Perfect Strangers - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Perfect Strangers Here!

[Thrifty]

I watched this show as a kid in the early 90s.  For some reason that I can no longer remember, I thought the title was an oxymoron.

I watched it again on DVD in 2009.  It's weird that this activity of nostalgia is now itself a nostalgic even, since it happened 9 years ago.  In one of the episodes, Larry laments the progress of his life at his age, which he states as "24 years old".  Since I was 28 at the time, Larry being younger than me blew my mind.  Also, he didn't look like he was 24.

That show had such a great theme song.  I am listening to it at work right now, and trying hard not to make myself look like a fool by singing along.  It is difficult.  Sitcoms don't do theme songs any more.  I miss it.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Thrifty

[Twilight Man]

Did you see that silly Jimmy Kimmel skit last year where Bronson Pinchot and Mark Linn-Baker reprised their roles??  I had to admit that I laughed a couple of times in spite of myself.

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, Thrifty said:

In one of the episodes, Larry laments the progress of his life at his age, which he states as "24 years old".  Since I was 28 at the time, Larry being younger than me blew my mind.  Also, he didn't look like he was 24

Probably because he was 31 or 32.

[Lili]

I'm currently in the process of watching the entire series on Hulu. I'm on Season 5 right now.

I never really watch this show back in its heyday. It wasn't until later on through reruns on TV and now, Hulu that I've been watching it.

[PaulaO]

All sheep are named Dimitri.  I had a huge crush on Balki.

[Thrifty]

Since I was really young when this show was on the air, I really should have mispronounced the actor's name as "Bronson Pinch-AHT" (rhyming with cot or thought).  I don't know how I didn't and got it correct and pronounced it to rhyme with "hoe" or "though".  Unless maybe I didn't and the first pronunciation is right.

[Guest]

Between this and ER, I might need to get Hulu!

[roseha]

I didn't know the show was on Hulu at all, I have to investigate!  Some years ago I was on a fan site for the show and they were lamenting the lack of DVD releases; the reason given was the frequent singing by the two leads which made fans speculate it was about about the costs for royalties. I'm not sure that was true though.  

[Lili]

13 minutes ago, roseha said:

I didn't know the show was on Hulu at all, I have to investigate!  Some years ago I was on a fan site for the show and they were lamenting the lack of DVD releases; the reason given was the frequent singing by the two leads which made fans speculate it was about about the costs for royalties. I'm not sure that was true though.  

Yeah, I think that has something to do with it.

I bought the DVD set for the first two seasons a couple years back.

DVDs for the rest of the series has been in the talks here: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Perfect-Strangers-DVDs-Plans-Updated/23803

[Lili]

I like Balki's silly, yet logical personality. Whenever Larry has a stupid plan to make money or something, Balki is always there to try and put sense into him.
 

[readster]

Balki came across as that person who was naive but aware of things. He could be very silly at times, but he had common sense and much like Larry, he did get carried away at times. I always enjoyed Balki. 

[readster]

Larry was the classic sitcom character. He worked hard, but he did want to try some "get rich plans", but he was never afraid to give credit where credit was due. I also felt sorry for Larry at times, because he was for the entire series: "The best laid plans" kind of guy and things just went wrong. Either by trying to plan everything out and then having some small thing go wrong or he screw it up just by not doing the most common thing. However, he was there for Balki when things went wrong and I felt his journey with Jennifer was very realistic. 

[readster]

My mom was a fan of the show when it first started and I loved the fact it took placed in Chicago. The series started when I was 8, so I watched it through the entire series. Due to my parents divorce, my dad use to take me to Chicago on a regular basis twice a year to see my uncles and my other grandfather. So, we went to a lot of the places that were on the show from the Tribute to the Theatre. I actually enjoyed the journey of Jennifer and Larry through the series, as when I got older and the series had started showing in syndication. It felt pretty natural how their relationship progressed. Something even more shocking was years later seeing it on DVD when Larry talked about where his life was at 24 and I went: "Dear God, that was me!"

[Lili]

Let's talk about Jennifer and Mary-Anne, the most prominent characters, after Larry and Balki.

