Joy," a silly cross between a Do-Si-Do and the Hokey Pokey with "jazz hands" that Balki tought Larry as a vestage of his days on Mypos. The Dance of Joy was typically featured as a celebratory act.

In later seasons, Larry and Balki each got married, and together with their wives, lived in a large house, a departure from the previous format.

Perfect Strangers ran on ABC's TGIF, and early on spun off Family Matters (1989 to 1998), another show set in Chicago, which accompanied Perfect Strangers in the TGIF lineup.

External links

• Perfect Strangers at the Internet Movie Database