Besides Balki, these girls are my favorite characters in the show. They are perfect girlfriends for the main characters, and to be honest, they are hot too. Nice legs and everything.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Lili

[readster]

I always enjoyed both characters. Jennifer wasn't some fall over woman. She had a job, she liked Larry, but wasn't about to get swept off her feet either early on. She wanted him to work for her and their relationship and marriage was very realistic. Same goes for Mary-Anne, she was the classic air head at times, but she knew when to bring the hammer down when she had too. She also knew when to step in on Jennifer when much like Larry, she would jump into things and be the voice of reason when she had to be. They were also career women, which even then was almost unheard of. Even after they married Larry and Balki, they still worked, Larry said it best after they moved from the apartment into the house: "It's the 90s, people have to pay bills and you can have it all, just work for it." 

[Sarah 103]

I loved Dimitri. I slept with stuffed animals so as a kid watching this in reruns it made me feel good to see an adult sleeping with a stuffed animal. 

[Sarah 103]

I remember one summer this was on in reruns usually when I was having breakfast. During the school year breakfast was family time and we were not allowed to watch TV during breakfast. We didn't have a TV in the kitchen. During the summer we were not eating breakfast as a family and I was allowed to eat breakfast in front of the TV. My mother and I talked about it as Breakfast with Balki. 

Years later in college when meeting with a literature professor during office hours somehow this series came up in conversation. I have no idea how it happened, but he was impressed I knew the show.

[Lili]

Does anyone remember Susan from the first two seasons? I wonder whatever happened to her. I guess they decided she wasn't needed anymore with the introduction of Jennifer and Mary-Anne?

[readster]

14 hours ago, Lili said:

Does anyone remember Susan from the first two seasons? I wonder whatever happened to her. I guess they decided she wasn't needed anymore with the introduction of Jennifer and Mary-Anne?

I always wondered that too? Though, the creators said that Jennifer and Mary-Anne were always meant to end up with Larry and Bailki and they wanted the relationships to work out naturally. However, once they really got everything going well with the main four, I don't think they saw a point to Susan anymore. Unlike say the Tribute staff that came and went, but were part of the stories pretty well. Something also I liked about their jobs at the Tribune, it felt very real. They made money, but they weren't rolling in money and you had not only Larry trying to think of getting rich schemes, but he had dreams of going beyond the Tribune. For Bailki he was very happy, but at the same time how much he was moving into an actual working job and not just being the usual goat herder his family had always been. He saw himself growing beyond that and it was very nice. 

[Lili]

To be honest, Larry is my least favorite of the four main characters. He can be pretty funny, sure, but his greed gets the best of him sometimes, and it happens a bit too much.

[PaulaO]

I still sleep with stuffed animals!

[Gothish520]

I'm not gonna lie, I had a huge crush on Larry! I often went for the sort of nerdy or goofy types that weren't your typical hottie. Other crushes of mine included Gopher from The Love Boat and Cliff Clavin from Cheers.

[Gothish520]

21 hours ago, PaulaO said:

I still sleep with stuffed animals!

Ditto! My husband always gets me a stuffie for Valentine's Day...currently sleeping with a red bear and tan dog. :)

Edited March 26, 2018 by Gothish520

[PaulaO]

Bronson Pinchot will be in Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition on Food TV.  Can’t remember the date, sometime next week.

[Jacqs]

I can't get the Simpsons parody out of my head: "Balki, you're dancing on the toilet!" "What, you've never heard of flush dance?"

[readster]

1 hour ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

I can't get the Simpsons parody out of my head: "Balki, you're dancing on the toilet!" "What, you've never heard of flush dance?"

Or the commercial bumper with him proposing to the goat. Good times!

[Lili]

Season 3 on DVD came out today. Has anyone got it?

The asking price is pretty steep. If I get, I'll wait until the price is lower.

[Lili]

So, I'm on Season 7 now, and I was thinking, why didn't they ever bring back Harriett for a guest appearance? They could have had an episode that brought her in for a visit, along with the rest of the Winslow family and Urkel, as Perfect Strangers and Family Matters were in the same universe, after all. But it seems once Family Matters came around, they really tried to distance the shows between each other.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Lili

[readster]

21 hours ago, Lili said:

So, I'm on Season 7 now, and I was thinking, why didn't they ever bring back Harriett for a guest appearance? They could have had an episode that brought her in for a visit, along with the rest of the Winslow family and Urkel, as Perfect Strangers and Family Matters were in the same universe, after all. But it seems once Family Matters came around, they really tried to distance the shows between each other.

Yet, tried to boost Step by Step in season 1 with Urkle, and even admitting on Step by Step about The Urkle family. 

[lynxfx]

Larry always exaggerated about what he was good at and ultimately failed. My favorite though was when he talked up how good at golf he was, then he actually was really good to the shock of everyone. 

[lynxfx]

One of my favorite shows growing up. I purchased the 2 seasons that were available on DVD but really haven't seen the show much since.

Going from memory, some of my favorite episodes...

The sloppy double dare like game show they went on where Larry knew all of the questions so they didn't have to do any of the challenges. Of course he doesn't know the last one (Balki knew it) so they now had to go through every challenge. Great physical comedy.

I think there was also an episode where they won a supermarket sweepstakes. I may be confusing it with another show. I think that was a common episode in the 90's for most sitcoms.

Larry getting the alarm system to protect the nice chair he bought.

I really need to rewatch them all. Not a fan of Hulu but sounds like that is the place to watch.

[Lili]

13 hours ago, lynxfx said:

One of my favorite shows growing up. I purchased the 2 seasons that were available on DVD but really haven't seen the show much since.

Going from memory, some of my favorite episodes...

The sloppy double dare like game show they went on where Larry knew all of the questions so they didn't have to do any of the challenges. Of course he doesn't know the last one (Balki knew it) so they now had to go through every challenge. Great physical comedy.

I think there was also an episode where they won a supermarket sweepstakes. I may be confusing it with another show. I think that was a common episode in the 90's for most sitcoms.

Larry getting the alarm system to protect the nice chair he bought.

I really need to rewatch them all. Not a fan of Hulu but sounds like that is the place to watch.

Well, keep in mind that Seasons 3 and 4 are now on DVD too, but they are pretty steep in price.

I wonder whatever happened to Harry Burns. Like Susan Campbell, he disappeared without explanation. It's weird, because he was Larry's original boss at the Chicago Chronicle, then once Mr. Wainwright came along, he disappeared, with Wainwright becoming his boss instead.

[Maharincess]

On 3/26/2018 at 3:35 PM, Gothish520 said:

I'm not gonna lie, I had a huge crush on Larry! I often went for the sort of nerdy or goofy types that weren't your typical hottie. Other crushes of mine included Gopher from The Love Boat and Cliff Clavin from Cheers.

I think I may have you beat, my crush was Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley.  I LOVED him.

I didn't know this show was in Hulu. I'm going to start watching tomorrow. 

[SayMyName]

I'm up to season 5 on Hulu. I liked the show on the original run and am enjoying it again. It has a nice mix of the goofy slapstick and the care the main characters have for each other. I remembered the slapstick but had forgotten the moments like when Balki talks about never finding love after being dumped by his night school classmate or when his grandmother dies.

I just watched the dentist episode and was soooooo hoping the dentist would be Tim Conway. It was not to be, but they did use the Novocaine shot to the arm bit that he did in his skit on Carol Burnett.

[Lili]

Seasons 3 to 5 are my favorites. So many classic episodes during that era.

I've barely even seen the show during its original run. It wasn't until later reruns that I watched it. Then I went like 15 years without seeing the show, as no reruns were airing on TV anymore. But then, interest suddenly picked up for me again in 2016, and I got the Season 1 and 2 DVD set. Even better, the whole series was added to Hulu sometime the next year.

[benteen]

Perfect Strangers was definitely one of my favorite show growing up.  I always found it to be a great deal of fun and it was perfect for that TGIF line-up.  As good as Bronson Pinchot was, I always liked Mark-Linn Baker the best on that show.  Larry's neuroticism was always a fun train wreck to watch.

I've recently started watching the show again on Hulu.  I started watching the show from Season 3 on so I didn't see many of the Season 1 and 2 episodes.  But they have been enjoyable to watch and I like that Larry, working at the discount store, had dreams of becoming a photojournalist from the very first episode.  I appreciate when a show builds on something like that in later seasons.  80s shows weren't exactly known to do that.  Still enjoy Sam Anderson a great deal as Gorpley and his utter disdain for Larry and Balki.  

[Prairie Rose]

Did anyone else see the Zoom reunion from lockdown? The chemistry was still there!

 

[babyhouseman]

Perfect Strangers is on Amazon Freevee now. I'm on the seventh of 8 seasons. I loved this show as a teen when it was originally on. So goofy.